VOLUME 35 • ISSUE 7• May 6, 2011 • KAMIAKIN HIGH SCHOOL • 600 N. ARTHUR ST. • KENNEWICK, WA 99336

TRI-CITY LEGENDS

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School2TABLE OF CONTENTS

Adviser: Laurie Bender

Editor-In-Chiefs: Natalie Elliott & Joey Flores

News Feature Editor: Kaelyn Cole

Sports Editor: Joey FloresIn-Depth Editor: Bond Hender-

sonOpinion Editor: Natalie Elliott

Entertainment Editor: Evan Ramsey

Shenanigans Editor: Victoria DeMers

Cover and Back Editor: Kylee Schwartz

Photography Editor: Victoria DeMers

Social Chairman: Cindy Gon-zalez

Staff Reporters: Tanner Curtis, Kyle Davis, Marissa

Lindholm, Mark Ingalls, Dalis McKenzie, Melissa Oser, Oscar

Perez, Makenzie McKinnis, Marissa Rodriguez, Dylan Wilson, Chris-

tina Woodard, Zach Cook, Melissa Coppinger, Garrett

Doublin, Daniel Elliott, Brianna Harrod, McKenzie Kennedy,

Amanda Lampton, Amanda Ling, Sadie Machart, Amber Maiden,

Ashley May, Danielle Openshaw, Hailey Paine, Alex Peterson, Devin Schell, Jose Tapia, Ernhel Tatunay,

Benjamin Yaden

Staff

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Student Spotlight:

Polina Aksenova

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PRO VS CON:

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School Board

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LUKE SKY-

WALKER VS

HARRY POTTER

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FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 3 Around the CampfireNEWS & FEATURE

Student Spotlight: Polina Aksenova I speak three different languages: Russian, English, French and I’m currently learning Spanish here at Kamiakin,” said Polina Ak-

senova. Aksenova is a foreign exchange student from Omska, Russia. Born and raised in Russia, she also attended school for many years.

“In Russia you graduate in eleventh grade, but you still see fifth graders and younger kids because we all share the same building, starting from fifth through eleventh grade,” said Aksenova. Also, unlike here in the United States, in Russia students attend school for six days a week instead of five. “By the end of the week , when we show up to school on Saturday, it’s kind of like a free day because we show up to school, but no one wants to really do anything on a Saturday,” said Aksenova. “Kamiakin is a lot different from my old school in Russia, but I really like it here more. There is more excitement and so many clubs to join,” said Aksenova. Although traveling is one of the biggest hobbies in her life, finishing school in Europe and attending art school also lies in Aksenova’s future. “I love drawing and art. It really speaks to me, and it’s a lot of fun.” She hopes to do something with her life when it comes to art. Back at home, since she can remember, Aksenova has been traveling with her family. “I have one brother, and he’s five and also a older sister who is 21, and we all go traveling with my mom and dad when they decide to go anywhere exciting,” she said. Aksenova has been to every continent except Antarctica. “I have to say my favorite place I’ve been to is Japan because of all the excite-

ment and movement there is in that place,” said Aksenova. Her favorite place in the United States is Seattle, Wash. because of all the rain and the city lights. “My favorite things to do are hiking and playing guitar, and Washington is a very good place to hike because

of all the mountains,” she said. Aksenova will walk with all of the seniors in her class but will return at the end of the school year to graduate with her class

in Russia.

By CINDY GONZALEZS O C I A L C H A I R - P E R S O N

Kamiakin students in teacher Denise Senor’s shop class have welded in groups for projects plenty of times, but no project had this high of stakes, a chance to win first place at the CBC Metal Art Contest, held in March. Six students broke into groups of two, one group of four and one group of two. “Metal art, I think is really pretty awesome. It’s a great way to show how people deal with stressful situations and loud, dangerous environments. It also shows how team work can help out in a very big way,” said sophomore Jay Gould. Sophomore Rachelle Lizotte, sophomore Jay Gould, sophomore Travis Black and soph-omore Jeff Odland worked together to create a guitar out of metal. The team placed 14th

place at the contest. Sophomore Ben Sullivan and freshman Jehkiah Woodward teamed up to make a metal table, and the duo placed 13th place. “I think that the competition was great. It really showed people’s skills,” said sopho-more Travis Black. Out of hundreds of entries and participants, six Kamiakin students placed in the top 20. All pieces of art are being held for a silent auction at You and I Framing and Gal-lery located on 214 West First Ave. in Kennewick. All proceeds from the sale of the art will be donated to the Washington State FFA Foundation to help fund future State FFA events.“It was a great opportunity to meet new people and to strengthen our teamwork skills as well as our metal working skills,” said sophomore Jeffrey Odland looking back on the competition.

Kamiakin’s metal art artists shine at CBC competitionBy DALIS McKENZIE S T A F F R E P O R T E R

Far left: Fifth place; top left: second place; top right: sixth place; bottom left: Rachelle Lizotte, Jay Gould, Travis Black, and Jeff Odland (Kamiakin) 14th place; bottom right: Ben Sullivan and Jehkiah Woodward (Kamiakin) 13th place; far right: first place

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School4Around the CampfireNEWS & FEATURE

Expires 5/31/11

The Tri-City area is growing with enter-tainment. Plans for three major water parks are underway for construction

this year. Tri-City Court Club has already started construction. Though the water parks are similar, there will be three in our local area. This makes for less crowding and more convenient fun. Workers have started building founda-tions for a bath house, concession stand and other buildings that will be part of what the Tri-City Court Club is calling SplashDown Cove. The 17,000-square-foot area will be next to the existing facility at 1350 N. Grant St. SplashDown Cove will be open to the club’s mem-bers and guests. Members and others in the community will be able to rent about 2,000 square feet of shaded cabanas that will be part of the water park, which the club hopes to have opened by the time school gets out this year. Tri-Cities-based Construction Management Services is constructing the buildings and cabanas. That part of the project is valued at $327,000. An estimated total cost of the project is close to $2 million. Employees of The Pool Co. of Tacoma also have started digging holes for three pools. One will be a zero-entry pool for toddlers with a play structure with spray features. The water park includes a lazy river and a play pool for volleyball and other games. Swim-ming lessons will be offered in that pool as well as a 28-foot-tall twisting slide. The developer of a much-larger water park planned in Pasco was in town the week of April 16-23 to announce more details of the 27-acre project on Sandifur Parkway just west of Broadmoor Square Mall. “I’ll have graphics and all kinds of cool stuff,” said Jim Hale, chief executive officer of Dynamic Waters, which is building Bahama Bay Water Park. Hale lives in Orlando, Fla., but the Pasco High graduate said part of his motivation for building the park is to move back to Pasco to be closer to family. He plans to break ground and move back to the Tri-Cities in June, and hopes to open the park Memorial Day 2012. The park will include a wave pool, lazy river, seven elevated slides and a go-cart track. Mike Hillman, the developer of another water park in Kennewick, said he plans to break ground on Shark Reef Water Park in July. The plans to build the park are on 10 acres at Highway 395 and Christiansen Road in the Southridge area. The park will include eight water slides, a wave pool, a lazy river and a kids’ water play area. Also planned are a glow-in-the-dark mini golf course and a drive-in movie theater. Although he hasn’t yet applied for any building permits, he said he also plans to open the water park Memorial Day 2012.

Three water parks in Tri-Cities under constructionBy BRIANNA HARRODS T A F F R E P O R T E R

If you’re walking around the Kamiakin campus, you’ve probably heard the last name Boehnke once or twice during the day. The Boehnke family has been at Kamiakin since the 1980s and will be advancing till at least 2019. It all started in 1982 when Bonnie Boehn-ke had her three sons attend Kamiakin High School. Mathew, Michael, and Wil-liam Boehnke attended Kamiakin during the 1980s. After finishing up high school, all three attended college and became col-lege graduates. Sons Matthew and William have their master’s degrees and Matthew has been serving in the military for 21 years. All of them married Kamiakin graduates as

well. “It didn’t really phase me about my parents went to Kamiakin. I just go about school normally,” says junior Mallory Boehnke. Next came their sons and daughters who are now currently attending Ka-miakin. RJ Boehnke will be graduating this year. In 2012 Mallory Boehnke and Emery Boehnke will be graduating as well. Their cousins, Skyler and Bran-

don Boehnke, will be joining the Kamiakin as part of the the class of 2015. “I hope my grandchildren carry out the Kamiakin tradition and have their sons and daughters at-tend Kamiakin as well,” said Bonnie Boehnke. Today Bonnie Boehnke is the principal’s secretary, and

she has worked in the Kennewick School District for over 33 years. Also, her husband volunteers to drive the band bus around wherever they need to go. One of Mrs. Boehnke’s favorite things about Kamiakin is meeting all of the children of the former students at. Kamiakin spirit will always run through the Boehnke blood. For Mrs. Boehnke and her husband Gary’s 35th anniversary, he bought her a red Mustang because it was Kamiakin colors. Their whole family thinks Kamiakin 24/7. “We all support Kamiakin and wouldn’t have our kids go anywhere else. Kamiakin has the best staff and education for all of our students,” said Bonnie Boehnke.

The Boehnke family an ongoing Kamiakin traditionBy SADIE MACHARTS T A F F R E P O R T E R

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, creating a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland in the northern part of the country and set off warnings as far away as the west coast of the United States and South America. Recorded as 9.0 on the Richter scale, it was the most powerful quake ever to hit the country. As the nation struggled with a rescue effort, it also faced the worst nuclear emergency since Chernobyl; explosions and leaks of radioactive gas took place in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station that suffered partial meltdowns, while spent fuel rods at another reactor overheated and caught fire, releasing radioactive material directly into the atmosphere. Japanese officials turned to increasingly desperate measures, as traces of radiation were found in Tokyo’s water and in water pouring from the reactors into the ocean. A month after the quake, nuclear officials put the crisis in the same category of severity as the Chernob-yl disaster. As of April 18, the official death toll had been raised to 13,800, and more than 14,000 people were listed as missing, although there may be some overlap between the two groups. The final toll is expected to reach nearly 20,000. More than 160,000 people remained housed in temporary shelters; tens of thousands of others evacuated their homes due to the nuclear crisis. Through this crisis, there have been people trying to make a difference by helping Japan. Two respected students from Kamiakin have been working hard to help our friends in Japan. Junior Molly Walker and junior Tiffany Hoppe are trying to raise money for Japan through Red Cross, and the Red Cross will give 100 percent of what is donated to the Japan Relief. “We just did this because both of us were really heartbroken when we saw the destruc-tion there,” said Walker. “My brother lives there on a military base with his family, so it just really hit home for me,” Hoppe added. These two girls are looking to raise a good amount of money to satisfy some of the needs for rebuilding Japan. It’s starting on April 28 and going to May 12. They’re just looking for some help from our student body. So if you are wanting to help but don’t know where to start just talk to Molly Walker or Tiffany Hoppe, and they would be glad to tell you how you can do your part.

Students plan Japan relief effortBy AMANDA LINGS T A F F R E P O R T E R

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 5 Around the CampfireNEWS & FEATURE

As the All-City talent show wrapped up almost a month ago, still in the back of every performer’s mind was the next step. Though not technically

part of the previous show, performers had the chance to showcase their talents, in a rare opportunity, to all of the Tri-Cities. Continuing on from our school were piano pro-fessional Paul Pierson, the original acoustic/rap combina-tion the MPGs (with Jannae Piatt, Joey Flores, and Chelsea Kupitz), an original ballad by Chelsea Kupitz, and the Jeff Raines Band (comprised of Colton Spriggle, Garrett Dunn, Emery Boehnke, Taylor Edwards, Jeff Raines, and Ben Ostby). As the talent continues to grow, so do the auditoriums. Set in the vast theater of Richland High School, this time the event was a fundraiser for the Pennies for Patients fund of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Officially sponsored by both Richland and Kamiakin High Schools, and hosted by masters of ceremony Matt Wildey, McKen-zie Christensen, Taylor Herman (of Kamiakin), and Bryce Reichart, who was dressed in a fairly revealing pair of leopard print leggings, with brief and concise transitions,

the show moved quickly from act to act, hoping to finish in a timely manner, which was quite a feat with 21 acts and an intermission. The show started off with our own pride and joy, Paul Pierson, playing “Waterfall” by John Schmidt, a difficult song with a catchy tune. With many shows in the act and so many schools represented, it took real talent to get a rousing applause by this particular audience. Next from our school to perform were the MGPs who took charge of the stage and got a solid applause throughout the perfor-mance from even the strangers in the crowd. The next patron from our school to perform was, once again, Chelsea Kupitz, performing another original song. The way she can compose her own pieces that are at the same time catchy and melancholy, while still in high school, is a commendable quality to say the least. Her songs are still stuck in my head! Lastly to perform from our school was the Jeff Raines Band, who got the crowd riled from the acoustic guitar introduction to the very end notes. Strangers and fan girls alike cheered and clapped to the high tempo song by Mumford and Sons.

Several non-Kamiakin acts were worth noting. A classy jazz performance by Avery Suarez, AJ Hunt, Doug Mck-innley, and Jimmi Roper left the echo of a silky smooth voice ringing in your ears. One piano performance by Isaac Chua belonged in Carnegie Hall. Isaiah Stevenson played an acoustic rendition of Katy Perry’s new single ET, which was a refreshing change from the auto tuned actual song. The band Silver Dollar Circus was energetic and very official looking with their name on their bass drum. Joe Stevenson demonstrated his intense karate skills with flipping, board splitting, and brick breaking. The finale of the night was the Dynojerkerz performing a song with the beat and background of the song “Coming Home” by P. Diddy but with different lyrics. It’s always interesting to see a white boy rap. After the performances were all over, some were expect-ing there to be judging and a winner but alas, the show was simply for enjoyment and raising money. Many com-pliments were given out to all Kamiakin acts while exit-ing the auditorium and maybe some new fans were made. Pretty good for a night’s work.

Show brings high school talent to all of Tri-Cities By KAELYN COLE N E W S & F E A T U R E E D I T O R

While most of us know what American Idol is, some do not know what the X-Factor is. It’s Simon Cowell’s version of American idol, and on Saturday April 16, we had preliminary audi-tions for this up and coming series here in the Tri-Cities. For kids, students, and adults 12 and older, this was an opportunity of a lifetime. More than 200 people lined up as early as 5 a.m. to get the chance to be one of the top 100 people to get an audition. From these 100, 12 would be chosen to come back and sing one final time to be one of the top four who would be sent on an all paid trip to Seattle for the actual X-Factor audition. One of the lucky 100 who got to sing was freshman Kelsey Forman. “I sang ‘Rumor Has It’ by Adele. I had just learned it the night before, so I totally forgot the lyrics once I got on stage. I was really disappointed in myself, but everyone makes mis-takes.” While a lot of solo singers came to auditions, groups of two or more came as well. For already town famous sophomore Hannah Evans and her two sisters Corrin and Katie, it just seemed natural for them to audition. “We are an acapella group, where we sing with just our voices and no music, so the initial audition was easy. We sang our favorite three part harmony piece, ‘Cecilia’ by Simon and Garfunkel. The judges told us we had great stage presence and looked comfortable performing. We got to the top 12, and we sang a mash-up song of ‘Yeah’ and ‘The Lonely Goatherd.’ ‘Yeah’ is by Usher and ‘The Lonely Goatherd’ is from The Sound of Music. Even though we weren’t picked for the top four, we still had an amazing time!” Evans said. The X-Factor premieres in September 2011. With auditions in Texas, New York, Seattle and many other states, the show is sure to be a “show stopper.”

X-Factor gave Tri-Citians a chance of a lifetime By MELISSA COPPINGERS T A F F R E P O R T E R

Kamiakin students rank nationallyBy DANIEL ELLIOTTS T A F F R E P O R T E R What do most teenagers do in their spare time? Some hang out with friends, go swimming, or play sports. But not six Kamiakin High students. They decided to design a Boeing 747 wing. Seniors James Luey, Grace Choi, Collin Bampton, Amanda White, and sophomores Joe Luey and Sangeetha Thevuthasan took on the challenge by entering the Washington State Real World Design Challenge to design a wing to make a Boeing 737-sized jet more efficient. They won out of everyone in Washington and went on to the national level. This was definitely an experience to remember. Senior Amanda White said,”My favorite part was being able to spend time outside of school working on an engineering project that was more complex than what we do in drafting.” All six of these students went into this with a thirst for a challenge and an interest in engineering, and all of them came out with knowledge gained. Sophomore Joe Luey said, “It taught me about different programs, and it taught me about the work that goes into developing modern technology.” To design their wing, they had to learn to use Creo/Elements Pro, an engineering program worth more than $1 million. Before designing could start, they had to learn to use the program, which was a whole lot more complex than most of the programs any of them have used before. The teams spent many hours watching videos explain-ing how to use it. Senior James Luey said, “This isn’t exactly (Microsoft) Word.”(Tri City Herald) In Washington D.C., the team placed second nationally, better than any Kamiakin team has ever done.

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School6Tribal GamesSPORTS

Local mountain climber Powell McLean went on his first technical rock climb at the age of eight years old in 1963. He has climbed mountains from coast to coast in the U.S. and all over the world. When I spoke to him, he had just returned from Europe and had been on the peak of Mount Les Ecrins in France the week before. He has climbed Mt. Blanc which is the highest mountain in the French Alps at 15,780 feet. He has also climbed the Matterhorn in Switzerland which is the fifth most dangerous mountain in the world to climb. The list of mountains he has climbed is simply too long to list. Powell has had some exciting climbs in his lifetime. When he and his good friend Jeff were climbing Mt. Rainier in late May, they got caught in a bad snow storm. They were both wearing snow shoes because of the newly fallen snow. The wind was gusting up to at least 100 mph, and it picked them up and they landed 15-18 feet away. Because of the snow shoes, Jeff thought he had twisted his ankle. With temperatures at freezing and wind chill at well below zero, they had some choices to make. They could try to climb the 800 feet up to a stone shelter, which in these conditions was going to be next to im-possible. They could descend the four to five miles back to the base of the mountain, or build a snow cave and try to last out the storm through the night. Jeff decided his ankle would be okay and they climbed to the shelter. Three days later, a group of three climb-ers were in the same position, but they decided to make a snow cave. The next morning, the climbers made it to the shelter, but one of the climbers had gotten so cold that they could not revive him, and only two of the three climbers came back alive.

Powell real-izes the risk he is taking, and he says it changes you. There are a lot of times when it is snowing so hard you literally cannot see your feet, your hand in front of your face, or even the person standing next to you. You have to yell to talk to the person with the wind and snow and clouds passing between you even though you are an arm’s length away.

Powell says it messes with your mind. There is just a fuzzy image of the person next to you, and the image sways and appears to float around because of the density changes of the clouds. It is SCARY and it can be hard to keep your head about you. Powell’s motto is “Live to tell about it.” Powell said, “I have brought enough bodies off the mountains to know when to call it quits.” His love of mountain climbing led him to become involved in the Mountain Rescue As-sociation, MRC, which was first established in 1953 at Mount Hood. It is totally a volun-teer association. The sheriff’s office has the legal responsibility to get the victims off the mountain, and they call the MRC for help when they need the expertise of these experi-enced climbers. He has been on over 100 rescues through the years, and most of them turn out to have a good ending, but there are some that don’t. Powell was the first to be

on the scene when there was a plane crash at White Pass. There were 10 people on a plane that nose-dived into the mountain. When the rescuers got to the scene of the crash, there were body parts hanging from the trees and it was one of the most gruesome things he had ever seen. The most recent body recovery was about a year ago at Mt. Adams, where a son watched his father tumble head over heels over a thousand feet down the mountain until he lost sight of him into the clouds. Powell doesn’t think the son will ever truly be the same again. Powell says some rescues are more difficult to get over; there is one that stays in his mind. He was called to the scene of an avalanche. Two young men in their twenties had been climbing Mt. Adams when they got caught in an avalanche. One of the boys made it out alive, but the other boy did not. The rescuers were called in to recover the body, but before they could go up, they needed to wait until blasting had been done to make it safe for them to climb without the danger of more avalanches occurring. Eighty percent of people die within 30 minutes of being buried by an avalanche. Generally rescuers are asked to avoid the family of the victims because often times, they just don’t know how to handle it. Powell has a way about him and a knowledge that helps to make the situation better. While waiting for the blasting to occur, he talked to the parents of the victim. They were so comforted by him; they asked if he would talk to their son’s friend that had been on the mountain climbing with him. Powell talked with the boy for quite a while and told him they had something in common. When Powell was about the same age, he too was caught in an avalanche that took him down a mountain, and he had to dig himself out. That is why he is so passionate about being a rescuer. A year later, Powell and that boy climbed the same mountain together. When Powell was a young boy, he can remember looking through National Geographic Magazine, thinking how he wanted so badly to go see all the mountains and places he saw in those magazines. Now that he is living his dreams of seeing all these beautiful places he says, “The sport of mountaining is horrifyingly addicting. I find it hard to come back and go to work.” What Powell says he enjoys most about climbing is “just doing it, the journey. I don’t even care if I make it to the top, that’s a bonus; I just like getting out there.” If you would like more information about the Mountain Rescue Association, visit their website at MRA.org. Photos by Powell McCleanAbove: Peak of Mount Lesecrinis Left: Powell McClean posing at the base of the mountain before he climbs up.

Live to tell about itBy ALEX PETERSONS T A F F R E P O R T E R

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 7 Tribal GamesSPORTS

It looks as though this year will not be the year of the Seattle Mariners…again. The Mariners are currently in last place in the American League West Division as of April 26, with a record of 8-15, a record which includes the worst winning percentage (.347) in the American League for the second least amount of wins this year. The Mariners currently only have two players batting over .300, (second baseman Adam Kennedy who is batting .300 and Ichiro Suzuki who is batting .309) and have eight pitchers with at least one loss including all five starting pitchers. Erik Bedard, who received much hype on his return after three shoulder surgeries is 0-4 with a 7.71 era, which sadly isn’t the worst on the team. “Pineada and Hernandez are the only signs of life for the Mariners. Adam Kennedy has the hot bat, but look out for Ichiro and Figgins to get warmed up,” said long time Mariners fan AJ Griffiths. The Mariners are currently ranked 29 out of 30 in the power rankings this year and have the second worst team batting average (.226) in MLB behind the San Diego Padres (.222). The Mariners’ offense has been the problem for this season as the Mariners are in the bottom 10 of all MLB teams in all offensive categories except stolen bases (4th), walks (1st), and doubles (15th). Pitching hasn’t been much better for the Mariners as they are tied for last with only eight wins and have the highest amount of losses in the major leagues with 15. The Mariners also have allowed the seventh most amount of hits and the fourth most runs giving up. Last but definitely not the last thing to falter for the Mariners is their defense. The Mariners have the sixth lowest fielding percentage, committing 17 errors in only 23 games.

Stats like these leave fans remi-niscing of the old years when they had greats like Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Ro-driquez, and Randy Johnson.

Photo: Long time Mariner great Ken Griffey Jr. scoring the winning run in a 1996 ALCS game against the Yankees. The Seattle Mariners have only been to the ALCS twice and have never won the ALCS and made it to a World Series.

Another disappointment coming?By JOEY FLORESE D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

The Kamiakin baseball regular season is coming to a close as the Braves end their sea-son against the Wildcats of Eastmont on Tuesday, May 3 in Eastmont. As of the May, 2 the Braves were third in the division with a record of 14-4 (8-4). The Braves were off to a great start going 8-0 before leaving for spring break, win-ning five of those games by 10 runs or more, and in one of those wins pitcher Garrett Anderson threw a no-hitter. But coming back from break the Braves went right into a tough league double header at Southridge. Kamiakin fought hard in the double header but dropped both games by scores of 7-8, and 1-3. The Braves bounced back sweeping West Valley, and Pasco and splitting with Kennewick and Hanford in their next league games. The Braves now sit in third place with the two league games against Eastmont left. If the Braves sweep Eastmont, that will land them in a tie for second place with Ken-newick. The Braves will then have to play in a one game playoff for second place which would earn them a home playoff game instead of a loser-out game to get into the next round which would happen if they split or get swept by Eastmont. Braves baseball has kept Kamiakin’s dominance alive, with a second place finish in football and a third place finish in basketball. The baseball team is looking to join that list of teams that has made it to state this year. That dream is looking more and more real every day. The Braves were ranked first place in the state for 3A in the Washington baseball poll as of week two. In the Seattle Times, the Braves have reached as high as sixth place.

By JOEY FLORESE D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

Braves baseball looking to con-tinue Kamiakin’s dominance

Play ball! Ah, the smell of hotdogs, nachos, popcorn and a cold beverage in hand: Soon a small breeze from a left to right field direction sweeps through the stadium as tens of thousands of fans wearing the same clothing as you all cheer for the same team. That’s baseball. Now, imagine this: a computer screen, internet connection, 11 other cyber man-agers, and one common goal— assembling the best team possible. That’s fantasy baseball. Fantasy baseball has been around for over 50 years, but the online sensation most Ameri-cans are hooked on these days took form back in 1997. Enough nonsense--Let’s get to some decisions and tips that will put you at the top of your league. Here are a few players who are available in some leagues that would be a great addition to someone who might have a few stars on the disabled list. The pickups of the month for May include:

Grady Sizemore - Remember him? The Cleveland Indians’ centerfielder was arguably the best outfielder in the game two years ago. Then he suffered a series of injuries that nearly destroyed his baseball career. But the Everett, Wash. native has regained his fantasy prow-ess since coming off the DL earlier this month. As of April 27, he’s hitting a ridiculous .378 with three HRs in 37 ABs after hitting a grand total of zero HRs last year in 128 ABs. Alex Gordon - The former second overall pick in the 2005 draft is finally showing signs of life, finally. As of April 27, he’s got a .340 batting average and just recently snapped a 19 game hitting streak, the longest of his career. If he stays hot, expect Kansas City to trade him to a contender, as this is what the Royals are notorious for.

Russell Martin - His last two years as a Dodger were not good. He put up back to back seasons of career lows in nearly every category. But the Yanks signed him as a free agent in the off season, and it has paid off so far. He’s the top ranked catcher as of April 27. Make a move to get him. Michael Pineda - Hands down the best pitcher the Mariners have, not named Felix Her-nandez. In four MLB career starts, he’s 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA. If the Mariner offense can give him any kind of support, there’s no reason he can’t win 15 games. He’s owned in just 70 percent of Yahoo! leagues as of April 27. Pick him up or trade for him now. Zach Britton - Usually, it’s not wise to pick up an AL East SP that doesn’t play for the Yankees or Red Sox. But Britton is shutting down the AL powerhouses. He’s beaten Bos-ton, Texas, Tampa Bay, and Minnesota all in the last month. Add the fact that Baltimore actually has a solid offense this year; look for this kid to blossom as the season goes on. Jaime Garcia - He had a solid last year as a SP in the back end of the Cardinals’ rota-tion. After Adam Wainwright underwent Tommy John surgery in spring training, Garcia needed to step up and be the number two starter behind Chris Carpenter for the St. Louis to have any chance to contend in the NL Central. All he’s done this year is put up a 2.08 ERA with 30 K’s in 30 innings, a significantly higher ratio than last year’s numbers.

Top fantasy baseball players that you needBy TANNER CURTIS S T A F F R E P O R T E R

Photo by Brad GriffithsThe Braves baseball team celebrat-ing after a sweep of West Valley at LaPierre Field.

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School8

Some of you know about the previous Tri-City Americans’ coach, Don Nachbaur, switch-ing over to coach our rivals, the Spokane Chiefs, but how much do you know? Nachbaur had guided the Ams to 235 wins and two U.S. Division titles in six seasons. He became the 10th Western Hockey League coach to win 400 games on Nov. 29, 2008 when the Ameri-

cans beat the Vancouver Gi-ants with a score of 5-3. Nachbaur has been named WHL coach of the year twice! First, he was named in 1994-95 when he led the Seattle Thun-derbirds to a 42-28-2 record and then with the Ams in 2007-08, when the club recorded a fran-chise record 108 regular-season points with a 52-16-2-2 record.

Nachbaur had left the Ams and coached the Binghamton Senators over the summer of 2010, but he left his post because of personal reasons. He was given a five year contract offer to come to Spokane, which he accepted since Jim Hiller was coach for the Americans. Nachbaur had been the head coach of the Ams for the last six seasons, earning a .592 win-ning percentage with 235 wins, 155 losses, 25 overtime losses and 17 shootout defeats over the span of 432 regular-season games. His teams made the playoffs in each of his seasons behind the bench, advancing as far as the conference final in 2007-08. Nachbaur played professional hockey for 14 years, including parts of eight seasons in the National Hockey League with the Hartford Whalers, Edmonton Oilers and Philadel-phia Flyers, so you know he knows what he’s doing. He played 469 games in the Ameri-can Hockey League scoring 174 goals and 187 assists for a total of 361 points. He also had 1,452 penalty minutes. He then won the Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears in the 1987-88 seasons. Jim Hiller is the Tri-City Americans’ new head coach. He is a retired, Canadian profes-sional ice hockey player and had played 63 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers, while spend-ing time in the American Hockey League (AHL) and International Hockey League (IHL). When he retired, Hiller became a coach in the junior leagues. Hiller immediately began his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Tri-City Americans of the WHL for two seasons. In 2005–06, he was named head coach of the Al-berni Valley Bulldogs of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), where he posted a winning record of 43-12-2. The next season, he was chosen to coach the expansion Chilli-wack Bruins back in the WHL. He coached them to playoffs in their first two seasons, but after missing the post-season in his third year with the club, he was fired. Later in the 2009 off-season, he was named head coach of the Tri-City Americans.Photo: Tri- City American’s new head coach Jim Hiller talking to a referee during a regular season game this year.

The current and previous head coaches of the Americans

By MELISSA OSER S T A F F R E P O R T E R

With the 2010-2011 NBA regular season over, it’s time to actually start watching basketball. I mean sure, it’s fun to check out a few regular season match-ups between the top seeds in the East or the West, but when it comes down to it, not every team tries every night, and we don’t need to watch four quarters to know that the Cavs and Timberwolves are going to get blown out by double digits. With that said, let’s look at what the playoffs have in store and make some predictions. In the West, we have the first seeded San Antonio Spurs taking on the eighth seeded Griz-zlies of Memphis. Although the Grizzlies are improving, I think San Antonio will outlast them in a good series. Moving along to the two time defending Lakers. They will be taking on the Hornets and although it may be frowned upon, I’m going to take Chris Paul and the Hornets. In the three vs. six series, we have the Mavs and Blazers. I like the Blazers with Brandon Roy returning to the line-up. To wrap up the West, we have the fourth seeded Thunder taking on the Melo-less Nuggets. I’ll take the former Sonics in a sweep. In the second round, I like the Thunder over the Spurs and the Blazers over the Hornets. Skipping over to the East, we have the Chicago Bulls taking on the Indiana Pacers in the one vs. eight series, Bulls to sweep. The Heat will take on the 76ers, and I foresee another sweep. The Celtics found themselves a date with the sixth seeded Knicks and shouldn’t have much of a problem taking them out. In a rematch of last year’s playoff series the Magic found themselves head to head with the Hawks again. I like the Hawks’ talent to get revenge thanks to the league’s most under rated superstar, Joe Johnson. However, I don’t think they stand much of a chance against the Bulls in the second round. The last matchup in the East’s second round would have the Celtics matched up against Lebron for a second straight year, this time with the Heat. I’ll take the “Heatles” to outlast the “Boston three party”, setting up a match up with the Bulls. In the finals, I expect to see the Heat match up with the Thunder in the 2011 NBA Championship with the Heat win-ning in six games.

Tanner’s 2011 NBA playoff predictionsBy TANNER CURTIS S T A F F R E P O R T E R

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 9

Sports Quiz1. Who’s NFL return-touchdown record did Devin Hester break last season?

2. Who is the only MLB hitter to hit 50 home runs for two different teams?

3. What NBA team has the best single season record?

4. Who was named the Golfer of the Century by Sports Illustrated?

5. Who did Mike Tyson lose his Heavyweight Title to on February 10, 1990?

1. Brian Mitchell 2. Jimmie Fozz 3. Philadelphia 76ers 4. Jack Nicklaus 5. Buster Douglas

By JOEY FLORESE D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

Matching Athlete Spotlights

By JOEY FLORESE D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

Colten SullivanSoccer

Jerod JohnstonTrack

Ellie HaydenTrack

Jessica JonesTennis

Blake RaekesBaseball

Melanie OordSoftball

This freshman has only lost two races this year for the Braves’ girls track team. She is cur-rently ranked sixth in the state for the 400m race and her 4X1 team is ranked first. Her favorite TV show is The Office.

Jon WilsonGolf

This junior is play-ing boys golf for the Braves for the first year. He has placed in the top 15 golfers twice, and the Braves have won one tour-nament and taken second once. His favorite movie is Bug.

This senior has won two 100m and two 200m races and is currently ranked second in the state for the 200m race. He took 14th in state last year for track. His favorite movie is How High.

Ben ThorntonTennis

He is 6-4 this year for the Braves’ tennis team. The junior played in five matches last year as a junior and has re-turned to varsity this year. His favorite movie is A-Team.

All photos by Joey Flores

Also pictured in photo right Jacob Stapleton

1

2

3This senior is currently leading the team in batting with a .531 av-erage. He is also lead-ing the team in runs and is second in RBIs. The senior second baseman is a two year starter and was named to the second team all league last year. His favorite movie is Fever Pitch.

5

This freshman who starts in the outfield is cur-rently batting .400 with two home runs this year for the Lady Braves softball team. The Lady Braves are in first place in league. Her favor-ite movie is the Bounty Hunter.

4

This senior girl took sixth place in the Tri-City Invite along with doubles partner Taylor Herman. This seniors doubles team has exceeded expecta-tions and has had a good year. Her favorite movie is Billy Madison.

6

The reigning team MVP has scored six goals this year for the guys’ soc-cer team who is currently 4-8. He was also on the Three Rivers Celt-ics last summer, a club soccer team that won state. His favorite movie is American Pie.

7

8

1. Jon Wilson2. Ellie Hayden3. Jerod Johnston4.Melanie Oord

5. Blake Raekes6. Jessica jones7. Colten Sulliban8. Ben Thornton

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School10ADVERTISEMENTS

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FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 11 Chief LegendsIN-DEPTH

Tri-City Legends

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School12Chief LegendsIN-DEPTH

If you crack open the book Weird Washington, you will see many odd places in the state including two in Benton County: the Baby Graves south of Kennewick and Gravity Hill north of Prosser. Gravity Hill is an 8-10 foot rise in the landscape on the back of Rattlesnake Mountain and when you are headed southbound on the street, you will see a start line where you put your vehicle in neutral and you should coast uphill! There are many reasons why this could happen, including a high content of iron in the ground below the hill, dragging your car along like a magnet would drag a paper clip. Some may also claim that there are supernat-ural forces at work, while the most common explanation is that these types of hills are just an optical illusion. However, there is another explanation for the hill north of Prosser: The start line is on a slight downhill slope. When you put your car in neutral, your car will coast down this slope reaching a speed of 15 MPH before slowing down on the hill. Most cars will make it over the hill in neutral. If you would like to test this hill out on your own, take Interstate 82 westbound (signs for Yakima) to Exit 80 for Gap Road near Prosser. Turn right on Gap Road and take it to McCradie Road and turn right. Then turn left on Crosby Road and follow the signs for Crosby until you get to the start line, about 7.5 miles away from McCradie. It’s a 50 mile drive that takes a little more than an hour from Kennewick. There are hundreds of these types of hills around the world.

By MARK INGALLS C H I E F M E T E O R O L O G I S T

Gravity HillBiggest lie in the county

The Baby Graves are a small cemetery right outside of Prosser along Cemetery Road. Many students say they go out to the Baby Graves at night just to get spooked; most of the students have come back with crazy stories, but a lot of these stories have nothing to do with parnor-mal activity and everything to do with irritated farmers. “My friends and I were headed out to the cemetery and a car started following very closely, so we decided to pull over in case of it being a cop. The car pulled behind us and a man got out of the car and came to my window and started yelling at us telling us to turn around and go back. The man threatened to call the cops, so we just turned around and went back so we didn’t cause any trouble,” said Genesis Fraijo. Ray and Kim Mercer are one of the families who lives near the Baby Graves, and Ray was able to share a lot of information with us, includ-ing this story. “I walked out to the cemetery one night to get the kids to go home and to stop the disruption,” he said. Having a difficult time getting the students to leave, he hit out the windows of a car with

a wrench. Mercer got in trouble with the law, but the kids did not. The Mercers have lived in the Tri-Cities for 30 years and moved into this house near the Baby Graves about three months ago. “It really bothers me when Benton City kids and Southridge kids come flying through here going 90 miles per hour, getting drunk and disturbing the cemetery and its surroundings,” Mercer said. The cemetery is a fenced in land with only a few headstones left in it. “The police have found headstones in Richland,” said Mercer. There is a smaller white picket fence that encloses two graves, Wil-liam H. Son of William and Julie Pearson, born July 4, 1901 died July 10, 1901, and Mark S. Son of William and Julie Pearson, born June 30, 1902 and died Nov. 1903. The farmer, Dick Pearson, wanted to fence in his family to make it obvious they are important. The farmers out near the Baby Graves don’t mean any harm. They want to keep the graves peaceful and safe. It is very rude, disrespect-ful and inappropriate to go disrupt these graves. How would you feel if you had family out there or even what if it was your grave?

By DANIELLE OPENSHAWS T A F F R E P O R T E R

Give more respect to the Baby Graves

As a kid you probably remember looking into a mirror at night and chanting “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.” Even though nothing ever happened, we still liked to think the ghost of Bloody Mary would appear in the mirror and something story-worthy would happen. The real story behind Bloody Mary is quite interesting and per-haps even scary. No one is sure who the actual Bloody Mary was. It could have been Mary Worth, Queen Mary of England, or Eliz-abeth Bathory Nadasdy. And people believe there are different ways to summon her. One legend says to go in a pitch black room, look into a mirror and chant Bloody Mary three times. Another says to chant Bloody Mary 13 times with a lit candle or chant her name a hundred times, even chanting at midnight, maybe spin around, rubbing one’s eyes, run the water from the sink while chanting her name, and some even say you must say into a mir-ror, “Bloody Mary, I killed your baby!” Or some say you must say, “I believe in Mary Worth.” There are also different ways the legend claims Mary would tor-ture her summoners. If she didn’t kill them, she was said to haunt them for the rest of their lives. She might rip their face off, scratch their eyes out, cut their head off or even drive them insane. She was said to throw them into the mirror and scratch their neck, causing them serious injury or even death. Some even believe that if you

go into a dark room and chant her name 13 times with a lit candle at midnight, she will appear and the summoner can talk to a de-ceased person until 12:08 a.m. And in some variations, they say that you cannot look directly at Bloody Mary when she appears. You may only look at her through the mirror. Then she will reveal the summoner’s future, mostly concerning marriage and children. Bloody Mary is said to have been a child murderer who lived in the local city of Westminster Abbey. She died Nov. 17, 1558 and was buried on Dec. 14, 1558. The creepy thing about this is that engraved on her and her sister’s grave reads, “Partners both in throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of one resurrection.” Meaning one of the sisters was to rise again. Another interesting way to come into contact with Bloody Mary is to walk up a staircase backwards in a dark area or house and hold a hand mirror and a candle. As you walk up the stairs, sup-posedly you will either see the face of your future husband or the creepy skull of the grim reaper. If you see the grim reaper, you are destined to die before you are married. With so many different theories, it’s hard to determine whether Bloody Mary was created on a basis of fact. But this story will continue to scare people, young or old, for generations to come.

By AMANDA LINGS T A F F R E P O R T E R

Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary!

Many people know the legend of the Finley ghost. There are a few different versions of the legend. The two most popular ones are that a teen-age girl was walking by the Columbia River in Finley and was spooked by a gaseous explosion. Because of that, she fell and landed on a sharp rock causing her to die, and her ghost still haunts the area. One of the other variations to this legend is that a boy named Adam was celebrating after his high school graduation. He got drunk and ended up falling into the river and drowned. His ghost haunts the area because none of his friends would help him when he was drowning. This place may not be as haunted as many people think. If you go to the area where the Finley ghost is located, it is actually just part of the water that spews up about every hour or so. This area is at Two Rivers Park next to the Columbia River. “I went to the see the Finley ghost once with some of my friends. We sat there waiting for a while. When it finally happened, it still freaked me out because it seemed random. When it did happen, it was mind exploding!” said senior Reyna Bell. “I’ve been there to see the ghost a few times with different people, but it only looks cool at night,” said senior Derek Melville. Even though the legend is meant to scare people, there will always be some who don’t find it scary. “When I go there with my friends, I laugh and when it goes off, I throw my friends in the water,” said sophomore Thomas Holland. Even though the Finley ghost may not be real, the legend will still live on and scare people for many more years to come.

The Finley GhostBy DEVIN SCHELL S T A F F R E P O R T E R

Ashley Young

“I remember when I was 12 or 13, one night after I watched The Ring, I turned off my light and was lying in my bed. Before I fell asleep, I looked towards my closet. I saw the girl from the well crawl out. Her bones cracked each step she took. She had white crackly looking skin with black hair over her face. Her legs would go over her arms when she crawled. She would crawl towards me and I would scream. I would run to the light and turn it on. When I turned the lights on, it disappeared. It was a scary experience for me.”

Christina Woodard

“My sister and I were home alone in my room playing when we were younger. My door to my room wasn’t on because it was broken, so I had no door. I quickly glanced at the hallway outside my door after hear-ing a noise. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadowy person, but when I did a double take, it was gone. It explained the noises we always heard when we were downstairs coming from upstairs, when no one was up there!”

KT Bragg

“I was in my church basement at night for an activity with my youth group. I was alone and looking for people when something cold grabbed my hand. I looked down and saw nothing, except my hand be-ing squeezed by something invisible. Then it let me go, and I ran screaming upstairs.”

Personal

Experiences

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 13 Chief LegendsIN-DEPTH

a wrench. Mercer got in trouble with the law, but the kids did not. The Mercers have lived in the Tri-Cities for 30 years and moved into this house near the Baby Graves about three months ago. “It really bothers me when Benton City kids and Southridge kids come flying through here going 90 miles per hour, getting drunk and disturbing the cemetery and its surroundings,” Mercer said. The cemetery is a fenced in land with only a few headstones left in it. “The police have found headstones in Richland,” said Mercer. There is a smaller white picket fence that encloses two graves, Wil-liam H. Son of William and Julie Pearson, born July 4, 1901 died July 10, 1901, and Mark S. Son of William and Julie Pearson, born June 30, 1902 and died Nov. 1903. The farmer, Dick Pearson, wanted to fence in his family to make it obvious they are important. The farmers out near the Baby Graves don’t mean any harm. They want to keep the graves peaceful and safe. It is very rude, disrespect-ful and inappropriate to go disrupt these graves. How would you feel if you had family out there or even what if it was your grave?

Give more respect to the Baby Graves

go into a dark room and chant her name 13 times with a lit candle at midnight, she will appear and the summoner can talk to a de-ceased person until 12:08 a.m. And in some variations, they say that you cannot look directly at Bloody Mary when she appears. You may only look at her through the mirror. Then she will reveal the summoner’s future, mostly concerning marriage and children. Bloody Mary is said to have been a child murderer who lived in the local city of Westminster Abbey. She died Nov. 17, 1558 and was buried on Dec. 14, 1558. The creepy thing about this is that engraved on her and her sister’s grave reads, “Partners both in throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of one resurrection.” Meaning one of the sisters was to rise again. Another interesting way to come into contact with Bloody Mary is to walk up a staircase backwards in a dark area or house and hold a hand mirror and a candle. As you walk up the stairs, sup-posedly you will either see the face of your future husband or the creepy skull of the grim reaper. If you see the grim reaper, you are destined to die before you are married. With so many different theories, it’s hard to determine whether Bloody Mary was created on a basis of fact. But this story will continue to scare people, young or old, for generations to come.

By AMANDA LINGS T A F F R E P O R T E R

Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary!

Many people know the legend of the Finley ghost. There are a few different versions of the legend. The two most popular ones are that a teen-age girl was walking by the Columbia River in Finley and was spooked by a gaseous explosion. Because of that, she fell and landed on a sharp rock causing her to die, and her ghost still haunts the area. One of the other variations to this legend is that a boy named Adam was celebrating after his high school graduation. He got drunk and ended up falling into the river and drowned. His ghost haunts the area because none of his friends would help him when he was drowning. This place may not be as haunted as many people think. If you go to the area where the Finley ghost is located, it is actually just part of the water that spews up about every hour or so. This area is at Two Rivers Park next to the Columbia River. “I went to the see the Finley ghost once with some of my friends. We sat there waiting for a while. When it finally happened, it still freaked me out because it seemed random. When it did happen, it was mind exploding!” said senior Reyna Bell. “I’ve been there to see the ghost a few times with different people, but it only looks cool at night,” said senior Derek Melville. Even though the legend is meant to scare people, there will always be some who don’t find it scary. “When I go there with my friends, I laugh and when it goes off, I throw my friends in the water,” said sophomore Thomas Holland. Even though the Finley ghost may not be real, the legend will still live on and scare people for many more years to come.

The Finley GhostBy DEVIN SCHELL S T A F F R E P O R T E R

In 1804 a farmer named John Bell moved with his wife and children to northern Robertson County in Tennessee to a 320 acre farm. They lived a peaceful life for the first 13 years, but in the summer of 1817, strange things began to happen. Members of the family started to see strange looking animals around the property, hearing knocking on the outside of their house, chains being drug across the floor, stones being dropped on the floors, and gulping and choking sounds. After keeping the paranormal activity to themselves for about a year, they publicized it, and soon a committee was formed to investigate the strange happenings. Soon people were coming from miles away to witness the force that was terrorizing the Bell home. The force soon gained a voice, and when asked what it was, it gave different identities. One iden-tity it gave was that it was a witch of Kate, a neighbor of the Bells. From then on, the force was called “Kate” or the “Bell Witch”. Kate seemed to have two reasons to go to the Bell home. One was to kill John Bell, and no one is quite sure why. The other was to keep John’s youngest daughter, Betsy, from marrying a boy named Joshua Gardner.

For the next three years, Kate tormented the Bell family on a daily basis, John and Betsy taking the worst of it, which even included physical abuse. Betsy’s hair was pulled, she was pinched, scratched, stuck with pins and even beaten. John suf-fered from swelling of his throat, saying it felt like a stick was being shoved sideways through his throat. Kate would put curses on him, making his facial muscles twitch and making him become more and more weak. On Dec. 20, 1820, John Bell died. It was said that Kate poi-soned John, as the remainder of the Bell family found a mys-terious bottle of fluid, and when tested on the cat, it caused immediate death. Then in March of 1821, Betsy broke off her engagement with Joshua Gardner. Kate bid farewell to the Bell family and promised to return in seven years, and that she did. She went to the home of John Bell Jr. and had talks with him about the past, present and future. She also said there was a reason for John Bell’s death. However, she did not say why. She then said she would come again in 107 years, but people say that she never left the area because of the weird phenomena that never stopped happen-ing in and around the county and the Bell Witch cave.

Most haunted place in America: TennesseeBy MAK McKINNISS T A F F R E P O R T E R

In the late 80s/early 90s, a boiler at Highlands Middle School exploded. The building was evacuated and school canceled the next day. The explosion gave rise to the story of a boy who had been living there who had died in the explosion. The story said that that boy’s name was Danny, and he haunted the school. The noises in the basement heard by janitors seemed to confirm the story. Three years after I graduated from Highlands, I returned. Five year Principal Scott Parker said, “It’s true. The story has been around for years.” With the help of 21 year teaching veteran Connie Fow, I was able to climb down into the tunnel under Handprint Hall. Upon making the five foot drop into the tunnel, I turned on the flashlight I had borrowed. The marker was to my right along with a skull. I climbed out of the tunnel feeling more like Indiana Jones than me. I found out from Larry Roberts, the school librarian, that the story has been morphed, making for a good Halloween story. The teacher who started the story has long since retired, but I was able to get details from Amistad P.E. teacher Deb-bie Lapiere-Warner. “I heard rumors of a boy living in the boiler room,” she said. She used to teach home econom-ics at Highlands and heard the rumor from Kristine Gilman(the art teacher over at Highlands). Kevin Pierce, now assistant principal over at Park Middle School, put the skull and cross in the tun-nel. I also interviewed two Highlands alumni, junior Gabe Beck and freshman Hayden Burris who both say the story is true; Beck also said he has seen other ghosts at the school. So Highlands really isn’t haunted. It’s just a story….or is it?

Highlands Ghost: Story or legend?By KYLE DAVIS S T A F F R E P O R T E R

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School14Chief LegendsIN-DEPTH

PRO CONIs it all right to tell kids ghost stories?

“A girl was in a mall parking lot walk-ing to her car when a man approached her and told her to drop her purse. She did what he said, and then a mall secu-rity guard came out and started yell-ing at the man. The guy got spooked and ran away. The guard asked her if she was okay, and she glanced at his badge and saw his name was Mark. She told him she was fine and then bent down to pick up her purse. When she stood up, the guard was gone. She was shaken up about what happened, so she went back inside to tell the security booth what had happened. When she told them a man named Mark had helped her, the guard at the booth said she must have been mistaken because the last Mark to work there had died six months earlier! He told her she probably misread his badge, but she knew what she saw, and Mark was there for her that night – at least in spirit!” Awesome story, huh? Telling ghost stories is not always bad, and the ghost story teller can always make the ghost seem friendly but still give children goose bumps, like this story does. Ghost stories are not only good for children to hear, but broaden their horizons and make them believe in the super natural. Kids really love storytelling, and kids love friend-ly ghosts, so ghost stories can be very popular among children. What would children’s lives be like without Casper the friendly ghost or Scooby Doo’s and Mystery Inc’s scary tales? Halloween wouldn’t be the same without scary ghost sto-ries to sweeten the candy. They serve as a means for adults to warn children away from dangerous places or behavior. Thrills brought on by scary stories or death-defying roller coasters subconsciously teach us to control and channel fear into cool-headed, lifesaving logic instead of blind panic or anger when faced with an actual terrifying situation. Children are fascinated with mysterious things, which is why books like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia are so popular among children. Children don’t become violent after hearing a harmful ghost story. Scientists who con-clude that scary stories can lead to phobias in adulthood obviously never had an older sibling who told their younger sibling ghost stories to scare them every now and again. Ghost stories can be a fun and healthy outlet for children, and you too! Libraries and bookstores overflow with sweet Halloween storybooks. As your child matures, read them ghostly folktales from around the world. China numbers more ghost stories than any other nation, but America, with its history of adopting many cultures and their stories, has soared past Africa and even the British Isles into the number two position!

By CHRISTINA WOODARD S T A F F R E P O R T E R

“The children heard footsteps up-stairs. It sounded like there were sev-eral people moving back and forth, back and forth. When someone called, “Who’s up there?” the footsteps stopped. Then they heard a woman scream. The scream turned into a groan and died away. Blood began to drip from the ceiling into the room where they huddled. A small red pool formed on the floor and soaked into the wood.

A door upstairs crashed shut, and again the woman screamed. “Not me!” she cried. It sounded as if she was running, her high heels tapping wildly down the hall. “I’ll get you!” a man shouted, and the floor shook as he chased her. Then silence. There wasn’t a sound until the man who had shouted began to laugh. Long peals of horrible laughter filled the house. It went on and on until everyone thought they would go mad. When finally it stopped, someone heard something coming down the stairs dragging something heavy that bumped on each step. They heard him drag it though the front hall and out the front door. The door opened; then it slammed shut. Again, silence. Suddenly a flash of lightning filled the house with a green blaze of light. A ghastly face stared at them from the hallway. Then came a crash of thunder. Terrified, they ran out into the storm.” Why add to the ever increasing violence that kids are exposed to in the media and in video games? Already, research indicates that children are becoming more and more cal-loused to violence around them. “We simply cannot stand for an epidemic of violence that robs our youth of their childhood and perpetuates a cycle in which today’s victims become tomorrow’s criminals,” said Holder, a children’s social worker (NBC News). Even for innocent children who come from good families, these kinds of stories are use-less. At young ages when imagination flows free and everything seems too real, children can be hurt from vivid stories like these. Why not tell them the good stories form the clas-sic books? Why tell them stories that will scare them rather than tell them stories that will make them laugh? Give children a positive memory of story time rather than a negative memory of nightmares and things lurking about. Children are very easily scared. When a child is told a story about ghosts and blood seeping through the floor, it is hard for them to take it lightly. Children who are told scary stories are more likely to have phobias in adulthood. Stories like these should be saved for

a time when people know how to appropriately respond to them.

By BOND HENDERSON I N - D E P T H E D I T O R

Mak McKinnis

“When living in Hawaii with my mother, our house was built on the King’s Trail (an old trail the king used to travel with slaves…), and at night cabinet doors would swing

open and slam shut, windows would slide open and while sleeping, we would experience an intense pressure on our chests, and my mother some-times experienced something like being continually punched in the stomach.”

Ernhel Tatunay

“In 2006, I went to the Phil-ippines for a month. We visited family in San Carlos City Pangasinan. While I was there, my aunts and uncles kept talking about the burned house next door, and how a lady died there. My cousins kept telling me that the house was haunted, but I didn’t believe them. So one night, one of my cousins and I went to the house with a camera and started taking pictures. After a few pictures, we reviewed the photos. The first few didn’t show any paranormal evidence. Then on the fourth or fifth picture, we noticed what

seemed like a white blur at the windows. I was curious about what it was, so I zoomed in. After taking a good look, we were able to make out a face, and as we observed the photos even more, it seemed to be an old lady in a white gown. After realizing what we had caught, my cousin and I got scared and ran back to my uncle’s house.”

Jeremy Droz-dowski

“Back when I was living in Pasco, me, my brother, and my friend were watching TV. My mom was in the garage, on the other side of

the living room. The stairs were by us. We saw a shadowy figure go upstairs, so we checked it out. There was no one, but we heard a few noises and asked my mom where she was. As before, she was in the garage, and we freaked!”

Personal Experiences

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 15 Tribal TalkOPINION & EDITORIAL

Every girl has probably heard the phrase, “That’s a boy’s team” at least once in her lifetime, and it’s usually brought up because she thinks it would be fun to play football, hockey, wrestling, or baseball.There is no rule(s) that states a female is unable to play a specific sport and same with a male playing a female sport. There have been times when boys join the cheerleading squad to cheer for their team, but a girl can’t play for her football team? “That would be awesome. I’m

so tired of having to hear from guys that girls can’t do anything and that they are so much better,” said junior Rochelle Karger. And the fact is, it is not always true. For example, Sheridan Mc-Donald, from Benton City, was allowed to join the Kiona-Benton High School wrestling team. She became a 4X state champion. She’s worked her way to the top challenging the boy’s and girl’s ranks. McDonald is 135 pounds of muscle, taking down almost every opponent, and she will compete against anyone to prove someone wrong. Sheridan Mc-Donald has taken a stance and has been awarded with scholarship offers, but she will be joining the Marines after she graduates, fol-lowing in the steps of her family. Kamiakin’s motto is “Be the best you can be.” It is the student’s choice, and Kamiakin should en-courage students to join any team they want, regardless of gender.

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Ka-trina hit Louisiana and would later travel through Mississippi. This is just one example of the many major natural disasters that has happened in the past few years. Just these few decades, we have had what would seem like an increase in earthquakes, tsuna-mis, hurricanes, and other disas-ters. During the 21 years follow-ing the 1990s, an estimated 142 natural disasters have happened with around 72 of them occur-ring during the first 10 years after 1990. The decade to follow from 2000 to 2009 saw some of the most devastating disasters in record history, including the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami in 2004 and Katrina in 2005. These natu-ral disasters are becoming more frequent with the passing years, and I believe it’s caused by the ever eminent year 2012 when our

world is to supposedly end. We are getting closer to that year and so far, we have had devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and record- break-ing winter storms in Europe and North America. Many people be-lieve that the end is coming just as much as some people believe that they can’t live without coffee. There is also the Mayan calendar that has led historians to think that the last day of earth is Dec. 21, 2012. For all we know, today could be the last day on earth. I think though that with all these disasters happening, they will continue to happen and become even more devastating until we get to the last day. It would ex-plain the increase of natural di-sasters happening and Mother Nature acting up. Sophomore Travis Black agreed about the increase in disasters, but he is skeptical about the 2012 end of the world theory. “Yes, I do believe that major disasters are increasing. But I don’t believe that the world will end in 2012 be-cause they said the same type of thing for the year 2000, yet noth-ing happened.” Maybe it is the earth, maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s God’s way of warning us that our days are numbered.

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SPot, dope, weed, Mary Jane: You all know what cannabis sativa is, and I am sure that the majority of you out there have tried or smoke the currently illegal drug on a reg-ular basis, and you may not care either way whether it gets legal-ized or not. However, there is one way that marijuana is legalized at the moment, known as medical marijuana. Medical marijuana is legal in 15 states and D.C., including Washington, our very own state. Within Washington, upon a visit to Seattle in March of this year, I found many advertisements of doctor’s offices prescribing the medicinal herb within an under-ground publication, The Stranger. The Stranger is distributed freely every Wednesday in Seattle and talks about aspects of life (music, food, art, clubs) from a less stand-offish approach unlike many oth-er newspapers. The Stranger also has numer-ous advertisements because it is a free paper, including medical marijuana, dance clubs (of vari-ous orientations) strippers (male, female, and drag queen variety), and restaurants located in Seattle and the Seattle area. When open-ing the early March issue, I found the front inside cover and whole back page to be covered in medi-cal marijuana ads, which made me curious about the legal aspects of marijuana and its future as a le-galized drug in America. Cannabis sativa, more com-monly known as the hemp plant, is a psychoactive drug; which has mind-altering effects on the brain and body. The altering ingredient is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. THC’s main affect on the brain is when the smoke passes through the lungs and into the bloodstream, which then travels to the brain and other organs. The THC hits specific areas in the brain with the most potency, like the cannabinoid receptors that cause a cellular reaction, influenc-

ing pleasure, memory, thought, concentration, sensory and time perception in the user. The effects from THC only last the time that the user feels high. With chronic users, the user is in a suboptimal field of thought for up to weeks at a time while on the drug. Eventually, with the chron-ic smokers, marijuana can dam-age the lungs and memory of the brain. Chronic smokers are also at risk for cancer, up to twice as like-ly as a person who only smokes cigarettes. Which brings me to the ques-tion that I am sure many of those pot smokers out there have also found: why, if marijuana’s effects on the body are limited and not nearly as bad as other drugs as-sociated with marijuana, includ-ing some legal ones, is marijuana not legalized all together? Alco-hol is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the United States, causing 79,000 deaths each year. Some of the ways people die related to alcohol are suicide (in-volving 33 percent with alcohol), poisoning, cradiomypatny and pancreatic (with 21,600 deaths each year), and 39 percent of all traffic fatalities happen because of alcohol. From 1920 to 1933, the Nobel Ex-periment, a.k.a Prohibition, made alcohol illegal in order to get rid of alcohol abuse within the home during the war, but while the pro-hibition was going on in the U.S., the average crime rates shot up, the experiment failed, and the harmful drink has been legal ever since. Also, if such a harmful drug as tobacco (which causes 435,000 deaths each year) and alcohol are legal, why isn’t an equally or less dangerous drug legalized? If cancer, which is the second lead-ing cause of death in the U.S., is caused majorly by tobacco smok-ing then why isn’t tobacco smok-ing illegal? Tobacco use leads to alcohol use, which leads to marijuana use, which leads to trying a harder drug and usually just going back to marijuana. This brings me to my conclusion: if anything, I be-lieve that since all three have the potential to kill thousands of us-ers, they should all be legalized, or they should all be illegal. More people die per year from overdos-ing on so many other drugs. The real threat is those harder drugs that are, and should remain, ille-gal.

Marijuana: Should it become legal?By HAILEY PAINES T A F F R E P O R T E R

Let girls play “boys’ sports”By DALIS McKENZIE S T A F F R E P O R T E R

Disasters strike, end of the world nears!

By AMBER MAIDENS T A F F R E P O R T E R

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School16Tribal TalkOPINION & EDITORIAL

What movie character scares you the most?

For months, the Kenne-wick School Board has been debating whether

to allow Gay-Straight alli-ances (GSAs) into the high schools. By voting on this, the school district would be allowing GSAs to have the same rights and resources as other clubs including posting signs around school and announcing meetings on the school bulletin. The vote would also allow re-ligious organizations the same rights, creating a sort of “win, win” situation for everyone. On April 20, the school-board voted 3-2 to allow GSAs. The school district will now start writing a per-manent policy, which will be voted on sometime in the summer. This is a big step for the city of Kennewick, which is traditionally very conserva-tive, but it is a well needed one that will help students and possibly keep them in school when times get tough because of bullying and ha-

rassment. Many students feel as if they have nowhere to turn, and the school board voting for GSAs shows that they are putting their per-sonal views aside and doing something for the greater good of the students. It has not been clear yet if any parents have an ob-jection to the newly passed rule, and hopefully there will not be. Our schools are here to shape us, and allow-ing GSAs shows that the Kennewick School District is tolerant and is widening its views in order to give their students the best edu-cation possible. Many stu-dents are excited about the possibilities that GSAs will bring, including the fact that it will help a lot of students who hide their sexual orien-tation to feel comfortable at school. “Life’s too short to live in fear,” said sophomore Chris Serna, in reference to stu-dents coming out in schools. “It’s time to show every-body who you really are.”

Our View:School board makes big steps in allowing GSAs

MISSION STATEMENT:The purpose of the Tomatalk is to inform, entertain, and further educate the students at Kamiakin High School and the surrounding community.

PUBLICATION POLICY:Content is determined by the staff. Students are protected and bound by the First Amend-ment to the Constitution of the United States and other protections and limitations afforded by the Constitution and the various court decisions relative to student publications. The To-matalk would like to be a forum for student expression and a voice for the free and open dis-cussion of issues. However, currently, we have prior review, and sometimes prior restraint. The staff of the Tomatalk is expected to be professional, objective, truthful, and accurate. The staff will adhere to the Washington State Law (WAC 180-40-215) which prohibits the fol-lowing material to be published:1. Potentially libelous material2. Malicious attacks on an individual’s character3. Material which is excessively vulgar or obscene4. Material which encourages illegal activity

EDITORIAL POLICYEditorials are the opinions of the individual members of the Tomatalk staff and are not in-tended to express the opinions of the administration, staff, nor students of Kamiakin High School, nor the advertisers in this newspaper. As a forum for student expression, the Toma-talk will publish letters to the editor. All letters are due one week before the next publication date. The staff reserves the right to edit or omit submissions as necessary. All letters must be signed by the student submitting them. However, if a student prefers his/her name not appear in the publication, his/her name may be withheld. All letters to the editor must be 300 words or less. In cases involving political or controversial issues, staff members are encour-aged to solicit all points of view.

Photo Poll:

Sharp Tooth & Scar-Seniors Amanda Garner &

Tanner Meier

Freddy Krueger-Freshman Sterling Farah

Cruella Deville-Junior Brittney Habel

Maleficent’s dragon form

-Sophomore Paige Stoker

For those of you who don’t know, Bravestock is the annual music festival that Kamiakin usu-ally puts on. It was named after the massive music festival of Woodstock. Our version of this historic event isn’t the same as what happened at Woodstock. Ours is more or less a bunch of

bands getting together and play-ing what they can. This year, un-fortunately, it was canceled. Not many students have heard of Bravestock. This is partly be-cause the school didn’t do a very good job of advertising the event. “I had never heard Bravestock, but if it was popular I see no rea-son for the school to cancel it,” said junior Clayton Simmelink. For the students who went, it was a blast. The event was a huge success with multiple bands in at-tendance. It was one of the better school sponsored events. Junior Walter Marozik said, “I went last year, and I probably would have gone again this year. It was loads of fun and I was bummed to see that the school didn’t do it again

this year.” Students who are just now hear-ing about Bravestock are disap-pointed that they missed out on this event. Junior Tyler Woodring said, “It’s a real shame it got canceled, it would have been a cool thing to go to this year!” It was scheduled for Sept 11, 2010. There are many rumors as to why it got canceled. The ASB officers that were interviewed did not give any comment on the reason it was canceled. Whatever the reason was, the event should have been held or rescheduled. Bravestock needs to be brought back next year; this is the opinion of all the students who were inter-viewed.

Bravestock: Should it be brought back?By ALEX PETERSONS T A F F R E P O R T E R

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 17 Tribal TalkOPINION & EDITORIAL

The earthquakes and the tsunami in Japan devastated not only a na-tion but a world full of sympathetic

people. Whether a person was directly im-pacted, through being injured or indirectly injured, through family members, friends, or nature’s sympathy for other human be-ings, there is not a happy ending. People are starting to realize what BBC’s various numbers that express this disaster truly mean such as “nearly 14,000 people died and another 14,000 are still unaccounted

for after the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March.” What if this very disaster didn’t happen to Japan and happened on our very coast? Instead of our worries about radiation hitting our coast, we would be worrying about how to recover. And not only after a tsunami, which was so powerful it reached the American coast, and earthquakes, with one being an 8.9 on the Richter scale, but after the nuclear plant blew up, displacing

thousands of people and exposing them to radiation that will have devastating

long term effects. It was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1985. A disaster for any country

brings devastation like no other. As a country

that is free and with tremendous benefits,

we should gather together to help Japan.

Although efforts are being installed by various charities, what more can we do

as a nation? After being through

a recession, a lot of families are wor-ried about mon-ey. This is very reasonable. But

let’s switch the sit-uation around. What if we had the disaster and

Japan had the recession? We would be thankful for every penny they offered to help. The question isn’t how much we should give Japan. It is what we can do for Japan. Maybe one fam-ily has only a dollar to spare, while another very fortunate

family might have a thousand dollars to spare. Whether you have a lot of money or a small amount of money, with the mil-lions of citizens contributing to this cause, we could help save a nation who is deeply troubled and needs us more than we can ever imagine.

Anyone who doesn’t live under a rock in the U.S. knows about the disaster happening in Japan and

how the U.S is Superman in country form and has to go help them get back on their feet. Why should we be Superman though when we are already $14 trillion in debt? Shouldn’t we be helping out our own citi-zens instead of helping out people who live on the other side of the world? Instead of helping Japan, we should solve our own problems first. We need to donate to our own country before we do-nate to foreign problems. There is no reason that other countries can’t step up and aid Japan while we worry about our $14 trillion debt. China could donate a lot more of their resources to Japan. They are a neighboring country, yet they only sent over $5 million and a 15 person support team. I’m sure China could spare a few more people, seeing as they have over 1.3 billion people. As individual countries, most of Europe isn’t do-ing much for the Japan relief. The U.N. has put out a few search and res-cue teams though, and they have two civil-protection teams on standby in Indo-nesia. Both what China and the U.N. are doing pales in comparison to what the U.S. is doing for relief. We have dozens of nuclear energy experts out in Japan, and we have about 50,000 troops stationed there that are active in relief efforts and di-saster control. So why do we have all these troops over in Japan when we are over $14 trillion in debt, when China and Europe just sit back and act like they are doing their best to help? Another reason we shouldn’t be giving to Japan is because how do you know your money is even going to end up in Japan? There are a lot of organizations that will earmark funds that are donated to help out Japan. So what you think will be helping new found orphans could re-ally just be giving the VP of the organiza-

tion a new office. Yes, we like to have all the other coun-tries liking us and saying how helpful we are, but there is a point when we need to ignore some other countries and focus on helping our own citizens, and we have reached that point.

PRO CONGiving Help to Japan

By VICTORIA DEMERS P H O T O E D I T O R

By DANIEL ELLIOTTS T A F F R E P O R T E R

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School18Tribal ReviewsARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

One day you’re flipping through the channels on TV. You stop on the Syfy channel because it catches your eye, only to

realize that the graphics are fake looking and the plot lines are all somewhat the same. The Syfy channel is notorious for cheesy types of movies. Here are the top five cheesiest:

By MARISSA LINDHOLMS T A F F R E P O R T E R

Cheesiest Syfy movies of all time

Shartopus: Been there, seen that- another movie where a crazy unknown species attacks and kills everyone. It’s an incredibly cheesy, very low tech, simple movie with no artistic value. This story is a version of Frankenstein, except this monster has sharp teeth and tentacles. No surprise in it whatsoever.

Dinocroc vs. Supergator: Two of the mightiest and most fearsome beasts the world has ever seen are brought together for a fight to the finish. Or not so much. All the two do is creep around some random island and make occasional attacks on civil-ians. A preschooler could probably make more realistic graphics than this movie has.Mega Python vs. Gatoroid: Like most Syfy movies, this one involves snakes. A group of animal activists breaks into a house and steals tons of exotic pythons be-fore setting them free into the Florida Everglades. The snakes grow into unusually large sizes and threaten the ecosystem. This movie is full of terrible special effects and cheesy monologues. Just a bunch of washed up 80s pop singers trying to act to revive their title.War of the Worlds 2- “This time we fight back!” The plot of this movie barely has any resemblance to the novel. It really has no graphic violence like the previous film. The aliens return to finish their plan of dominating mankind, beginning a second wave of attacks to destroy what is left of humanity.Thor: Hammer of Gods- A cookie cutter Syfy channel movie. The entire plot line is a cliché and the visual effects are restrained, of course, because of the budget. Most of the scenes consist of actors flailing their swords around at wolfmen, looking very stagey. The actors in this movie weren’t picked very carefully either. Who thought it was a good idea to cast the older son from Home Improvement as the legendary Thor?

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Since I was raised in Canada and moved to the United States, I have been able to sample the best of both worlds. There are some things that we have over here that-Canada does not have (Jack in the Box, for example). But I did notice that Canada has A LOT more things that we don’t have over here (Like Tim Hortons or Ketch-up Chips and Poutines). The Canadian candy though is what I miss the most. Here is a list of the top 10 Canadian candies that we are truly missing out on.

Smarties: Smarties are a color-varied sugar-coated chocolate confectionary popular primarily in the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany.

Crunchie: Crunchie is a milk chocolate bar with a “honeycombed” sugar center. It is made by Cadbury UK

Aero: Aero is a milk chocolate bar filled with bubbles of air, made by Nestlé

CaramilkCadbury: Caramilk is a caramel-filled chocolate bar made by Cadbury.

Sour keys: Sour keys are a type of confectionary sold in Canada. They are very sour and tart and so very popular!

Mars: Mars (also Mars bar) is a chocolate bar man-ufactured by Mars, Incorporated

Coffee Crisp: Coffee crisp is a chocolate cripsy coffee flavored bar made by Nestle

Wunderbar: Wunderbars are Chocolate bars that are made by Cadbury Ireland. It largely exists due to a small but loyal fan-base (with a dedicated fan site), as the product has not been advertised or promoted for years Mr. Big: Mr. Big is the largest sized chocolate bar produced by Cadbury,

hence the name. The standard bar is made of a long, layered vanilla wafer, coated in caramel, peanuts and rice crisps, which is then covered in the

chocolate coating.Maynards: Maynards are chewy, firm pastille-type sweets similar to gum-drops without the sugar coating

Canadian candies to go crazy about1

By OSCAR PEREZ S T A F F R E P O R T E R

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FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 19 Tribal ReviewsARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Ever had one of those days when you get home, flip on the TV, and your parents left the channel on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, or NWCN? Well, I do on occasion, and some-times I just leave it on to hear about the news of the day. Sometimes I hear about North Korea threatening to bomb some-body, or that they have nuclear capabilities or something like that. I can’t help but think to myself, “Why are they making all these threats? If a country with nuclear capabili-ties was to get fed up, they could just nuke Pyongyang, and the entire country would receive the fallout.” Also possible is a coun-try dropping two bombs on the poverty-

stricken nation, destroying a large portion of the country. So, what would happen if the entire country were affected by the ra-diation? Simple--All of the 24 million resi-dents would become zombies and invade their neighbors to the south: South Korea. South Korea, according to the CIA, has 48 million people, double that of their northern neighbors. Since South Korea is not connect-ed to any other country via land except for North Korea, it will be very hard for these people to get out. Here’s how it will happen: First of all, there are 30 airports in South Korea. Governments around the world will send military aircraft to the airports, first to northern regions such as Seoul’s Incheon International Airport. The amount

of air traffic over South Korea will likely force the United Nations to initiate a no fly zone for all unnecessary aircraft. Flights carrying passengers will likely be sent to other major airports around the Pacific Rim, including Seattle-Tacoma, Los Ange-les, Honolulu, Vancouver, Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Sydney and Lima. Military bases such as Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma may also be used. Once the people get to these airports, efforts would be made to make sure families have plac-es to stay and that they stay together. With South Korea’s close proximity to Japan, a large portion of the population will flock to the southeastern areas of the country to the cities of Busan and Ul-

san along with the Province of Gyeong-sangnam-do. The Japanese, Chinese, and South Korean governments will team up to ferry the affected population to Japan. Finally, one of South Korea’s provinces is not connected to the mainland. Many trying to stay within the bounds of their nation will most likely move and settle in this province be-cause it is over 50 miles off the coast, too far for the undead to swim.

Any good movie nowadays is not complete without the role of “the chosen one”. They are always skeptical of the idea that they are anything but an abandoned child forced to live with their aunt and uncle against their will and that they are destined to change the world. But we all know how it ends; the fate of the world narrowly edges out the forces of evil due to the awesome power of “the chosen one”. He will often make a remark about how it was a team effort but I think he is “chosen” for a reason and deserves a little more credit; he’s too legit to quit. He never gives up, he never surrenders, but that’s only because no one who’s been “chosen” has ever fought another “chosen” before. Luke Skywalker grew up without knowing his parents. His mother passed during labor and his father was a mys-tery to him throughout his life (until that moment in epi-sode V we all know about). Harry Potter also grew up without much knowledge of his parents, besides the fact that they were killed by Voldemort. Both possess unearth-ly powers that many others in their respected storylines possess but just at a much more powerful level. Their powers have their differences though. Luke has what’s called The Force. The Force is a biological presence that enhances natural physical and mental abilities including strength and accuracy. The Force also allows telekinesis, telepathy, hypnosis, enhanced empathy, reflexes and pre-cognition. A Force user can also control others’ minds and use a power lightning attack seen many times in the

Star Wars series. On the other side of the spectrum, we have magic. In Harry Potter, magic is defined as a natu-ral force used to override the laws of nature. Magic has a great deal more of versatility (in the right hands) than The Force does, but The Force is also a great deal more powerful. Magic uses specific incantation to provide an effect whereas The Force is a biological connection be-

tween the person and whatever they desire which al-lows for extreme manipulation of the object or person. A wand is to a wizard as the light saber is to a Jedi (Force user). It is possible to do without but is not highly recom-mended. Both wand and saber are bound to the owner and will never yield as much power in someone else’s hand as in the original owner’s. I would guess Harry isn’t about to

try sword fighting a Jedi, so any close quarter’s action will get him decapitated. Harry will most likely attack from a distance in order to remain as far away as possible from the light saber. Now Harry can throw spells all day without breaking much of a sweat, but I’m not so sure what The Force’s impact on magic is, or vice versa. It seems unfair to say one outdoes the other. So I think any attack that affects the mind or allows control over another’s cognition should be neglected to maintain validity. But an indirect approach would be much more sufficient, like using The Force/mag-ic to knock a wall over or physically move them. Both men have too strong of minds to let the other take theirs over, so there won’t be any stupefy spells or Jedi mind tricks. Of course any physical damage they can deal with their own flesh and blood could potentially do damage, which puts Skywalker at an advantage, for he has enhanced physical capabilities. You mostly see the light saber doing the ma-jority of the dirty work in Star Wars so that will be Luke’s best bet. The Harry Potter world is not extremely deadly though, at least not on the Star Wars scale. That’s not to say that people don’t get hurt or die in the Harry Potter saga. It just seems a lot more people are incapacitated or disarmed instead of killed. There is one crucial attack that Luke later acquires in his training that is only seen being used by the forces of evil. Force lightning is often used by the Sith (evil Jedi) to do great harm, and actually almost killed Luke. I fear that Harry Potter is just not “chosen” enough to take on a “chosen” like Luke Skywalker. Sky-walker wins with lightning to the face, sorry Potter fans.

Luke Skywalker versus Harry PotterBy EVAN RAMSEYE N T E R T A I N M E N T E D I T O R

Zombie Apocalypse; how it would happen in South KoreaBy MARK INGALLS S T A F F R E P O R T E R

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School20Tribal ReviewsARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Are you a horror fanatic? Do you enjoy the thrill you get when watching scary mov-ies? Well, if you are, then open the door to the paranor-mal and check out Insidious. The movie, Insidious, is filled with surprises that will surely make you tremble and keep you at the edge of your seat. The mov-ie starts off with a family of five moving into their new home. All is well in the family’s home; the sun is shining, and the kids are playing. What could go wrong? Of course, being in a new en-vironment, a young boy may want to explore. His adventure takes him to the attic, and there is where the haunting begins. The boy ends up in a coma, and while in his deep sleep, his family fac-

es a variety of terrifying events. The movie is rated PG-13, and I totally recommend it to any horror lover. So if you want some scares, go on and watch Insidious. I give it a two thumbs up for keeping me anxious.

Portal 2 went above and beyond the original. Most sequels take things out to make room for newer things, but Portal 2 only added things. In Portal 2, you wake up in a room, and you are greeted by a friendly little robot that helps you escape. You must make your way through the Ape-ture Science Laboratory. Instead of being in a seemingly endless loop of test chambers, you are able to find ways through dif-ferent parts of the giant facility. There are still test chambers that you must go through, but when you are in the test chamber ar-eas, you are testing many new things, like the different kinds of gel and the hard-light bridge. One addition to the game is three

different types of gel: repulsion, propulsion and conductor. Repul-sion gel allows you to bounce and keep your momentum when fall-ing. Propulsion gel helps speed you up allowing you to gain mo-mentum faster, and conductor gel is used so that you can put portals in more places. Another fun addi-tion to the game is the hard-light bridge. It is a solid bridge of sun-light that you can stand on and use to help you get to out of reach places. Along with these things, Portal 2 has many more addi-tions that make the puzzle solv-ing more fun and more difficult. Portal 2 also has the addition co-op. In the co-op mode, you and a partner are assigned two robots, each with its own portal gun, allowing the team to have four portals. You must work as a team to complete each of

the five courses. Each course has about eight test chambers. Portal 2 also has many good achievements that will test your skills with the portal gun and strain your problem solving skills. If you have dedication and patience, the achievements won’t be overly difficult to get.

Out of all the great grunge bands of the 90s, Screaming Trees was up there with the best. Hailing out of Ellensburg, Washington, (local much?) they formed in 1985 and signed with Epic Records. They branched out from grunge a lot and incorporated some hard rock and psychedelic sounds. They were very successful after put-ting out seven studio albums and five EPs in a matter of ten years. Screaming Trees’ most suc-cessful album was Sweet Oblivion (1992), which sold 300,000 cop-ies in the U.S alone. Sweet Obliv-ion had their most successful

single on it, “Nearly Lost You”. “Nearly Lost You” reached number five in the Modern Rock Tracks Chart and number 50 on the UK’s singles chart. This

was the band’s first single that got on a chart outside the U.S. A few years after Sweet Oblivion was released, Screaming Trees

released their seventh and last album, titled Dust (1996). Dust did very well, but they sim-ply could not top their success they had with Sweet Oblivion. One thing that Dust did was put the album on the Canadian Music Chart. This was the first album from Screaming Trees that ranked on a foreign chart. Four years after Dust was released, the band made their official breakup. Even though we will never get to listen to new Screaming Trees music, we can still appreciate the older tunes. Some of their best songs include “Nearly Lost You”, “All I Know”, “Dying Days”, and “Grey Diamond Desert”.

In this book Jodi Picoult shares a story about a young girl named Trixie Stone. Trixie’s father, Dan-iel Stone, is a comic book artist who works at home. Her mother, Laura Stone, is a college professor who has been hav-ing an affair with one of her students. Trixie was deeply in love with her boyfriend Jason, but when he dumps her for another girl, she’ll go to any lengths to get him back. One night at a teen party, Trixie’s big plan to win over Jason goes wrong. Later she returns home to tell her fa-

ther that Jason had raped her. Jason is arrested but let out later. The detective has noticed inconsistencies in Trixie’s story. They were close to dropping the charges when they found a date

rape drug in Trixie’s blood test that was taken the night she was taken to the hospital after the claimed rape. This is just the beginning. Jodi Picoult takes an average popular teenage girl’s life and has it go completely wrong by one mis-take. She takes any

father’s nightmare and brings it to life; betrayal and fear are continued throughout the en-tire novel. The twist of the story is unexpected. It’s a must read.

Reviews:

By ERNHEL TATUNAYS T A F F R E P O R T E R

Insidious Review

By Daniel ElliottS T A F F R E P O R T E R

Screaming Trees Review

Portal 2 ReviewBy DEVIN SCHELL S T A F F R E P O R T E R

Overall, I’d give this game a 10/10.

The Tenth Circle ReviewBy KYLEE SCHWARTZ S T A F F R E P O R T E R

Water for Elephants hit theaters Friday, April 22 with a bang. This movie was one of the an-ticipated movies of the year, with the book stunning millions of readers. This movie constantly has you standing on your toes. The movie is about the rise and fall of a circus as well as an inside look about the way the animals are taken care of

and the hard labor the work-ers endure to put on a show. Robert Pattinson plays Jacob Jankowski, a Cornell veterinary school dropout, who suddenly became an orphan after losing his Polish parents. Afterwards, he hitched a circus train and became the vet for the Benzini Brothers Circus, where animals perform until they drop dead. Reese Witherspoon plays Mar-lena, a circus act involving horses

and an elephant named Rosie. Marlena falls in love with Ja-cob, and together they escape the craziness of August, who is played by Christoph Waltz. If you like thrillers mixed with romance, then Water for Elephants is the show to see. I give this mov-ie a seven out of ten because some parts of the book were kept out of the movie which without read-ing, it is difficult to understand why certain things happened.

Water for Elephants reviewBy SADIE MACHARTS T A F F R E P O R T E R

If you take the poll on our on-line paper and record your name, come see Mrs. Bender for candy in room 314

Look on the Kamiakin web page and click on the Tomatalk.

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 21 ADVERTISEMENTS

Expires 3/31/11

6/4/11

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School22Tribal AmusementSHENANIGANS

Shenanigans

These days, most guys (and girls) try to think of the most creative and fun ways to ask their dates to the prom. Students were surveyed and asked about the most creative ideas they had tried themselves or heard of. Maybe if you are stuck and don’t know what to do, they might help you.

1. Take your picture in a photo booth and spell out prom.2. Have a cop “fake” arrest your date.3. Get a spray tan on your body asking the person to prom.4. Put rose petals leading the girl from her front door step to a park and be waiting there with chocolate and flowers.5. Take the spark plugs out of the car and when s/he pops the hood, the question is writ-ten on the engine.6. Send the person on a scavenger hunt. 7. Get customized balloons and put a word on each balloon to spell prom and have them delivered to the date. 8. Sticky note the person’s room.9.Give the person some chocolates in a box that has a note inside asking.10. Write in the driveway.

Prom calls for creativity

By DANIELLE OPENSHAWS T A F F R E P O R T E R

4 1 5 8 33 6 5

6 95

1 7 8 26

5 44 8 7

8 6 2 4 9

By DYLAN WILSON S T A F F R E P O R T E R

Challenge your mind

May 1, 1967- Tim McGraw (Country Singer)May 2, 1975- David Beckham (Soccer Player)May 3, 1984- Cheryl Burke (Famous Dancer)May 4, 1972- Chris Tomlin (Christian Singer)May 5, 1988 Brook Hogan (Pop Singer)May 6, 1961- George Clooney (Actor)May 7, 1978- Sean Marion (Basketball Player)

Celebrity birthdays!By CINDY GONZALEZS O C I A L C H A I R - P E R S O N

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School 23 Tribal AmusementSHENANIGANS

1) In France there’s a place called “Y”2) In Egypt people used to pay their taxes with honey3) The first baseball caps were made of straw4) Only 1 of 700 identity thieves get caught5) The chances of you dying on the way to get a lottery

ticket are greater than you winning6) One in three dog owners say they have talked to their

dog on the phone7) It would take 17,000 McDonalds strawfuls of water to

fill a standard bathtub8) Worms reportedly taste like bacon9) Whispering is more wearing on your voice than actu-

ally speaking10) There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos11) Scuba divers cannot pass gas at the depth of 33 feet or

below12) Real diamonds can be made of peanut butter13) Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated 14) Blueberry juice boosts memory15) Coca Cola was originally green

By CINDY GONZALEZS O C I A L C H A I R - P E R S O N

Fun facts Pokemon of the Month

Squirtle

Pixy Stix Laffy Taffy Nerds SweeTarts Spree Fun Dip Bottle Caps Shockers Kazoozles RuntsGobstoppers Gummies

S S S S C D G N S O G RA H D A P C N M T E P WF L O R S G U M M I E SS P A C E L T T O B S EA A T F K N S Y E W E LL T A F F E O R E R M ZE O U T O Y R E P C I OS R E P P O T S B O G OT T M O T A E A S O S ZN Y O R R B O E F E I AU X I T S Y X I P F F KR L S F U N D I P I Y S

By KYLEE SCHWARTZ S T A F F R E P O R T E RWONKA CANDY

1. “S&M” by Rihanna

2. “E.T” by Katy Perry and Kanye West

3. “Just Can’t Get Enough” by the Black Eyed Peas

4. “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele

5. “Down on Me” by Jeremih and 50 cent

6. “The Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars

7. “Give Me Everything” by Pitbull

8. “No hands” by Waka Flocka Flame

9. “Black and Yellow” by Whiz Khalifa

10. “No Sleep” by Whiz Khalifa

Top iTunes songs of April

By SADIE MACHARTS T A F F R E P O R T E R

FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011The Tomatalk • Kamiakin High School24ADVERTISEMENTS