The Optimist Print Edition 02.16.2007

Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Abilene Christian University Serving the ACU community since 1912

FRIDAY

IN THIS ISSUE

CAMPUS

Child’s playChildren from the community make their debut on the stage by participating in Sing Song as clowns, page 9B

Book pulls ahead of filmDespite a powerful tale of true forgiveness, Michael Landon Jr.’s ‘The Last Sin Eater’ fares better as Francine Rivers’ original book than on the silver screen, page 7B

The OPTIMISTFebruary 16, 2007Vol. 95, No. 37 2 sections, 20 pages www.acuoptimist.com• •

Double dutyFreshmen participating in Sing Song as Freshman Ushers will be able to perform onstage this year, as well as their ushering duties, page 9B

SPORTS

On a streakThe women’s basketball team beat Eastern New Mexico, 83-73, Wednesday. The team plays West Texas A&M on Saturday at McMurry University because of Sing Song, page 1B

ARTS

Publishing scheduleThe Optimist will publish Monday and Feb. 23 next week instead of Wednesday. Check online Saturday night for Sing Song results.

Finding his wayCamille Vandendriessche arrived from France last year to be a journalist and a track and field star, page 1B

Hot and smokin’Harold Christian took over his father’s barbecue business 25 years ago, putting Harold’s Barbecue and its sauce on the map, page 5A

FEATURES

‘Shifting into high gear’The host and hostesses of Sing Song 2007 differ in style, costume and voice. See scenes from the performances, page 4-5A

SPECIAL ISSUE

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

The women of Sigma Theta Chi perform their act as McDonald’s french fries during dress rehearsal Wednesday night in Moody Coliseum. If this club and the men of Gamma Sigma Phi win this year, it will mark six years in a row for both social clubs.

n The men and women of Gamma Sigma Phi and Sigma Theta Chi will attempt a six-year sweep of Sing Song.

By JEREMY PONDStaff Writer

Beginning with Sing Song 2002, the men of Gamma Sigma Phi and the women of Sigma Theta Chi have managed to capture five consecutive Sing Song victories. This year, these groups have been preparing as hard as ever as they make a run at No. 6.

Jennifer Rasco, sophomore elemen-tary education major from Abilene, will direct the Siggies this weekend for Sing Song 2007. The theme for this year’s program is “Shift into High Gear,” and Rasco said the Sig-gies are trying to keep their focus off of whether they win or lose.

“If our goal is to win, to lose would

be to fail,” Rasco said. “We’re just here to have fun and do our best.”

Both groups have been preparing their club performances since stu-dents returned from Christmas break. Sing Song rules allow for each group to practice eight hours a week, and very few of those hours have gone unused.

Preston Rampy, senior psychol-ogy major from Austin and director of GSP’s act, said his group has felt a little extra pressure.

“I think a lot of it, though, is pressure that we put on ourselves,” Rampy said. “We just want to go out and put on the absolute best show that we can.”

As they have prepared, Rampy said GSP has looked to beat past shows.

Siggies, GSP attempt No. 6

n Students offer differing opinion on why or why they didn’t participate in Sing Song this year, varying from time commitments and new friendships.

By TODD PIERSALLartS editor

Students join Sing Song for a variety of reasons. Whether it is for the competition, fel-lowship or for the thrill of be-ing in a large-scale production, around a thousand students are involved each year.

Mauri Westbrook, Sing Song business manager, said she es-timates approximately 1,200 students participate in the vari-ous aspects of Sing Song. This means around 36 percent of the student body is involved with Sing Song. Westbrook said these numbers of stu-dent involvement have been

1,200+ dedicate efforts to show


The men of Gamma Sigma Phi perform as firemen during their dress rehearsal.

n Despite Lectureship’s move to the fall, Abilene hotels and restaurants still expect many customers to boost spring sales by nearly 50 percent.

By MICHELLE JIMENEZCopy editor

Sing Song weekend usu-ally boasts a large economic increase for Abilene, but with Lectureship moved to the fall semester, a slight reduction in commerce has befallen the city.

Nancy Liles, executive di-rector of the Abilene Conven-tion and Visitors Bureau, said numbers are a little different this year as compared to last year’s Sing Song weekend.

Abilene expects economic boost

n Five hosts and hostesses reminisce about their journeys to the Sing Song stage and what they need to do to perform their best beginning Friday night.

By KELSI PEACEfeatureS editor

Before performances “Shift into High Gear,” Shalesia Rhodes is already talking about reuniting her fellow hosts and hostesses

at a cookout. “I pray that Sing Song is

not the end of our bond,” said Shalesia, junior music educa-tion major from Longview.

This year’s group is un-doubtedly close-knit — while some are jittery with nerves, others anticipating the thrill of the performance and others fretting over dance moves, they all share one common emotion: love for one another.

Luke Baty, junior music major from Orchard Park, N.Y., and Sing Song host, said he expected his role to be a learning experience, and to reward him musi-cally; he did not expect to bond with the five other hosts and hostesses.

“I expected us to come in here, do our thing, and not really form relation-ships with one another,” Luke said. “But it’s the exact

opposite. I feel as close to these people as people I’ve known a long time.”

The others, Evan Black, senior integrated marketing communication major from Denison; Jeremiah Gibson, senior youth and family min-istry major from Garland; and Randy Royse, junior music major from Bedford, agreed that the group has

Hosts, hostesses journey continues onstage

See STATS page 8A

See ECONOMY page 8A

See SIX page 8A

See HOSTS page 8A

n The Center for Conflict Resolution helps resolve conflicts between churches, families and ACU faculty, staff and students.

By MALLORY EDENSpage 2 editor

The ground break-ing for the Diane and John Duncum Center for Conflict Resolu-tion will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at the south-east corner of Judge Ely Boulevard and East North 16th Street.

The Center for Con-flict Resolution helps resolve conflicts be-

tween businesses and its customers, within churches, in families and on campus with faculty, staff, students, friends and room-mates. It has existed since 2000 after some interest in conflict resolution arose on the campus in the 1990s.

“Jerry and Patsy Strader gave the money to start the Center,” said Dr. Joe Cope, ex-ecutive director of the Center for Conflict Resolution. “At that time, we borrowed one

Ceremony kicks off Center’s new campus locale

See CENTER page 8A

EmiLY smith CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Jim Epperson, president of AT&T Texas, presented the university, with a $1 million check for the Bob & Shirley Welcome Center on Thursday afternoon.

By MALLORY SCHLABACHeditor in Chief

Senator Troy Fraser (R- Horseshoe Bay) and Jim Ep-person, president of AT&T Texas, flew to Abilene Thursday afternoon to deliver a $1 million check to Dr. Royce Money, presi-dent of the university, for the Bob and Shirley Hunter Welcome Center.

Fraser contacted Epper-son about helping get the Welcome Center started sev-eral months ago, Epperson said at a press conference.

“When Senator Fraser called me about the Welcome Center, he asked ‘When you hear about a Welcome Cen-ter, you just think about Bob and Shirley Hunter, don’t

you?’” Epperson said. Epperson agreed and be-

came a partner with ACU to support the technological side of the construction.

Money said the univer-sity still needs $4.5 million to begin building the Center located near the pond along Judge Ely Boulevard. He said he expected to have it raised by summer so the 16-18 month construction could begin in 2007 still.

Epperson said, “I’m glad we could play a small role in creating this Center and in making a lasting tribute to memorable people in Abilene: the Hunters.”

AT&T gives $1 million to Welcome Centern Gift to university helps construction process begin sooner.

E-mail Schlabach at: [email protected]

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Calendar Events&

The Optimist maintains this calendar for the ACU community to keep track of local social, academic and service opportunities.

Groups may send announcements directly to [email protected] or to the Editor at [email protected].

To ensure that an item will appear on time, the announcement should be sent at least 10 days before. The Optimist may edit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifi cations of published news articles will be printed in this space in a timely manner.

About This Page

Friday, February 16, 2007

Announcements

Volunteer Opportunities

President’s Day

4 p.m. Donald Hall, the 14th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the U.S. Library of Congress, answers questions at Hardin-Simmons in the JB Multipurpose Room.

8 p.m. Donald Hall poetry reading in the Hardin-Simmons JB Multipurpose Room.

Spring Preview Weekend for prospective students.

4 p.m. and 7 p.m.The baseball team plays East Central at the Crutcher Scott Field.

8 p.m.ACU Theatre performs ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ in Culp Theatre. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

8 p.m.Sing Song in Moody Coliseum.

Spring Preview Weekend for prospective students.

1 p.m. and 4 p.m.The baseball team plays East Central at the Crutcher Scott Field.

2 p.m.Groundbreaking for the Diane and John Duncum Center for Confl ict Resolution at the southeast corner of Judge Ely Boulevard and E. North 16th Street.

2 p.m. and 8 p.m.Sing Song in Moody Coliseum.

7 p.m.The men’s basketball team plays West Texas A&M at McMurry’s Kimbrell Arena.

8 p.m.ACU Theatre performs ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ in Culp Theatre. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

9 p.m.The women’s basketball team plays West Texas A&M at McMurry’s Kimbrell Arena.

7 p.m.The women’s basketball team plays Texas Women’s in Moody Coliseum.

19 Monday16 Friday 17 Saturday 20 Tuesday

The ground breaking of the Diane and John Duncum Center for Confl ict Resolution is Sat-urday at 2 p.m. at the southeast corner of Judge Ely Boulevard and E. N. 16th Street. All faculty and students are invited to this event. The ceremony should last ap-proximately 30 minutes, and there will be a tent on site. Because of limited parking space around the ground breaking site, shuttle buses will run from the Teague Circle in

front of the Onstead-Packer Bibli-cal Studies Building to the ground breaking site. The shuttle buses will depart from Teague Circle at 1:40 p.m. and 1:50 p.m. and will return to the campus immediately following the ceremony.

The Alumni Day Luncheon honoring Dr. James Womack, class of 1963, upon his selection by the ACU Alumni Advisory Board as the 2006 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year is Sunday at 12:15 p.m. at

CreditedChapelsto date:

CreditedChapelsremaining:

Chapel Checkup23 49

Big A Club of City Light Community Ministries has an urgent need for volunteers to ride buses and vans with elementary-age children and to help with Bible studies. This takes place on Wednesdays from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Contact the Volunteer Ser-vice-Learning Center in the Bean Sprout for more information.

Meals on Wheels needs vol-unteers immediately to deliver meals to seniors and adults with disabilities. This usually takes about an hour, and students can have one day of chapel per week excused for this service. Contact the Volunteer Service-Learning Center in the Bean Sprout for more information.

McKenzee Cheng, an interna-tional student, would like a female volunteer to help her pronounce vocabulary for her sociology class on Monday and/or Tuesday af-ternoons. If interested, contact McKenzee at (325) 669-7800 or at [email protected].

Volunteers are needed on March 1 from 9:30 a.m. until noon to assist senior adults walk up and down stairs at the Civic Cen-ter and escort them to lunch while they attend a conference. Con-tact the Volunteer Service-Learn-ing Center in the Bean Sprout for more information.

Big Brothers, Big Sisters is looking for young women will-ing to volunteer time and energy in a program called Y-teens. Y-teens will give young women from Abilene High School the opportunity to mentor girls from Franklin Middle School. Through activities and service projects, this program will empower young girls with knowledge about life skills and build self-confidence while creating an atmosphere for learning and emotional growth. Help is needed every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Franklin Middle School and Lincoln Middle School. For more information, contact Erin McMullen or MC Jennings at (325) 677-7839.

Day Nursery of Abilene needs volunteers to set up for their an-nual Mexican dinner, prepare and serve food and clean up. The din-ner will be held on March 24 at the Abilene High School cafeteria. Help is requested from noon to 10 p.m. For more information, con-tact Pat Peck at (325) 670-0002.

Fannin Elementary needs vol-unteers until the end of February to tutor fourth grade students in read-ing, writing and math in order to prepare the students for TAKS test-ing. Call to set up an appointment. For more information, contact Ro-salinda Walker at (325) 677-8085.

the Teague Special Events Center. Tickets are $15 and can be pur-chased through the ACU Alumni Relations offi ce at 809 EN 16th St.

ATTENTION ALL MAJORS! Study while traveling this sum-mer. Programs are offered in Aus-tralia, England, Scotland, Ireland, Jamaica and more. Scholarships

are available. The deadline to sign up is Feb. 28. See Ed Tim-merman for more info or e-mail him at [email protected].

Looking for an adventure this summer? Come intern with Dry Bones in Denver. Dry Bones is a ministry that works with homeless youth living on the streets of down-town Denver. The ministry needs four city interns and one moun-tain intern who will facilitate youth groups backpacking in the moun-tains and working in the city. Visit the Web site or contact Rebekah Duke at [email protected] for more information.

For those planning to gradu-ate in May, the deadline to submit the application for graduation to the Graduate School is March 1. The application is available in the

Graduate School Office, Room 204, in the Hardin Administration Building or online.

Come to the Chapel Prayer Room on Tuesdays in the Chapel on the Hill and Thursdays at the Quiet Place in the Onstead-Packer Bibli-cal Studies Building. Chapel credit is given. For more information, con-tact James Rhea at [email protected] or e-mail [email protected].

What do Tupac Shakur, Lau-ryn Hill, and Kanye West have to do with Jesus? Come find out at the weekly “Jesus and the Hip-Hop Prophets” Bible study on Thursday evenings at 8:30 p.m. in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building, Room 128. For more information, contact Matt Worthington at [email protected] or e-mail [email protected].

Friday, February 16, 2007 AADVERTISEMENT

A Friday, February 16, 2007SING SONG Page 5ASING SONG


Randy Royse and Luke Baty perform “This Joint is Jumpin” during the dress rehearsal Wednesday.

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERbrian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERbrian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER


Luke Baty, Randy Royse, Shalesia Rhodes, Jeremiah Gibson, Shaylee Busch and Evan Black perform “Everything Changes” during the final act of Sing Song on Wednesday night at dress rehearsal in Moody Coliseum.


Sing Song hostesses, Randy Royse, Shalesia Rhodes and Shaylee Busch perform “Proud Mary.”

‘Shifting’ to hit the high notesSix juniors and seniors prepare for a night

of fame during Sing Song’s 51st show, which premieres Friday

Shaylee BuschSenior interior design major from Cedar Park

Randy RoyseJunior music major from Bedford Evan Black

Senior integrated marketing communication major from Denison

Luke BatyJunior music major from Orchard Park, N.Y.


Shalesia RhodesJunior music education major from Longview

EmiLY smith CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Jeremiah GibsonSenior youth and family ministry major from Garland

February 16, 2007Page 6A

LACI ADKINS STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Harold has been spending time in the barbecue pit since he was 11 years old. Harold inherited the business, formerly known as Toby’s, from his father in 1972 and has been barbecuing ever since.

Newcomers often miss it. They look for a large building and a neatly packed parking lot. Few people expect to see the random arrange-ment of cars on broken cement and shell gravel in front of the little cor-ner building, but the mesquite-sa-vored air and long, chattering line

protruding from the screen door often gives the restaurant away.

About 40 people stand in line inside the tiny, square building. Shouts from Harold and cus-tomers greeting each other by name can barely overpower the lively chatter.

A tall, solid man in his early 60s, Harold cor-dially calls out from in front of the pit, “Hey, how you doin,’ Miss Hazel?”

“Oh, fine. Just flyin’ and buyin,’” the senior lady cordially responds.

“You always are.” They share a soft chuckle.An eclectic assortment of oil-stained me-

chanics, gentlemen in boots and white Stet-sons, college students and senior citizens wait with a patience and ease that is unheard of in most restaurants.

“Everybody wants to come here now that it closes earlier,” a gray-haired woman smiled sweetly from behind her glasses as she held to a wooden post for support. “If you’re not here by three, you’re done! You don’t get nothing — no thing — we say.”

Hazel Forkerway, a retired teacher from the Abilene Independent School District, has eaten at Harold’s since she moved to Abilene from Austin about 38 years ago, even though, she confesses, she is not a barbecue fan.

“I come for the hush puppies and the cob-bler,” she said, winking.

A group of HSU students form their own circle in the line. Since their freshman year,

they’ve come to get their barbecue baskets, hot-water corn bread and ribs for Friday lunch. It was their youth minister, a former Abilen-Ian, who gave them the gospel of Harold’s at their youth group in Allen.

“He said it’s the best place in Abilene to find barbecue,” Sarah Hargood said. “He was right.”

The sophomore elementary education ma-jor said she and her friends, also from HSU, join the Abilene community in making Har-old’s part of their tradition.

Harold’s Pit Bar-B-Q has been called “a land-mark” restaurant in Abilene for more than 50 years. The walls of the barbecue house are lined with history. Autographed pictures from visiting celebrities, local high school and col-lege football team trophies and pictures, news articles documenting local moments of glory and portraits of Harold’s family make a hum-ble museum of the restaurant.

“I pretty much run the operation the way my father taught me,” Harold muses, staring off in the direction where his father’s portrait hangs upon the wall.

Harold Don Christian, 61, has worked with his father in the barbecue business since he was 10 years old. He ran the business on his own for the first time when he was 11 years old. He made a few changes over the years, however, adding his famous hot-water corn bread, turnip greens and cobblers as side items to his dad’s basic menu.

Harold’s has come a long way since it first be-gan as Toby’s in 1956, however.

“When we purchased this place we had sawdust floors, three tables, and we had five booths. The only thing we had to keep our food [in] was an old Coke box.”

Now the restaurant seats about 75 and has new side dishes including fruit cobblers, coleslaw, potato salad, turnip greens and

hot-water corn bread.“Being black and going into business in 1956

was tough,” Harold said. “In fact, as far as I know, we were the first place in Abilene to integrate.”

Harold said that black Americans didn’t even live on the side of town where the restaurant had opened. Even so, Harold’s father, Hal Christian, refused to implement segregation.

“We never had a minute’s struggle because my father told them, ‘Eat together, or we won’t have no business,’” Harold said. “We’re not go-ing to open up the back door for blacks and the front door for whites, and from day one, every-body ate together. No complaints.”

Harold said his father would say, “Regard-less of who you are, if you give people respect, they will give you respect. If you work hard, then you will profit from it. People treat you like you act, and being a likeable person makes a difference.”

In that respect, little has changed about Harold’s.

In his jovial manner, Harold explained, “The thing about owning a restaurant like Harold’s is that it’s a mom and pop’s business; it’s sort of a family operation.”

He calls his homey method of business “the personal touch.”

“Here, I can talk to my customers; at Burger King, you’re just a number.”

Running a family business has its trade-offs, however. The profit for small business restau-rants is low, even in successful restaurants like Harold’s. There is no retirement plan and insur-ance is left up to the employee.

“It’s not a cake walk,” Harold said. “I can’t get up every morning and go golf and go fishing be-cause if I do, I’ll starve to death,” he said. “I’ve learned that having your own business isn’t nec-essarily the way to go. A lot of people think that

I can do what I want to, work like I want to. But you’re still working for people whether you own your business or not. When I get up in the morn-ing, I’m working for you and all of my custom-ers to serve y’all, give y’all good food, economical prices and treat you right. If you’re working on a job for somebody else, the same ethic applies.”

Harold said he is aware of the rumors about Harold’s closing its doors.

“I made the statement that I was going to have to get someone to manage my business or run my business,” he said. “If I couldn’t get anyone to step in and manage it full time and if I couldn’t sell it, then I would have to close the doors. When I made that statement, people took it and ran with it saying: ‘Did you hear that Harold’s is closing?’”

Harold said the public can rest assured that closing is not an imminent danger. As of now, there is no time table in motion toward new ownership or closing.

“I’d like to keep the tradition going on if at all possible,” he said. “But then at the same time, I don’t want to be working until I’m 85 years old.”

Harold said he never imagined that he would take over the barbecue business from his father. As a young man, he worked as a me-chanic at the Caterpillar Company. He took the restaurant over in 1972 when his father took ill with a brain tumor. The restaurant was his parent’s only source of income. Harold began barbecuing and never looked back.

“My business has been good to me,” Harold said. “I love my business. I love what I do, and I love my customers. When I come out and fuss with customers, cut-up and holler at them, it’s be-cause I enjoy that. I do this because I like that.”

ABILENE’S PIT STOPWith its friendly service and familiar favorites, Harold’s Pit Bar-B-Q has been an Abilene favorite for more than 50 years.

Story by Takisha KnightDesign by Kelsi Peace

E-mail Knight at: [email protected]


Customers go to Harold’s Pit Bar-B-Q for everything from the barbecue to the hush puppies and fruit cobbler.


Harold’s proudly displays autographs from visiting celebrities, local football team trophies and family photos on the wall.


When Harold’s opened as Toby’s in 1956, it had only three tables and fi ve booths. Today, the restaurant seats about 75 people.

Friday February 16, 2007 Page 7AADVERTISEMENT

A Friday, February 16, 2007FROM THE FRONT

consistent for several years.

Joshua Gorenflo, ju-nior Christian ministry major from Tyler, is in-volved in the junior class act this year.

“I wanted to do Sing Song because of the fel-lowship and friends,” Gorenflo said. “Plus, we are the Spartan cheer-

leaders, and that is just hilarious.”

Several students said they believe Sing Song is just a great way to be-come connected.

“I think that students want to participate in Sing Song because it is something that really brings the whole cam-pus together,” said Jenny Robinson, junior inter-disciplinary major from

Overland Park, Kan. “It is an amazing feeling to be a part of something so huge and so much bigger than one person; when it’s over, you re-alize how much it has changed you.”

Still, most of the stu-dent body doesn’t par-ticipate in Sing Song be-cause of a lack of time or disinterest in the production.

Daniel Oppong, soph-omore integrated mar-keting communication major from Richardson, said time keeps him away from Sing Song.

“I am already do-ing about a thousand things, and that would add another thing,” Op-pong said.

Stats: Some join, others avoid showsContinued from page 1

Liles, who tracks out-of-town visitors, said Abilene has an expected total of 1,000 visitors for this year’s Sing Song weekend — 2,500 less than last year. There also is an estimated $67,200 cut in Abilene’s economic impact for this weekend.

Regardless, the decrease hasn’t stopped local busi-nesses from experiencing an influx of customers.

Holiday Inn Express, lo-cated on East I-20, booked all available rooms for Sing Song by last July. Richard Lee, general manager of Holiday Inn Express, said people start making res-ervations for major ACU events six months to a year in advance.

“We’ve been turning away

people since August of last year,” Lee said.

Andy Banker, general manager of Comfort Suites, said there is a 10 percent increase in reservations for this weekend. Although sit-uated across town on Dan-ville Drive, Banker said Com-fort Suites is fully reserved on Friday and Saturday.

Local restaurants also ex-perience a boost in custom-ers during Sing Song.

Harold’s Pit Bar-B-Q is expecting a 50 percent in-crease, said Vrucilla Chris-tian, co-owner of Harold’s.

“Every year we have a lot of people come in,” Chris-tian said. “In the cold, rain or whatever, we have people tryin’ to come in.”

Economy: Lectureship affects crowds, incomeContinued from page 1

E-mail Jimenez at: [email protected]

“That’s really our main goal this year. We want to best our per-formance last year,” he said. “It wasn’t until Wednesday night that we even knew what the other groups were doing, so we focused on trying to beat our-selves.”

Both GSP and the Sig-gies want nothing more than to have fun per-forming in this year’s program. Rasco and Rampy both said the best shot their groups have of winning in their respective categories is to go out and be excit-ed about performing.

“You work so much

that if you’re not having a good time, you’re not going to put on a good show,” Rampy said.

Besides having a good time, the Siggies have also looked at Sing Song as a way to fur-ther build community in their social club.

“It’s all been about the process for us,” Rasco said. “We’re just focusing on the relationship aspect and becoming better as a club. Praising God with our gifts is really our main goal.”

Six: Two social clubs focus on fun aspectsContinued from page 1

E-mail Pond at: [email protected]

clicked well. Hostess Shaylee Busch, senior interior design major from Cedar Park, was not available for comment.

Preparing for their roles as hosts and hostesses, which includes a solo act, duet, men’s number, wom-en’s number and four group acts, has become almost a part-time job in past weeks. Jeremiah estimated practic-es have been about 20 hours a week recently; Randy said even some Saturdays were spent practicing.

Each member of the group comes to Sing Song with different experiences and dreams. Jeremiah tried out for host for the third time this year knowing, he said, he would regret not trying out one more time.

“This has been a dream of mine since I got here — since I saw Sing Song for the first time,” Jeremiah said.

Shalesia has never seen a Sing Song performance and had never heard of the production until a friend told her about tryouts the day before.

“Something just told me to go to Kendall’s office and see if I could sign up for a time,” Shalesia said.

For Evan, becoming a Sing Song host became a goal his senior year of high school when he saw the show dur-ing Preview Weekend. Evan worked backstage last year and participated in class acts in previous years. He has played the violin since fifth grade, sang in his high school choir and had parts in a few musicals.

“They really push us to try to stretch our voices and grow and break old habits,” Evan said. “Since I’m not a music major, I’ve had plenty of random little bad habits that I’ve picked up. It’s hard to break.”

Luke has spent most of his life on stage, in shows, musicals and choirs. He watched Sing Song from the jazz band section his fresh-man year and decided he

wanted to be a host. Randy, too, has spent a

lot of time on stage. She said she tried out to give back the talent she was blessed with. She sang in the fresh-man act and was a penguin with Sigma Theta Chi her sophomore year.

Now in the final week before the show, the hosts and hostesses are tweaking their performances and en-couraging each other, using methods like humor (from Shalesia) and optimism (from Jeremiah). They re-hearsed onstage for the first time Sunday.

“For about a half hour, we just kind of walked around on the stage and gawked at everything,” Jeremiah said.

While Jeremiah works to overcome nerves and take on a “rebellious” attitude for his solo, Shalesia prepares to dance in heels. She’s not nervous. Randy is but most-ly about staying healthy de-spite her sick roommates. Evan anticipates the a cap-pella number with SHADES and worries about dancing and making mistakes into the microphone. And Luke focuses on not focusing too much — he doesn’t want to over analyze.

Kendall Massey, Sing Song director, is making sure the group looks to God and is well taken care of.

“Unless you’ve done Sing Song before, you’ve never really done anything like this,” he said.

All the hosts and host-esses agree that they can’t wait for the show to open, to hear the crowd and feel their hard work pay off.

“When you perform something in front of a live audience,” Luke said, “every-thing just seems brand new because instead of perform-ing for the same eight peo-ple every night at rehearsal, you have all the emotions of 4,000 people weighing down on you and focusing on you. You can have so many dif-ferent responses now.”

Hosts: Performers prepare for stageContinued from page 1

E-mail Peace at: [email protected]

faculty office in the Col-lege of Business Adminis-tration building.”

John Duncum got his graduate certificate in conflict resolution from ACU, and he and his son Mike, both of whom have been in the real estate business, were appointed to teach conflict reso-lution in Cleveland. At that time, Cope said they “caught the dream.”

“The Duncums were very involved with what we were doing,” Cope said. “We asked for a little help for furniture, and Diane proposed that it should really have its own center. Our primary fund-ing came from their fam-ily and their business.”

With Mrs. Duncum’s

push for a more sufficient location and the Duncum’s financial backing, the Cen-ter for Conflict Resolution moved to 809 N. Judge Ely Blvd., where it has been lo-cated since 2005.

Last August, the Board gave the final approval for the new Duncum Cen-ter. The new building will house four mediation rooms, a big conference room that also serves as a classroom and offices for staff and faculty.

Mrs. Duncum has taken care of the look of the build-ing by buying all its decora-tions and furnishings.

“This will be an incred-ibly beautiful building with a warm feeling; it is impor-tant to have the right en-vironment in mediation,” Cope said. “The university has been very generous in

helping us get this loca-tion; we could not have a better one. The Duncums wanted people to always have a view of the univer-sity from the Center.”

There are also other strengths Cope hopes the new location will bring to the Center.

“For one, I hope it brings a stronger message of our presence and more visibility to the communi-ty,” he said. “Also, we can use the Center for more communication in the community through me-diation available to peo-ple outside the Center.”

This connection has in-spired a growing graduate program in conflict reso-lution at ACU, which has seen 125 students com-plete a graduate certificate. The Center is an affiliate of the Conflict Resolution De-partment in the College of Arts and Sciences, which is currently working to move classes online. This means that the Duncum Cen-

ter will have more rooms available for the use of the public instead of having them used as classroom facilities.

Speakers appearing at the ground breaking in-clude Dr. Royce Money, president of ACU; John Duncum and Cope. Dr. Jer-ry Strader, member of the Senior Board of Trustees, who also helped inspire the original Center for Conflict Resolution, will say the closing prayer.

“The very nature of the ACU community is one of reconciliation,” Cope said. “I want to thank those who paved the way for where we are and also offer a word of thanks for the people who have taken the graduate courses and been involved in the department in the last six years helping us design courses. They are a tremendous resource.”

-Krista Meyer contribut-ed to this story.

Conflict: Founders envisioned centerContinued from page 1

E-mail Edens at: [email protected]

E-mail Piersall at: [email protected] brian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Shalesia Rhodes, junior music education major from Longview; and Evan Black, junior integrated marketing communication major from Denison, perform a duet Wednesday at dress rehearsal.

n The Wildcat baseball team beat Incarnate Word on Tuesday and now face nationally-ranked East Central this weekend in a four-game LSC crossover series.

By DANIEL JOHNSONSPORTS EDITOR

After a solid outing by pitcher Ben Maynard and a slew of big run innings helped the Wildcats’ downed nationally ranked Incarnate Word 10-1 on Tuesday. The ACU baseball team is looking to ride its recent momentum into this weekend.

“We need to play like we did on Tuesday,” said head coach Britt Bonneau.

ACU, which is 6-2 and ranked at No. 18 in the na-tion, will take on regional and undefeated conference rival East Central in a four-game Lone Star Conference cross-over series at Crutcher Scott Field on Friday and Saturday.

“We just got to play well at home,” Bonneau said.

And the key to doing just that will be scoring runs when the Wildcats need them the most.

“We need to get the big hit when we need it,” said short-stop Willy Uechi.

So far ACU has gotten the hits it needed at home.

ACU is undefeated after sweeping Henderson State in a three-game series on Feb. 3-4 and beating formally ranked St. Mary’s 8-0 on Feb. 6.

Bonneau said victory would come for his team scores when they need it the most.

“The bottom line is we have to get runs across the plate,” Bonneau said.

ACU has outscored its op-ponents 61-27, and a major-ity of those runs have come in the first four innings. But Ue-chi said scoring early doesn’t guarantee a win.

“Once we get the lead, we need to keep going at them and

n The Wildcats defeated Eastern New Mexico to remain third in the division and play and the top team in the LSC South, West Texas A&M, on Saturday.

By MICHAEL FREEMANONLINE EDITOR

The Wildcats downed Eastern New Mexico, 83-73, Wednesday night in Por-tales, N.M., to improve to 15-10 for the season and 6-5 in the conference.

With the win, ACU current-ly holds the third spot in the South Division of the Lone Star Conference. Out of the eight teams in the division, only the four with the best re-cords will be able to advance

to the playoffs. ACU will look to stay within the top four this Saturday when the Wild-cats play the No. 1 team in the division: West Texas A&M.

“They’re tough to beat,” said head coach Shawna Lav-ender of West Texas A&M. “But I think if we’re patient, we play our game and we don’t let them outwork us, I think we have a chance with them.”

West Texas A&M has been the most dominant team in the conference this season. The Lady Buffs have an over-all record of 21-3 with an undefeated 10-0 conference record. Also, West Texas A&M

owns the conference rankings by being first in scoring de-fense, field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, assists, steals and turnover margin. The Lady Buffs aver-age nearly 74 points per game while holding its opponents to 56. The Buffs’ 18-point av-erage scoring margin also is the best in the Lone Star Con-ference. On top of all of that, West Texas A&M is entering Saturday’s game against ACU on an eight-game winning streak.

“They’re kind of coast-ing through the conference right now,” Lavender said. “So hopefully, we can catch them on an off night. Hope-fully, we’re playing well at

that point. If we play well, I think we’ve got a good shot at them.”

The Wildcats will go up against West Texas A&M after beating Eastern New Mexico on the road Wednesday.

ACU center Audrey Max-well put up 18 points and 19 rebounds — her ninth dou-ble-double of the season — to lead the Wildcats to an 83-73 win against Eastern New Mexico. Spurred by Maxwell’s offensive performance, the Wildcats shot 54.5 percent (18 of 33) from the floor dur-ing the first half.

ACU went into halftime leading Eastern New Mexico

Friday

BASEBALLACU vs. East Central, 4 p.m., (DH)

SOFTBALLACU at NFCA Leadoff Classic, Phoenix

MEN’S TENNISACU at Colorado State-Pueblo, Pueblo, Colo. noon.

ACU at Metro State, Colorado Springs, Colo. 7 p.m.

Saturday

BASEBALLACU vs. East Central, 1 p.m. (DH)

SOFTBALLACU at NFCA Leadoff Classic, Phoenix, Ariz.

MEN’S TENNISACU at University of Denver, Colorado Springs, Colo. 4:30 p.m.

TRACK & FIELDACU at Oklahoma Indoor Invitational, Norman, Okla.

MEN’S BASKETBALLACU vs. West Texas A&M at McMurry University Kimbrell Arena, 7 p.m.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLACU vs. West Texas A&M at McMurry University Kimbrell Areana 9 p.m.

n Home games listed in italics

SPORTSFRIDAYPage 1B Friday, February 16, 2007

SCOREBOARD

Standings

Upcoming

INTRAMURAL ROUND-UP

INTRAMURAL BASKETBALLSee intramural bulletin board for basketball schedule.

MEN’S BASKETBALLTeam Div. OverallMSUWTAMTarletonENMU TAMK-U

Angelo St.

7-27-26-24-53-53-6

18-415-817-710-1316-178-15

ACU 1-8 10-13

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLTeam Div. OverallWTAMTarletonACUAngelo St. TX Woman’s

MSU

11-06-46-55-65-64-7

22-314-715-1013-1011-1311-12

TAMK-U 3-7 8-15ENMU 3-8 12-11

Scores

Tuesday

BASEBALLACU 10, Incarnate Word 1

Wednesday

WOMEN’S BASKETBALLACU 83, Incarnate Word 73

MEN’S BASKETBALLIncarnate Word 89, ACU 76

Scoreboard as of Wednesday

BASEBALLTeam Div. OverallENMU ACUAngelo St. TAMK-UWTAM

Tarleton

0-00-00-00-00-00-0

7-16-23-32-21-22-6

SOFTBALLTeam Div. OverallAngelo St. TarletonENMUTX Woman’sACU

TX Woman’s

0-00-00-00-00-00-0

13-13-18-45-35-43-7

WTAM 0-0 1-5

See BASEBALL page 4B

See WILDCATS page 4B

Wildcats prepare to cross over with ECU

Women third in division, play Buffs next

BRIAN SCHMIDT SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Forward Audrey Maxwell drives against Tarleton State on Saturday. Maxwell has nine double-doubles this season including one against Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday.

BRIAN SCHMIDT SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

After stealing second, second baseman J.J. Pacheco slides into third on an error during the Wildcats win against Henderson State on Feb. 4.

n The men’s and women’s track teams are going to Oklahoma this weekend looking to qualify more individuals for the national indoor meet in three weeks.

By JARED FIELDSMANAGING EDITOR

Mark Paige isn’t going to Oklahoma this weekend for the Oklahoma Indoor Invitational.

He isn’t qualified individ-ually for the indoor nation-al meet yet, but a slightly sprained hamstring will keep him in Abilene to train and prepare to qualify the next

weekend — his last chance before nationals.

“It was mutual,” Paige said. “There’s no reason to go and not get it when I can stay to train and get it.”

The freshman sprinter will run in the 4x400-meter relay if the team makes it. Hood is taking a new relay team to Oklahoma to solid-ify his team for nationals. Paige and Johnny Jacob will run at nationals, but Hood is looking for two of the four going to Oklahoma to fill in

the other spots. Hood said Paige’s time in

the 200 meters is within a tenth of a second from the provisional qualifying time.

Head coach Don Hood would like to see Paige, and many others who are expect-ing to qualify, do so.

“On the guys side we could add eight or nine this weekend,” Hood said. “This is the last week for some to qualify.”

Hood said the men’s long jumpers and sprinters need to make times and marks they are capable of to get a

qualifying spot.The list of men still look-

ing to qualify includes three long jumpers, three possible pole vaulters and Marvin Bien-Aime, the 200-meter champion in 2005.

Hood said there aren’t as many who may qualify for the women as the men but could still possibly add five to the qualifying list. There are a number of pole vault-ers who could qualify, along with high-jumper Jessica Hunt and Mary Mwangi in the mile.

“[Jessica Hunt] didn’t

qualify until the very last week last year,” Hood said, not worried about Hunt’s performance so far. “And Mary is very capable in the mile.”

For those going to Okla-homa, Hood just wants them to perform as well as they can.

“I’m not asking them to do anything above and be-yond what they can do,” Hood said. “Just what they are capable of.”

Oklahoma meet last chance to qualify for some

Camille Vandendriessche holds a javelin and shot put, just two of the events he participates in as a decathlete. In his fi rst season at ACU, many believe he can contribute to the Wildcats’ success this year.

Story by Jared FieldsPhoto by Rachel Lau

See CAMILLE page 5B

Baseball

Track & Field

Women’s Basketball

The 6’8” Frenchman stands in the middle of the dance floor in Oplin.

Slender with short blond hair, he stands amazed at what to him looks like a scene out of a Western movie.

For Camille Vandendriessche, the ACU

campus is not the Texas he anticipated. The

taste of Texas country in Oplin, the “old gen-

tleman with a hat and boots,” was closer to

what he expected.

Abilene and ACU were not his original plan. Van-

dendriessche of Belgium descent on both grandpar-

ents’ sides wound up in Texas by luck.

A Jack of all Tracks

E-mail Fields at: [email protected]

n The newly founded ACU women’s soccer team signed seven players from across country on Feb. 7. The players should arrive in August to prepare for the 2007 season.

By CHRIS HANSENStudent RepoRteR

Beginning next fall, ACU’s first women’s soccer team will compete against other Lone Star Conference teams as part of NCAA Division II play. Practices are set to start after spring break, for players who are already at ACU, and in late summer for the entire team.

The new team, which will be composed of around 25 players, will be able to play home games on campus af-ter the renovation of the intramural field, located

between the Wells Softball Field and Edwards Hall.

Head women’s soccer coach Casey Wilson said the field will be a full-size soc-cer field with a new score-board, fresh-ly graded ground and new grass.

Of the 25 players, several are current ACU students, in-cluding Jordan Reese, ju-nior education major from Abilene. Reese played var-sity soccer at Abilene High School and has played club soccer for the past couple years.

Reese said she came to ACU under the impression that they would have a soc-cer team by her freshman or sophomore year.

Wilson said he started to get the team organized when he was hired in De-cember of 2005.

“This year is kind of a one-year-long tryout,” Wil-son said. “At the end of this spring semester, we will evaluate the players we have versus the players coming in, and that is how we will form the team.”

A new team means a lot of new players. Wilson was able to sign 10 players and add two transfers to the team for next fall.

Wilson said seven of the players signed will be fresh-men next year, but they come in with a lot of club soccer experience.

According to NCAA rules the team was prohibited from practicing as a team until Thursday. Wilson is now able to choose a 45 day window in which he can have up to 24 practices. However, Wilson has the op-tion of when to use the win-dow during the semester.

“It’s a little bit frustrating to not be able to work out at all and then be thrust into it,” Reese said. “Hopefully it will be worth while.”

Wilson said by delaying the practice window, the team will be able to attend a 7-on-7 tournament at Har-

din-Simmons University on April 21.

Having the practices af-ter spring break allows the team to practice in better weather and gives the team time to get into playing shape, Wilson said.

The incoming recruits won’t be able to practice with the team until Aug. 6. At that time, Wilson and the players will have just 19 days as a full team to get prepared to face well estab-lished conference foes such as Central Oklahoma and West Texas A&M.

Page 2B Friday February 16, 2007SPORTS NEWS


ACU forward Igor Vrzina goes to the basket against a Tarleton State defender Saturday. Vrzina scored a team high 18 points in the Wildcats 89-76 loss to Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday.

n The 5-4 ACU softball team is in Phoenix for its last preseason tournament on the road. ACU will have one more tournament at home Feb. 23-24.

By RACHEL DAVISSpoRtS WRiteR

This weekend, the Wild-cats will travel to Phoenix to compete in the NFCA Leadoff Classic.

The team is ranked No. 19 in NCAA Division II, has a record of 5-4 and a pre-season No. 5 ranking in the Lone Star South conference division.

The tournament begins with the women playing Grand Canyon University and Cal State-Stanislaus University on Thursday and Bryant University on Friday.

“After those games, we don’t know who we’ll play,” said head coach Chantiel Wilson. “It de-pends on how we perform in the first three games.”

Saturday, ACU will be in bracket play to deter-mine what place they will get. After its last tourna-ment, the team has some improvements to make to its offense.

“We want to improve

Women’s softball heads to Phoenixfor game

n The men’s basketball team will take on West Texas A&M at McMurry University on Saturday. ACU is 1-7 in conference after losing to Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday.

By DANIEL JOHNSONSpoRtS editoR

The men’s basketball team has lost 10 of its last 11 games, including an 89-76 loss to Eastern New Mexico on Wednesday. But head coach Jason Copeland isn’t ready to write off the season just yet.

“You can start counting the days or can make the days count,” Copeland said.

ACU’s days in conference play are limited, as they have three games remaining on the schedule. ACU would need to win those last three games, and other teams would have to lose to give the last-place Wild-cats a chance at making the postseason for the first time since the 1997-98 season.

“You don’t ever want to think that you don’t have a chance,” said guard Riley Lam-bert. “If you think that, you don’t have any desire to play the game.”

But Copeland said despite the slim possibility of a post-season appearance, he is just focused on playing West Texas A&M on Saturday.

“We can’t worry about that,” Copeland said. “We just got to get ready to play Saturday against a good West Texas team.”

West Texas is likely to make the postseason with its 7-2 conference record and tied with Midwestern for first in the Lone Star Conference South Division. The Buffs beat the Wildcats 78-69 the first time the two met this season.

Lambert said the key to

victory against West Texas is playing hard all 40 minutes of the game.

“We just need to play a complete game,” Lambert said. “We really haven’t played a complete game all year.”

ACU is coming off of its second loss this season to Eastern New Mexico. The Ja-velinas carried the momen-tum in both halves, as the Wildcats couldn’t recover from the 20-12 Javelina run in the first half.

“We dug us a little hole, and that hole continued to grow throughout the game,” Lambert said.

Copeland attributed the loss to the more than 50 points in the paint the Wild-cats allowed.

“We gave them too many easy looks inside,” Cope-land said.

Forward Igor Vrzina led the Wildcats in scoring with 18 as three other Wildcats scored in the double digits against Eastern: guards Philip Brooks (17), Cortnie Ross (13) and Elmo Williams (10).

Regardless of the trouble ACU has encountered at the back end of its season, Cope-land said he has seen progress from his team since last year.

“We’re still trying to build a program, so we’re just try-ing to continue to get better,” Copeland said.

So far, 10-13 ACU already has two more overall wins than last year’s team but has only won one conference match-up; last season ACU won four.

“We’re trying to make every day count that we have left,” Copeland said.

Sixth-straight loss slims playoff chances

Wilson signs first recruiting class

n The men’s and women’s tennis teams both defeated Hawaii-Hilo on Tuesday. The men will play three matches in Colorado this weekend while the women have a break.

By MICHAEL FREEMANonline editoR

The Wildcat tennis teams cruised over the Hawaii-Hilo teams Tuesday in the Teague Special Events Center.

The ACU men beat Hawaii-Hilo with an easy 9-0 victory. The Wildcat men, ranked No.

22 in Division II tennis, im-proved their record to 8-2 on the season with the win. The men did not drop a set Tues-day against the Vulcans of Ha-waii-Hilo, who are ranked No. 36 nationally, as they recorded their second-straight match sweep. The Wildcats beat Har-din-Simmons 9-0 on Saturday.

The ACU women routed the Hawaii-Hilo women, who are ranked No. 11 in nation, 8-1. For ACU, Tuesday’s win was

the second straight victory over a team ranked in the top 20. ACU defeated Hawaii-Pa-cific, No. 18 nationally, on Sat-urday. The Wildcats are ranked No. 5 in Division II tennis, and the win on Tuesday gives them an overall record of 5-2.

Tuesday’s matches marked the third straight week of play for ACU.

“They love playing,” said head coach Hutton Jones of the Wildcat teams. “I just kind of wanted to get a lot of match-es in. We’re going to be more

comfortable in more situations because we’ve faced some dif-fering opponents.”

The Wildcat men returned to action Thursday against Seward City Junior College in Spearman. Seward City is ranked in the top 10 nationally among junior colleges.

On Friday, the ACU men are headed up to Colorado to take on three teams. First, the Wildcats will play Colo-rado State-Pueblo in Pueblo, Colo., on Friday at noon. Then at 7 p.m., ACU will

compete against Metro State in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“In the past, they have been real respectable D-II programs,” said Jones of Colorado State-Pueblo and Metro State. “We need to play D-II matches other than our conference schools.”

On Saturday, ACU will stay in Colorado Springs to take on the University of Denver, a Division I school. Denver is ranked No. 55 in the nation.

“To be in the top 75, you have to be pretty doggone

good,” Jones said. “I kind of think we’re going to get a mix. We’re going to play a team that is better than us that is going to stretch us, and then we play a couple of teams … where I do expect us to be the dominant team.”

The ACU women will not play again until the Stephen F. Austin Invitational on Feb. 23.

ACU tennis teams breeze through Hawaii-Hilo opponents

Wilson

Men’s basketball

Tennis

Soccer

Head coach Casey Wilson signed seven players that will help make up the first ACU women’s soccer team in Fall 2007. The soccer season will begin in August.

n Courtney Wilson, Odessa

n Jordan Reese, Abilene

n Lyndsey Womack, Longview

n Lauren Hale, Cisco Junior College

n Bree Craig, Arlington

n Stefani Lazcano, The Colony

n Ashley Simon, Lockhart

SOCCER SigNEES

E-mail Hansen at: [email protected]

E-mail Freeman at: [email protected]

E-mail Johnson at: [email protected] See PHOENiX page 4B

Friday, February 16, 2007 Page 3BADVERTISEMENT

B Friday, February 16, 2007SPORTS JUMPS

with more consistent hitting, and we want to try to score every inning,” Wilson said.

Since the start of the sea-son, the offense has not been consistent during games. The team has had trouble get-ting runs on the board at the b e g i n n i n g of games — out of the nine games played, only one game has seen a score during the first in-ning — and t y p i c a l l y doesn’t score until the third or fourth inning.

Three players have a bat-ting average at or above .500, but most are below .300 at the plate. The team batting average is .279, the sixth-highest average in the LSC South division.

Wilson said she wasn’t concerned with any particu-lar opponents this weekend.

“We just want to focus on us and how we are playing,” she said.

And the team does seem to be working on its focus. Chessie Brehm, Tayler Wil-son and Genevie Ramirez all currently have a batting average of .500 or more. Jenna Daugherty has bat-ted in nine RBIs and pitcher Ashley Bailey has a team-low ERA of 2.13. The team’s average ERA is 2.73, putting ACU at second in the divi-sion in pitching just behind Angelo State.

Last weekend, the women played in the CBS Insurance Classic against three differ-ent teams and finished in third place.

The Wildcats play its last preseason tournament at home next weekend before beginning the actual season on March 2 against Texas Women’s University.

“We’re looking forward to being at home,” Wilson said.

Phoenix: Team to finish preseasonContinued from page 2B

E-mail Davis at: [email protected]

Wildcats: Women to take on WTAMU

not be satisfied,” Uechi said.

One of the most con-sistent bats and base runners so far for ACU is second baseman J.J. Pacheco. Pacheco leads the team and LSC in runs scored, hits, doubles, stolen bases and total bases.

As a compliment to a need for consistent hitting, Maynard said that the Wildcat start-ing pitchers needed to put ACU in a position to win.

“It’s up to the pitchers to keep the runs down because we know our hit-ters are going to score,” Maynard said.

Incarnate Word’s hitters couldn’t score against Maynard Tues-day as he threw six full innings and only allowed one run and six hits in the win. The win was Maynard’s 25th in his

ACU career, tying 1966-69 pitcher Bill Gilbreth on the school’s all-time list.

But beyond the per-sonal milestone, May-nard is more concerned with getting his job done on the mound and help-ing his team win.

“Just plugging along,” Maynard said. “I’m just going by what coach wants me to do.”

Bonneau said the starting pitchers for Fri-day’s games would most likely be returning start-ers Chris Wiman and Bri-an Kennedy. On Saturday Trey Watten will start on the mound in one game and Bonneau is unsure of who will start in the final game of the series but it might be Maynard.

Baseball: Maynard ties wins recordContinued from page 1B


Second baseman Tayler Wilson singles down the third base line Feb. 9 against St. Mary’s. ACU traveled to Phoenix for the NFCA Leadoff Classic this weekend.

leading Eastern New Mexico 48-37, but the Zias of East-ern New Mexico mounted a second half comeback. With 1:07 left in the game, ACU’s lead had been cut to 75-71.

The Wildcats held on thanks to big scoring per-formances from Maxwell and four other ACU players. Guard Alex Guiton finished the game with 14 points, forwards Kristee Davidson

and Lacey Blau chalked up 13 points each and forward Jody Meyer had 10 points.

Because of Sing Song being held in Moody Coli-seum, ACU will play West Texas A&M at 9 p.m. Satur-day at McMurry University’s Kimbrell Arena. Coach Lav-ender encouraged all ACU students to head over to McMurry after Sing Song to support the Wildcats.

Continued from page 1B

Daughtery

n With the best football season ACU has seen in 30 years, fans made the top 10 list average fan attendance for home games in the NCAA Division II.

By MORGAN WILLIAMSStudent RepoRteR

ACU placed sixth in NCAA Division II for average atten-dance at home games for the 2006 football season.

Between five home games, ACU had an average of 9,001 fans in attendance. Valley State had the nation-high average of 13,682 fans at home games.

“Considering this was the best season we’ve had in 30

years, averaging 30 points a game has a lot to do with it,” said Lance Fleming, media and sports relations direc-tor at ACU. “Going 8-2 in the regular season makes a dif-ference compared to years in the past,” Fleming said. The 2006 ACU football team made it to the NCAA playoffs for the first time in the football program’s history.

The 2007 football team will consist of 35 new ath-letes, including 25 high school seniors and 10 trans-fer students who all signed on National Signing Day.

“We hope to continue to bring out big crowds,” Flem-

ing said. “We have lots of guys coming back from the 2006 team and have a chance to be just as good or better as last year’s team.”

“I think the crowd has a lot to do with how well the players play,” said Alexandra McMur-ray, junior communications major from Abilene.

McMurray has been attend-ing ACU football games all of her life.

“When the crowd starts to lose interest, it’s always fun to watch the players bring the crowd back into the game,” she said.

Fan support places ACU at No. 6

E-mail Freeman at: [email protected]

E-mail Johnson at: [email protected]

E-mail Williams at: [email protected]

n ACU placed No. 6 in the nation for average attendance at home football games for NCAA Division II

n Between five home games, ACU had an average of 9,001 fans in attendance.

n The 2007 football team will bring new faces to the field and hopefully more fans, too. Thirty-five new athletes will join the team, including 25 high school seniors who have signed with the team and 10 transfer students.n This was ACU’s best football season in the past 30 years.

FOOTBALL BY NUMBERS

Friday February 16, 2007 Page 5BSPORTS JUMPS

From the Paris suburb of Antony, 20 minutes from downtown, Camille came to the states to pursue track and field and academics.

His father, Laurent is an engineer on planes. Florence, his mother, is a middle school teacher. Camille’s only sibling, Hubert is in his first year of college in France.

“At first my mother was not very happy with me be-cause I would be gone for a long time,” Camille said. “But she understood what I wanted to do; she is really supportive.

“I know it’s not easy for them, but for me, once I leave a place and get in another, I feel very comfortable.”

E-mail, phone and instant messaging make the distance easier to bear, he says.

Camille spent 42 hours a week in class during high school. France has no school on Wednesday so the decath-lete spent his Wednesdays acquiring what makes him so well-rounded.

In the morning he swam, then took music lessons and singing. Camille speaks English, German and Span-ish, along with his native

French language. In 2004, Camille planned

to leave France for the United States to study journalism and pursue track and field. To do both in France would be too difficult.

“It is more difficult to get a degree, and you’re more un-der pressure,” Camille said. “If you don’t pass two classes you have to start college over.”

The University of North Carolina recruited Camille, who trained for three years with 110-meter hurdle world champion Ladji Doucoure, and that’s where he intended to go in January 2006. But 10 days before he planned to leave France for North Caro-lina, he learned he was not admitted to school.

He graduated from college in France where he could study journalism and also train as an athlete in January 2006, but UNC didn’t recog-nize much of his schooling, and he was unable to at-tend. Without a school to at-tend, Camille still moved to North Carolina.

The drop from a Division I to a Division II school meant nothing to his parents. What bothered them was when North Carolina rejected him and he had to find an apart-ment, coach, friends and a way to make a living.

Camille did have a job. Be-fore leaving France he called L’Equipe, a daily sports newspaper in France, and asked for a job. He would be traveling to the meets any-way, and the paper could use some features on stars like Marion Jones and Justin Gaitlin who trained nearby in North Carolina. So Camille became a correspondent for the second most-read news-paper in France.

“I brought my laptop to the stadium, and I run and jump and throw, and then I wrote for the newspaper,” Camille said. “I don’t think I will do it again. I want to focus on track.”

In North Carolina, Camille became acquainted with the coaches and people. He worked out at Duke Universi-ty, and spent time with people from UNC, Duke, Wake For-est, North Carolina State and North Carolina Central. He competed in meets as an un-attached athlete and won the decathlon at the Wake Forest meet with 7,124 points.

Because he couldn’t com-pete in Division I, Camille began researching and ask-ing around about Division II schools with a good track program — Abilene Christian was his answer.

“I was looking for a school with a good track program and a journalism school and not too far from big cities with track and field tradi-tions,” Camille said.

Abilene may not seem close to cities, but Baylor is home to many Olympic ath-letes and not too far away. The journalism program also matched what he wanted in the academic side of college. He wants to learn to write in English to have the options of one day writing for an English or French newspaper.

After the track and field season ended in June, Camille returned to France where he was selected to join the na-tional French team of ath-letes 23 years old or younger and competed against teams from Germany, Switzerland and Russia.

When Camille came to ACU in August, he was ready to fi-nally begin his collegiate ca-reer. Even though he lived in the states during the spring in North Carolina, Camille had to adapt to another different cul-ture in Abilene.

“I’ve never seen anybody angry here. They respect each other,” Camille said. “[People] are happy to see me, and I’m the only French student on campus, so they are wondering what it is like in France.”

His first impression of

Chapel was good, but when he found out attendance was mandatory, he tried to get exemptions.

“I had a good feeling about Chapel when I first went, but when I heard I had to go to Chapel every-day before coming, I was like…” his eyes enlarged as he looked like the task was too much to ask.

Camille grew up Catho-lic, going to what he said was a “boring church.” His first church in Abilene, other than a Catholic one, was the Morning Star Church.

“Here the first church I went to was free popcorn and drinks,” Camille said.

He recalled the big screens above the stage and the people on stage singing and dancing, something else he had never seen before.

Aside from the social change, the physical aspect of training with a national con-tending track program has been a challenge to Camille.

In France, he lifted weights just twice a week. Even then it was only two or three exercis-es. Lifting weights four times a week, in many variations, is new to him.

“I am doing things here that I have never done before.”

Besides training in a new way, Camille has four coaches he works with training to be a decathlete. For the pole vault, he trains with pole vaulting coach Cory Aguilar. Sprints and hurdles are coached by Abe Brown, and Jerrod Cook coaches throwing events. His fourth coach is head coach Don Hood.

“It’s helping a lot because it’s a lot harder,” Camille said of his training. “In North Carolina I was by myself and I did my own plan, and it was almost the same plan as I did in France.”

With the track and field season not far away, Camille and the coaches are optimistic about his potential. Hood said he sees Camille develop more strength each week.

“A lot of the foreign athletes want to come here so badly that they pursue it,” said head track coach Don D. Hood of Ca-mille’s interest in the program. “His attitude coming over was just, ‘I’m happy to be here.’”

Camille said his goal is to win the Division II national champi-onship, and Hood doesn’t think it’s too unrealistic.

“After watching him com-pete, I am convinced,” Hood said. “He’s a definite threat to win nationals. I think he’s go-ing to be the favorite going in, him and Campy.”

Campy Pounds is the Wild-cats other decathlete, who has provisionally qualified for the indoor national meet in the long jump with a distance of 23-5.50.

“He’s a beast,” Pounds said. But Camille’s not the only

one. Last weekend at the Texas Tech Open, Pounds scored just three points behind Camille in the hep-tathlon, an event Division II doesn’t hold a championship for at the indoor meet.

“Campy will be my most challenging opponent for the decathlete title,” Camille said. “I’m very glad to have him as a training partner.”

Just a few weeks into the in-door season, no limits exist for the Frenchman.

Coach Hood agrees.“After watching him

compete, I am convinced,” Hood said.

Camille: Decathlete finds place, adjusts in AbileneContinued from page 1

E-mail Fields at: [email protected]

rachel lau STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Camille works out in the Powell Fitness Center with free-weights after practice Wednesday. Camille has adjusted to the training at ACU. In France, strength training was not a high priority among athletes.

Day 1n 100-meter sprint

n Long jump

n Shot put

n High jump

n 400-meter sprint

Day 2n 110-meter hurdles

n Discus throw

n Pole vault

n Javelin throw

n 1500-meter run

DECaThlOn EvEnTS

Cookies, toilet papers, iPods and guns — we can get whatev-er we want at a store like Wal-Mart. If you step into a pawn

shop, they sell various kinds of used items, includ-ing guns. Gun magazines are sold just like fashion maga-zines. What is up with this society? Why don’t some people care about mur-

derous instruments sitting where everyone can see, and everyone can reach.

It surprises and scares me to see guns sold at local stores like a pawn shop or Wal-Mart. I know in most cases people buy guns for hunting or protect-ing themselves. But I wonder if they ever think the very gun they are selling can kill someone.

I had never seen a gun before I came to the U.S. In my country, Japan, un-less you are either a police officer or gangster, you don’t have a chance to see or touch a gun.

I am not saying that Japan is the most peaceful and well-controlled country be-cause it is not. It is full of fearful crimes. At least on this issue, however, Japan has a better gun control than many other coun-tries, including the U.S.

A gun was the last thing I expected to see or possibly get killed with in Japan, but it is the scariest thing for me here — it is real here.

Less than a week after school began, I heard sad news of a 4-year-old girl who was shot in the face while sleeping with her mother. It was Jan. 21 when the girl was found dead after neigh-bors heard a drive-by shooting at 2 a.m. The shooters, who were 17, 19 and 20, fired 23 bullets at her home in the 800 block of Mulberry Street, and three men were later arrested and charged with murder, ac-cording to the Abilene Report-

er-News.When I heard this news, it

reminded me that gun crimes are happening not only in metropolitan cities but also in a small city like Abilene.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there were 6,316 gun-related ho-micides committed by peo-ple between 14 and 24 years old, which is more than 70 percent of total homicides among these ages in 2004.

In my opinion, a gun is one of the most useless things in this world. It doesn’t create anything good. It only creates anger, ha-tred and sadness. It is nothing but a violent instrument. Each year more people get guns — more violent instruments are spread in a society.

It seems almost impossible to get rid of guns from this society. It has become a vi-cious cycle. The more danger-ous the society becomes, the

more people seek ways to protect themselves and their loved ones. Guns for guns. But is it really good for us? For our family, loved ones or fu-ture generations?

Even if you get a gun in the name of self-defense, a gun

is still a weapon — a murderous instrument.

I’ve heard news a while ago that a young boy found a gun under his dad’s pillow and ac-cidentally shot his little brother. Things like this can happen. A gun might protect you, but I think we should think about other ways to protect ourselves.

It is difficult and scary to stand up against this violent society without an equally pow-erful weapon to protect our-selves, but someone has to do it. It might take long to change this society, but things won’t get better without challenging. At least, I am one of those who are against guns and seeking anoth-er way to protect my people.

The American Cancer So-ciety estimated that in 2007, more than 3,600 women out of the more than 11,000 re-ported new cases will die from cervical cancer.

Now a new vaccine is on the market that can prevent against four types of HPV that cause 70 percent of the total cervical cancers and 90 percent of genital warts. This vaccine is a huge break-through for cancer research and prevention.

But when Gov. Rick Perry mandated that by 2008 all sixth-grade girls receive the vaccine, not everyone applauded him for taking governmental steps to pre-vent a type of cancer that kills women.

Instead, some saw Perry’s decision as a way for the gov-ernment to replace parental rights, saying he is substitut-ing parents’ decisions with

g o v e r n -ment’s.

However large or small of an intrusion a vaccine interferes with par-enting, a step to prevent can-cer and save lives should not be criticized. The vaccine does have an opt-out if parents choose, so using the govern-ment control defense is shaky if an opt-out is available.

Others who disagree with Perry cite more religious rea-sons for not wanting the vac-cine, saying it promotes pro-miscuity in young girls.

But does giving a sixth-grade girl a vaccine to pre-vent cancer and some STDs send that message? Here’s where the parenting some feel is being taken away can be put to use.

The notion that a sixth-grade girl will interpret re-

ceiving a three-shot series of vaccines as an excuse to have pre-marital sex is misguided. As adults, whether sexually active or not, we may think in those terms a sixth-grader will not make that connection. A parent can say it is to prevent some forms of cancer and the child will understand.

Parents who may want to opt out, choosing to do so out of hope their daughter will not get HPV through pre-marital sex, can never be sure of that. The chance of anyone getting HPV is quite high if they are sexually active in any way. Ac-cording to the Center for Dis-ease Control and Prevention, sexually active people have a 50 percent chance of getting

HPV at some point in their lives. While some forms of HPV go away naturally, others do not. HPV can be passed on

to a partner without anyone knowing. Even if one partner enters a marriage without hav-ing sex, the chance for it to be passed on is still there.

Others against Perry say he is rushing into this decision without a sufficient amount of research to show long-term effects. While the vaccine has not shown if there will be need for a later booster shot, it has shown to be effec-tive. Research has only been able to follow women for five years, but shows they are still protected. According to the Centers for CDC and Preven-tion, of the 11,000 women who were tested worldwide, no serious side effects were shown.

If the HPV vaccine were for AIDS instead, many would be waiting in line who are now opposing Perry.

In a press statement, Perry defended himself by making similar points.

“Providing the HPV vac-cine doesn’t promote sexual promiscuity anymore than providing the Hepatitis B vac-cine promotes drug use. If the medical community devel-oped a vaccine for lung cancer, would the same critics oppose it, claiming it would encour-age smoking?” Perry said.

The numbers and implica-tions may be different from AIDS to HPV, but the moral dilemmas are not. Despite what critics say, is not an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure?

This vaccine is the ounce of prevention.

Page 6B February 16, 2007

Benefits outweigh cost of new HPV vaccine

Eliminate guns,decrease violence

E-mail the Optimist at: [email protected]

According to the CDC, sexually active people have a 50 percent chance of getting HPV at

some point in their lives.

Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.

Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.

The Optimist encourages reader response through letters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters containing personal

attacks, obscenity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy.

Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.

Address letters to:ACU Box 27892

Abilene, TX 79699

E-mail letters to: [email protected]

Editorial and letter policy

Published by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

Newsroom:(325) 674-2439

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Online:www.acuoptimist.com

Editorial and Management Board

Mallory SchlabachEditor in Chief

Jared FieldsManaging Editor

Michelle JimenezCopy Editor

Lauren SuttonOpinion Editor

Emily SmithChief Photographer

Kelsi PeaceFeatures Editor

Daniel JohnsonSports Editor

Todd PiersallArts Editor

Christi StarkAdvertising Manager

Kenneth PybusAdviser

E-mail Shibata at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Alex YorkLebensgefahr

Different VoiceAtsumiShibata

The issue:The new HPV vaccine Gov. Rick Perry recently passed has been a source of controversy as some believe Perry is making a hasty decision with wide-spread consequences.

Our view:Because the vaccine will prevent women from contracting HPV as well as cervical cancer, the new mandate will ultimately benefit females.

The solution: Read about the HPV vaccine issue in order to formulate your own opinion.

I’m intrigued by the threat that Black History Month pres-ents for some. Every year we have celebrations for Hispanic Heritage Month and Global Awareness Month, but no on-going debate occurs about

why we are celebrating these months. I’m certainly not ad-vocating we start doing that, but I am curious as to why we project our fears when it comes to Black History Month.

For African Americans in the United States, Black History Month embodies the spirit of Carter G. Woodson’s statement: “We have a wonderful history behind us…and it is going to inspire us to greater achieve-ments.” For us, celebrating history is being proud of God’s

choice of whom he made us to be. Some at ACU may not un-derstand the reasons for cel-ebrating the achievements of African Americans in America, but that does not afford us li-cense to dishonor the things others hold dear. If it is im-portant to our brothers and sisters, it should be important to all of us.

The Bible says that when one of our brothers or sisters suffers, we should all suffer and when one is honored,

we should all rejoice. Rather than complaining, why not investigate why your broth-ers and sisters are rejoicing. You may just learn something good and important to your own life and growth.

LaShae Grottisdirector of Student Services

and Multicultural Enrichment [email protected]

No threat in Black History Month

I was baffled upon reading Wann’s letter concerning the Essence of Ebony Chapel pre-sentation on Friday. My difficulty lay in the fact that he claimed the presentation, a comparison of Dr. King and Malcolm X, was an attack on him and all other “Caucasian, middle-class American’s].” It puzzled me that he could

think a piece ending with a song about how people with differing viewpoints should come together and support each other because “we’re all a part of God’s body” could be such an attack. I person-ally thought the message was quite clear: those with oppos-ing opinions ought not to tear each other down or try to hurt each other but rather should recognize they need each other “to survive.” In fact, I think the presentation was making a lot of the same points Wann made about loving one another in Christ without regard for our differences. If Wann attended

the production on Friday or Saturday night, he must have understood that it proposed to portray the many varying influences that have shaped African Americans in the United States over the years. Of course the production brought up slavery, racism and oppression. These have been extremely significant factors in the history of both African Americans and of the United States. I did not feel these subjects were broached lightly or with an intent to shame or hurt anyone. They were brought up because of their importance and impact,

so simply denying one’s per-sonal responsibility for them does not change the fact they occurred or they have greatly affected who we are as a country. I do not have a problem with the expression of options. However, I do think that if one is going to criticize another’s ideas, they should at least pay them the courtesy of listening to what they have to say.

Sara Martinez senior Spanish major from Victoria [email protected]

First listen before speaking outA letter to the editor in response to Dylan Wan’s letter in the Feb. 14 issue of the Optimist.

LETTEr TO THE EDiTOr

In my opinion, a gun is one of

the most useless things in the

world.

A letter to the editor in response to the 2007 Black History Month.

LETTEr TO THE EDiTOr

BFebruary 16, 2006

Newly released movies and gross rates for Feb. 9-11. Total gross in parenthesis.

n Norbit: $34,195,434($34,195,434)

n Hannibal Rising: $13,051,650($13,051,650)

n Because I Said So: $9,221,130 ($25,805,720)

n The Messengers: $7,218,187 ($24,742,205)

Coming Soon

Movies opening Feb. 16:

n Breach, starring Chris Cooper, Ryan Philippine, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert and Aaron Abrams. A true story based upon a U.S. security breach. A young FBI agent discovers his partner has been selling secrets to the Soviet Union. (THRILLER)

n Bridge to Terabithia, starring An-naSophia Robb, Josh Hutcherson, Zooey Deschanel. Two friends cre-ate a magical kingdom of Terabithia that can only be accessed by a rope. There they rule a kingdom filled with strange creatures. (FANTASY)

n Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage, Wes Bentley, Eva Mendes. Based off a Marvel comic, stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze sells his soul after a fatal crash. After Black-heart, son of the devil, violates the deal, Blaze becomes a powerful force, neither dead nor alive. (COMIC/ACTION)

Box offiCe StatS

n the adaptation of francine Rivers’ novel ‘the last Sin eater’ offers a great story and scenery but ultimately lacks in about everything else.

By TODD PIERSALLArts Editor

Imagine eating the sin off someone you loved in order to save them from eternal damnation. This is the ritual of sin eating.

An ancient Celtic religious practice, sin eating required a selected individual to “eat” the sins off of the deceased and sickly. The sin, which is represented by food and drink, would then be trans-ferred onto the “sin eater” and would therefore be ab-solved. Settlers from Wales brought the “sin eating” tradi-tion to America and continued the funeral rituals until the early 1900s.

The Last Sin Eater is an adaptation of Francine Riv-ers’ novel about a girl whose immense guilt drives her to search for someone to ab-solve her from her sin.

The movie, directed by Mi-chael Landon Jr., has a rela-tively unknown cast with the exception of Louis Fletcher who won Best Actress for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It is interesting to note that Sin Eater is being distributed by FoxFaith, a company that re-

quires all of its movies to have “overt Christian content.”

The Last Sin Eater takes place during the 1850s in a Welsh settlement near the Appalachian Mountains. Cadi Forbes, a young girl, is tor-mented by the guilt she feels over her sister’s death. Dur-ing her sister’s ritualistic fu-neral, Cadi sees the sin eater and becomes convinced he is the only one who could re-lease her burdens. Her search for redemption leads to the discovery of the settlement’s dark past.

What is intriguing about The Last Sin Eater is the com-pelling story of true forgive-ness. We can thank Francine Rivers for that. Because sin eating rituals existed in America, as late as 1900s, the story becomes even more powerful.

The movie does a good job portraying the weight that comes with taking another’s burden. Watching the sin eat-er devour the food and drink off the dead looks painful and almost grotesque.

However, if deciding wheth-er or not to see the movie or read the book, I would recom-mend the latter.

The compelling story wasn’t enough to make the film high quality. The acting was far from spectacular and scenes in the middle of the movie tended to drag. The cin-

ematography was noteworthy only because the setting was located in the beautiful Appa-lachian Mountains. The movie didn’t call for many special effects, but when they did, they were laughable.

One scene showed Cadi balancing on a fallen tree that stood over a narrow gorge. The scene was so obviously computer generated that smudges outlining Cadi could be seen. Sadly, there were sev-eral more computer-generat-ed scenes involving the same fallen tree. Also, the hooded garb the sin eater wears is too strangely similar to a Lord of the Rings ‘Ring Wraith.’

Similar still were scenes shot with the sin eater him-self. They almost looked like scenes from M. Night Shama-layn’s The Village, with the monster whisking quickly in and out of frame. Both of which seemed humorous.

Overall, The Last Sin Eater came up lacking. There were too many mistakes to salvage the film. The acting, along with the poor and awkward script, left the film wander-ing. Even Louise Fletcher seemed to not fit her role.

Still, there were a few powerful scenes, but none merit choosing the movie over the book.

‘Last Sin Eater’ doesn’t offer much meat

courtesy of MOVIEWEB.COM

‘The Last Sin Eater,’ an overtly Christian movie, follows the journey of a young girl who is determined to rid herself of the guilt she feels within. A sin eater is the last chance for the young girl. The movie stars Golden Globe nominee, Henry Thomas and Best Actress winner, Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest).e-mail Piersall at: [email protected]

B Friday, February 16, 2007SING SONG NEWS

n Thirty one children have spent three weeks preparing to be a clown on the Sing Song stage. Their performance will be in the first act before the intermission.

By ATSUMI SHIBATAPage Designer

As students and faculty put in time and energy in prepara-tion for Sing Song, there are young performers getting ready to be clowns on the stage.

The children’s act is com-posed of 31 children be-tween 6 and 13 years old from the Abilene communi-ty. They will perform a song called “Be a Clown,” and each of the children will put on a wig, costume and face

paint to be a clown. Lauryn Lewis, junior English

education and integrated mar-keting major from Houston and a director of children’s act, said it will be an enjoyable time for everyone.

“They work really hard,” Lewis said.

The children’s act was orig-inally planned to have about 20 children, but the number of performers exceeded the plan, said Caddie Coupe, se-nior communication sciences and disorders major from Nevada City, Calif., and up-stage co-chair of Sing Song. Children have done one-hour-long practices twice a week for about three weeks, and

they also joined rehearsals in Moody this week.

Many of these children’s parents are faculty and staff at the university, and Lisa Flores, manager of accounts payable, is one of those parents.

Her 6-year-old daughter, Cianna, is excited about her first Sing Song perfor-mance, Flores said. Cianna first didn’t want to be in Sing Song, Flores said, but after the first practice, she was glad that her parents put her in the show.

Cianna was worried and asked Flores about how many people will be watching, but Flores said Cianna still doesn’t know she will be performing in

front of 4,000 people. Among those 4,000, Ci-

anna will have about 16 fam-ily members in the audience just to watch her perfor-mance, Flores said.

Flores’ two older children, one of whom now attends ACU, have participated in Sing Song more than five years ago, and she said she thinks it has been a great ex-perience for her kids.

“It’s an opportunity to do something they’ve never done,” Flores said.

The children’s act will be in the first act right before the first intermission.

Children’s act to bring little clownsbrian schmidt SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Members of the children’s act dress up as clowns and perform “Be a Clown” at the Sing Song dress rehearsal in Moody on Wednesday.

E-mail Shibata at: [email protected]

n Members of Sigma Theta Chi, a women’s social club, elected a sophomore director as they attempt to achieve their sixth Sing Song victory in a row.

By HILLARY CRAWFORDstuDent rePorter

Sigma Theta Chi elected Jennifer Rasco, sophomore elementary education ma-jor from Abilene, to direct them in this year’s Sing Song event as McDonald’s French Fries.

This is a memorable year for the women of Sig-ma Theta Chi as they at-tempt to go for their sixth victory in a row with Ras-co as sophomore director, who was nominated by her club members.

After the nominations were submitted in October, Rasco and others who ac-cepted the nominations, pre-pared a two-minute speech to present to their fellow club members. From this point, the women not in the running for director voted on who they thought could lead the group of women in this year’s Sing Song performance best.

Although there is not an actual rule that states a sophomore cannot be elect-ed as Sing Song director of this specific social club, in the past the duties usually went to an upperclassman.

Rasco began writing this year’s show during Christmas break. She was

anxious to get her fellow club members back in Abilene to begin work on the show.

Some of Rasco’s main responsibilities were scheduling and running the practices, getting the scenes together and teach-ing the lyrics and individu-alized parts to the girls.

“I am excited for the opportunity that God has given me to lead this in-credible group of girls and grow as a leader, as well as musically,” Rasco said.

One of Rasco’s fellow Siggies, Kaylie Huddleston, sophomore speech pathol-ogy major from College Station, had many positive things to say about her.

“She’s done a great job in every way. There’s noth-ing about her that would make someone say, ‘hey she’s a sophomore direc-tor,’” Huddleston said.

Sophomore director to lead Siggies act

E-mail Crawford at: [email protected]

n 2002: Little Mermaids

n 2003: Bridesmaids

n 2004: Field of Dreams

n 2005: The Hills are Alive

n 2006: The Penguins

SIGMa ThETa ChI paST WINNING aCTS

Friday, February 16, 2007 Page 9BSING SONG NEWS

n For the third year, SHADES will step with the hosts and hostesses in its a capella act. Women’s captain Sara Eligado said they will add loose movement this year.

By MALLORY EDENSPage 2 editor

SHADES will be performing a step routine in Sing Song this year as the counter rhythm for the hosts’ and hostesses’ act.

This will be the third year SHADES has an act in the show, and women’s captain Sara Eliga-do, junior nursing major from San Jose, Calif., said the group is glad to have the opportunity to be part of it and is trying to bring something new to their act this year.

“We have always had a feel-ing that we were the outside group because we are not actu-ally a social club or a standard activity at ACU,” Eligado said. “I think it’s now a tradition for SHADES to be stepping along-side the hosts and hostesses. I think that with our involve-ment in Sing Song, we feel more

connected. In the past couple of years, it’s been more formal. This year we are adding more loose movement.”

The act this year involves more interaction between the men and women in the group than most other SHADES performances.

“My favorite part is that this is the first major show this se-mester, and I like that the girls and guys can do it together,” Eligado said. “We normally do it separately in our annual show with only a few snippets that are guys and girls. I like that we have incorporated some of the guys’ moves in the girls’ part. We are exchanging moves.”

The men’s captain Jonathan Holloway, senior biology major from Abilene, said one of the best parts of the SHADES act is the diversity of the group.

“You would be hard pressed to find another that is so di-verse with the same small size,” Holloway said. “We meld together to create a step that is in sync with each other despite

how diverse we are. We pres-ent a unique perspective to the spectacular event of Sing Song. I just really hope people ap-preciate where we are coming from. The novelty of it is that you can’t go anywhere else and find a combination of hymnal music and step music, espe-cially in the way we do it here at ACU. We present it as a min-istry to people.”

The SHADES routine is more than just entertainment — it is a type of praise.

“SHADES and the hosts and hostesses are praising God in a way people normally don’t see praise,” Eligado said. “We are trying to put out there that with all our different tal-ents God has given us, we are able to worship.”

Group members wish for their praise to reach out to the audience.

“We are hoping we can con-nect with at least one person,” Holloway said. “Hopefully, it will reach out and touch some-one, and hopefully God will use

us to reach out and bring some-one to him. We are representing something much greater than ourselves. It’s always really cool to know that someone really connected to [our act.]”

Group members see this outreach as what SHADES is re-ally about.

“We are a step group but also a community service group,” Holloway said. “We take op-portunities to step at schools or other activities where we can reach out to the community.”

Through its efforts to reach out, SHADES is becoming more prevalent in the community and more widely recognized, and group members are thank-ful for that.

“[Sing Song has] been good for SHADES because at times we have felt kind of discon-nected, and it’s been good for us to work with other groups because they [have realized] that it would be good to work together,” Holloway said. “It’s been a huge step that has come from all the fellow-

ship and working towards the common goal of producing a common successful show. We were pretty separate at ACU, and now we are asked to be more involved.”

Eligado said she also believes Sing Song has al-lowed SHADES to be more readily involved.

“I think at first nobody really knew what SHADES was, and as the years have gone by more and more people have started to recognize us,” she said. “They always want to know when our next show is, and the fact that people are more inter-ested in who we are and what we do is my favorite part of be-ing in it. I quote Kendall Massey on this, people don’t ask him if SHADES will be in Sing Song but what they are going to do in Sing Song. We plan to stay with that tradition.”

In preparation for its up-coming show, Eligado said the group had some complications but are working hard to make the show a success. They have

been practicing every day since Saturday, which is an increase from the regular practices that take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“We had a rough patch at the beginning of the semester, and I wasn’t sure how it was go-ing to work out, but it has,” she said. “Through the little rough patches that we have to con-quer or sort out, we are stron-ger. Through our struggles, we know that we can be that much better at what we do and who we are as individuals. We see SHADES as a family. We want to make it known that we are a group that doesn’t just step for fun. We work hard, and it’s a way that we give back. I think it’s going to go really well. While practicing on stage with the hosts and hostesses for the first time, it all came together on the second try. That’s some-thing that was never happened before. It’s getting better.”

SHADES continues stepping tradition in Sing Song

Hispanos Unidos not performingn Freshman Ushers practice two days a week, learning their jobs and practicing their choreography. This year, they will interact with the audience more.


Freshman Ushers will take on a larger role in Sing Song this year as they participate in both an on-stage act that interacts with the audience as well as ushering duties and other tasks.

“We are the face of Sing Song,” said Hilary Standish, freshman graphic design and advertising major from Austin. “We are the ones the people in the audience will see first. We do the ex-tra odd jobs the tech crew would normally do, like run the concession stands and show people to their seats. We are also in the show af-ter intermission. We are dancing to John Mayer’s song, ‘Route 66’ from Cars because it goes with the Sing Song theme from this year.”

The 2007 Sing Song theme is “Shift into High Gear,” and many Freshman Ushers say that’s exactly what they are doing in their preparations. They meet ev-ery Monday and Thursday to learn how to do the usher-ing jobs as well as learn the dance and get comfortable with the choreography.

Standish said one of the hardest things about being involved in Sing Song is the time commitment.

“It’s hard going to all the rehearsals from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.,” Standish said. “We are so busy with college life and practice that I even for-got to go once.”

But many say although being an usher requires an

increased amount of involve-ment, it is still fun.

“It’s very time consum-ing,” said Preston Woolfolk, freshman management ma-jor from San Antonio. “We put in a lot more work than people realize. We are there to show the crowd that we are there to have fun. We get to do whatever we want. We can act like idiots and that’s our job. They don’t expect it to be perfect.”

To make their act more fun, the ushers have installed a time in their act to involve the crowd in the show.

“We get to interact with the audience and take pictures with them during the middle of the dance,” Standish said. “Then we come back and do the rest of the routine.”

Amanda Sampson, fresh-man communications major from Austin and choreogra-pher of the freshman ush-ers act, said the act is going to be great.

“The people are so much fun and they are so enthusi-astic and willing to be goofy,” Sampson said. “The practices have been fun. People are ex-cited to be involved. It’s going to be fantastic; I’m excited. I am super proud of everyone in ushers. It’s awesome that they have put their hearts into it.”

One reason people be-came ushers was to just be involved, especially if they were not chosen to be in the highly selective freshman act, which accepted only 120 out of the more than 300 students who tried out.

“I couldn’t get into Sing Song,” Woolfolk said “I can’t sing, and I can’t really dance. So this way, it gives you the op-portunity to get involved and have fun. Everyone wants to be a part of it, and this way every-

one can be involved as long as you are willing to commit.”

Megan Holland, fresh-man psychology major from Houston, said involvement in Sing Song is one of the initial reasons she was at-tracted to ACU.

“I have been to Sing Song one other time, and it made me want to come to ACU and be in Sing Song. [The ushers act] has always been a fun thing in the middle. The audience is like, ‘That’s cool; they are making it a fun time.’ It looks like it’s going to be really fun — just as I remembered it. Every act sounds fun or hilarious.”

This atmosphere is something that draws in large crowds to every show, making it a big deal in many students’ eyes.

“If you aren’t in it and all your friends are, you have nothing to do that weekend,” Standish said. “You either leave or are in it. It’s like the Super Bowl at ACU. It’s my first Sing Song. I’m excited to see the freshman act be-cause it’s going to be hilari-ous. The production staff is amazing. I can’t wait to see the final product.”

Many freshman ushers share this enthusiasm, in-cluding Woolfolk, who ex-pects all the ushers’ efforts will come together nicely.

“Everyone had the dance down last practice,” Woolfolk said. “Last Thursday, we had ‘Tacky Tuesday,’ and every-one got to come and dance and have fun. We got to leave early because everyone had it down. I think the act is going to go great. I hope everyone has fun.”

Ushers’ act involves audienceE-mail Edens at: [email protected]


n Hispanos Unidos will help with the concession stand at Friday night’s Sing Song. The organization will not participate in an act this year.


Hispanos Unidos will not be participating in an act dur-ing Sing Song this year. Rath-er, they will be helping with the concession stand during the Friday night show.

Noel Cothren, Hispanos Unidos’s public relations offi-cer and senior art major from Albuquerque, N.M., said there is no real reason why they are not in the show — that’s just how it worked out.

“Kendall Massey sets up

the shows. The way he set up the show, they didn’t have an extra spot, and we didn’t push for a spot,” Cothren said. “We are happy to help out backstage.”

Cothren said it is also re-lated to other factors within the group.

“It all depends on who is leading our organization and the other events we are do-ing,” she said. “We have been pretty busy this year.”

Group members see ad-vantages to the role they have taken on backstage.

“One of the best things about working backstage is that we get free tickets, and we get to build community in our organization,” Co-

thren said. “Our goal is to build a community and unity amongst Hispanic students at ACU and to further awareness in our community as a result of our Hispanic students.”

Those interested in getting involved in activities with Hispanos Unidos in the fu-ture and helping further their goals of community, can join the group on Thursdays for small-group Chapel.

“We are open to everyone, not just Hispanics,” Cothren said. “Everyone is welcome to join us at our small group Chapel in the [Onstead-Pack-er Biblical Studies Building, Room] 129.”


B Friday, February 16, 2007ADVERTISEMENT

Friday, February 16, 2007 Page 11BSING SONG NEWS

n The ACU police department will help manage traffic congestion during Sing Song. Jimmy Ellison, chief of police, gave advice on parking and safety issues.

By ATSUMI SHIBATAPage Designer

The ACU Police Department and student support staff will take care of anticipated traffic congestion during Sing Song.

Jimmy Ellison, chief of the ACU Police Department, said he will bring in as many officers as possible to settle traffic congestion during Sing Song. Ellison said the police department set a ma-jor plan to help the show and system run better.

Police officers and stu-dent support staff will be stationed at various spots on campus and will direct drivers to available parking spots. They will also main-tain patrols around campus to prevent crimes. There will be one-way traffic, and parking lots will be closed as soon as it gets full.

Ellison said the police de-partment understands it is an exciting event and wants everyone to have a great time, but it requires some control.

Police officers will man-age every parking lot, Elli-son said, and there are a few things Ellison wants people

to understand. First, all good parking

spots will be taken if arriving late. Ellison said there will probably be enough parking spaces for all visitors, but some require more walk-ing. Each of the three per-formances will gather about 3,000 to 4,000 people, and Ellison said he thinks Satur-day night will be the biggest problem because, in addi-tion to Sing Song, 500 to 600 guests are attending another event taking place: the Presi-dential Circle Dinner.

The Presidential Circle Dinner will be held at Teague Special Events Center, and the parking lot there will be closed for those attending PCD. He said he wants people to expect congestion and arrive early to get a good parking spot.

Second, following the direction of the police offi-cers will help organize con-gestion better.

Third, all parking lots re-quire some spaces for emer-gency vehicles. People might find some spaces in closed parking lots, but officers need to keep enough spaces for emergency vehicles to go through in cases of accidents.

Ellison and Glenda Knight, director of university events and meeting management, said they don’t recall any

major accidents occurring during Sing Song in recent years, but they both advise people to be careful.

Health services will be pro-vided by on-campus medical staff during Sing Song, and keeping spaces for emergency vehicles is important as well.

Also, students might be directed to a special parking spot, which is not usually allowed, but Ellison said he wants them to understand exceptions are made only during Sing Song.

However, Ellison empha-sized that restricted areas like the handicap and fire lane ar-eas are prohibited as usual, and people will be fined and receive a citation if they park in those restricted areas.

Ellison said he wants to ask people to be patient. If everyone follows the direc-tion of police officers, traf-fic congestion will be con-trolled better and cleared quickly, Ellison said.

Knight said traffic is han-dled well by ACU police offi-cers every year. She said Sing Song and other major events on campus would not succeed without ACU police officers.

“They are very helpful,” Knight said. “They do a great job.”

ACU police to control traffic jam

n More than 30 seniors will stand on their final Sing Song stage with their memories, friends and confidence to win the competition.

By MALLORY SCHLABACHeDitor in Chief

More than 30 seniors will perform in Sing Song for their final time this weekend during the “Shift Into High Gear” themed event with the senior class. Some have split time between club acts and class acts, others have participated in the class act each year — relishing memo-ries shared with classmates.

“I’m really going to miss it next year,” said Jared Brockington, senior biology pre-med major from Friend-swood. “I think every year I’ve been in the class act, I’ve met new people. Even though you perform with the same class each year, it seems there are always people that join that you never even knew were your age. Some people showed up for practice that I thought were juniors and se-niors. It was neat to be able to connect with them.”

Brockington said the se-nior class act is fun because it’s not taken as seriously as club acts.

“It’s so fun each year,” he said. “I think that’s why I’ve done it all four years.”

For Evan Woods, Sing Song has been a chance to integrate his love of music with his classmates. Woods, senior music education ma-jor from Fleming, Ohio, has been either director or “the music man” for the past four years for his class acts.

“My freshman and sopho-more year, I was the music guy for everything,” Woods said. “I helped write lyrics and ar-ranged the music.”

He said for his junior year, the class decided on “Noah’s Ark” for the theme, and he stepped up and be-came director.

“I’ve been able to build friendship though Sing Song that I might not have oth-erwise,” he said. “I met my roommate for the past two years through Sing Song, and if you ask the people in-volved, Sing Song is a blessing to many people; it really is.”

This year the seniors in-volved in the class act will perform as baristas at Star-bucks who realize they are addicted to coffee and need to go to Coffee Addicts Anonymous.

Woods said the lyrics, mu-

sic, costumes and choreogra-phy are solid this year.

Brockington agreed. “We might be a little

smaller than we had hoped to be, and we only have five guys, but I think we have a strong act,” he said. “This is definitely our strongest act as a class. It’s the most cre-ative and the funniest one we’ve done before.

“I think we actually have a good chance of winning this year. The competition seems fairly even this time, and there isn’t one class that really sticks out as the winner,” he said.

Tiffany Polnisch, second-ary education major from Baytown, joined the class act this year because she wanted to join in on the tra-dition of Sing Song.

“Sing Song is a good tra-dition to get involved with at ACU,” she said. “I’ve en-joyed being a part of the class act because there is more involvement between the members — with both guys and girls — and it’s not as serious. Our act is funny, and it’s nice to be able to represent our class.”

Seniors to go on last Sing Song stage

E-mail Schlabach at: [email protected]

E-mail Shibata at: [email protected]

n New scoring system will allow the audience to enter their ticket numbers and vote for their favorite acts online after Friday and Saturday afternoon’s shows.

By JARED FIELDSManaging eDitor

Fans can have a say in this year’s Sing Song judging when they vote after Friday night’s and Saturday after-noon’s show.

Audience members can go online after the show or to computers set up around the concourse to vote for their favorites in the men’s, wom-en’s and class acts.

“They’re involved in get-ting to choose the winners instead of just the judges,” said Emily Wren, sopho-more exercise science major from Arlington and Ko Jo Kai member.

The audience vote will count for about 28 percent of the overall vote. There are 1,400 total points avail-able with 400 of them go-ing toward the audience vote. The acts can earn up to 200 points for the two shows where the audience can vote. The audience vote counts for more than any category other than vocals.

Points for the acts, based

on the audience vote, will be calculated by taking the per-centage of votes received and multiplied by 200. If an act re-ceives 25 percent of the vote in its category, they will get 50 points for that show.

“After the Friday and Satur-day afternoon show, they can take their ticket number and vote online,” Mauri Westbrook, director of Student Activities and Organizations, said.

Those attending the show will get an announcement sheet with information on how to vote online.

Judges at the three shows will distribute the rest of the 1,000 points. Friday’s show will have originality and vocals, along with the audience favorite, judged. Originality is worth 200 points and vocals, which is judged at all three shows,

is worth 150 points at each show — 450 total.

Saturday afternoon’s show has the acts’ cos-tumes judged for a worth of 150 points. The Saturday evening show will have en-tertainment judged by four entertainment judges for a total of 200 points.

New online voting system to count audience’s voices

n About 40 student production staff members were chosen last April, and they have dedicated their energy and time to support the show.

By LAUREN SUTTONoPinion eDitor

Approximately 1,200 peo-ple perform in Sing Song each year, and year after year stu-dents dress up, dance and sing new renditions to classic tunes as ACU’s most-loved tradition lives on. But behind the over-sized costumes, col-orful props and the multitude of Sing Song faces, a differ-ent but indispensable group of students dressed in black work diligently in the shad-ows of the stage.

About 40 members of the student production staff work long hours to make this year’s show a success.

“They put the show togeth-er,” said Kendall Massey, di-rector of student productions and Sing Song director. “There

is very little that happens that isn’t student run. It has always been and will always be a stu-dent production.”

Massey chose the produc-tion staff last April, and they have been preparing for this weekend for the past year.

Massey said the many indi-viduals in the production staff work seven days a week.

“When December hits, stuff really starts rolling,” he said.

Responsibilities of the production staff include making props and costumes, being in charge of lights and sound, building the stage and supervising the many Sing Song performers.

“There would be no Sing Song if there were no produc-tion staff,” said Courtnee Hem-bree, junior broadcast journal-ism major from Abilene. “We have worked non-stop last weekend and this week.”

Hembree, co-chair and the downstage manager, said when she left Moody

early Wednesday morning she had been on campus 24 hours straight.

“The production staff is so under appreciated, but everyone is so committed,” Hembree said. “No matter how busy anyone is, they al-ways help everyone out.”

Massey said qualities he looks for in his production staff are people who are or-ganized, dedicated and hard workers.

“I always have a lot of hope for the people on pro-duction staff,” Massey said. “I hope that they are able to gain a realization of what their strengths are. I’m hop-ing they look back on this as a wonderful situation. They will learn a lot about them-selves, and they grow closer to each other.”

Staff assists behind the showE-mail Fields at: [email protected]

E-mail Sutton at: [email protected]

B Friday, February 16, 2007CAMPUS NEWS/SING SONG NEWS

n Tom Craig, new managing director of Sing Song, estimated 70 percent of ticket sales have been made online. Tickets can be purchased through E-tix this year.

By KELSI PEACEFeatures editor

Kendall Massey, director of student productions and Sing Song director, announced the 2007 Sing Song theme, “Every-thing Changes,” a few weeks after the 50th show ended. A year later, a lot has changed — including the theme.

This weekend the show will

“Shift into High Gear,” but will keep the focus on the future and changes that have occurred over the course of the produc-tion’s life.

“To me, it’s funny that the original theme was ‘Everything Changes’ because everything has changed,” Massey said.

This year’s production is all about the audience. Those who attend the Friday evening and Saturday afternoon produc-tions can vote for their favorite acts online, and Massey said their votes will carry enough weight to make a difference.

Tom Craig, new managing director of Sing Song, said the decision was made in response to audience members’ requests to have some input.

“Sometimes technical merit and entertainment value do not go hand in hand,” Craig said. “It kind of levels the playing field.”

Entertainment, along with vocals, will also factor into the judges’ decision this year.

Massey said more video backdrops have been incorpo-rated this year, increasing from three backdrops to 10.

From the management side, Craig took advantage of tech-nology and sent direct e-mails to alumni to invite them to the production. For the first time, tickets can be purchased online through E-tix. Craig estimated that 70 percent of tickets have been purchased online.

Sing Song changes every year because it was created by students and directed by them, Massey said.

“It’s as different as the scenes that are on stage,” he said.

Sing Song ‘Shifts’ to crowd, entertainment focus

n Freshman ambassadors will host students attending Preview Weekend. Students are encouraged to see Sing Song and participate in activities.

By SHARON RAPELJEstaFF Writer

Preview Weekend will gar-ner 188 high school students and transfers on Thursday and Friday. The students are encouraged to go to Sing Song and other activities set up for them.

One event is the “Body and Soul” showcase for stu-dents interested in a pre-med or pre-dentistry major. The showcase, which was also held last semester, creates unique

experiments for the students to do. Last fall students dis-sected sharks, and this year, students will work on a turtle heart in a DNA lab.

Terri Aldriedge, coordina-tor for “Body and Soul,” said the turtle shell will be opened up, and the heart will be ex-tracted. The heart will be hooked up to a heart machine to monitor its rhythms.

Fifteen to 20 current pre-health students will help the high school group with experi-ments and accompany them to the luncheon. Speakers for the luncheon will be doctors from the Abilene community who al-low ACU’s pre-health students to shadow them at their jobs.

Allison Stoll, guest services coordinator, said the 33 stu-dents that signed up for the showcase will be given an idea of what it is like to be a pre-med student.

After the day’s activities, a team of freshman ambassa-dors will be hosting the stu-dents in their rooms and resi-dence halls.

Abby Holland, freshman missions major from Hous-ton, will host two girls. She said by staying in the resi-dence halls the guests will have a better idea of what col-lege is going to be like.

Holland plans on bringing them to her Sing Song prac-tice, introducing them to her

friends and take them out to dinner.

The reason Holland decided to be an ambassador is be-cause of her positive Preview Weekend experience. She said her hosts contributed to her decision to come to ACU.

“I really love ACU, so I kind of wanted to make the same impact on somebody else,” she said.

This is not the first time Holland has hosted students; she also did it last semester. She said the students she host-ed seemed optimistic about at-tending ACU when they gradu-ate from high school.

High school students preview university

n SA executive president said attendance at SA meetings usually decreases in the spring semester but is not a concern as long as two-thirds of Congress is present.

By KELSI PEACEFeatures editor

Valentine’s Day and Sing Song stress took their toll on Students’ Association Congress

on Wednesday, when only 27 members attended the meet-ing — exactly enough to make the quorum, but not enough to pass anything since two-thirds of Congress (36 members) must vote on important issues. The meeting was adjourned af-ter announcements.

When the 2007 spring bud-get was submitted to Congress,

39 members attended the meet-ing. On Feb. 7, 35 members at-tended to appoint new mem-bers and approve resignations.

SA executive president Ma-her Saab challenged Congress members to “fulfill the position with integrity” by attending meetings and fulfilling office hour requirements. Members can miss up to four meetings

and scheduled office hours be-fore they will be impeached.

Saab said attendance typi-cally decreases in the spring as students look forward to the summer. To counter the trend, Saab said communication through e-mails and announce-ments will increase.

“We should have 40 people every night,” he said.

Saab said most members are “solid and faithful,” including representatives who are study-ing abroad this semester. Hallie Roberts, chief developmental officer, said elected represen-tatives who are abroad keep in touch and up-to-date and vote with absentee ballots.

Beginning Wednesday and continuing next week, stu-

dents can send postcards to the Texas House of Repre-sentatives, asking represen-tatives to vote in favor of making textbooks tax free for the first two weeks. SA is sup-porting the project, and post-cards will be available in the ticket window.

Absent Congress members halt SA resolutions, action

n The Campus Store will stay open until 7:30 p.m. on Saturday to accommodate Sing Song attendees for the first time. Discounts will also be offered.

By NATHAN STRAUSstaFF Writer

The Campus Store will stay open later than usual on Saturday, so those arriv-ing just before the final Sing Song show can still shop. The store will also offer a selec-tion of discounted ACU mer-chandise, and the opening hours have moved to late in the morning.

Scott Harsh, assistant store director, said Saturday’s hours will be from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. to accommodate latecomers.

“We realized people weren’t coming in at 8 in the morning,” Harsh said.

Last year’s store hours were from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Harsh said he didn’t know how much additional traffic the store would see on Satur-day, but he did say the most likely time for the biggest traffic increase is from noon to 2 p.m.

Shannon Wallis, assistant to the director of retail and pur-chasing, said normal Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,

and this will be the first year the store will extend hours.

“We’re expecting a crowd like in the first week of school,” Wallis said.

Discounts on ACU mer-chandise will also be brought back like previous years.

“We have ads in the Sing Song program, so people can get a discount on ACU Alumni merchandise,” Wallis said.

The rate is 15 percent off any insignia merchandise in the store — that is, any products with the ACU let-ters on them.

Harsh said the store will see some new items on Saturday to coincide with Sing Song.

Shirts with pink and green background colors and “ACU” on the chest will be on sale along with camouflage T-shirts with the insignia.

“Hopefully we’ll have a lot of high school kids come in this weekend,” Harsh said. “Buying an ACU shirt may help solidify their choice.”

The store will also get a new book this weekend titled “Grandpa Says,” which is writ-ten by Robert Hall, an ACU board member. Harsh said the book debuts on Friday. Friday hours will not change.

Campus Store extends hours, offer discounts

E-mail Rapelje at: [email protected]

E-mail Peace at: [email protected]

E-mail Peace at: [email protected] E-mail Straus at: [email protected]

The Optimist Print Edition 02.16.2007

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