Jan 30, 2008

6
THE WICHITAN page 4 THE STUDENT VOICE OF MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008 Death of CDs MP3s have all but replaced higher- quality compact discs due to easy accessibility, convenience. page 5 ’Stang domination Lady Mustangs rout visiting Wildcats 85-63, climb back to .500 in conference play. MARISSA MILLENDER FOR THE WICHITAN Nine singers, two musicians and the founder of The Harlem Gospel Choir flew into Wichita Falls Tues- day from New York City, bringing with them a whole lot of excite- ment. The Harlem Gospel Choir starts its sound checks around 3 p.m. to- day, warming up for its 7 p.m. perfor- mance tonight in Akin Auditorium. Preparations began a month ago to ready the auditorium for the choir’s performance, said Treva Clifton, as- sistant to the associate vice president for student affairs. Technicians were dispatched from Oklahoma City to adjust the sound in the auditorium. An electrician was brought in to fine tune the voltage going to the in- struments. “We’ve been preparing as we go,” Clifton said. “They have requested things like an iron, ironing board and towels that we have to pick up along the way.” Aside from auditorium adjust- ments, the choir needed equipment. “We never bring equipment. We have to fly, so it’s too difficult,” said manager Anna Bailey. “Alan Black provided drums and we rented keyboards from Tulsa,” Clifton said. “We talked to food service. They are providing the din- ner.” The choir will be served a meal of baked chicken, pasta or potatoes, salad and fruit prepared by the uni- versity food service. “We’re looking forward to meet- ing everyone, to some really good countryside and some really good food,” Bailey said. For the touring members, the choir is a full-time job. “We draw on talent from gospel churches in the area,” Bailey said. “These are professional singers.” The choir has about 60 members, but not everyone attends every per- formance. They travel and perform in groups of about 12. “A group like this is the normal touring format. Having 60 people on stage would be crazy,” she said. “There isn’t like a ‘Choir A’ and ‘Choir B.’ Groups are based on who can attend which performance,” she said. The choir’s performance is in high demand all over the country, especially in January and February when people are celebrating Black History Month, she said. “We perform in concert halls all over, but we get invited by universi- ties, too. Some of them have a small African-American population, and some of them have a large African- American population.” MSU’s African-American popu- lation is 12 percent of the 6,038 stu- dent body. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to travel the country,” she said. “There is enough opportunity to accommodate choir members with families or those who may not be able to travel every time,” she said. The Artist-Lecture Series is pay- ing the choir $11,150 to perform to- night, but the choir foots the bill for its airfare and lodging. The purpose of the choir’s per- formances is to share joy and love in faith and the gospel, according to Bailey. The performance promises to re- quest a lot of audience participation, she said. “We want to touch every heart in the room,” she said. “Sometimes that happens, and sometimes it doesn’t. We want to talk to people, speak to people and reach to people.” The choir is not looking to preach. Instead, they are looking to bring the experiences of Harlem and the black church to MSU. Not every song will be a gospel tune, she explained. The perfor- mance will also include some blues and jazz songs. “Gospel music has a strong influ- ence in other music, like Jazz and Rock and Roll,” she said. “We want to show everyone how strong that influence is.” With groups on the road constant- ly, it is impossible to rehearse every day, Bailey said. “We rehearse if we have new songs or new singers,” she said. “Around the tour schedule every show is a rehearsal for the next one.” The choir raises money to support charity foundations. CDs, wristbands and stuffed animals can be purchased on their Web site, www.Harlem- GospelChoir.com, to help contribute. Tickets are available at the Clark Student Center information desk. Students get two free tickets with a student ID. The next scheduled program in the Artist-Lecture Series is Bob Dole. He will speak April 14 at 7 p.m. in the Akin Auditorium. CHRIS COLLINS MANAGING EDITOR Some MSU students, faculty and staff think that Moffett Library needs to be renovated, according to a library survey. The “LibQUAL” survey, which measured library quality, organi- zation and staff helpfulness, was taken by ap- proximately 400 people both at MSU and in the surrounding community. Though most of the data from the survey hasn’t been processed or analyzed, said Collec- tion Devel- opment Li- brarian Dan Winslow, a common theme in the surveys was library reno- vation. Fickle temperature, bad lighting and outdated equipment were among the complaints suffered by the li- brary. For the most part, said Head Librarian Dr. Clara Latham, the grievances were valid. “We can hear their complaints, but there is only so much we can do to address the problem,” Latham said. Moffett Library, which was initially constructed in the 1960s, is an aging building. Parts of the edifice, such as the elevator, aren’t ADA-compliant, which certainly raises some security concerns for MSU. The ADA, or the Americans with Disability Act, tries to insure mentally and physically disabled people are able to fully utilize all public buildings. Presently Mof- fett Library isn’t up to par. “Students tell me they’re taking the elevator and I tell them to go to the bathroom and get something to eat and drink first,” said Electronic Access Media Librarian Chris Henderson. “You never know how long you’ll be in there,” he added. The library’s elevator, which is almost a half-century old, didn’t pass ADA inspection because of its inability to accommodate stu- dents in wheelchairs. See “Moffet” page 3 Moffett Library in need of repairs BOBBY MORRIS Many people know the name, but few may know the legacy that coincides with that name, Nolan Richardson. Nolan Richardson IV is the name many hear around campus. He came to MSU this off-sea- son after impressing many schools and scouts with a very solid season in the notoriously tough Jayhawk Conference at Hutchinson Junior Col- lege in Kansas. We all know the impact that Richardson IV has had on the men’s basketball team this year. He is leading the team in scoring - tallying 16.4 points per game through the first eighteen games. He is also leading the team with 2.8 assists per game, while tying with Chris Davis by log- ging the most minutes played on the entire team, averaging thirty-three minutes per game. What many fans and fellow students may not have known is the legendary background that Richardson and his family comes from. Nolan Richardson IV went to high school and was heavily recruited out of Tulsa, Okla., but he’s not the only member of his family to begin his career in Tulsa. Richardson’s grandfather, as you may have guessed, Nolan Richardson II, began his even- tually legendary coaching career at the Univer- sity of Tulsa. Before he began his coaching ca- reer, he spent some time learning and playing at Texas Western University under future Hall of Fame coach, Don Haskins. Haskins was a great innovator in the game of basketball, affecting many lives and bring- ing light subjects previously clouded in ambi- guity. These subjects include but are definitely not limited to the evident racial prejudice in the South and at many academic institutions. His beliefs and techniques on man-to-man defense revolutionized the game and are still studied and implemented to this day in high schools and universities across the nation. See “Richardson” page 6 A LEADING LEGACY Basketball player Nolan Richardson follows grandfather’s winning path Photo by Patrick Johnston SPORTS EDITOR Harlem Gospel Choir to perform tonight in Akin Auditorium Athletics fee passes student vote with 75 percent majority Photos by Patrick Johnston By Friday, 636 students had de- cided the fate of a little over 6,000. The athletic fee, which will add $10 per credit hour with a maxi- mum of $120 per semester to the list of fees that students currently pay, passed with a 75 percent ma- jority. On the other hand, only 10 per- cent of students participated, de- spite online voting being available all last week. Administrators had hoped for a larger percentage of students to vote on the fee. “I would have liked 6,000 to vote, but at least there was a strong effort to get the information out so the students could consciously choose to vote oar not to vote,” said Vice President of University Ad- vancement and Student Affairs Dr. Howard Farrell. While the student affairs and athletic departments held informa- tion sessions at Clark Student Cen- ter, Pierce Hall, and Killingsworth Hall, as well as posted flyers and posters around campus, many stu- dents did not know much about the fee. “It didn’t seem like a big deal,” freshman Brynlee Dowling said. “I didn’t have much information and didn’t feel it pertained to me.” The housing department worked to inform the R.A.s about the fee and encouraged its residents to vote, whether they were for it or against it. “I was encouraged to vote by housing and to inform our hall,” sophomore Staci Byrd said. “They made sure we were well in- formed.” The athletic department also spoke to different teams about how the fee would benefit them and coaches encouraged their players to vote. “The athletic director came and spoke to us about how it would help get us new locker rooms and help soccer, basketball, and other sports,” freshman athlete Keiven Swanson said. “They didn’t make us say yes and gave us the choice (to say no).” Despite all of the opportunities to get information about the fee, many students still had no clue about the new fee or that it was being voted. Freshman Chelsea Wright, who commutes every day from Lake Arrowhead, didn’t know about the fee. She is in and out of the build- ings just for her classes and did not hear about any of the information sessions or see any of the posters. “You can’t justify that most stu- dents go into the student center on a daily basis,” Dowling said. Students seem disappointed by the low attendance percentage. When compared to attendance in sporting events, the amount of stu- dents that voted on the fee seems even lower. It’s weird knowing that football had a big attendance rate, as well as soccer and basketball, Swanson said. “If you watched football, bas- ketball, or soccer, you should have voted, especially if you liked it.” “If more people had voted and known about it, it would have been a better thing,” Dowling said. “Then it would have felt more like a choice than an obligation.” Pending approval by the Board of Reagents and Texas Legislature, the fee will go into effect in Fall 2009. PATRICK JOHNSTON PHOTO EDITOR

description

See “Richardson” page 6 MP3s have all but replaced higher- quality compact discs due to easy accessibility, convenience. See “Moffet” page 3 Photos by Patrick Johnston P ATRICK J OHNSTON P HOTO E DITOR S PORTS E DITOR M ARISSA M ILLENDER F OR T HE W ICHITAN Photo by Patrick Johnston B OBBY M ORRIS C HRIS C OLLINS M ANAGING E DITOR

Transcript of Jan 30, 2008

Page 1: Jan 30, 2008

THE WICHITANpage 4

THE STUDENT VOICE OF MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008

Death of CDsMP3s have all but replaced higher-quality compact discs due to easy accessibility, convenience.

page 5’Stang dominationLady Mustangs rout visiting Wildcats 85-63, climb back to .500 in conference play.

MARISSA MILLENDER

FOR THE WICHITAN

Nine singers, two musicians and the founder of The Harlem Gospel Choir flew into Wichita Falls Tues-day from New York City, bringing with them a whole lot of excite-ment.

The Harlem Gospel Choir starts its sound checks around 3 p.m. to-day, warming up for its 7 p.m. perfor-mance tonight in Akin Auditorium.

Preparations began a month ago to ready the auditorium for the choir’s performance, said Treva Clifton, as-sistant to the associate vice president for student affairs.

Technicians were dispatched from Oklahoma City to adjust the sound in the auditorium.

An electrician was brought in to

fine tune the voltage going to the in-struments.

“We’ve been preparing as we go,” Clifton said. “They have requested things like an iron, ironing board and towels that we have to pick up along the way.”

Aside from auditorium adjust-ments, the choir needed equipment.

“We never bring equipment. We have to fly, so it’s too difficult,” said manager Anna Bailey.

“Alan Black provided drums and we rented keyboards from Tulsa,” Clifton said. “We talked to food service. They are providing the din-ner.”

The choir will be served a meal of baked chicken, pasta or potatoes, salad and fruit prepared by the uni-versity food service.

“We’re looking forward to meet-

ing everyone, to some really good countryside and some really good food,” Bailey said.

For the touring members, the choir is a full-time job.

“We draw on talent from gospel churches in the area,” Bailey said. “These are professional singers.”

The choir has about 60 members, but not everyone attends every per-formance. They travel and perform in groups of about 12.

“A group like this is the normal touring format. Having 60 people on stage would be crazy,” she said.

“There isn’t like a ‘Choir A’ and ‘Choir B.’ Groups are based on who can attend which performance,” she said.

The choir’s performance is in high demand all over the country, especially in January and February

when people are celebrating Black History Month, she said.

“We perform in concert halls all over, but we get invited by universi-ties, too. Some of them have a small African-American population, and some of them have a large African-American population.”

MSU’s African-American popu-lation is 12 percent of the 6,038 stu-dent body.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to travel the country,” she said. “There is enough opportunity to accommodate choir members with families or those who may not be able to travel every time,” she said.

The Artist-Lecture Series is pay-ing the choir $11,150 to perform to-night, but the choir foots the bill for its airfare and lodging.

The purpose of the choir’s per-

formances is to share joy and love in faith and the gospel, according to Bailey.

The performance promises to re-quest a lot of audience participation, she said.

“We want to touch every heart in the room,” she said. “Sometimes that happens, and sometimes it doesn’t. We want to talk to people, speak to people and reach to people.”

The choir is not looking to preach. Instead, they are looking to bring the experiences of Harlem and the black church to MSU.

Not every song will be a gospel tune, she explained. The perfor-mance will also include some blues and jazz songs.

“Gospel music has a strong influ-ence in other music, like Jazz and Rock and Roll,” she said. “We want

to show everyone how strong that influence is.”

With groups on the road constant-ly, it is impossible to rehearse every day, Bailey said.

“We rehearse if we have new songs or new singers,” she said. “Around the tour schedule every show is a rehearsal for the next one.”

The choir raises money to support charity foundations. CDs, wristbands and stuffed animals can be purchased on their Web site, www.Harlem-GospelChoir.com, to help contribute.

Tickets are available at the Clark Student Center information desk. Students get two free tickets with a student ID.

The next scheduled program in the Artist-Lecture Series is Bob Dole. He will speak April 14 at 7 p.m. in the Akin Auditorium.

CHRIS COLLINS

MANAGING EDITOR

Some MSU students, faculty and staff think that Moffett Library needs to be renovated, according to a library survey.

The “LibQUAL” survey, which measured library quality, organi-zation and staff helpfulness, was taken by ap-proximately 400 people both at MSU and in the surrounding community. Though most of the data from the survey hasn’t been p r o c e s s e d or analyzed, said Collec-tion Devel-opment Li-brarian Dan W i n s l o w, a common theme in the surveys was library reno-vation.

F i c k l e temperature, bad lighting and outdated equipment were among the complaints suffered by the li-brary. For the most part, said Head Librarian Dr. Clara Latham, the grievances were valid.

“We can hear their complaints, but there is only so much we can do to address the problem,” Latham said.

Moffett Library, which was initially constructed in the 1960s, is an aging building. Parts of the

edifice, such as the elevator, aren’t ADA-compliant, which certainly raises some security concerns for MSU.

The ADA, or the Americans with Disability Act, tries to insure mentally and physically disabled people are able to fully utilize all public buildings. Presently Mof-fett Library isn’t up to par.

“Students tell me they’re taking

the elevator and I tell them to go to the bathroom and get something to eat and drink first,” said Electronic Access Media Librarian Chris Henderson. “You never know how long you’ll be in there,” he added.

The library’s elevator, which is almost a half-century old, didn’t pass ADA inspection because of its inability to accommodate stu-dents in wheelchairs.See “Moffet” page 3

Moffett Libraryin need of repairs

BOBBY MORRIS

Many people know the name, but few may know the legacy that coincides with that name, Nolan Richardson. Nolan Richardson IV is the name many hear around campus. He came to MSU this off-sea-son after impressing many schools and scouts with a very solid season in the notoriously tough Jayhawk Conference at Hutchinson Junior Col-lege in Kansas. We all know the impact that Richardson IV has had on the men’s basketball team this year. He is leading the team in scoring - tallying

16.4 points per game through the first eighteen games. He is also leading the team with 2.8 assists per game, while tying with Chris Davis by log-ging the most minutes played on the entire team, averaging thirty-three minutes per game. What many fans and fellow students may not have known is the legendary background that Richardson and his family comes from. Nolan Richardson IV went to high school and was heavily recruited out of Tulsa, Okla., but he’s not the only member of his family to begin his career in Tulsa. Richardson’s grandfather, as you may have guessed, Nolan Richardson II, began his even-tually legendary coaching career at the Univer-

sity of Tulsa. Before he began his coaching ca-reer, he spent some time learning and playing at Texas Western University under future Hall of Fame coach, Don Haskins. Haskins was a great innovator in the game of basketball, affecting many lives and bring-ing light subjects previously clouded in ambi-guity. These subjects include but are definitely not limited to the evident racial prejudice in the South and at many academic institutions. His beliefs and techniques on man-to-man defense revolutionized the game and are still studied and implemented to this day in high schools and universities across the nation. See “Richardson” page 6

A LEADING LEGACYBasketball player Nolan Richardson follows grandfather’s winning path

Photo by Patrick Johnston

SPORTS EDITOR

Harlem Gospel Choir to perform tonight in Akin Auditorium

Athletics fee passes student vote with 75 percent majority

Photos by Patrick Johnston

By Friday, 636 students had de-cided the fate of a little over 6,000. The athletic fee, which will add $10 per credit hour with a maxi-mum of $120 per semester to the list of fees that students currently pay, passed with a 75 percent ma-jority. On the other hand, only 10 per-cent of students participated, de-spite online voting being available all last week. Administrators had hoped for

a larger percentage of students to vote on the fee. “I would have liked 6,000 to vote, but at least there was a strong effort to get the information out so the students could consciously choose to vote oar not to vote,” said Vice President of University Ad-vancement and Student Affairs Dr. Howard Farrell. While the student affairs and athletic departments held informa-tion sessions at Clark Student Cen-ter, Pierce Hall, and Killingsworth Hall, as well as posted flyers and posters around campus, many stu-

dents did not know much about the fee. “It didn’t seem like a big deal,” freshman Brynlee Dowling said. “I didn’t have much information and didn’t feel it pertained to me.” The housing department worked to inform the R.A.s about the fee and encouraged its residents to vote, whether they were for it or against it. “I was encouraged to vote by housing and to inform our hall,” sophomore Staci Byrd said. “They made sure we were well in-formed.”

The athletic department also spoke to different teams about how the fee would benefit them and coaches encouraged their players to vote. “The athletic director came and spoke to us about how it would help get us new locker rooms and help soccer, basketball, and other sports,” freshman athlete Keiven Swanson said. “They didn’t make us say yes and gave us the choice (to say no).” Despite all of the opportunities to get information about the fee, many students still had no clue about the

new fee or that it was being voted. Freshman Chelsea Wright, who commutes every day from Lake Arrowhead, didn’t know about the fee. She is in and out of the build-ings just for her classes and did not hear about any of the information sessions or see any of the posters. “You can’t justify that most stu-dents go into the student center on a daily basis,” Dowling said. Students seem disappointed by the low attendance percentage. When compared to attendance in sporting events, the amount of stu-dents that voted on the fee seems

even lower. It’s weird knowing that football had a big attendance rate, as well as soccer and basketball, Swanson said. “If you watched football, bas-ketball, or soccer, you should have voted, especially if you liked it.” “If more people had voted and known about it, it would have been a better thing,” Dowling said. “Then it would have felt more like a choice than an obligation.” Pending approval by the Board of Reagents and Texas Legislature, the fee will go into effect in Fall 2009.

PATRICK JOHNSTON

PHOTO EDITOR

Page 2: Jan 30, 2008

CHRISTIAN MCPHATE

OP-ED EDITOR

Turn on the lightsFriday, MSU students did damage not only to

themselves but also the rest of us.

They voted.

They also didn’t vote.

The student athletic fee passed, 477-159,

saddling everyone with more college expenses. Come

September, a student athletic fee of $10 per credit hour

up to $120 per semester will be imposed on each student.

For most of us, that’s $240 out of our pockets.

Athletics currently receives approximately

$550,000 yearly from student service fees. The new fee is

supposed to generate $1.2 million to $1.5 million yearly

for improvements in athletic facilities, transportation and

equipment.

Athletic proponents argued other programs

funded by student services fees will benefit from the

$550,000 formerly given to athletics.

That might be correct, but the true beneficiaries

are the athletic programs.

University officials operate under the belief that

by a better athletics program (which they believe requires

more money) makes for a better university.

This is a fallacy.

Before the athletics fee vote, the varsity softball

team won back-to-back conference championships and

the varsity soccer team went to the Division II Final Four.

We hate to break the news, but a better athletics program

does not mean a better school.

Most students don’t realize it, but attendance at

games is abysmal.

It’s certainly no money-maker.

In past years, MSU wooed students to games by

holding drawings at halftime to give away a semester’s

tuition and room and board. If athletics is important

enough to create a new fee, surely it should fill the seats.

But sadder than Friday’s outcome is voter turnout

itself. Even though online voting was available for five

days, roughly 10 percent of the student body cast ballots.

Those of you who complain of higher college

expenses only have yourselves to blame… if you didn’t

vote, that is.

Think about it when you pay the new student

utility surcharge. Think about it the next time tuition

shoots up.

Think about why you didn’t vote.

Staff Editorial

Illegal aliens from space terrorize reporter

Supper of wisdom from Satan to society

HALEY CUNNINGHAM

FOR THE WICHITAN

ViewpointsTHE WICHITAN

Finalist2004 Associated Collegiate Press

Pacemaker Award

Sweepstakes Winner 2006 Texas Intercollegiate

Press Association

THE WICHITAN

Copyright © 2007. The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Asso-ciation. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, faculty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwestern State University. First copy of the paper is free of charge; additional copies are $1. The Wichitan welcomes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before in-tended publication. Letters should be brief and without abusive language or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a telephone number and address for verification purposes. The editor retains the right to edit letters.

3410 Taft Blvd. Box 14 • Wichita Falls, Texas 76308News Desk (940) 397-4704 • Advertising Desk (940) 397-4705

Fax (940) 397-4025 • E-mail [email protected] site: http://www.mwsu.edu/~wichitan

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Brittany Norman

Managing Editor Chris Collins Entertainment Editor Position Open

Op-Ed Editor Christian McPhate

Sports Editor Bobby Morris Photo Editor Patrick Johnston

ReportersRichard CarterCourtney ForemanJosh Mujica

PhotographersLoren Eggenschwiler

Graphic ArtistRobert Redmon

Advertising ManagerCorrelle Ferlance

Copy EditorKimberly Stiles

AdviserRandy Pruitt

I work two jobs. O n one par-ticularly slow day d u r i n g my baris-ta duties, I decided to catch

up on my philosophy home-work. The essay I was assigned to read immediately caught my in-terest, and now it is one of my favorite pieces of literature. The essay was titled “Hell” and strangely enough taken from a cookbook. Robert Farrar Capon’s The Supper of the Lamb apparently had more to offer than just culi-nary reflection. I have always griped and grumbled about the materialistic

nature of society these days. It always seems that the sole motivation of people is to up-grade: Get a bigger and better car than the next guy, get a flatter and bigger screened TV than the neighbor, get the newest and hottest design of Gucci purse that no one from this town has seen before. Things, things, things. In the excerpt, Satan asks his most loyal subjects what they are doing to “hasten the dehu-manization of man.” Some suggest they have given society the opportunity to sin. Envy, pride, lust, sloth and war are among the temptations given to man, but Satan is dis-pleased with progress. Eventually, the smallest mem-ber of the group suggests, much to Satan’s pleasure, that as long as society dealt with real sub-

stances, they would tend to re-main substantial. To dehumanize mankind and deprive him of things. This got my wheels turning. We have been taught to see things as symbols; we have been trained to use them for effect, for an impression, for a competition and never for themselves. We no longer see bliss in the simple things in life. Everything has become mate-rialistic. I say this not as a pessimistic, starving college student who no longer gets to indulge herself in shopping sprees and nice din-ners. I say this as a very observant and very vocal member of a so-ciety, which I see to be losing it’s sight of values. Unless we can slow down enough to find happiness in something that has meaning in

itself, which in a sense is simple and foundational and not sym-bolic or representational, can we have meaning in life. It is said that people often miss their share of happiness. Not because they can’t find it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it. So I say this to you, my dear reader, slow down. Find your bliss. May it be talking with a friend, a bubble bath, a long walk in the rain or whatever. Take advantage of the things we take for granted every day. If you need me, I will be walk-ing barefoot in the grass. Feet firmly planted and hyp-notized by the big blue beautiful sky.

In Ste-phenville, Texas, sev-eral eye-witnesses, including a retired pi-lot, spotted d a z z l i n g l i g h t s shoot ing t h r o u g h the sky.

During the daylight hours in the small town of Dublin, an area hunt-er spotted a metal-shaped object the size of three football fields.

In the wake of the reported UFO sightings, I thought it was time for this humbled reporter to finally step forward with my own experience with extraterrestrials who may or may not have been from space.

In the year of our commercial Internet, 1994, I was driving home to Drumright, an oil ghost town lo-cated in the forests of Northeastern Oklahoma, from the university lo-cated in Stillwater. I was on a two-lane highway, with nothing but the music of Bob Dylan to keep me company on the dreadfully un-eventful 45 minute drive.

I was lost in the depths of my mind, a thing that often happens to writers when faced with the open road and no distractions. I was thinking about writing a script for

an upcoming project that involved lots of blood, a little bit of nudity and a whole lot of horror.

It was normally a pretty boring ride with nothing but darkness, the occasional falling star and random road kill to keep me company.

As I drove my junker car at its’ top speed 55 mph. I spotted a set of headlights coming towards me, which brought a small level of ex-citement to an otherwise monoto-nous ride.

While dealing with the oncom-ing rush of exhilaration, I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye. I slowed my car down to get a better look at what I had first thought was helicopter hover-ing above a creek, near the side of the road, less than a mile ahead of me.

As my car slowed to a halt, the car approaching from the opposite direction slowed down as well, watching the same craft hovering above the creek.

“What in the name-of-all-things-holy is that?” I whispered to Bob Dylan who continued to moan his folk song, ignoring my profound, soul-shattering, mind-bending, shake-a-person-out-of-his-box question.

Four spotlights on the bottom of the strangely-shaped craft shone down on the creek. They were moving around like law enforce-

ment officials searching with the spotlights on their patrol car for a speed freak who was zigzagging through a maze of trailer houses on an episode of COPS.

I rolled down my window to see if I could hear the sound of heli-copter blades whooshing through the air.

However, to the dissatisfaction of the rationale side of my mind, there was no sound.

I tried to make out the structure of the craft, but the shadows of the night seemed to mask it from my searching eyes with a darkness that was blacker than normal blackness (if that is even possible).

Thousands of images raced through my mind. They ranged from little green men with huge heads and slanted eyes pointing ray guns at my car while preparing to use mind magic that my former psychiatrist would envy, to the spider-looking alien from “Close Encounters of a Third Kind” being led by little E.T.s with goofy-look-ing heads.

I wondered if the little extrater-restrials were going to try to make contact and use their little probes on me.

It was an experience that I would rather avoid in the middle of the night.

Then a strange feeling washed over me, as if the rational side of

my brain was overpowering the creative side of my brain and or-dering me to get the hell out of Loonyville.

So I pushed the gas pedal to the ground and semi-sped away from the scene.

Then I noticed in my rearview mirror that the car in the opposite lane followed my line of reason-ing and did the same damn thing, much to the dismay of the aliens that I had thought might have been watching the scene.

Did I see a UFO?Do I believe in UFOs?I don’t know. However, I do know that humans

have been spotting strange objects soaring across the skies since the beginning of recorded history.

It is in our art and money: the Renaissance painting of Madonna and Child has a strange object ra-diating light and hovering in the air while a French token minted in the 1680s has a UFO suspended in the clouds.

And Ezekiel, an Old Testa-ment prophet with a book bearing his name, stated in the Bible that “something that looked like burn-ing coals of fire, like torches mov-ing to and fro” floated in the air above him “like glowing metal, as if full of fire.”

And we all know that prophets do not lie.

Page 3: Jan 30, 2008

News THE WICHITANJan. 30, 2007 3

5% off all wine and liter bottle

of liquor

Wine & Liquor Tasting

3pm - 6pm/ Saturdays

Call Your Orders In & Use Our Drive-Up Window

Happy Hour

10am - 2pm

Phone (940) 696-9229Fax (940) 322-3872

4505 Kemp Blvd. Wichita Falls, TX

22736

1908 9th Street www.dciplasma.com

Name: Steven Watson Occupation: USAF Course Developer

Hobbies: Reading, bicycling Why I donate plasma: To give

back to the community and be able to help others in their time of need.

Name: Candace Singleton Occupation: Student

Hobbies: Listening to music and visiting with friends

Why I donate plasma: Donating plasma is a great way to help people in need.

When You Donate Plasma You Help Create Life Saving Therapies for:

Newborns and their mothers

Children and adults with hemophila

Burn, shock, and trauma victims

Bone-marrow transplant adult recipients

Immunedeficient children and adults

Research and development in medical testingVaccine development

Surgical patients

Hepatitis patients

LINDSEY LEMON

For The Wichitan Midwestern State University’s Career Management Center (CMC) and the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) will co-host a Principal’s Panel for future educators beginning at 6 p.m. in the Shawnee Theater on Thursday February 7. The panel will be held for any student interested in a possible ca-reer in education and is open to all MSU students regardless of major or classification. At the panel, principals from five Wichita Falls ISD schools ranging from elementary to high school will be present to give ad-vice and information to MSU stu-dents. The panel is designed to give potential future educators informa-tion as to what they will be facing during their first year in the field of education according to Heidi Ha-kimi-Hood, College Coordinator at the Career Management Center.

“It is also a good time to network with potential future employers,” said Hakimi-Hood.According to Hakimi-Hood, the principals will discuss resumes, the interview process, and general do’s and don’ts for teachers just entering the field. Principals will also give advice on how to avoid making beginner mistakes and avoiding any ma-jor obstacles that face a first-year teacher.The panel discussion is scheduled to last about an hour, but Hakimi-Hood says that students are wel-come to stay after the formal panel discussion is over to speak with the principals one on one. Dee Palmore, Principal at Kirby Junior High School and one of the scheduled speakers, feels the panel is very beneficial to future teach-ers. “Future teachers are able to see the expectations needed to be suc-cessful in the profession,” Palmore said. In addition to Palmore the other

panel members are Cathy Blair of Crockett Elementary, Stacey Dar-nall of John G. Tower Elementary, Dr. Bob Mobley of Wichita Falls High School, and Clarisa Richie of Fain Elementary. According to Hakimi-Hood school districts have made very positive comments about education stu-dents from MSU. “School districts comment that education students from MSU dress professionally and conduct themselves in a professional man-ner,” said Hakimi-Hood. Hakimi-Hood said that 68 stu-dents attended the panel discussion last year and that the CMC hopes to see as many or more attend this year. This is the second year that the CMC and the ACEI have co-host-ed the event at MSU. For any additional information students are encouraged to contact Heidi Hakimi-Hood at the Career Management Center either by phone at (940) 397-6254 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Sen. Barack Obama claimed a decisive victory Saturday evening in the South Carolina Democratic pri-mary. The Illinois Senator received 55 percent of the vote, beating ri-val Sen. Hillary Clinton by a two to one margin. Former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards finished with 18 percent of the vote, in a distant third.

Obama’s popular campaign slo-gan – “change we can believe in”, resonated well with the people of South Carolina. He captured both the black and female vote; two co-alitions that he and Clinton hoped to win.

According to exit polls conducted by Edison/ Mitofsky for the Nation-al Election Poll and The Associated Press, 80 percent of blacks and 61 percent of women voted for Obama. Although, only 25 percent of white voted for Obama, approximately 70 percent of all white voters said they would be satisfied if Obama won the Democratic nomination.

Following the major primary win, Obama spoke to an invigorated crowd of supporters in Columbia, SC. “Tonight, the cynics who be-lieved that what began in the snows of Iowa was just an illusion, were told a different story by the good people of South Carolina,” he said.

Obama has continued to reiter-ate a message of hope and change, while emphasizing his role as a can-didate for all Americans.

“The choice in this election is not between religions or genders,” he told the South Carolina sup-porters. “It’s not about rich ver-sus poor; young versus old; and it’s not about black versus white. It’s about the past versus the future,” he said.

Clinton left South Carolina shortly after the polls closed. Speaking to supporters from Tennessee State University, later that evening, she congratu-lated Obama and reiterated the importance of the upcoming Super Tuesday primary contests.

Edwards offered similar com-ments – remaining confident in a campaign that has yet to win a pri-mary. “Now the three of us move to Feb. 5, where millions of Americans will cast their vote and help shape the future of this party and help shape of the future of America,” he told supporters.

Sunday, Obama received the en-dorsement of Caroline Kennedy. In an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times – “A President Like My Fa-ther” the daughter of President John Kennedy explained her choice to support Obama.

“Over the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel in-

spired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential can-didate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama,” she wrote.

Monday afternoon from the cam-pus of American University the se-nior Senator from Mass. Ted Ken-

nedy also offered his endorsement to Obama – the candidate he is certain “can make us believe again”.

S t a n d -ing with his niece Caro-line Kenne-dy, and son Rhode Island C o n g r e s s -men Patrick K e n n e d y , the political giant that is Ted Ken-nedy told the crowd “ it is time for a new genera-tion of lead-ership”.

In the spirit of a true Ameri-can leader and stalwart

Democrat Kennedy offered encour-agement to both Clinton and Ed-wards. Telling the crowd “whoever is our nominee will have my enthu-siastic support”.

At the heart of both Kennedy en-dorsements is a belief that Obama – like the late President Kennedy – possesses the ability to inspire Americans.

“I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president – not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans,” Caroline Kennedy wrote.

Obama also spoke Monday from American University, promising Ted Kennedy personally that he would carry out the visions of his slain brothers..

“This is more than just politics for me – it’s personal. I was too young to remember President Ken-nedy, and I was just a small child when Bobby ran for president. But, the dream has never died ... it lives on in those Americans, young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Latino and Asian and Native American, gay and straight, who are tired of a politics that divides us and want to recapture the sense of common purpose that we had when John Kennedy was president of the United States of America,” he said.

Political pundits are in agree-ment that Obama’s staggering vic-tory in South Carolina exceeded expectations, and that the Kennedy endorsements are powerful in a tight primary race.

Obama, Clinton, and Edwards continue to engage in a battle for Super Tuesday delegates, as they campaign across the country dur-ing the next week.

Super Tuesday primaries occur in 22 states on Feb. 5.

Victory in S.C., endorsements propel Obama campaignKIMBERLY STILES

FOR THE WICHITAN

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks to supporters, Tuesday, January 29, 2008, in El Dorado, Kansas, on his campaign tour in advance of the Kansas primary next Tuesday. (David Eulitt/Kansas City Star/MCT)

A fire marshal also ordered the building needed to add more audio/visual components to signal fire. “It’s one of the things we would like to see renovated,” said Kyle Owen, associate director of the physical plant. However, Owen stated, rebuild-ing or completely renovating the library could cost more than $15 million.

Though some plans have been made to rebuild Moffett Library, they are tentative. Presently, students are stuck with what they have. “Some of these renovations are not feasible given the current configuration of the building,” Dr. Latham said. However, some measures have been taken to address library con-cerns, such as a “deep quiet” zone

on the second floor. This may al-lay some student gripes about ex-cessive noise levels in Moffett Li-brary, Latham said. Also, the library has extended its hours until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday to assist MSU students and faculty. Moreover, Latham said, many grievances about library facilities are inoperable; the only end-all so-lution is a new library.

Many may have become more fa-miliar with Haskins’ and the Texas Western Miners’ story with the release of the 2006 movie Glory Road, which followed the champi-onship run made by Haskins’ team against all imagineable odds, back in 1966. Richardson II attended and played forward for Texas Western University, later re-named Univer-sity of Texas-El Paso, for his entire collegiate career from 1960-1964. Going into Richardson’s senior season, Haskins began coaching at TWU and came onto the scene transcending basketball and Rich-ardson’s life forever. The Texas Western Miners made the NCAA Tournament in Richardson’s final year, as their 1963-64 season was abruptly halted due to a controver-sial loss to Kansas St., in which Haskins repeatedly criticized as a travesty for a number of years. Following his playing career, Richardson made his head-coaching debut at the University of Tulsa in 1981. He led the Golden Hurricane to the National Invitational Tourna-ment Championship in his first year as the head coach, and that was just the beginning to his legendary ca-reer. He continued to coach at the Uni-versity of Tulsa until his contract ran up in 1985, when he left for greener pastures. Shortly thereafter the Uni-versity of Arkansas extended their hand and offered Richardson the job to fill their own head coaching vacancy, without repose Richardson II accepted. In 1994, Richardson’s ninth year at the helm, his Arkansas Razorbacks made the big dance and cruised all the way to a monumental match-up against the Duke Blue Devils. Rich-ardson’s Razorbacks would go on to defeat the Blue Devils 76-72 in the National Championship game, giv-ing Arkansas and Richardson their only Championship to this date. In Richardson’s tenth season they came as close as anyone has ever came to repeating as national champion without fully completing the feat.

The Razorbacks proved that their 1994 National Championship was not a fluke, by making it back to the National Championship game the very next year to take on the most storied program in NCAA Division I men’s basketball, UCLA. They lost that game, 89-78, but Richardson would remain the head coach and face of the program for another seven years, most notably being known for his overly aggres-sive style of play and defense, ob-viously inspired by Haskins. The exciting style of play was most no-tably coined infamously as, “forty minutes of Hell”. In February 2002, following a disappointing 14-15 season, con-troversy arose as Richardson spoke out against Arkansas administration and some of their fans. He claimed he was wrongfully being treated due solely because he was African American. Richardson challenged then-Ath-letic Director, Frank Broyles, to buy out the remainder of his contract. Broyles and the University regret-tably obliged, dismissing Richard-son as head coach later in the same month.

Clouded in controversy, Richard-son filed a lawsuit against the Uni-versity, the Board of Trustees, and the Razorback Foundation, citing a racially discriminatory environ-ment. The lawsuit was dismissed later in 2004, but not before na-tional media attention and specula-tion rained over both Arkansas and Richardson. Nolan Richardson II grew up in El Paso’s “Segundo Barrio”, or Second Ward, where he learned and grew up speaking fluent Spanish. This would help him when he resur-faced as a head coach for the Pana-manian National Team in 2005. Recently, Richardson accepted an offer to take over the head coaching responsibilities for the Mexican Na-tional Team, hoping to get them into the 2008 Olympics, a place where they haven’t been since 1976. No one expects Richardson IV to live up to his grandfather’s legacy or expectations. However, a better look into his background and his family’s contributions to the game of basketball makes it blatantly ob-vious how big the shoes are that No-lan Richardson IV is trying to fill.

Richardson......................................................continued from p. 1

Moffett...........................................................continued from p. 1

Principals from local schools to talk employment with students

Page 4: Jan 30, 2008

Once praised for its clear, crisp audio quality but panned for its suscep-tibility to scratches and smudges, the compact disc passed away in 2007 af-ter a quick but painful illness. It was 25 years old. The final cause of death has not been determined, but friends and fans blamed digital-download sites such as iTunes and illegal file-shar-ing among rich kids. In addition, doctors pointed to the big record companies and mega-selling artists who put out CDs in recent years that featured only a few good songs and lots of filler.

Simon Cowell, who is also a suspect in a mass plot to ruin pop music, is being

questioned by police. The CD was preceded in death by its sib-

lings, the cassette and 8-track tape. Its older cousin, the vinyl record, has been hanging on for

two decades, with life support from nerdy audio-philes.

Conceived in 1979 by engineers at Sony and Philips, the CD first went on the market in 1982. The inaugural album was Abba’s “The Visitors,” which led to Jerry Falwell’s accusation that it was a gay technology. The CD survived, though, and went on to ac-count for about 200 billion album sales world-wide. Its success led to a record-industry heyday in the 1990s, when such substantive and high-quality art-ists as Garth Brooks, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, the Backstreet Boys and Ace of Base sold CDs like umbrellas during monsoon season. “The compact disc was such a great friend,” mourned Brooks, the country singer who sold about 80 million albums in the CD era, many of them at Wal-Mart. “You could pop a CD into the stereo on your pickup truck or Lear jet and let it just keep spinning and spinning.” Since 2004, CD sales have declined by one-third while digital album sales have quintupled. Last year’s 19 percent slide from 2006 led doctors to finally sign off on its death notice.“I sure am going to miss the CD,” said Paul Mc-Cartney, whose Beatles are one of the last groups to refuse to sell their albums on iTunes. “On the bright side, new technology means that Beatles

lovers now can buy our albums for the third or fourth time.” Memorial services have not been finalized, but Elton John has committed to singing at the funeral. In lieu of flowers, please send $17.99 to the record-store owner of your choice.

EntertainmentTHE WICHITANJan. 30, 20084

There’s a big difference between bands who want to make their per-sonal living playing music, and bands who live to play their own personal music. The guys from local trio High Windows discovered that the hard way when a guitarist from one if their former bands, Nothing Re-mains, quit to play in the red dirt band, Texas Jack.

“Nick was the death metal dude of all time, “guitarist Tyson Arnold said. “He was a little older than us, and we always thought if we were a little bit cooler, and a little bit more into the hard stuff, we would be like Nick.” The members of High Windows decided to keep their day jobs and be on the side of the musical fence that allows them to play what they want. The band, which also includes

drummer Bran-don Arnold Ja-son Cooper on bass, doesn’t really expect to make a lot of money playing. But the mem-bers of the in-strumental trio enjoy record-ing and playing their own brand of spacey and metal instru-mental songs.

The group’s will play Fri-day, Feb 1 at The Office be-ginning at 9 p.m. along with The Down-Stares and The Advance.

All three members also play (with a second guitar-ist) in hardcore

and heavy metal band Lycergus. The Arnolds are recent MSU grad-uates and Cooper works full-time at the university.

They have known each other since they attended McNeil Junior High. In high school, they formed their first band called Beneath and released a CD.

“It was a great experience,” Cooper said, “and we sort of had our genesis as musicians in that band.” Since then, the members have jammed whenever possible.

They formed High Windows in July 2006 and played their first show last summer.

The band’s unique style means that its shortest song, “Forever Into Now” is over 13 minutes long. An improvisational band, the trio nev-er plays it, or the other two songs on the CD the same way. “Forever” can extend to 20 minutes or so.

“There’s a lot of freedom in each song,” Brandon Arnold said.

It’s also a group whose music, with the exception of some ex-tremely obscure references, doesn’t sound like anyone else. For general reference, the group’s sound can be likened to somewhere between a very early and experimental Pink Floyd and mid-period Sonic Youth.

“It’s big riffs, lots of dynamic--from the subtle whispers to a roar-ing storm,” Cooper said. “If you have to pick a genre, doom is the genre.”

The band’s drummer insists though that the band is not gloomy. “Doom has this massive feeling

and that was our original inten-tion,” he said. “We got going and we had the amazing vibe so we can do what we want and branch out.”

While some of the sections of their metal edges symphonies are written out, other parts are heavily improvised. “While we are inside them, it’s anything goes and that’s what I love about this band is the improv aspect,” Cooper said. “It’s a new challenge.”

Whatever they play, as long as the music comes together, is what concerns the three members. “Probably 90 percent of our music is the chemistry we’ve (the three of them) got,” Brandon Arnold said, “doing what we are going to do from knowing each other so long.”

“The reaction so far has been very positive,” Cooper said. “We had a lot of people come up and

say ‘hey, we can’t believe what we are seeing.’

“It’s just the unexpectedness of the music and the weight of it. Without lyrics,” Cooper thought-fully said, “you don’t have a rheto-ric to screw up that communication between the purity of the notes and what comes out on the other side, emotionally.”

(Left) High Windows guitarist Tyson Arnold plays a show at The One Six Nine on Lakeshore Drive. (Right) Tyson and bandmates, drummer Brandon Arnold and bassist Jason Cooper perform in front of a crowd at the intimate venue. Photo by Richard Carter

In it for the music Local band High Windows exemplifies unique style, unconcerned with convention

Compact discs join records, cassettes in graveyard of obsolete technology while MP3s thrive

5 REASONS TO MOURN THE CD1 No, really, they do sound better. Most MP3s feature data that’s

compressed for quicker downloads.2 Remember looking at album artwork? Granted, you often

needed bifocals to read the lyrics and liner notes on CDs,

but at least it was something. 3 You can’t throw MP3s out the window like frisbees. What are you

going to do now for dramatic effect when your wife/girlfriend plays

her Madonna, J. Lo or Gwen Stefani MP3s to the point of insanity?4 Computer/electronics companies, not record companies,

will soon run the music business. Compact discs were over-

priced, sure, but at least they profited corporations that ac-

tually discovered and developed new artists 5 The CD’s 74-minute max was enough. With MP3s taking over, we

could face 150-minute hip-hop albums -- featuring 28 annoying skits,

two good songs and four different remixes of those songs.

5 REASONS TO CHEER ITS DEATH

1 No more mad dashes to the player when the disc starts skipping. It sounded like you were back-masking a Slayer album for a satanic message.

2No more cellophane wrap. Those genius scien-tists figured out how to cram 10,000 songs onto an iPod small enough to hold in your butt crack, but could never invent a plastic wrap on CDs that

didn’t take minutes to get off, and occasionally require stitches when you resorted to scissors.

3 Those old silvery discs are great for arts and crafts projects. You can string them up as mobiles or cool doorway curtains, or even construct lawn ornaments out of them.

4It’s good for the Earth. No toxic plastic or downed trees are used in the making of digital downloads.

5Gen-X-ers have to own up to being old. Remember how you rolled your eyes when an “old” guy said, “Man, if it ain’t on vinyl, it ain’t on!” You’re that guy now.

Digital music eradicates aging competition

BY CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDERMCT

RICHARD CARTER

FOR THE WICHITAN

AUDITIONS:Friday, Feb. 8

4 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 9

9 a.m.- noon, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Where: Lamar D. Fain Fine Arts Center

**There are nine plays with parts for 20 males

and 10 females in total. Scripts are availible

to check out in the green room of the Lamar D.

Fain Fine Arts Center Theatre

Page 5: Jan 30, 2008

Sports THE WICHITANJan. 30, 2008 5

58613

1400 Borton LaneWichita Falls, TX 76305

Lively music anddown home

preaching andteachings.

Sunday School 9:30 A.M.Morning Worship 10:45 A.M.

Bible Study Wednesday Evening 7:00 P.M.

“The Church That Reminds You of Home”

New Jerusalem Baptist ChurchRev. Angus Thompson,

Pastor

We Welcome OurNew Neighbors

BOBBY MORRIS

SPORTS EDITOR

Five years ago, there wasn’t much talk around campus about the women’s softball team. There wasn’t an MSU softball field, and Coach Brady Tigert wasn’t the soft-ball coach. This was all due to the fact that there wasn’t even a softball team on Midwestern’s campus. Now, looking back, it seems like a distant, forgotten memory. The softball team earned a spot in the NCAA Division II regional tour-nament, for the fourth consecutive year. For those of you counting, that’s four out of their first four sea-sons in existence. Not to mention the Mustangs are looking to secure their third straight Lone Star Conference title, after claiming back-to-back Lone Star Conference tournament champion-

ships to go along with their three consecutive LSC North divisional crowns. Others around the LSC must agree, as the Mustangs received nine out of sixteen first-place votes to favor them, along with the An-gelo State Rambelles, to win their respective divisions in all of the pre-season polls. All-American third baseman, Kris-ten Stonecipher, who led the team in batting average, slugging per-centage, on-base percentage, runs scored, total bases, and RBIs was also named the LSC North Division Preseason Player of the Year. MSU relied on pitching and a solid line-up last year to post a 44-16 record, and will rely on much of that talent returning in order to se-cure their next division crown and return to the NCAA Division II re-gional tournament.

Senior left-hander Ashley Kuchenski brings a wealth of ex-perience, returning inside the circle that has never been seen at MSU before. Kuchenski holds a 36-13 career record, while providing sta-ble pitching, while, Midwestern’s young star out of Plano West High School isn’t on the field. The dazzling sophomore, Ka-tie Peterson, sprang onto the LSC scene last season and baffled many of her opponents. She set a program record for shutouts in a season with nine, and held the opponents’ batting average to, a true freshman record, .206. Peterson garnered first-team All-Lone Star Conference North divi-sion and freshman of the year hon-ors, as she posted a 25-12 record, a 2.03 ERA, and more than a five-to-one strikeout-to-walk ratio in a little more than 241 innings.

Rounding out the hurlers is a true freshman that led her team to the Class 3A championship game last year. Brittany Tanner, a right-hand-er from Burkburnett, was awarded All-State honors while leading the team to the state championship game, last year. Even with all of their talent in the circle, it’s very hard to distinguish where the Mustangs’ strength really lies: the pitching circle or with their very potent and experienced offen-sive attack. The previously mentioned Stonecipher only highlights a tal-ented line-up that includes former NJCAA All-American and NFCA all-region, Lindsey Voigt. Voigt, a senior catcher, trans-ferred from Vernon College prior to last season and showed off all the skills it took to help lead the team to the conference championship,

with Stonecipher. She hit .365 last season, including eight homers. Voigt also shows a unique mix of speed and power rarely seen from catchers, best evident in her ten steals and team-best thirteen sacri-fice bunts. After hitting much of last season from the middle-to-beginning part of the line-up, Tigert recognized all of Voigt’s abilities, and he made the decision to move his catcher to the leadoff spot entering the 2008 sea-son. Jessica Rodriguez, a junior first baseman, also returns to the starting lineup, solidifying the middle of the Mustangs’ order. Rodriguez drove-in 42 runs, second to only Stoneci-pher, last season, while slamming eight home runs and hitting .328. Newcomer to the Mustangs’ cause is a true freshman transfer, Amanda Potysman, who will bat

clean-up and play in left field after spending the fall semester at NCAA Division I Central Arkansas. Expectations are very lofty for such a young team, but Tigert is more than confident in his team’s potential to make noise from the Lone Star Conference, despite the fact that more than one-third of their roster are freshman. The Mustangs will open up their 2008 campaign this Friday after-noon in San Antonio at the Fourth Annual St. Mary’s Division II Col-legiate Class. They will open against Southern Arkansas at 11:15 a.m., and then battle Incarnate Word at 1:30 p.m. MSU then moves on to play Tar-leton State and Eastern New Mexi-co on Saturday, before finishing up against the host St. Mary’s Univer-sity on Sunday afternoon.

Batter Up

BOBBY MORRIS

SPORTS EDITOR

Despite playing against a much deeper and less fatigued squad, last Saturday, the wom-en’s basketball team rode the hot hand of guard Brandy Moore and dominated the Abilene Christian Wildcats, eventually winning a lop-sided affair, 85-63.

The win boosted Midwestern’s overall record to 8-9 and 2-2 in conference play, to equal Abilene Christian’s record in both catego-ries.

Moore led the team in scor-ing with a career-high 25 points, while shooting over 50 per-cent from the field, including a game-high four three-pointers made. The Mustangs defensive-ly suffocated the Wildcats from the tip-off holding them to 35 percent shooting from the field and hardly any transition baskets on the night.

Even though ACU had an ob-vious advantage with their deep bench, the Mustangs’ shortened bench, which featured all eight active players from their roster, appeared more fresh and active throughout the game, even to-wards the end of the second half they were still out-hustling the Wildcats.

A slow start from the Mustangs gave the Wildcats initial hopes with a quick six-point lead in the opening minutes of play, but after Moore and senior guard Stacey Staten dug them out of the deficit, MSU took hold of the lead halfway through the first half and never let off the gas pedal.

MSU took the momentum and translated it into a 44-33 lead at intermission, and kept it going after the half.

The Mustangs went on to simply overpower ACU in the second half, extending the lead to as much as 23 points, before it went final, 85-63.

Other top scorers for the Mus-

tangs w e r e Buben and Hodge, w h o both finished with eleven and ten, re-spectively.

Staten proved to be the engine that kept the Mustangs moving, again as this

game panned out she once again filled up the box score with eleven points, eight boards, six assists, two steals, and one

block. She also played most of the game sitting out only a cou-ple of minutes towards the end of the blowout victory.

Kristee Davidson and Au-drey Maxwell led the Wildcats in defeat, with eleven and ten points, respectively, Maxwell also pulled down a game-high eleven boards.

A week ago the Mustangs were dealt an equally lop-sided defeat when they visited the

First United Bank Center in Can-yon, Texas to take on the No. 18 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs.

The Lady Buffs cruised to a 72-51 victory, which featured a 22-0 run by WTAMU, extending from the first half into the second half. This win pushed the Lady Buff’s home court winning streak to a remarkable forty games.

Sophomore Brittney Smith knocked down a 15-foot jumper from the baseline with a little more than five minutes left in the first half. This would be the last field goal for the Mustangs for the next 7:45, representing the longest drought of that kind for the last three years.

The Mustangs held All-Ameri-can guard Emily Brister in check all night, as she only managed thirteen points, six rebounds, and six assists. Joni Unruh, Ja-mie Dreiling, and Courtney Lee picked up the slack for WTAMU all finishing in double-digits on

the night. Moore was the leading

scorer for MSU, again, fin-ishing with eighteen points, including another four treys,

while Morrison finished with seventeen points and three treys of her own.

The Mustangs’ next game is against Angelo State and is set to tip-off at 6 p.m. in the Junell Center/Stephens Arena in San Angelo. The contest can be heard live on 100.9 BOB FM, bobra-dio.fm, or on the MSU athletics Web site at msumustangs.com. Broadcast is scheduled to start

at 5:45 p.m. and will continue to cover the men’s game after this game goes final.

BOBBY MORRIS

SPORTS EDITOR

Ever since Glenn Thomas took over the reigns as offensive coor-dinator, at the ripe age of 25, the Mustangs have set the bar for of-fensive proficiency, averaging more than 465 yards of total of-fense per game. So much, in fact, that over the past two seasons the Mustangs football team has led all NCAA Division II schools in total regular season yardage.

There were people watching the Mustangs gallop up and down the field, obviously, as newly hired of-fensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons, Mike Mularkey, hired Thomas over the weekend to the vacant position of offensive quality control coach.

Thomas will join a relatively new staff, set up by veteran offen-sive coordinator, Mularkey, to help retool and rebuild a struggling and controversy-ridden Falcons fran-chise.

“Glenn did a great job for us as proven by our offensive produc-tivity. He’s a good coach, a great person, and an even better friend,” said MSU head coach Bill Maskill. “We’re excited about his opportuni-ty. It’s not often for a coach his age to get this kind of opportunity.”

Maskill took a chance on Thom-as four years ago when he an-nounced Thomas as the offensive coordinator, but the gutsy move to appoint such a young coach as of-fensive coordinator paid dividends

from the very beginning.The team’s offensive produc-

tion climbed steadily over each of Thomas’s first four years as of-fensive coordinator, before spiking last season with a school record 549.4 yards per game.

Thomas led an offense, which produced Midwestern’s first and only first-team All-American, Dan-iel Polk. Another tribute to Thom-as’s efficiency was the fact that his star quarterback was the only play-caller in the entire NCAA to post

more than 2,000 yards passing, while still running for over 1,000 yards, causing opposing defensive coordinators to have nightmares.

Thomas graduated from Texas Tech in 2001, after serving all four of his under-graduate years as a student assistant for the Red Raid-ers, one of NCAA Division I’s most potent offenses.

He then served as a graduate as-sistant, coaching the wide receivers at MSU for three years. He coached the wide receivers until Coach

Maskill appointed him as the of-fensive coordinator, in 2004.

Since Thomas’s graduation, he has interned at a couple of profes-sional franchises, coaching wide receivers with the Baltimore Ra-vens from 2001-05 and with the Jacksonville Jaguars last season.

He will begin his coaching re-sponsibilities immediately for Mu-larkey in Atlanta, as Midwestern’s search for a new offensive coordi-nator begins.

Mustangs softball season opens up full of promise and hope

Welcome back to Moffett Library!You asked for it! You got it!

You said you needed zones for quiet study.

You got starting this semester the 2nd floor turned over into the Deepest Quiet Zone. Only group study rooms on this floor are above a whisper.

The 3rd floor is the Inside Quiet Zone which is more suited to group study projects. Talking is o.k. but consideration for others is even better.

You asked for it. You got it!You asked for longer hours for the library to be open.

Starting this semester we will be open Sunday – Thursday until 2 a.m. We close 5 p.m. on Fridays and 6 p.m. on Saturdays.

You wondered where the DVDs went. They are still here.

We NOW have over 1400 entertainment style DVDs. They are still in the Media Department on the 2nd floor of the library

Join the Circle of Knowledge @ Moffett Library

Thomas hired as offensive coach for Atlanta Falcons

Mustangs out-hustle Wildcats, 85-63

Page 6: Jan 30, 2008

THE WICHITANJan. 30, 20086 Sports

ATTENTION MSU STUDENTS!

NSSE IS COMING!National Survey of Student Engagement

WANT ACHANCE TOWIN $500?

You may receive an email from NSSE in the near future. Just givehonest, well-thoughtresponses to help MSU improve the studentexperience, and youwill be entered into a drawing for one of two$500 prizes.

DRAWING FOR T WO $500 PRIZES WILL BE HELD IN JUNE

Don’t miss your chance tohelp make MSU a better place

for students!!!

The pieces finally came together for the men’s basketball team last Saturday. The Mustangs welcomed the No. 14 Abilene Christian Wildcats and their 11-game winning streak into D.L. Ligon Coliseum. The Mustangs have hovered around .500 for the entire season, but Lone Star Conference play has been especially rough this year. That is, until Saturday, when the Mustangs pulled together, made clutch plays, and finally got everything clicking, giving MSU enough to pull off the 76-69 upset victory. The win gave MSU their first confer-ence victory of the year, boosting their overall record to 9-9, raising their confer-ence record to 1-3. The loss also dropped ACU to 3-1 in LSC play, while handing them only their third loss on the season, dropping them to 15-3. The Wildcats entered D.L. Ligon with the most potent offense in the Lone Star Conference. Averaging over 89 points per game, and winning games by an average of fifteen points, Abilene Christian was on a roll. Junior forward, Trajinski Grigsby-proved to be a driving force for the Mus-tangs down the stretch. If you saw the first half (or if you left at halftime) you would have never guessed it. Grigsby played about eleven min-utes of the first twenty-minute half. He brought energy to the floor, but only at-tempted one field goal, eventually finish-ing with two boards to go along with his two points heading into intermission. Despite the slow start to Grigsby’s game, solid play from Jeremy Ford and Christopher Reay, who both put in nine first-half points a piece, gave the Mus-tangs a 36-31 lead going into the half.

I’m not sure what Coach Jeff Ray said in the locker room at half time, but I know one thing: it worked. Grigsby must have been especially moved by the coaching session, as he caught fire in the second half. Grigsby connected on three treys within the first ten minutes of the half, including a huge three-pointer to put the Mustangs up 60-45 with 9:36 left in reg-ulation. The Wildcats wouldn’t give up, con-tinuing to fight back, eventually cutting the lead to five. When it came down to it, the Mustangs proved clutch from the charity stripe, hitting 20-of-24 free throws to help seal the upset victory. MSU also dominated ACU on the boards, out-rebounding them by sixteen, while contesting every open look the Wildcats thought they had, while playing defense. The Mustangs held the Wildcats’ potent offensive attack to a mere 40.7 shooting percentage, which was less than ten percent lower than their season aver-age. The Mustangs also held them to 69 points, the lowest point total for the Wild-cats the entire season. Grigsby finished with twenty points and ten rebounds, eighteen of those were in the crucial second-half. Ford finished with eleven points, while the team’s sea-son-leading scorer, Nolan Richardson IV, finished with thirteen on the night. Junior point-guard Earl Rabb was also motivated, as he was making his first start of the year. He did all he could to capi-talize on the opportunity. He filled the stat line, collecting two steals, blocking a shot, scoring four points, snatching six boards. If that wasn’t enough, he dished out a career-high ten assists. Not to be out done, true freshman Charlie Logan, who graduated from Wichita Falls High School last year, con-

tributed greatly in his first real action of the season. In just eleven minutes of playing time, Logan blocked four shots, grabbed five boards and put in ten points of his own. Earlier last week, the Mustangs didn’t fare quite as well, as they dropped their third straight conference game 76-62 loss at the hands of the West Texas A&M Buffs, in Canyon, TX. A senior transfer from the University of Houston, Robert Lee, catapulted the Buffs to their third consecutive LSC win as he poured in a career high 31 points. Lee dominated for his team, as no one else on his squad even broke into double-digits. MSU had the Buffs on their heals end-ing the first half, as Richardson IV kick-started a 5-0 run to take the largest lead of the night, 32-27, with 1:24 left in the opening half. The Buffs reeled off a 7-0 run of their own to end the half, and take the lead for good. MSU tried all they could to get back in the game, cutting the lead to five with 6:14 to play. However, WTAMU pulled away to end the second half, even-tually running up the final 76-62. Richardson IV finished with a team-high 24 points, while Chris Davis and Grigsby finished with fourteen and eight, respectively. The Mustangs’ next game is against Angelo State and is set to tip-off at 8 p.m. in the Junell Center/Stephens Arena in San Angelo. The contest can be heard live on 100.9 BOB FM, bobradio.fm, or on the MSU athletics Web site at msu-mustangs.com. Broadcast is scheduled to start at 5:45 p.m. and live men’s cover-age will follow the final of the women’s game.

Mustangs stun No. 14 Wildcats, 76-69

Midwestern State forward Trajinski Grigsby (21) shoots over Abilene Christian forward Cameron Holsen (23). Grigsby scored eighteen of his team-high twenty points in the second half, to help the Mustangs pull away from the Wildcats and the Wildcats could never recover. The Mustangs held them off long enough to complete the upset victory, 76-69.

PATRICK JOHNSTON THE WICHITAN

BOBBY MORRIS

SPORTS EDITOR