The Railsplitter ONline Abraham Lincoln High School | 2600 S.W. 9 St. Des Moines, IA | Vol. 90 | RS #6 | March 11, 2015

SPRING BREAK

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Let’s Party!

Upcoming Events:

Follow us on Twitter : @TheRailsOnline

& @LHSCabin2015Subscribe Now on YouTube:

therailsplitteronline

#SelfiesWithAbe

Boy’s Bathroom Saga:What’s really been going on?

Infinity Show Chior takes 1st place at Indianola

Pennies for Patients:learn how LHS is helping cancer patients

Plus: Sports Spots, Blogs & Hashtags

-Spring Break: March 13- March 20- Iowa Assesments: Wednesday April 1 - Senior Banquet: Wednesday April 22- ACT Testing: Tuesday April 28- Senior Prom: Saturday May 2 - Senior Celebration: Saturday May 2 (after Prom)- Senior Finals: May 18- May 22- Class Night: Friday May 22- Graduation: Saturday May 23- Finals (grades 9-11): May 27- June 1

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free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedomof speech, or of the press; or the right

of the people peaceable to assemble, andto petition the Government for a redress of

grievances.”

@TheRailsOnlineS T A F F

Co-Editor-in-ChiefKenzy Cooper

@Anthony_theCal @_alexlouw

Alex Louw

on line

Editor-in-ChiefEditor-in-Chief

Staff WriterRyan Prince

Co-Sports EditorKayla Brady

SportsAnthony Caligiuri

@lilmacjammer @kaylabradyyy

Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer

Staff Writer

Giovonni Bahena Cyote Williams Taylor Louw

Nico Robinson

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games over break!” March Madness will fill up a lot of student’s time during break. Bracket action will be in full swing. As is the case for Junior Stefan Castane-da, “Watch March Madness and work.” Junior Jacob Perks said I’ll be playing bas-ketball preparing for AAU and watching March Madness.” Perks is planning on making a brack-et for March Madness. Perks said, “I think Duke will win it all.” Some students have big plans for spring break from traveling to a different state even some are traveling to a different country. Sophomore Jessica Canny is headed down to Florida for a Cheerleading compeition for five days. Sopho-more Brooklyne Wilson is headed to a resort in Mexico for 5 days! Sophomore Alexis Cam said “I’m going to Catalina California with my IESA class.” Cam also said “When I’m in Catalina, I’ll be planting trees and helping the environment for 5 days. Then we get to go scuba diving, kaya-king, go to Disneyland and go to a comedy show when we go back to California!”

breakspringSophom

ore Julie Mao

Sophomore Jessica Canny

Junior Stefan Castaneda Junior R

ichie Galvan

When you think of spring break what do you think of? Do you think of a week full of partying or just being thankful to have a week off

to catch up on sleep? Spring break is one of the craziest times of the year. Tons of students have plans over spring break. Most like to take trips to different places or even just chill out for the week. Some students have plans to stay in town and find things to do around here. “I am going to be working out, hanging with friends and spending time with my family,” said Brock Newton, sophomore. It’s a great to binge on “Netflix” shows as well as rest up for the rest of the school year. “I am going to sleep, watch the TV show Weeds and hangout with my friends,” said Mia Harris, sophomore. But for students on the track team—they will be busy practicing and completing. “I have track practice and also have an indoor track meet at Central College on March 13th,” said Julie Mao, sophomore. Mao also has a set daily plan for ev-ery other day during spring break. Mao said her plan consists of “sleeping, eating, watching Net-flix and repeating.” Fortunately, the weather for spring break is predicted to be actually spring like temperatures which is unusual. Junior Richie Galvan is tak-ing advantage of that. His plans for break are to “hang out with friends play baseball and watch March Madness.” Galvan plays for the Lincoln Spring League team and said, “We have 10

Junior Jacob Perks

Sophomore Brooklyne W

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Sophomore Alexis C

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Sophomore Mia Harris

Sophomore Brook N

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AJ Joss Staff writer @AJoss_

On February 12, 2015 Abra-ham Lincoln would have turned 206 years old. Students at Lin-coln celebrated his birthday by eating cupcakes, wearing top hats, and taking selfies with Abe himself. George Buss is the man who impersonates the great Abe Lincoln. Buss is an Avid (Advanced via Individual determination) regional direc-tor based out of Illinois for his full time day job and does the Abe impersonating about 60 days throughout the year on the side. Buss also goes to many Abe Lincoln conventions every year. Students at Lincoln scavenged for mini top hats throughout the building and won candy for finding them. Student Council Leader-ship gave out over 150 top hats for students to wear around the building that day. These 150 were gone in under 5 minutes from the start.

1. Student Council Leader-ship chilling with Abe

2. Junior Mackenzie Be

3. Junior Madison Anderson

4. Sophomore Alex Montalvo

5. Juniors Kierstan Kahoe and Victoria Harper

6. Junior Will Herman, Sophomore Ben Ber-ber

7. Junior Claudia Jannes

#SelfieSWithAbe

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HorribleThe Poop-ffiti Crisis in the Boy’s bathroom.

Several of the boy’s bath-rooms were recently on lockdown and you may have

wondered why. Unfortunatley, a lack of informa-tion gave way to rumors as to why some bathrooms were locked for a period of time. Apparently, vandalism was the cause this inconvenience. Lincoln custodians work hard to provide clean bathrooms. Clean floors, walls, adequate soap and paper towel supplies are the norm for both girl’s and boy’s bathrooms here at Lincoln. Bathroom vandalism is an indica-tion of school climate, or the envi-ronment of the school. According to Post-gazette.com, Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services in Cleave-land and author of “Practical School Security, he says, “When we think about school safety, we tend to think about metal detec-tors.” He explains, “But issues of cleanliness, graffiti and even soap and paper towels, tell you as much about the climate of a school as the strength of its academic pro-gram and number of extracurricu-lar activities. Students become reluctant to use their restrooms when they are confronted with filth and grafitti due to vandalism. Mr. Beckel, Vice Principal de-scribes the issue, “Graffiti, carving of the stalls and overall disrespect to the bathroom. It disappoints me that students would do this, I thought they would have more pride in their school.” This is clearly not an issue unique to LHS. An internet search reveals issues in high schools across the United States. Vandalism in one’s high school, perpretrated by at-tending students begs for reasons

Mr. Beckel

students would want to create inconvenience for themselves, let alone damage and disrespect property. In an article featured on CNN.com/newsroom, “School Bathroom: Would you “go” there? by Senior National Editor Dave Schechter, belives part of the problem is related to a lack of hygene education for students. The article references a column from a Texas high school newspaper that warns, “Walking into one of the school restrooms is similar to walking onto a crime scene: the smell is overwhelming and you always fear what is lingering behind closed doors.” Being considerate of others and mindful of personal hygene seems important enough to battle through an educational process and provide a few signs gently reminding students to think of others and flush the toliet. But what about the vandalism that is behind the reason to lock the bathrooms? Stopvandalism.net defines vandal-ism as “an action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. This disrespectful and punishable act continues to affect peo-ple everyday.” The article continues with some startling facts. “Vandalism is usually committed by ad-olescent boys between the ages of 10 and 19. 42% of all teen arrests are for vandalism. School-related vandalism alone in the USA in 2004 cost over $93 million dollars. Vandalism hurts people and communities economically and psy-chologically. According to the U.S. Department of Justice: “Many vandals have done poorly academically, and may have been truant, suspended, or expelled. As is typical of many adolescents, students who vandalize and break into schools have a poor understanding of their behavior’s impact on others, and are more concerned with the consequences to themselves.” For those of you who do these things in the boy’s bathroom--consider the impact of your actions on your fellow students. What thing in your brain gives you the idea to urinate on the seat, and not clean it up? Re-flect and think about your actions. Why do you leave endless pieces of trash on the floor and paper towels laying everywhere? According to troopers.ny.gov, students who vandalize do so for a nu-merous reasons: “...boredom, anger, revenge, defiance, and associating with questionable friends.” Reflect and think about this and decide to do the right thing so the bathrooms can remain unlocked and students can feel comfortable in their school. Take pride in your school, stop disrespecting our bathrooms, and start treating them the way they should be treated and improve our school.

Hygiene

There is controversy here concerning whether students should be able to use their phones/elec-tronic devices more in the classroom for educational purposes. One of the big reasons schools are staying away from this idea is because students get distracted with all of what their phone has to offer. So, we took to Twitter and asked what students really do on their phones. We used the hashtag #WhatIDoOnMyPhone and here are the results…

@therailsonline: Hey Lincoln! We want to know what you do on your phone during class when you should be paying attention. Use the hashtag #WhatIDoOnMyPhone

@a_mihalovich: NETFLIX

@_ahunerdosse: ONE TREE HILL

@ShawnGilbride1: I play games on my phone and mess around on

Facebook and Twitter

@_shelbyydavis: SNAPCHAT

@bakinblake: @giselle_sancen: I take pics

“Multitasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40%, increase stress and cause a 10-point fall in IQ”--Harvard Business Review Blog Net-work, Peter Bregman.

“Cell phones distract students from schoolwork and class activities. Half of teens send 50 or more messages a day. According to the Pew study, ‘Older teen girls ages 14-17...average 100 mes-sages a day.’”--Pew Internet and American Life Project, April 2010

Anthony Caliguiri Editor-In-Chief

just saying

To Infinity & BeyondThe Infinity Show Choir won 1st place and received many other honors at IndianolaMackenzy Cooper Co-Editor-in-Chief

To infinity and beyond! That is exactly what Lin-coln’s Varsity Show Choir did on February 21st at In-dianola. Infinity took 1st place at the In-dianola Show Choir competition, the first time in two years. The last time Infin-ity won grand cham-pion at a show choir competition was in 2013 ironically at Indianola. With com-petition season in full swing and only a few competitions left, the members of Infinity and especially the seniors are looking forward to making the most out of their final season. “Having fun is the main goal always. Show Choir is a fun experience and being around those who mean so much to you makes it feel like a family. So, no matter

what have fun,” says Senior, Chelsey Alcantar. Infinity will compete at two more competitions this

season, Southeast Polk and Emmetsburg. Although, they already won one cham-pionship, Infinity isn’t stop-ping there. “I want us to make night finals at the rest of our com-petitions and makes it a sea-son to remember,” says Senior Danielle Funaro.

Infinity did win a championship but that wasn’t the only honor Lincoln’s Show Choir was celebrating. Junior, Grace Zor-way, a member of the Omega show choir

was named Outstanding Female Soloist. This was second honor for Zorway who was named Out-standing Female Soloist at the Johnston Competition. “I wasn’t expecting it again. The first time came as a surprise, I was humble and excited and the second time I was just shocked because I didn’t expect to get it two times in a row,” Zorway says. While Zorway is winning mul-tiple honors all by herself, her number one priority is always the team.

“I want to improve as a whole, Omega and Infinity show choir. Singing and dancing wise just grow as a whole and get better and do more,” says Junior Zorway. Show Choir is looking forward to the rest of the season. They have high expectations for the rest of the season and are excited to see the outcome of 2015 Show Choir season.

Seniors

The varsity show choir, Infinity.

Senior Chelsey Alcantar

Senior Danielle Funaro

Junior Grace Zarway

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω

A Night In Hollywood is just around the corner but you must make it happen.

Be eligible. Ten unexcused absences=no ticket, no prom.Remember that unpaid book fee in your freshman year? We do too. Pay it to be eligible to buy a ticket.Do the right thing. Earn a level 3 and too many Level 2’s and you will not be eligible to buy and ticket.And...this is your last high school dance--you must process your guest form through student services before you buy a ticket.

Don’t miss out on these great high school memories.Senior Banquet is April 22nd and Prom is May 2nd.

Alex Louw Sports Editor-in-Chief - @_alexlouw

The wrestling team had a fantastic season this year. Unfortunately, no one qualified for the State tour-nament this year, but that only pushes this team to work even harder next year. The Rails have a lot of

young wrestlers coming up in the next couple years to help contribute to the team. “We have a successful middle school program full of tal-ented kids who I’m excited to move up and help move our program where it should be” sophomore Isaac Scott said in a previous interview. Congratulations to the Rail’s wrestling team for a great season!

Congratulations to the boy’s and girl’s bowling team for an outstanding bowling season! The men finished 2nd at sub-state. The girl’s team qualified for the state tourna-

ment and finished 6th place overall with a total score of 2766 beating Valley High School!

Sophomores Hanna Duver and Ilda Herrera qualified for state individually. Duver finished 2nd with a total score of 441. Ilda finished 8th with a total score of 410.

Junior Chris Shriver also qualified for state individually and fin-ished in 2nd place with a total score of 470. Great job bowlers!

wrestling bowlingAlex Louw Sports Editor-in-Chief - @_alexlouw Alex Louw Sports Editor-in-Chief - @_alexlouw

Sophomore Isaac Scott competes against Valley at a home match. Senior Dan Carpenter bowls against other schools at Air Lanes.

Season Round-Up

State SwimmingSenior Tom Chidley, Sophomore Cooper Worth, Devin Greenwood and Christian Belden all qualified for

the state swim meet on February 14th, 2015 for the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. The 200 medley relay finished 22nd in the state with the 3rd best time in Lincoln history! The 400 freestyle relay

finished 20th in the state with the 5th best time in school history. Great season boys!

Senior Tom Chidley, Sophomore Cooper Worth, Devin Greenwood from Carl-isle, Christian Belden from Norwalk, Tyler Whitehead from Norwalk and Drew Garrett from Carlisle get ready for the 2015 State swim meet at Marshalltown.

The boys get ready to compete at State!!!

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The 2014-2015 basketball season was a great turn around for the Lady Rails from the past couple seasons. With their record being 6-17 this year’s team was

more determined to win and play together as a team. The teamhas improved greatly within the past three years. Senior Lynzie Miller said, “What made this year differ-ent from the others is that we had more diversity and played more as a team. We bonded a lot more and I think we had more faith in our-selves that we believed we were going to give it our all when we were on the court.” The past three years the Lady Rails won as much as three games a season, so doubling their wins proves their hard work and effort they put in. The next year as will see the improving even more due to the fact that a lot of under-classmen are returning starters. Next year’s senior class has a lot to live up to with Miller totaling 172 total season points, leading the team in scoring. Senior Lynzie Miller was such a stand out this season she was voted in by all the other CIML coaches for second metro confer-ence team. This is a great honor for a student athlete. Although she won’t be playing in any special game with the other girls in the CIML also nominated, she will get a certificate to put on display around her house. Miller said “ It is a honor to be nominated I am very proud of my teammates for making it possible.” Although the Lady Rails did not make it to the state tournament,

on the road to state they made it to the second round. This is also improve-ment over the last three years because they had never made it to the second round game. The first round they got favored with a home game against North, easily winning 55-10. The second round game was more difficult facing Ankeny Centennial at their gym, losing 31-70. Make sure to watch out for your Lady Rails next season as they keep improving!

Lynzie MillerJaden Knoebel

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Kayla Brady Co Sports Editor-@kaylabradyyy

Senior Jaden Knoebel

Senior Lynzie Miller

Senior Senior

Now that the 2014-2015 basketball season is officially over we can reflect on the boy’s season this year. Ending the season with a record of 5-17 the out-

come by the end of most games did not show the effort our Lin-coln Railsplitters put in. This year’s team had a lot of energy but could never quite figure out how to fully use it all together. Senior Jaden Knoebel told us “I wouldn’t change anything from this season, I thought we were all close as a team. We had good team chemistry, I mean yeah everyone wants a better re-cord at the end but it is what it is.” Hearing that one of the senior team captains wouldn’t go back and change anything in the season, is refreshing to hear. The next couple years are looking hopeful for the Railsplit-ters due to sophomore James Deng and the multiple juniors Barry Doe, Zach Edwards and Jacob Perks who all took their turns start-ing games and getting plenty of playing time. These four will be a key aspect to the team if they stick together and work as a team. It is exciting to think about the Railsplitters possibly making it to state within the next couple of years. Every athlete has their favorite game and will be able to tell you right on the spot which one it was and why. Knoebel said “Our first postseason game vs. South East Polk was my favorite game of the season. We had just lost to them the game before and we wanted to get back and we did! Everyone played well and we all

played together. I got my career high for points with nineteen. It is just a game I will never forget!” Like all others, Knoebel will miss the basket-ball season greatly. Our Railsplitters put in 100% effort this year in every game they played, which is all any coach, parent, or fan could ask for. The student section stood loud and proud every game to cheer on the Railsplitters. Make sure to come out next year as the Railsplitters play their heart out!

With the season ending there as we look back there are plenty of pictures taken throughout the season. Above is the proud student section who came out every Tuesday and Friday nights cheering on the girls and boys.1. Junior Jacob Perks2. Junior Zach Edwards3. Junior Zach Edwards4. Senior Jaden Knoebel5. Junior Charisma Currie6. Freshman Hannah McKinney7. Junior Rachel Toto8. Junior Charisma Currie

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Letters from Kenzy Kenzy Cooper Co-Editor-in-Chief

BLOG W/ ANTHONY CALIGIURI

ANTHONY CALIGIURI EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LHS BLOGS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dear Winter, I am so over you and I don’t think I’m the only one. Layers of clothes are just getting annoy-ing, pale skin is hideous and the bitter walk from the tennis courts are just not bearable anymore. At this point of the school year it’s really hard to stay motivated and the cold doesn’t help at all. It’s pretty much impossible to get out of bed in the morn-ing because you know once you leave your safe place of warmness you will have to meet

the bitter cold outside. We’ve had a tough win-ter, like we usually do. Below 0 temperatures, ice storms and the occa-sional 8 inches of snow is a typical Iowa winter but we still complain about it every year. A winter that lasts from November-March is just annoying and puts everyone in a bad mood. Maybe if we had a cou-ple more snow days we wouldn’t be so grumpy but unfortunately as a DMPS student you have to realize we get

the bare minimum when it comes to snow/cold days. If you’re travel-ing somewhere warm for spring break be sure to take it all in and don’t take it for granted be-cause most likely you will be greeted by freez-ing temperatures once you’re back home in Iowa. It’s also really an-noying that once it hits 40 degrees people think it’s basically summer because we are so used to temperatures below freezing. So, winter all I’m asking you is

to go away soon- no one really likes you. I would also appreci-ate a smooth transition into spring. No weird weather mood swings where it’s snowing one day and 70 degrees the next, that just makes you a tease and no one likes a tease. Just go away for all of us. It’s the best this way, I

Sincere-ly,Kenzy

Well, basketball season has come to an end, and that means my regular duties as 1/5 Cabin Leader are com-ing to an end. I can’t even begin to explain how much fun I have had so far, and I hope that fun continues through spring and summer sports. Let’s take it back to the beginning. Sophomore year. The year I turned out decent. Besides that mira-cle, I remember there was something else fresh and new at Lincoln. I’m talking about our student section. I remember a group of se-niors were wanting to make a difference in our student section, because they said in the past years it was bor-ing and it didn’t feel like an actual student section. Af-ter much time thinking and

planning, Blake McGraw and Dan Schnathorst cre-ated Lincoln’s Cabin. Fast forward two years, and it’s my senior year. I remember the day cabin leaders were announced was a very stress-ful day. I was very happy, don’t get me wrong, but for some reason people thought having 5 Cabin leaders was ridiculous. We weren’t stand-ing for the hat-ers. Here’s 5 good reasons why 5 leaders worked; 1. Somebody will always be at an event. 2. More help with tailgates/organizing. 3. More connections to the student body. 4. More

Spirit. 5. Five times the fun. Whether you like my reasons or not, they work. We’ve had a heck of a

year. We’ve made history. This year we had record attendance in our student section. Multiple times our tailgates had some fun moments, our after parties were even better. We were

one of the first leaders in many years to take a stu-dent section out of town to see a football game. I remember sitting in meet-ings and going back and forth for weeks just to get a spirit bus up to Sioux City. We won that game, and it was a sweet victory. We had a lot of good times this year, and I’m glad I was there up in front. I want to especially thank Anthony Gardner, Eddie Rush, Alex Louw and Kenzy Cooper. These guys are the best co-leaders a guy could ever ask for and I’m glad I got to take this crazy journey with them. Twitter was probably our worst enemy this year. Since day one we’ve had some good tweets, and some bad tweets directed

towards us. “The Cabin is a joke (laughing emoji)”, “Our Student section is lame”, “5 leaders? Lol” were just some of the things thrown at us. Usually with no reason. But besides the haters there were the appre-ciators. I was told countless times by administration, teachers, students and par-ents that this was the best year so far. And I’m very proud of that. Sure, like always we had a rough start, but we pushed through it and made it something people wanted to be a part of. This may be the hardest role I have to leave behind in high school. It’s been fun and I will never forget it. Thank you Lincoln for cheering along and believing in us.

Lincoln’s Cabin leaders: Kenzy Cooper, Anthony Caligiuri, Anthony Gardner, Eddie Rush and Alex Louw.

My TiMe as a Cabin Leader

Coyote’sBlog

By: Cyote Williams @yleecoote100Little Leaguers Stripped of LLWS Title and Why Parents Need to Cool It

Some of you might have heard but most of you haven’t or didn’t really care, but last

year’s Little League World Series winners had their title taken away for using non-eligible players. While this doesn’t pertain to Lincoln it does pertain to sports and the use of non-eligible players. This really makes me mad, because it punishes the kids who are just there to play the sport and to have fun by lying to parents and officials about the area zones you have to stay in to be eligible to play for that team. Parents and coaches sometimes go to ridiculous means, even cheating in order for their child to win. It de-stroys the entire idea of hard work-and replaces it with doing whatever possible in order to win, even cheat-ing and going behind the backs of officials just to get an edge on the competition. That creates this hor-rible mind set in the up and coming youth in this country that cheating and lying are okay. And something that none of us want.

The reason why I’m telling you all this is because now more than ever you here rumor after rumor of this team using ineligible players, or us-ing steroids even in high school! It bothers me so much hearing about this because no longer do teams or players think they lost because the other team or the other individual was just simply better, they have to be cheating. Whether they paid the refs, used ineligible players or played dirty I’m sick of hearing about it. We’ve created a culture in not only professional sports but also college, high school and youth sports that cheating is either okay or the norm. Instead of hearing about how hard

a team trained or how much talent they have you hear rumors that that person is ineligible, or that person is using steroids or their coach paid the refs. Im honestly sick of it and it dis-appoints me. I don’t blame the athletes but I blame the coaches and the parents. You hear about it all the time now that this team was cheating, this par-ent lied and kinds of other garbage that just grinds my gears. Why can’t we just go back to accepting the fact you got beat by a better opponent, and that you’re going to train and practice and work harder to get bet-ter. Instead we play the blame game and parents and coaches are the ones to blame. Now I’m not saying every parent and coach and aunt and uncle do this but a few bad apples spoil the bunch. So parents or coaches, if you’re reading this, get the idea into your children and athletes that cheating and lying isn’t the smartest or most effective option, that those who work hard and blame less get the most success.

Taylor Louw Staff writer - @TaylorALouw

Are you a junior or a senior that has ever tried parking in the parking lot before school, but couldn’t be-

cause a sophomore or a student without a parking pass parked there? Students con-tinue to argue over Twitter and in school about who gets a parking spot and who doesn’t. In my opinion, juniors and seniors get first pick. They paid for their passes, there-fore, they get to park in the parking lots. They had to take their turn when they were sophomores and parked on the streets and walked just a little bit farther, so the un-derclassmen without passes should show some respect and take their turn too. Some students have even gone as far as

making fake parking passes to get a spot in the morning. Which is a terrible and il-legal idea and isn’t worth the punishment. Which is worse? Getting your car towed and getting in trouble with the school? Or walking just a little bit further to get from your car to the school? When you’re a junior or senior and you have a parking pass that you paid for, how are you going to feel when you don’t get a parking spot because of a few inconsider-ate students who took a spot that you paid for? Some students argue that it should be whoever gets there first, gets the spot and there shouldn’t even be parking passes at all. Other students argue that it should be

based off of seniority and who has a park-ing pass over the un-derclassmen that don’t have a pass. Which is only fair because they pay to park on school property. I think the biggest issue is the cold weather because that’s when parking becomes the biggest problem during the school year. At the beginning and end of the year, parking is not an issue at all because its warm and students don’t mind walking a little bit further from their cars to the school. Remember to take your turn because in a year or two you’ll be the one not getting the parking spot that you paid money for.

timetaylor LHSParkingDebate

By AJ Joss @ajoss_

LHS BLOGS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

AJ’s FISH bowl Ever seen the movie Back to the Future? If so, you would know that the Chicago Cubs win the World Series when they travel to the future in 2015. The Cubs haven’t won the World Series in 107 years and haven’t even appeared since 1945. At times it is tough to be a Cubs fan! Through-out the years I have received a lot of crap that people talk about how bad they are but I always stay quiet because inside I do know that they do suck hoping that they will turn it around soon. The team has made remarkable moves this off-season and are looking the best they have in several years. With a new coach, ace pitcher, and young team, it is looking good with a bright future. Even though I am a big Cubs fan I have never been to Chicago to see a game in person but I am excited to go this summer and visit Wrigley Field when we have the best team in a long time. Hope-fully this will be the time they turn the team around for good and become a top team in

It’s the Cubs’ Turn!

DRAMAQueen

By Giovanni Bahena @Eohani_Ahawah

I have a bit of a problem dear readers. I can’t think of things to write about. And it’s not as if there isn’t anything to write about, I just can’t seem to

figure out how to tackle the things that there are to write about. I mean, what all is even going on in the school? You all get it, sometimes we just get so busy that we don’t realize what’s actually go-ing on in the world around us. These past two months have been crazy for me. And it still hasn’t ended. I still have so much more to do. So, my little question for you guys is, what do you want to read about in our newspaper? What groups, events, people, do you want to have highlighted? The reason that I joined newspaper is that I wanted to shine a light on some of the different events that

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDD MOOOOOORRRNNING LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL!

never really got their spotlight. I wanted every single event to be included, at least once. So, what I say to you is that if there is something you want to read about in the newspaper, contact me and tell me a bit about it, and I will be more than willing to write about it. Whatever event, club, and group you are in, de-serves its moment to shine and be heard. I want to write about it. And I need you. I need you to send in what you want to read about. Send me something via twitter, send in letters to the jour-nalism room, find me in the drama room, hit me

up at Perkins, tell me what you want to read, and I will try my hardest to write it so you can get the content you want and need. Thank you, and have a great day Lincoln!

the National League! Joe Maddon is the new General Manager for the Cubs. He led the Rays to

a world series in 2008 and has won sev-eral “Manager Of The Year” awards. Maddon turned the Rays around as a

Franchise so I’m hoping it’s the same case for us. John Lester is the big-

gest pick-up other than Maddon for the team this year. Lester is a 3 time All-Star, 2 time World Series winner, and has pitched a no-hitter. With both of these two HUGE pick-ups for the Cubs we have a very bright future for our team!

We’ve all been through hard times, and the one thing that will help you get through the hard times is our loving friends. I am now just going through a bad break up, but luckily I have my best friends with me by my side helping me cope. Big shout out to Alex and Samona. But I guess this time around I want to aim

my blog at any females in a relationship and give some (hopefully) helpful advice.1. If he doesn’t make you feel good more than he makes you feel bad, leave him.- The good does not outweigh the bad. I don’t really care how many times he says he’s just kidding or how many times he says sorry. Keep your head up and treat yourself like the way you should be.2. If he jokingly calls you any names, like “crazy” or “childish” or anything that bothers you, tell him it bothers you, and if he keeps doing it, leave him.- If he puts you down in any way he is not worth your time. If you tell him and he

KBlogsKayla Brady Co-Sports Editor

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Meltdowns withA l e xAlex Louw Sports Editor-in-Chief - @_alexlouw

still does it, it shows his real character. Also, if he isn’t aware that he puts you down, that’s even worse…3. If your friends don’t like him, ask yourself why.- Your friends have the best judgment on the guys you are with. They see everything and they are not blinded like you are. Stop sticking up for him… Trust me when I say, you will feel like a complete fool for sticking up for him when he proves you wrong.4. If you can’t look at his twitter page without worrying then he doesn’t care enough about you. - You should be with someone who tweets about you and wants to show the twit-ter world who his girl is. If you are worried he might be favoriting other girl’s tweets, or he might be flirting with them, he is not the one for you. 5. If you don’t trust him, leave. - Trust is the main thing to have in a relationship for it to last. When he won’t let you see his phone just know it is because he is hiding things from you. He doesn’t want to hurt you, but he also won’t stop whatever he

is doing. It is also best if you don’t know… I know you want to know everything, but once you do, you’ll realize you were better off guessing.6. If he doesn’t treat you with respect, leave.- Everyone should be treated with re-spect. If you are nothing but respectful and you give your all to him make sure he appre-ciates it. He needs to show his appreciation and respect you for the woman you are. If you ever feel disrespected, talk about it first and let him know. If nothing changes… leave. Ladies, stop giving the guy so many chanc-es. If any of the six things above relate to your relationship. Trust me when I say this, it is not worth it and you will be so much better off without him. It will be hard to let go and you will want to get back together, save yourself while you can and get out of any unhealthy relationship. I know it is not easy, but if you ever need any more advice or need anyone to talk to, you can always message me on Twit-ter, @kaylabradyyy.

LHS BLOGS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This won’t be a meltdown blog, just a heads up. The 2014-15 boy’s basketball

season has been INTENSE to say the least. We’ve had some losses and a few excit-ing wins, but that doesn’t compare to the boy’s last game of the regular season….and the game after that!!! On February 20th, the boy’s played Southeast Polk at Lincoln for their last regular season game and were scheduled to play them again the following Monday for the first round of the playoffs. Friday’s game didn’t end too well for the Rails. They lost by a buzzer beater at the end of the overtime period. BUT, they couldn’t get themselves down about

it because they knew they could pull that win off on Monday. So that’s what they did! Southeast Polk hosted the first-round playoff game February 23rd. And you’ll never guess….they went into over time AGAIN! Both teams were tied at 58 at the end of the fourth quarter, and the Rails came through with the “W” beating the

Rams 74-66. But I’m not here to blog about this crazy game. More about how awesome and supportive this year’s student section has been. No matter where our games are (in the met-ro), there’s always some sort of student section whether it’s one row of students or only five students. Without the help of you guys, we wouldn’t be Lincoln’s Cabin! Helping with the cheers and chants, participating in the themes for the game that night and of course, supporting our boys. So here’s a huge thanks to all of you! Here’s a few pictures for the memory books.

Do you have any spare change laying around that you don’t need? This year, Lincoln’s Student Council Leadership and the entire student body joined the cause and raised money for Pennies for Patients! Pennies for Patients is an organization to fundraise money for the Leukemia and

Lymphoma Society. Since 1994, students from various schools across the country have come to-gether to raise money for this organization. For multiple years in a row, Lincoln High School has participated in this event. This year, each Rails Time classroom received a Pennies for Patients box on Wednesday, February 25. Students in Rail Time were encouraged to help donate spare change into the box. For every dollar that is collected in your box, your Rail Time received a paper penny on the The Wall of Hope in the commons. The class that collects the most paper pennies on the wall for each grade will earn a cookie party for their Rails Time class. Each student in Leadership was assigned a couple of classes to count the change. Winning Rail Times will be announced next issue due to press time.

Communtiy Service--Lincoln--Every Penny Counts

PENNIES FORPATIENTS

Taylor Louw Staff writer - @TaylorALouw

National Pennies for Patients Stats

- Millions of dollars have been raised in pennies and other spare change across the na-tion.- Over 10 million elementary schools, middle schools and high schools participate in this organizaiton throughout the nation.- The Pennies for Patients campaign began in the Soci-ety’s North Carolina Chapter in 1995.- Students have raised over $28 million in 2013-2014 alone.

p4p @ RAILSRails rocked Pennies for Patients raising $1,035.00 and meet-ing their goal set just three weeks ago. Part of the money was raised through a Silent Auction in which the Student Council provided the opportunity for students to bid on lots of different items such as candy, ear buds and Rails gear. Every student that donated to the Silent Auction had their name added to a bucket for the chance to win a special goody. The rest of the donations came from paper pennies purchased by students who then their wrote their name on their penny and taped it up in the commons. Ms. Lieber’s class raised $356.00 as she matched her stu-dent’s donations. Yay! An anonymous, but very generous, student donated $100.00. By the end of p4p, the word Leukemia displayed in the Rail’s commons was covered up by hearts each representing $100.00 donated by Rails.

10questions...

Shelby Reeves, senior1. Compared to the last season how do you feel the team softball team will be this year?

4. Personally coming from tearing the same ACL twice and having to sit out due to injury, how are you feeling towards this next season?

3. What is the team doing in the off season to prepare for the regular season?

2. Do you think the team has a chance of making it to state? Why or why not?

5. With a new assistant coach this year how do you think that will affect the team?

6. What are you most looking forward to for your senior year softball season?

8. What kind of physical therapy do you have to participate in to be able to come back in time for the season?

7. Does the softball team work together as a team and/or have good teamwork skills? Why or why not?

9. What is the spring tournament season like for Lincoln softball?

10. How often does the team have games in the summer and what time are they?

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I think we will do better this year than last year. We have a lot of talent overall and should be able to work together to get some wins.

I think we have a chance of making it to state. We all work hard and have the same goal.

During this year’s off season we are doing off season work outs that include hitting and conditioning to get back into shape.

This next season will be a big one for me personally. I have the ability to play my senior year when I couldn’t play my junior year. I’m looking forward to this season and plan on playing and just having fun with all my friends.

I think the team will have some adjusting to with the new coach, but we will get used to it and bond well as a team.

We work well as a team and had the ability to go far since we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

To get back in time for season I will have to strengthen my knee more and gain full range of motion. I am about 2/3rd away from getting to those goals.

Spring tournament season for Lincoln is more laid back than actual season. We take it as getting in to the motions and getting used to playing again.

The games are on average about three times a week and usually start at 6 with another game right afterwards round 7:30.

Kayla BradyCo-Sports Editor@kaylabradyyy

I’m looking forward to hopefully playing softball again with all my friends and enjoying softball. Instead of wishing I was out there on the field, may-be I will really be out there.