Eleven tables lined the walls of the Reynolds Elementary School gymnasium in Reading, Mich. They had informational brochures, packets full of bulletin points and a video showing workers hurrying to construct a wind turbine. But it wasn't 350 students who were instructed on the potential benefits wind energy — it was Reading residents.
Recently, Reading township passed a controversial ordinance accelerating the possibility of wind turbines being built within the area. While some are in favor of the construction, others aren't, claiming the turbines are detrimental to both property and health.
Duke Energy, a company planning to build turbines in the area, held an open house last Saturday in order to alleviate concerns.
"I don't feel like I was getting the straight answer," Gretchen Oberdick said, who came to the event with several other friends and compared notes.
She said they were all getting different answers. Oberdick, who's the secretary for the Reading Planning Commission, also helps with a website, savereading.org, which opposes wind turbines in Reading township.
She's concerned about the turbines interfering with broadcast signals, which, she said, has been documented by the National Broadcast Society and the Michigan Broadcast Society.
She's also concerned that some FAA maps she brought on wind energy being considered bogus by representatives, she said.
Al Slusher, a local farmer, leased his land to Duke Energy two years ago. He believes the project will bring more revenue to the area. He's not convinced of potential health problems because he's dealt with turbines before.
"Several people said they're noisy," Slusher said. "I don't think you could whisper low enough to make as much noise as they do. They talked about health problems, but I'm sure these cell phones they put up to their ear cause more problems."
Milton Howard, vice president of wind development at Duke Energy, said if the project does go forward, land owners, especially farmers, will receive money from tax revenues.
"Farmers want this to happen," Howard said. "If they have a bad year, they don't have anything to lean on."
Duke Energy spokesman Greg Efthimiou said the open house would provide the opportunity for residents to ask questions about wind energy in Hillsdale County.
"I'd say about 90 percent of the people here are positive about the wind turbines," he said "I think about 5 percent are still concerned, and the other five are very concerned."
Reading Resident Bill Moyer said he favors wind energy because it's the only other resource Hillsdale has besides Hillsdale College. His wife Sandy Moyer said she was a bit more skeptical of wind energy.
Tom Galloway was one of the first Reading residents to be involved with the Hillsdale Windpower Project. Duke Energy called Galloway two-and-a-half years ago asking permission to place a meteorological tower on his property. He was in Iowa when they called. He said yes.
"If nothing more, it'll generate a little excitement in the area," Galloway said. "I call it the ‘neat factor.'"
Galloway said he believes it's a good opportunity and use of land.
Howard said the company has acquired about 9,000 acres of lease land agreements in Allen, Cambria and Camden township and hopes to gain 3,000 more for buffering space.
Overall, he said the open house was a success, allowing residents to become more informed.
"The more we can communicate, the better," he said.
Jackson no longer birthplace of GOP
Small green signs surrounding Jackson, Mich., declare the city as the "Birthplace of the Republican Party." But if it were up to the Republican National Committee, those signs would be removed.
According to Chairman of the Jackson Republican Party Hank Choate, the RNC removed Jackson's status as the birthplace of the Republican Party from its website.
The fact that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus received a framed map of Ripon, a small town of 7,000 in eastern Wisconsin, with the words
"Birthplace of the GOP" inscribed in brass on the front of the map has a few raising their eyebrows. It doesn't help that Priebus is the former head of the Republican Party in Wisconsin.
Nor does it help that Priebus was the keynote speaker at a Ripon Society dinner last Thursday. The conservative think tank takes its name, according to its website, from "the birthplace of the Republican Party."
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder begged to differ last Monday at the Jackson County GOP's 116th annual Lincoln Day Dinner. Snyder gave the keynote speech. In it, he said he corrected Wisconsin officials about the Republican Party's beginnings.
"It just seems like a pretty stupid thing to do at this point in time," sophomore Baillie Jones said. Jones, a Hillsdale College Republican, said there are bigger fish to fry.
According to Choate, the "Who We Are" section of the RNC's website mentioned both Jackson and Ripon as playing significant parts in the formation of the Republican Party. Ripon hosted an informal meeting in a schoolhouse where citizens, upset with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, came up with the name "Republican" for a new political movement.
However, Jackson has the unique distinction of holding the first official meeting of Republicans on July 6, 1854.
That history no longer exists on the RNC's website.
Instead, it states "Republicans became a national party in 1856 by nominating John C. Fremont for President."
Choate said Jackson's role in the history of Republican Party is not on the website, but should be back up soon.
"But the party is bigger than where the birthplace is," he said.
At least four other cities claim to be the birthplace of the Republican Party.
According to the Michigan Historical Center, the Republican Party was birthed "Under the Oaks" in Jackson when a state convention of anti-slavery men was held. So many people arrived for the convention that it was moved out of a hall to an oak grove called "Morgan's Forty."
Lola Peterson has been a Jackson County political activist since 1976.
She raised $40,000 to help establish "Under the Oaks" as a park. She's proud of Jackson's claim but said the Republican party shouldn't get involved in petty bickering over its birthplace.
"You will find that adults will get worked out of shape over things they shouldn't quite worry about," she said.
Republican County Commissioner Parke Hayes said he'll always consider Jackson to be the Republican Party's birthplace.
"In the eyes of a lot of people it'll always be Jackson County," Hayes said. "Will it make a big difference? Probably not. But as far as I'm concerned, it's Jackson."
County commissioners cut two districts
The Hillsdale County Apportionment Committee has cut the number of county districts by two in a meeting last Thursday in order to cut county costs. Both county chairs of the Democratic and Republican parties, the county clerk, the treasurer and the prosecuting attorney attended the meeting, which by law must be held after every nation-wide census.
The committee passed the motion 4-1. County Republican chair Mike Clark dissented, saying he was concerned about setting a number of commissioners without the population number for the whole county.
County Treasurer Gary Leininger, said the committee had an opportunity to address Hillsdale County's money problems by cutting two commissioners off the current seven-member board. He said each commissioner is paid $20,000 and receives $10,000 in health benefits, totaling $30,000 per year.
In addition, Leininger said future ballot costs will go down "because the more splits you have, the higher the cost to run elections."
County Clerk Marney Kast agreed. She said she must purchase different ballots for each school district under the current seven-member board. She also has to include parents whose student lives in one district but goes to school in another, driving up the cost and adding waste in each election.
"I have to buy a minimum of 25 ballots, plus coding and testing ballots on top of that," Kast said. "So you would see a tremendous amount of waste."
Kast said the bigger the election, the higher the cost. She said she expects to pay roughly $30,000 for the August primary election.
Leininger said with a five-member commissioner board, the districts will be evenly split, preventing the city of Hillsdale from being broken into two districts.
The committee plans to vote on district lines at their next meeting, which hasn't been set due to problems getting accurate 2010 census data. Kast said she was unable to download the population count in each census tract in Hillsdale County and hopes to have more accurate numbers by the next meeting.
"We've been urged by the governor and others to do everything we can to reduce the cost of government," Leininger said. "There's an opportunity for us to address that issue right here in Hillsdale County."
Hillsdale may be political, but don’t complain about it
Hillsdale has attracted the attention of "The newspaper of Capitol Hill," Roll Call. The paper recently wrote an article about the Kirby Center, our new fangled constitutional-education-and-intern-housing-center on Capitol Hill. That article inspired one of our own, entitled "Political or Civic?" begging the question if Hillsdale focuses far too much on politics in general. Well, it's no secret –– it does, and rightly so.
It's the nature of our school. Its political frame is written into our mission statement. To say that Hillsdale College, a school which fervently worships Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln (perhaps a little less so on the last one) in one breath, isn't fundamentally conservative takes either a willful amount of ignorance or the ability to lie like a politician.
On campus, there's a cold war between libertarians and conservatives, and the handful of liberals that do exist (they're out there, really!) are either silent or forgotten.
So, yes, we are a political school, but we're also a school concerned with science, athletics, language, theology, economics and biology. For example, our biology program offers trips to study in Africa and the Caribbean. Our economic and business programs offers students tremendous experiences with internships and lunches with well-known CEOs. Our physics and chemistry programs have instruments you won't find at other colleges our size or larger.
So while politics may be the defining part of our college, it doesn't define it in its entirety. Our focus is unfairly aimed at our politics because, well, that's what riles people up and grabs attention. In fact, Hillsdale's politics is probably why you came here.
Most other universities on the Hill, such as the University of Ohio, can be found in a lobbyist office. David Bobb, director of the Kirby Center, said Hillsdale College isn't. And, yes, the center may turn out lobbyists, which is great for students who wish re-live Thank You for Smoking, but it isn't the center's focus. Constitutional enlightenment is.
That and providing Hillsdale students with unique opportunities. The Kirby Center is a great move for the college and establishes excellent connections for any students interested in working in Washington D.C. or in politics.
We like to complain a lot at Hillsdale –– how the economics of Saga is a less than stellar deal for students, how a potential theology requirement in the core could alter the spirit of individuality at school which prides itself on individualism and how all work and no play makes Jack a Hillsdale student.
There's nothing wrong with embracing Hillsdale's political nature, even if you don't agree with it. Rarely, if ever, do we stop to say "Hey, we have a pretty good set-up here." Well, as much as it pains me to say that we do, we do.
As gas prices climb, college looks for cuts
College students may see campus security patrolling campus on bicycles this summer, if gas prices continue to climb.
Gas may cost $5 a gallon by Memorial Day if former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister is to be believed. The former CEO has made national headlines claiming drivers could see an increase in gas prices due to emerging markets in Asia and the crackdown on offshore drilling placed by the Obama administration.
For Hillsdale College, the price jump may mean increased charges for traveling, security, maintenance and off-campus studying.
Tony Swinehart, associate professor of biology and organizer of Hillsdale's summer marine biology program, said an increase in gas prices wouldn't affect this summer's marine biology participants, though it may affect future trips.
"If it were a problem, we may have to cut some activities," Swinehart said. "At this point, we can't raise the price we're charging our students."
He said a trip typically costs about $600 in gas per van, but added that wouldn't be an issue this year due to the economy.
"Only nine people signed up," Swinehart said. "This is the first year ever we haven't had a maximum enrollment."
Still, Swinehart said gas isn't cheap, especially on boats. He said the marine biology program typically takes seven or eight trips on a boat during the summer, burning 12 gallons a trip totaling $420 a summer.
"My interest is keeping costs low so students can participate in this great summer program," he said. "You can't teach a course like this on campus."
Shuttle services, too, will be affected. Scott Campbell, transportation coordinator, said he's only seen an increase to shuttle services because of gas prices once before. He said the formula is pretty simple, "If the cost [of gas] shoots up, we'll adjust the mileage costs accordingly."
Not true for the Hillsdale College security crew, who continue to patrol the campus and gun range during the summer.
Director of Campus Security Director Mike Wertz said if gas prices go up, they'll have to cut down on patrols. He said foot and bike patrols may increase as a consequence.
Wertz said he currently has $12,000 to $13,000 set aside for fleet services, most of which goes towards gas.
He said security usually keeps the same patrol routine during the summer, when the college hosts classes, camps and hostels.
"We're still going to average about 25 miles a shift," Wertz said. "But with constant stop and go, your mileage goes to snot."
He said security will still be on call when it's needed, but instead of actively patrolling around campus, security will be found in Fowler Maintenance Building responding to call from there.
"Hopefully, it doesn't get there," Wertz said. "Hopefully it's all just hype."
What went down at the Jefferson Memeorial dance party?
he Daily Caller’s Michael Mayday interviewed different folks and filmed Saturday’s Jefferson Memorial dance party, which was shut down by police officials after less than an hour.
Attendees came together in support of free speech and busting a move at the Jefferson Memorial. Dancing, even silently, is not allowed at the monument.
Watch: Jefferson Memorial visitors get their groove on.
You'll have to click the link to see the video, sorry.
Gay student groups want Chick-fil-A off campuses
Gay and lesbian groups across the country have launched campaigns toremove Chick-fil-A from campuses in response to the fast food restaurant providing sandwiches and brownies for a traditional marriage conference hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute.
While the institute doesn’t take any explicit stance on same-sex marriage, FamilyLife, the organization that created the conference, does. According to its website, FamilyLife’s mission is to promote “private consummation between one man and one woman, never between the same sex.”
Chick-fil-A’s involvement in the conference ignited a national debate on gay rights in the context of corporate practices and consumer awareness. The most focused discussions took place on campuses across the country.
Students at various colleges and universities campaigned to have the fast food restaurant removed from campus dining areas. Indiana University at South Bend had its once-a-week sale of Chick-fil-A food halted for administrative review of the franchise and its policies. The university has since reinstated the practice.
Other universities, like Florida Gulf Coast University and Duke University, have also reviewed their relationships with Chick-fil-A. Jake Glaizer, a graduate student at Western Illinois University, decided to protest the restaurant’s presence on his campus.
Glaizer thinks that Chick-fil-A’s business culture is unfriendly toward the gay community–something most students aren’t aware of.
“I believe that students have a moral obligation to lobby for the fast food chain’s removal,” he wrote in an editorial for the university’s student newspaper, the Western Courier. “Anything less would be inconsistent with Western’s values and a missed opportunity to stand up for what is right.”
Chick-fil-A makes no attempt to hide its Christian origins. S. Truett Cathy, the company’s founder, has always maintained a policy of closing the restaurant on Sundays. On its website, Chick-fil-A proclaims that its corporate purpose is “to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.”
This philosophy, though, doesn’t resonate with all consumers. Glaizer said that just because the company is privately owned doesn’t mean it should behave this way.
“Well, yes, Chick-fil-A is independently owned, but, morally, I think, where do you take the stand? You need to take the stand somewhere,” Glaizer said.
The backlash caused Chick-fil-A’s current president and COO, Dan Cathy, to explain the chain’s stance toward the gay community in an online video, saying Chick-fil-A serves “all people and values all people.” In a second press release, Cathy explained that while his family believes in the biblical definition of marriage, the restaurant itself “will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family.”
Ted Martin, executive director of the gay rights organization Equality Pennsylvania, said that while he respects the company for being clear on its values, consumers should be made aware of where their money is going when they buy from Chick-fil-A.
“The bottom line is when you put that out there, you have to be prepared for a response,” Martin said.
Students for Mitch Daniels surges after CPAC speech
This story took far too long for me to gather materials. Not that I wasn't trying, but because pneumonia is a hell of a sickness. You can read the article on its original website here.
If a new student political action committee gets its way, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels will be drafted to run for president in 2012.
The group, the Student Initiative to Draft Daniels, was formed by four Yale students over the summer of 2010 and has aired two advertisements encouraging Daniels to run. After the governor’s speech at CPAC, the group has seen a 20 chapter surge, on top of approximately 40 existing chapters.
Yale senior Max Eden, and president of the Students Initiative to draft Daniels, said the fact Daniels spoke at CPAC last week may be a sign of an announcement.
“On one hand I don’t know how you can give a speech like and not,” Eden said “On the other hand, still people came out of that room thinking, ‘Oh, wow this guy needs to run for president, but I don’t know if he will.’”
Michael Knowles, political director for Students for Daniels and a junior at Yale, said there isn’t much choice for the Republican party.
Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, he says, has put himself out of the race with his state’s healthcare system, a system Obama based the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on; former governor Sarah Palin has isolated herself from any possibility; and congressman Mike Pence has remained quiet on a presidential bid, and may run for Daniels’ seat as governor of Indiana.
But not all Republicans are demanding Daniels. Former Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum, has decried Daniels for wanting to call a ‘truce’ on social issues in order to focus on fiscal policy.
“Rick Santorum can say what he want,” Knowles said, days before the national debt amounted to the U.S. economy – $15 trillion. “The American people doesn’t want to wax philosophy right now.”
Which is why the Student Initiative to draft Daniels believe Mitch is their man. Knowles said Daniels has a history of cutting deficits and debt – transforming a $600 million deficit into a $300 million surplus in a single year.
Some consider the student-led group’s ads to be the first campaign commercial for the 2012 presidential race. The ads focus on Daniels’ debt cutting prowess and the state of the economy. Daniels’ ability to cut the budget as theBush administration’s director of Office of Management and Budget earned him the nickname “The Blade.”
The Student Initiative to Draft Daniels’ first advertisement compared President Obama to a money-spending ex-boyfriend, contrasted with Daniels’ fiscal responsibility. The group’s second video, which aired in Washington D.C during CPAC, features political celebrity and presidential candidate Jimmy McMillian, who ran for New York governor on “The Rent is too Damn High” party ticket during New York’s 2010 gubernatorial election.
In it, two students are looking for a slogan for Daniels’ 2012 campaign. McMillian advises saying, “The deficit is too damn high. You’ve got a president just throwing money away. Alabama, here, take this. Florida, take that…Americans are being treated like Third World people. The deficit is too damn high!”
McMillian announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination at CPAC last week. So far, Daniels hasn’t announced if he’ll run for president.
McMillian, a registered Democrat, announced he will run for president on the Republican ticket at CPAC in order to prevent competing with President Obama. Daniels has yet to make an announcement.
“He’s not about flair, he’s about doing his job,” Knowles said.
Michael Mayday is a staff writer for the Hillsdale Collegian. He is a member of the Student Free Press Association.
Student tends to greenhouse plants
Senior Manuel Valle peers into his microscope and observes the mosaic patterns on his slide. The slide was produced by a company in North Carolina and stained specifically to help students identify different cellular structures. But the potted plant next to him, which serves to identify the slice of water lily on his slide, was grown in Strosacker's greenhouse under the watchful eye of junior Megan Saunders.
For the past year and a half, Saunders has swept the floor, watered, pruned, potted and re-potted the plants that make up the Strosacker Greenhouse. At the beginning of Saunders' sophomore year, Renessa Cooper, associate professor of biology, asked her if she was interested in plants. Saunders said yes and was soon watching over the greenhouse and its silent inhabitants.
"It's not a huge job," Saunders said. "But it's rewarding because you're working with your hands."
Cooper said the greenhouse produces plants needed for Biology 102, Evolution in Biodiversity and Botany. Occasionally, she'll take her students into the greenhouse to showcase the variety of plants, but in large, the florid room doesn't see too many visitors beyond the occasional student seeking extra credit, Cooper, the rare studier and Saunders.
"Visitors are welcome," Cooper said, "which is why we put a sign up."
One whole wall of the structure is dedicated to aloe plants. The flowering plant grows so much that Cooper said she often gives them away. But the greenhouse takes plants too. Cooper said when students own plants which have grown too large and unruly for a dorm room, they donate it to the biology department. During winter break, she also takes in plants while students are away.
Saunders said she occasionally helps move plants to botany labs, but often she simply feeds the aloes, the agave plant (a relative to the plant responsible for tequila), the rubber plants and the two dwarf banana trees. A few times a month, they're fertilized. Saunders said the banana trees, now a bit dried out, looked fantastic at the end of the summer. Cooper said they have yet to produce fruit.
One of the more colorful plants in the greenhouse, called the Anthurium, looks like it has an elongated grub jumping off a red leaf.
"These are actually flowers along this spadix," Saunders said, pointing towards the little dots covering the yellow edifice. "The red thing is actually called a spathe, but it's just an altered leaf."
Next, she points out a leafy plant with what looks like rice growing in the middle of its leaves.
"For the first couple of weeks I always thought it was covered in bugs so it sort of creeped me out when I saw it in the corner of my eye," Saunders said. The little growths are another method of disguising flowers.
Cooper points out a variety of plants after her botany lab. One species has existed virtually unchanged since dinosaurs roamed. Another, the pencil plant, stretches over two rubber plants, flanked by the aloes. A smaller one is knocked over.
"It's a jungle in there," She said. "But jungles are good."
Student Tea Partyers head to Phoenix, face challenges
Few would accuse the average Tea Partyer of youthful inexperience.
The movement has a reputation, not unfounded, as a grassroots organization comprised of the middle-aged and elderly, not college students.
Despite that, this weekend Phoenix, Ariz., will play host to the first National Tea Party Students Conference, as part of the American Policy Summit, a convention aimed at promoting and continuing the Tea Party movement. The event has secured 50-some seats and five major political student organizations committed to the conference — but bringing the youth into the movement remains an uphill battle.
A fall 2010 survey by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics showed only 11 percent of youths 18 to 29 support the Tea Party. Another poll, by Quinnipiac University, has the youth giving a more favorable view of the Tea Party: 18 percent.
“What it means is that the Tea Party will go extinct if it doesn’t excel at student-youth outreach,” said Daniel Oliver, the founder of Tea Party Students and organizer of this weekend’s conference. “Raising awareness of Tea Party values on campuses will turn these statistics upside down.”
“Extinction might be too strong a word,” said John Pitney, professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College. “But all political movements have a life cycle.”
Like the Perot movement in the 1990s, Pitney said the Tea Party runs the threat of running out of steam after creating the very structural changes the movement sought.
Exceptions like the 1960 political movement withstanding, Pitney said political movements typically concern older generations as younger people generally aren’t interested in policy issues, such as pension reform, even though youths do have a stake in their financial future.
The country’s financial future may be the reason younger conservatives are at least friendly to the Tea Party movement, though.
Matthew Berry, a sophomore and College Republican at Tulane University, said he thinks the Tea Party has done a lot of good for the conservative movement, bringing members disenfranchised by the Bush administration back into the fold.
“As someone who’s first and foremost a Republican, I think it’s great to see some libertarians return to the Republican party,” Berry said.
Fittingly, libertarians have the edge at the conference this weekend. Oliver, 25, said the top five conservative/libertarian youth organizations — The Leadership Institute, Students For Liberty, Young America’s Foundation, Young Americans for Liberty and the Young Americans for Freedom — will all attend.
“The Tea Party is not any one ideology, it’s a big tent movement,” Oliver said. “This shows how the Tea Party brand helps to bring people together.”
Corie Whalen, 22, is the south-central regional director for Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) and said she’s been a part of the Tea Party movement since the start. After all, she said she was the main coordinator at the 2009 Boston Tea Party protest, featuring Sarah Palin.
Whalen, who considers herself a “libertarian leaning conservative Republican,” said many in YAL, and youths in general, don’t identify with the Tea Party.
The problem, Whalen believes, can be attributed to the media’s characterization of the Tea Party, which has alienated the young, and politically active youths.
Bonnie Kristian, communications coordinator for YAL, agreed, saying Tea Party members tend to be older. Kristian said YAL works with the Tea Party to support similar goals, like fiscal conservatism and smaller government, while providing the youth and energy the Tea Party needs around.
While she said there is strength in numbers and that YAL encourages its chapters to work with local Tea Parties during tax season, supporting the Tea Party year round isn’t the group’s goal. Though, she said, YAL does end up working with the Tea Party more often than it does with other groups.
She said the central issue of the Tea Party is fiscal conservatism – a center Tea Parties may have found thanks to Texas Congressman Ron Paul who’s driven a large following with libertarians and Tea Party members.
Paul’s success, or lack thereof, on the national stage could be a telling national political reality for the Tea Party, though.
Pitney said the Tea Party may not be as strong in the presidential election because they placed so many Tea Party candidates in Congress. He said most movements go through the issue attention cycle, where a hot button issue emerges and creates a movement, which in turn creates structural change which in turn has the issue cool off.
But, Pitney said most movements, like environmentalism, leave a residue which could lead to another Tea Party-esque tax revolt.
“Today’s young people are tomorrow’s middle-aged people,” he said.
Mary “Squeak” Barnett to retire
Circulation assistant Mary "Squeak" Barnett is ready to retire after 23 years of working at Hillsdale College's Mossey Library.
Barnett, wearing her signature white sweater, has been the iconic employee at Mossey Library, but her gleeful morning hellos and sage advice to student workers will be leaving with the class of 2011.
Barnett was hired as circulation assistant in 1987. She said if she stayed until August she would have 24 years under her belt.
But Barnett said those 24 years aren't limited to the regular school year. She, and most of the library staff, works during the summer too. Summers that Barnett could've been spending at her house on Lake Baw Beese or in Florida with family members.
"I'd like to travel when I want to," she said. "Instead of trying to work it around a holiday type thing, maybe be gone longer."
Officially, Barnett retires on July 8, but vacation days accumulated over the years will allow her to leave in early May. Her last day of work will be the day of graduation.
"I've told students this year that I'm going to graduate with them," Barnett said.
Barnett grew up locally, attending a two room schoolhouse in Mosherville, Mich., before graduating from Jonesville High School. She even maintained a local newsstand for a short time.
Library director Daniel Knoch said he remembers when he and Public Service Librarian Linda Moore interviewed Barnett in the library's von Mises room. Though she didn't have a college degree, she had worked in a library environment several years earlier at Jonesville High School, which helped sway the two to hire her.
"She's been a great employee," Knoch said. "One of the primary people in the library who contribute to the library's success."
Barnett said she'll miss the students the most, calling them her kids. Though she says she understands they're full-grown adults, that doesn't stop her from giving them advice.
Freshman Catherine Orban, who works the library's circulation desk, said Squeak often gives helpful life lessons to students, ranging from remedies for sicknesses to Valentine's Day dinners.
"I've witnessed her talking to students about how to get out of debt," junior Emily Zick said.
Barnett said, not too long after 9/11, the library once came under attack from a couple of pranksters filling the library with smoke from smoke bombs. The students on staff didn't know what to do at the time, and instead of calling security or 911, they called Squeak.
Barnett said she believes the library is a place of connections — as witnessed by the e-mails she receives from former students.
Typically, she works graduation and sometimes can hardly go out and watch the procession of students — some of whom she's worked four years with and who will never come by again. This time, she'll join them.
"I'm going to have a hard time walking out of here during graduation," Barnett said. "I bet there'll be a tear in my eye."
White House eases study abroad restrictions to Cuba
My first story for the Student Free Press Association was on the Obama administration's decision to lift some travel sanctions to Cuba. I enjoyed working on this article and managed to land an interview with the former ambassador to the Organization of American States, Robert Noriega. I've been keeping an eye on how Cuba has developed over the past few weeks as well -- it seems like a story that's only going to grow.
President Obama has issued an executive order easing restrictions on student and religious organizations traveling to Cuba.
The order, made last Friday, will allow accredited universities to receive general licenses for exchange programs. The order will also allow short term trips, such as academic seminars, conferences and workshops. Under the Bush administration, educational exchanges were required to be 10 weeks long and each university had to apply for its own license for its own students.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio released a statement opposing the changes.
“I was opposed to the changes that have already been made by this administration and I oppose these new changes,” Rubio said in the statement. “It is unthinkable that the administration would enable the enrichment of a Cuban regime that routinely violates the basic human rights and dignity of its people.”
Critics of the changes, like Rubio, claim the new regulations are open to abuse, and will allow the Communist government to cement its control by using students and researchers as a new source of money.
“The money will go to the Cuban government,” Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba said. “Cuba is like a company town.”
Calzon said all money that goes to Cuba ends up in the government’s coffers to keep it in power. But, he said, the Cuban government is on the verge of an economic collapse and any money sent to Cuba may strengthen the resolve of the weakening Communist government.
Jose Cardenas, who worked on the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba under the Bush Administration, said the Cuban government claimed it will lay off 500,000 state workers into the “micro-enterprise” sector, due to shortfalls. New revenue streams may bring the “micro-enterprise” sector to a halt.
“If you give them any oxygen, any relief from pressure, they will not continue reform,” Cardenas said.
Former ambassador to the Organization of American States Roger Noriega said the Bush Administration placed the 2004 regulations to prevent educational junkets, which were vacations in disguise. He said students would typically attend seminars in Cuba as an excuse to party in Havana.
In an
article for the American Enterprise Institute, Noriega described the use of licenses for events like golf outings and pub crawls, before the Bush administration increased restrictions in 2004.
Cardenas, along with Noriega, helped to make those restrictions. He said part of the commission’s duty was to observe the mechanisms the Castro regime used to raise money. They determined the Cuban government focuses most of its efforts on the tourism industry. The commission also reported many institutions abused licenses in the form of disguised tourism.
“People basically were trying to slap on a political reason for vacation,” Cardenas said.
Mark Scheid, President and CEO of the Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University, placed about 130 exchange students in Cuba in 2003, the last year before the Bush restrictions. Scheid said The University of Havana treats his exchange students like any regular students, so the American students must be fully fluent in Spanish. He thinks the concern over Obama’s executive order is misplaced.
“I don’t think you’re going to find that putting college kids on campus in Havana is going to make a significant impact on the island’s economy,” Scheid said.
He said study abroad is one of the best methods of learning and that the exchange program will be important to have for Cuban to American interaction.
Scheid said the Treasury still needs to discover how the new rules will affect institutions applying for a license. The new rules state that only accredited universities may apply for general license and to be accredited you must be able to give degrees. He said the new rules affect 501 C3 non-profits, such as his, which operate under the Bush administration’s rules. He’s believes they’ll continue to be licensed, even though it could take the Treasury months to figure the new rules out.
“I think the benefits for both countries far outweigh the negative, if there are any, of putting college students together.”
Michael Mayday is a staff writer for the Hillsdale Collegian. He is a member of the Student Free Press Association.Updated (2:33 pm.): Originally the article said that 130 students were placed in Cuba through the Butler program in 2010 — this is actually the number of students placed in 2003, before the Bush White House restrictions.
Weekly auctions enliven Hillsdale County Fairgrounds
Ken Frecker of Ken Frecker Auctioneers, Inc. prepares for a day of selling. He grabs his white Stetson hat, a walking cane and his portable speaker system with the microphone duct-taped to the strap. With everything in hand, it's 9 a.m. and time to begin selling.
Frecker and several others are the latest in a long line of auctioneers marshaling the Hillsdale Historic Auction. For the past 102 years customers have attended the auction and flea market at the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds to find discounted goods ranging from handguns and bread to glowing earrings and portraits of Jesus.
Richard Cytacki, who graduated from auctioneer school in 2000, has been working the auction for the past six years.
"He's kind of a cocky soul, thinks he's good at everything," Frecker said.
Cytacki laughs, and prepares to give a tour of the grounds on the slowest day of the year.
The auction has six parts to it. The flea market is in the barn, along with the office, livestock cage, food court and discount groceries. The poultry, from pheasants to roosters, ducks and rabbits, is kept in another barn. Over 3,000 bales of hay are sold near the parking lot. Next to the flea market is the auction area, and where most of the crowd gathers for bidding.
Cytacki said cattle, pigs and goats are sold during the large animal sale at 1 p.m. Animals are typically registered until the start of the large animal sale, but winter has kept livestock at a low. He said the livestock is numbered with a yellow sticker and weighed on its way out to the pen — except for goats, which are sold by the head. Today it's light, only a man with a small kid under his right arm comes for a yellow tag.
Cytacki said the poultry barn is usually full, but again, winter has kept the numbers down. Roosters and rabbits, sold by the cage, fill only a quarter of a wall, but still draw a sizable crowd.
Another big seller, Cytacki explains, is hay. Hay from Hillsdale County, Indiana and Ohio are sold to farmers looking for extra winter feed. Besides that, the actual auction section usually extends much farther, spilling over into four long rows instead of two short ones.
"It's not unusual in the summer time to sell for six hours," Cytacki said.
Today, Frecker sells for about two. For those two hours he pokes the merchandise with his cane and starts the bidding at a low price. Anything can be up for auction — from a pool table to piles of firewood.
"Okay you're buying a bucket of boards there, and brackets, so give a dollar bill," Frecker says. "Little shelves there, dollar-bill-one-dollar."
Jackie Kenkel, whose son is now 60, grew up on 6 West College St. and has been coming to the Hillsdale Auction since she was four. She said she spends her time with her friends and often comes Friday night to scout for potential purchases. Kenkel said she loves to get acquainted with people at the auction.
"If they don't talk to me I talk to them," she said.
"We've been coming here for years and years and years," Kenkel said. "When I was a child I said, 'I am never coming here, I hate this place.' Now, I can't stay away."
Frecker said the barn, where the flea market sells its wares, contains 40 booths. Each booth is sold by its number. Some vendors, like six-year veteran Cindy, have multiple booths rolled into one.
Cindy, who said she cannot release her last name, said she visits her friends and fellow vendors between auctions and sales. Cindy knows each person selling in the flea market, down to Herminia Torres, who just began selling polyester blankets at the end of the aisle. She said in the summer the Amish have a strong presence with baked goods, and senior citizens flood the barn.
"We enjoy this," Cindy said, pointing to attendees. "This is my fun, my relaxation."
Black holes and diplomas: Astronomer reflects on time at Hillsdale College
On Sunday evening, Coleman Miller, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Maryland, juggled beanbags on stage in Phillips Auditorium. The packed room watched him intently, not for his juggling prowess, but to learn about the eccentric patterns of multi-starred systems and how stars are shot out of their system.
Miller visited Hillsdale College to deliver a presentation on "The Mysteries of Black Holes." Though he graduated here 25 years ago, he is only 37. He started college at the age of 15.
"It certainly was an interesting experience," he said. "I already knew one of the students, Jim Hunt. He was on the football team and a basketball coach for a summer camp."
Hunt introduced Miller to other football players and Miller quickly became one of the most protected students on campus.
In the early '80s, the physics department only had two professors: Jim Peters and Paul Lucas. Peters, Miller's faculty advisor, had Miller in most of his classes.
"I believed the students liked Cole," Peters said. "He loves people and people liked to have him around."
Miller grew up in nearby Reading Township and commuted to Hillsdale College. He recalled triggering the maternal instincts of the college women. He noticed that as the girls would ask him questions after a large class, their boyfriends would asses the situation and twist it to their advantage.
But Miller's age earned him no special academic treatment, with one exception: chemistry lab. He took the class like everyone else, just not around other students.
"I think the potential problems of a 12-year-old in a lab and near explosives worried some," Miller said.
As for adjusting to college life, Miller said he had a fairly easy time by being friendly and trying not to take himself too seriously. He played on intramural football and basketball teams, and had a near-championship run with a Delta Sigma Phi basketball team.
Miller graduated summa cum laude in the spring of 1984, with majors in mathematics and physics. That year, Malcolm Forbes was the guest speaker, and with an assembled crowd of about 2,000 people attending the ceremonies, Miller walked up to receive his diploma.
"It was an extremely emotional moment for me, because when I went up to get my degree, they gave me a standing ovation, which I felt really great about," Miller said. "It meant that they really accepted me, not just as some curiosity, but as somebody that they felt as a friend. It was probably the most powerful moment in my life thus far."
After graduating, Miller moved onto graduate school at the age of 16, and when he turned 21 in 1990, he received a PhD. He couldn't teach as a professor until he took up a post-doctoral position, but in 1999 he received a professorship at the University of Maryland, where he remains to this day.
His return to campus to lecture on black holes attracted attention from students and the outside community. Nicholas Payne, a student in the seventh grade at Hillsdale Academy, enjoyed the presentation.
"I thought he was a great speaker." Payne said. "He knew what he was talking about, and wasn't a dry, plain information professor. He kept his audience interested."
Miller's active demonstrations ranged from showing the effects of gravity without air resistance, to showing how waves travel the closer they get to the event horizon of a black hole.
His video demonstrations were no less engaging. As he played a video, two ghostly representations of galaxies traveled across the screen and passed through each other and then twisted themselves into abstract art as they were pulled back to each other over and over again.
Miller ended the presentation by discussing the possibility of finding gravitational waves, which would physically prove that black holes exist. Currently, he is involved in two experiments attempting to find these particles.
"This is an extremely exciting time to study black holes," he said. "Just within the last four years it has been possible for the first time to simulate, fully on a computer, what happens when two black holes spiral into each other: a full solution to the Einstein equation, a challenging enterprise."
Walberg celebrates win in red-hot race
It's a little past midnight, and a staff member is popping blue and orange balloons adorning the corners of Tim Walberg's victory party at Daryl's restaurant in downtown Jackson. Waiters and bartenders, in their black uniforms, scurry back and forth picking up empty cups, glasses, bottles and plates spread out in the dimly lit room. Walberg is on the phone talking to media representatives while two college journalists nervously wait their turn nearby.
A black suited waitress passes by, picking up glasses on a table.
Earlier in the night, with her maroon colored hair and black uniform, she helped to set up the hors d'oeuvres and delivered a large chicken Caesar salad to a hungry public-radio reporter sitting at a small crowded table.
I sit across from the reporter, in the quarantined press section of Walberg's victory party with my media badge (TIMWalberg emblazoned on it in large print). Victory for Walberg isn't certain at the moment, but it seems inevitable.
The large L shaped room where the party is hosted is fairly sparse in decorations and beyond a few balloons, signs and tables the room seems bare. Then the supporters, guests, reporters, staffers pour in. A projector is set up on the other side of the room (the lower part of the 'L' is where the media is corralled) and plays Fox News. A smaller TV is playing "Glee." Young teenagers and supporters crowd around the projector watching the results pop up on the large screen.
Reporters and photographers, largely ignored, mope about the room and wait for either an appearance from Walberg, or for a staffer to update the whiteboard with the latest poll results from the War Room. They're monitored by staff members, and if a member of the media becomes too invasive, the staffer will intervene and ask the reporter to return to the corner.
Suddenly, cheers and applause erupt from the projector's corner. Some reporters jump to see what has happened. Walberg has popped up on the bottom of the screen with a slight lead. The crowd is energized. Reporters snap photos and return to their corner. They wait for any hint of Walberg's emergence. No media is allowed in the War Room.
Walberg makes a brief appearance and is immediately flooded with cameras, reporters, microphones and recorders. A crescent forms around Walberg and all recording devices are on him. He talks briefly to everyone, then he talks briefly to individual TV stations, then he disappears back into the War Room. The rest of the night is spent waiting — waiting for poll updates, for results to roll in and for Walberg to emerge again.
At 9:22 p.m. with 12 percent of the precincts reporting, Walberg is up 52 percent to Schauer's 47 percent.
By 10:30, Walberg is at 53.6 percent; Schauer is at 46.4 percent with 58 percent reporting.
At 10:44 Rick Snyder declares victory. The atmosphere is high, and the reporters are getting jumpy.
A staffer gets up from a nearby greeting table and repeats to himself, "We're up by six. Okay, we're up by six."
At 11:15 I notice staffers collecting signs from the window sills.
"I think something's about to happen," I say.
The reporter with 20 years of election experience doesn't look up from her computer, but asks, "What makes you say that?"
"Staffers are collecting signs from the windows," I say.
"Yep, you're right, something's up," she says. She grabs her recorder for only the second time that night.
Young Walberg supporters are given signs and are organized underneath a large blue banner with "TIM WALBERG for Congress" printed on it. They take a picture while media crowds in front. They don't take any photos. Soon, staffers begin asking the media to step back. Ten to fifteen minutes later, Walberg emerges from the War Room.
He's greeted with applause, camera flashes, an array of microphones, recorders and immediate silence.
"Well I'm glad to see you waited around," he says to the crowd. "Because I think it's been worth waiting, it has been a tough fought battle, as you may have noticed, its been well watched, it's been well spent and financed around; but we won!"
Elation, jubilation and wild applause.
He delivers his victory speech, and the media are released. Staff refrain from being quoted, but volunteers, supporters and visiting candidates and officials are sought out.
Micki Blunt, a volunteer for Walberg, a former attorney and a "stay-at-home-homeschooling-mommy" recalled her days on the campaign trail with her children. They helped with mailings and in one day did over six hours of campaign calling. She gave a slight shiver when campaign phone-calling came up, but she didn't stop smiling.
"Some people can be very rude," she said.
Mike Shinkey, a local candidate who ran for Michigan State House Representative and won his race said he believes people need to learn how to disagree without being disagreeable.
"There's too much emphasis on labels today," He said. "I believe we can find common ground across the board."
The crowd thins out until only relatives, a few staff members, reporters and candidates are left. I met up with another reporter from another college. She has an interview with Walberg, and asks if I'd like to ask a question.
Walberg paces back and forth on a cell phone talking with the media. A staffer is nearby, leading him to pre-selected members of the media who'd like to talk to him.
We shift our feet uncomfortably while a staffer begins to pop balloons in the background.
Eventually, Walberg is led over by a staff member. The college reporter asks her questions, then nervously introduces me. I'm not supposed to be asking a question and the staffer knows it. He shifts uncomfortably. Walberg looks at me, and I sputter out a question about Tea Party rage and the future of Republicans. He answers politely, saying the Tea Party must hold to their principals and keep the feet of the elected to the flame. I thank him, and he turns back to his cell phone.
The maroon-haired waitress gathers her cups, glasses and bottles. It's one in the morning and the last of the attendees filter out. I say goodbye, place a coffee cup on the table and head toward the elevator.
Health center hopes for MRI
The Hillsdale Community Health Center is seeking to purchase a new million-dollar MRI machine for the hospital.
In order to replace the current machine, the health center must meet certain standards. Health center officials said they are confident they will meet all the standards except one, said Jeremiah Hodshire, the Director of Organizational Development at the hospital and a '99 alumni of Hillsdale College.
The center must average 6,000 MRI tests per year, according to the Certificate of Need Commission standards.
"There's no way right now to meet the needed 6,000 tests," Hodshire said.
Hoshire said for the past few years, the hospital has averaged 5,000 tests, and in 2009 the hospital had 5,400 MRI tests.
The commission, an 11-member organization appointed by the governor, approves the purchase of major medical equipment at hospitals throughout the state. CON Commission meets four times a year to assess the needs requested by hospitals, said Sallie Slanders, review specialist a the Michigan Department of Community Health.
The current MRI machine has been in place since 2005. Before then, the hospital would call in a mobile MRI machine. The hospital would only be able to perform MRIs three or four days a week.
In 2004, health center officials requested a fixed MRI machine be installed at the health center. He said the hospital wanted to be realistic and asked the requirement be lowered from 6,000 to 4,000 tests a year.
"Where we were concerned was the number of tests with the MRI," Hodshire said.
The CON Commission granted the exception and the current machine was installed the following year.
The current MRI is now outdated, breaking down and not meeting the demands of the hospital, Hodshire said.
He said the machine is often being repaired, prompting local physicians to look elsewhere for an MRI scan. The health center will need to replace it in order to stay competitive, Hodshire said.
The new machine has more than twice as much magnetic strength than the current one.
To replace the current MRI, the health center used the language from the 2005 exception and went before the CON Commission with a new request.
Hosdshire said he doesn't expect any problems to arise, and they should be granted the exception.
"We need to retain the exceptions to the rule to allow small hospitals to keep competitive," Hodshire said.
The Department Official said the proposed language has moved forward for the upcoming December meeting.
Amy Aemisgger, a Hillsdale College Assistant Athletic Trainer, said the College uses the hospital's MRI to diagnose soft-tissue injury.Health center hopes for MRI
Time Out auctioned off
Businesses owners and deal-seekers flocked to the now foreclosed Time Out Sports & Spirits Restaurant & Bar for a liquidation auction sale Monday morning. Wilson Auction & Reality Co. Ltd. hosted the auction with co-brokers with real-estate agency Sperry Van Ness.
Hillsdale's only pulmonologist Dr. Tariq Abdelkarim bought the Time Out real-estate for half of its valued price at $230,000. Office Manager Dawn Gartee who spoke on behalf of Abdelkarim, said they plan on converting the building into a doctor's office. Gartee said their practice is outgrowing their current location at Three Meadows Medical Building at Hillsdale Community Health Center and said renovations to the building should start soon.
Jeff and Marci Horton bought the class C liquor license for $12,000 and will allow the couple to sell beer, wine and mixed drinks pending approval. Marci Horton said the couple plan on installing the license in the Dawn Theatre in order to restore the theatre's concessions section.
Marci Horton said she did some research before attending the auction and noticed that some items, like glassware, were going for much higher than market price.
"I saw a case of 24 glasses sell for over a hundred dollars," she said.
Wilson sold over $269,050 worth of items including the real-estate, valued at $450,000, and a liquor license valued at $10,000.
Wilson said his company typically does over 130 liquidations a year with the warmer summer months being the busiest. But lately they've been busier than normal, auctioning about once a day.
Wilson said the final price of the building and real-estate isn't too out of line for an auction. "In this market, nothing's common," Wilson said. "It's a great time to buy."
Local ice-fishermen brave freezing weather, ice hazards
James Tasker carefully props a small fishing rod over a clean hole on Lake Bawbeese. The ice is only four inches thick. It's thick enough, but an ice shanty floating 100 yards from him serves as an eerie reminder of the dangers of ice fishing.
It's 19 degrees out; factor in the wind, and your fingers turn numb in seconds. Within minutes they're frostbitten. But still the icemen come.
"That's what usually really turns a lot of people off," Tasker said. "It's the cold. A lot of people think only crazy people do it. It's definitely not a game."
Over on the shore, two ice fishermen began pulling a metal wreck that was once a shanty out of the freezing water. But this is only a minor setback; they'll only be fishing without a shelter. For avid fishers, the only problem with winter is waiting for the ice to freeze.
Those hardy enough, however, are rewarded with a year-round supply of fresh fish. Perch, pike, blue gills and crappies are all available within Hillsdale County, and are all ready to be caught by those willing to venture outside.
Senior Joseph Stempien ice-fishes every year, and has fished on Lake Bawbeese before. He said Bawbeese was lacking in fish, and turned to Coldwater Channel Lakes, where he fishes now. The equipment needed to ice fish is fairly basic. Stempien suggested a beginner take a pole, an auger or spud to break the ice and some bait, such as wax worms. Layered clothing is strongly suggested, especially socks. He said it's also nice to have a depth reader or fish tracker. Stempien said he used a camera to watch for fish on occasion. "It's good to hang out with friends, get out and relax," Stempien said.
He said that bait matters too: wax worms and small bait for smaller fish, such as schools of perch which come and go, and minnows for pike and walleyes. Beyond equipment, a fisher would need to get a license, and to keep the Department of Natural Resources from confiscating any fish you may catch. Stempien warned of a time when DNR rangers fined fishermen who caught two walleyes, one of them a prize fish, $500 for their extra fish. Greg Morrison, who fishes with Tasker, said a little technique is needed to successfully fish.
"I usually start six inches off of the bottom and work my way up," he said. Others use more basic methods. Gerald Tremaine lays flat on the ice covering his hole with his face and hand. He's been fishing Bawbeese for the past week with nothing but a bucket, auger and a pole called a jig, which he constantly bobs over his head.
"Yeah, they're right there; right on the bottom," Tremaine said. "I see two of 'em. One's about 12 inches long."
A few minutes later he catches the smaller of the two. He hurries to get back down on the ice, pausing only to answer his phone.
"Hey I gotta go the fish are bitin," Tremaine said immediately. "Yeah, it's just me, I gotta go."
Tremaine plops back into prone position, and begins bobbing his jig again.
Freshman brothers create iPod game
For the past semester Cory and Toby Flint have been programming a new game for the iPod Touch from their dorm on the bottom level of Simpson Hall, and they're almost ready to release it.
The game, entitled "Satellite Defense," is modeled after the tower defense genre, where the goal for the player is to place stationary weapons across a field in order to prevent an enemy from crossing the screen. Cory Flint said the game has 12 unlockable maps with progressive difficulty and will cost 99 cents.
Sophomore Brett Ramsay played the game in its early stages and said he was impressed the brothers were able to do while in school.
Freshman Brad Francis agreed.
"That's what blows me away," Francis said, "how much time and effort they put into it." The Flint brothers' latest project has drawn on all of their skills which Cory Flint considers to go hand in hand with a liberal arts education. Between the two, the brothers have taught themselves advanced programming methods, composed their own music and have developed their own art all within one semester.
In preparation for the game's release, the brothers just launched www.brothersflint.com. Another project they've undertaken for their game.
The brothers said they can't remember when they first decided to make a game for their new iPod Touch, but they decided to give it a go simply because they could, and it was there.
"I think it began as a form of relaxation," Cory said.
Toby agreed, saying they started to work on it to unwind from the day.
Cory said large-scale projects aren't uncommon for the two. He said they started with lemonade stands when they were kids. Their Eagle Scout projects, an amphitheater and campfire, melded into one with their addition of trails. The brothers also documented their backpacking adventures in New Mexico their book, "The Philmont Chronicles." Hillsdale's library has a copy. "It was a joint project," Cory said.
"That's just how we roll," Toby said.
Cory was responsible for crafting the game's three-dimensional models and art. Toby was responsible for the programming.
"If you see it, he did it, if they move, my program did it," Toby said.
Toby said he began programming his own games on his Nintendo DS when the brothers were in high school in Omaha, Neb. His first game was pong. On his DS, the game looked rudimentary at best. Red, yellow, blue and green colored lines formed the boundaries and the black background had the white words "back-" and under it "ground" scribbled onto the screen.
Toby said he decided to continue to write programs when he and Cory purchased a Macbook Pro that came with a free iPod Touch and printer. He said he learned how to program on a MacIntosh computer by using various tutorials and Apple documents on the Internet. When the brothers began to take the project seriously, he decided to quickly learn code by looking at tutorials he came across and applying them immediately.
"We came in second semester with no specific experience," Cory said. "It was like going from zero to 60 in a few seconds," Toby said.
Toby said to imagine the program files as a type of hierarchy where one file calls on another set and that set of files call on another. He said all the files constantly message between one another to create an object onscreen, like an enemy capital ship.
If (currentCapitalShip==1) { fl: PushMatrix();
What follows are seven out of 3,102 lines of code. Each line contains black and brown acronyms, purple and green letters and the ever-present blue numbers. They tell where the enemy capital ship will be placed, how big it'll be and how it's oriented. At first glance, nothing seems to have any order, but after a few moments of adjustment, patterns and symbols begin to emerge and a language is formed. Brackets are paragraphs markers and semicolons are periods.
"There's a reason why they call programming languages 'languages,'" Toby said.
Junior Elliot Gaiser tested the game as well, and said he was impressed with the brothers' talents.
"They go all out on everything," Elliot said.
That may be true: both of the brothers composed the music for the game in a single weekend, but there's a problem. Cory said the sound effects were a bit loud, Toby agreed, and the decision to fix it was finial.
Research, smoke and nukes
It's 11:46 on a Saturday morning and the debate team has been at work for two hours. Junior Will Cooney notes the time and calls for a lunch break. He asks debate coach Jeremy Christensen if he would like any goods smuggled from Saga, Inc.
Christensen says no.
Every day for the past two weeks, save Sundays, the debate team has been preparing for their showdown at the National Parliamentary Debate Association's national debate tournament in Lubbock, Texas starting March 18.
After a six-week absence from the debate world due to budget constraints, the preparation has been intense. Practice debate rounds have been added to research time.
Research time entails finding any articles focusing on national or international policy, finding both sides of the issue, the arguments supporting it and - more often than not - discovering how the issue will end in either nuclear Armageddon or the extinction of the human race.
The eight members of the elite traveling team began their final research push Friday evening for three hours.
"The problem is most of the things we end up debating are things that happened within the last two weeks," Christensen says.
Christensen began Friday's session with an outline of what needs to be done: cases on prisoner rights, Iran, net neutrality, immigrants, the Google-China power struggle, smart grids, cap and trade policies, banking regulations, filibusters and information on the impact of Diamond Creek, Idaho on rare metals. He doles out the responsibilities and retreats into his office to build cases. Soon, the room fills with the furious clicking of keyboards as each debater scans articles, magazines, government reports and videos in order to craft their cases. Coach said don't worry about quality; worry about quantity.
"Just get the cases done," Christensen says. Cooney finds an article on the eventual prevalence of nuclear weapons thanks in part to the political instability of Pakistan and the North Korean sale of a nuclear power plant to Syria in his issue of Foreign Affairs - a good impact for a round.
In his office Christensen records a case about China's monopoly on rare metals for an absent team member. He speaks in the fast and furious tone that's unique to the debate world - pausing only for quick gasp of breath.
"No-rare-metals-means-no-wind-and-hybrid-uses-costs-rise-parts-become-unavailable-and-of-those-materials-production-stops-therefore-'D'-are-the-impacts-warming-can-be-reversed...it-must-be-reached-before-2050-'two'-is-with-out-reaching-the-target-warming-effects-will-kill-millions-on-a-path-to-extinction..."
Christensen speaks this way for seven minutes straight.
The group stops only for the occasional smoke break - joking about how they've linked their information to a nuclear catastrophe. China is always good for a case.
Cooney says he had detailed how China has boosted its production of attack submarines putting the United States Navy, Taiwan and Japan at risk and putting the world at the brink of nuclear winter.
As freshman Ian Blodger says, "Nuclear good."
Senior Alexandria Carraher says nuclear conflict is always preferable to a conventional war in debate, thanks to its impact on the global population.
"And it's really easy to trigger," Cooney says. "At least in a debate round."
The group ends Saturday's workload with a game of rummy and details of past trips. They'll start filing on Monday in preparation for their flight to Houston, a luxury for the team. The team cackles over Christensen's stingy spending.
"We go to a conservative college; I'm fiscally conservative," Christensen said.
"I guess you can call it that," says Cooney. "What would you call it?" Christensen asks.
"Cheap," Blodger says.