The Connection Vol. 61 Issue 4

In a tucked away classroom on the southeast corner of campus, Cosumnes River College anthropology major Marcos Martinez picks up a ceramic artifact, stud-ies it and places it into a plastic bag.

Martinez, 20, picks up his Sharpie and starts writing on the bag, cataloging it for future reference. He and a few other select students will continue this process until they run out of artifacts.

To the average eye, these artifacts are simply old pieces of ceramic, glass and stone. But, these artifacts tell a story and that’s what the Cosumnes River Archaeo-

logical Working Lab intend to unearth. Since the spring 2012 semester, these

students along with anthropology profes-sors Anastasia Panagakos and Amanda Paskey and instructional assistant CeeCee Cesario have put in several hours three days a week to piece together a part of Sacramento history in the post Gold Rush era.

“We’re taking what we got and we’re trying to come up with a story,” Martinez said. “‘Here’s the stuff we got, here’s the stuff we know,’ so maybe we can figure out who owned this site, how long it was oper-ated and all the little stuff that you really can’t figure out by picking up a piece of a rock.”

While the students are getting a rare opportunity, Panagakos said that CRC came about these artifacts by accident.

“We actually didn’t know the collec-tion existed, until we saw a newspaper ar-ticle about the [Old Sacramento] under-ground tour that was being revived,” she said. “They had quoted an archaeologist that had worked on the original excava-

tion and said that it had been spearheaded by a professor at CRC.”

That professor was David Abrams, who along with other CRC students worked on the excavations in the late 1970s. The site is located underneath what is now the Enterprise Hotel in Old Sacramento.

However, due to some constraints, the excavation could not be properly ana-lyzed or even catalogued.

“They ended up in State Parks’ stor-age and weren’t really looked at,” Paskey said.

But after a few phone calls and a lot of leg work from Paskey and Panagakos, the artifacts were brought back home to CRC. However, the work didn’t stop there.

“People on campus had to support us,” Panagakos said. “So the dean [Ginny McReynolds] supported us especially to get us this space and then we had to have an alarm code put in because State Parks has a protocol for the kind of security you need, because some of the artifacts can be

In January, history professor Mathilde Mukantabana was entrusted by the Presi-dent of Rwanda to represent the country as ambassador to the United States.

Almost 20 years since the Tutsi geno-cide devastated Rwanda in 1994, Mukan-tabana said that her home country has rebuilt itself through reformed education, expanded healthcare and a “democracy in action.”

“It is a country on the move,” Mu-kantabana said. “They’ve come from the ashes and have created a society that the people are proud of, and I’m proud to ex-pand where I can in terms of the under standing of the American public.”

After Mukantabana met with the Senate committee, the Rwandan govern-ment confirmed her position through a national broadcast on March 27.

“I was honored and humbled by the confidence placed upon me for this im-portant mission,” Mukantabana said.

With the confirmation, Mukanta-bana will be leaving her teaching position at Cosumnes River College.

“We will certainly miss her expertise in African history,” said history professor Jason Newman. “It will be very difficult to fill the gap in knowledge that she has.”

Lisa Abraham, an English professor at CRC and close colleague of Mukan-tabana, expressed excitement about the move, seeing it as an opportunity for Mu-kantabana to continue her efforts to work

more directly on projects that benefit both Rwanda and the United States.

“She’s always, in many ways, been in an ambassadorial position,” Abraham said. “She has been very active in projects that benefit the people in her country.”

Mukantabana acts as the spokesper-son and president of the Friends of Rwan-da, an association that has worked to link the communities internationally, bringing awareness to genocide, and providing re-lief to survivors.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did without the strong support I got from CRC,” Mukantabana said. “Our institution is flexible and encourages indi-viduals to explore other horizons that are not confined to the classroom alone.”

California community college students struggling with financial aid may soon re-ceive assistance in obtaining FAFSA and Pell Grant funds thanks to a bill recently in-troduced to the California State Assembly.

California Assemblyman Das Wil-liams (D-Santa Barbara) has created As-sembly Bill 606, a bill that, if passed, would require the California Community College Chancellor’s Office to create a voluntary pi-lot program that would help students com-plete the FAFSA.

“The amount of money that we are not tapping into from the Federal Government is staggering,” Williams said. “One estimate from a year or two ago estimated that our community college system is missing out on half a billion dollars.”

According to Williams, many students do not receive aid from the FAFSA because they do not know they qualify for it and don’t apply for it. Due to this, a very large percentage of available FAFSA funds go unused.

AB 606 has received mass support across the state, with 5 community col-lege districts and a student senator majority vote in favor of the bill. Further support is heard through the voice of CRC students.

“I think it’s a good thing. Ev-erybody needs help with school because school’s so expensive now,” said Kelsey Simpson, a 22-year-old journalism major. “It’d probably help out a lot of people who don’t realize that there are ways to pay for school that aren’t just coming right out of their pocket.”

Thus far, the main argument of oppo-sition to the bill is that FAFSA is too much of a hassle for students and isn’t worth the work that must be put into it, Williams said.

“People, in some cases, feel like they’re protecting students from having to do too much paper work,” Williams said. “Life in America in the 21st century is about fill-ing out forms. If we’re going to be able to get through life we’ve got to learn to fill out forms.”

However, by suppressing FAFSA com-pletion among students, schools are also missing out on a lot of money coming in that could be used to open up more classes.

An estimated 100,000 courses were cut last year across the state due to underfund-ing, particularly summer semester classes. Williams believes this problem could easily be solved if students were simply encour-aged to fill out the FAFSA.

“If a BOG waiver [qualifying] student gets a Pell Grant, then the Pell Grant pays

Stephan Starnes | The Connection

CAMPUS PULSE

By Zach Hanniganzhannigan.connect@gmail

“So literally while our community college system has been starving, we’re just not trying that hard to get federal money.”

— Das WilliamsCalifornia

Assemblyman

MONEY MATTERS

Professor appointed as ambassador By Mozes Zarate

mzarate.connect@gmail

Ambassador | Page 2

Piecing together a history of Old Sacramento

By Nick Valenzuelanvalenzuela.connect@gmail

CRAWL | Page 11

Mathilde Mukantabana, who was named ambassador of Rwanda to the U.S., teaches her History 321 class on April 10.

SPECIAL PROJECT

Assembly Bill aimsto increase financial aid

AB 606 | Page 4

Volume 61, Issue 4 www.theCRCconnection.com April 11, 2013

Is the crown too heavy?After winning a state title last season, the baseball team entered this season with great expectations. How are they handling the added pressure?

Sports | Page 7

Post Gold Rush era artifacts have found their way to CRC and they have a story to tell

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The ConnectionEditor in ChiefZach Hannigan

News EditorJosh Slowiczek

Features EditorBritni Alford

Sports EditorCody Durham

Opinion EditorBrittany Patrick

Online EditorScott Redmond

Photo EditorBritni Alford

Multimedia EditorMary Garcia

Copy EditorKevin Frodahl

Faculty AdviserRubina Gulati

Staff

Ben BrownKatana BrownEmily Collins

Latisha GibsonOswaldo Guzman

Victor MaciasRachel NorrisCourtney Rich

Stephan StarnesSean Thomas

Nick ValenzuelaElizabeth WittMozes Zarate

The Connection is an award-winning newspaper published bi-weekly by the Journalism 400 newspaper production class. Editorials and opinion pieces do not necessar-ily reflect the opinions of the students, staff or faculty of CRC or Los Rios Community College District. The Connection is a member of the Journalism Association of Community Col-leges (JACC).

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Ambassador: Professor of history leaving CRC Mukantabana started her

teaching tenure at CRC during the genocide, losing both of her parents in the bloodshed.

“The incredible loss of fam-ily and friends left many of us in a state of grief, disbelief and confusion,” Mukantabana said. “My friends at CRC became my lifeline. So for me, CRC is for me more than just any institution. It’s

more like a family.” Abraham described Mukan-

tabana as a “remarkably gracious” person in the CRC community.

“She has a tremendous amount of gratitude,” Abraham said. “For her colleagues at CRC, for the way that the campus has supported her work, and for her students and the way they re-sponded to the ideas that she taught in the classroom.”

When asked whether she

would ever return to teaching, Mukantabana said she could “never say never.”

“My growth as a human be-ing really happened because of my students,” Mukantabana said. “I can pretty significantly say that I learned more from them than they learned from me. They pushed me to become who I be-came.”

Later this month, Mukan-tabana will meet with President

Barack Obama in Washington DC to present her credentials and end the initiation process in the US.

“This is a place I’m going to miss tremendously,” Mukanta-bana said. “CRC has been a fam-ily to me when I lost my own. It is also a place I credit for my in-tellectual and emotional growth. I spent my happiest years here and I will always be proud to have been part of this institution. “

Continued from page 1

For millions of college stu-dents across the nation the week-ends mean one thing: a chance to party.

After waking up following another night of heart thumping music, raucous new faces and co-pious amounts of alcohol, it usu-ally takes 24-year-old psychol-ogy major Mabel Romero a few minutes to gather her surround-ings and bearings. She goes over the checklist that she routinely repeats to herself after a night of heavy drinking. Phone? Check. Purse? Check. Wallet? Check.

With a loose grasp of how she awoke in her bed and a spotty idea of last night’s events, Rome-ro comes to one conclusion: that party must have been amazing.

Despite Romero’s enthusi-asm, binge drinking by Cosumnes River College students can pose a serious threat to both health and academic success.

“I don’t really have a problem with drinking a lot at parties and I go all the time,” said Romero. “If you’re safe about it then you‘ll be okay.”

Binge drinking is a form of alcohol abuse described as the

consumption of five or more alco-holic beverages by a male in two hours or the consumption of four or more alcoholic beverages by a female in the same amount of time, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s website.

“When I was underaged, par-ties would get shut down by police a lot in Elk Grove,” Romero said. “So you learn to drink fast.”

Students who binge drink have the tendency to do it often. According to the National Insti-tute of Alcohol Abuse and Alco-holism’s website, 42 percent of col-lege students surveyed admitted to binge drinking within the last week from the time of the study. When taking only males into ac-count the number increases to 51 percent.

CRC Head Nurse Michelle Barkley admits that it’s difficult to determine CRC’s numbers when it comes to binge drinking be-cause it’s a commuter campus.

“It’s happened on occasion when a student has been intoxi-cated on campus, but it’s rare,” Barkley said. “What I usually see are the students that are con-cerned for themselves or their family members regarding alco-hol.”

Although binge drinking

shares a lot of the symptoms of al-cohol dependency, the two should not be confused. The main differ-ence being that binge drinking is intentional, while alcohol depen-dency stems from genetically im-paired control over one’s drinking according to the National Insti-tute of Alcohol Abuse and Alco-holism website.

Not only is there a psycho-logical component, but there are law enforcement and academic consequences to consider.

According to the NIAAA website, 25 percent of college stu-dents report academic problems resulting from binge drinking. Additionally, 1,825 students die each year from alcohol related injuries, 690,000 students are vic-tims of abuse and 97,000 are vic-tims of sexual assault.

Mayra Flores, a 20-year-old undeclared student, is still pay-ing for her decision to drink and drive.

“I got pulled over leaving a party earlier this year and I’m still paying the ticket off,” Flores said. “It wasn’t worth it.”

Due to being under the legal drinking age, Flores also had her license revoked for six months and had to join a driving under the influence program sanctioned

by the Department of Motor Ve-hicles.

“My mom couldn’t give me a ride,” Flores said. “I would miss class because I couldn’t get a ride.”

T h e cause be-hind each s t u d e n t ’ s decision to binge drink is different. Romero at-tributes her d r i n k i n g to a lack of interesting things to do in the CRC area.

“There’s n o t h i n g better to do on a Satur-day night,” R o m e r o said. “We’re not hurting anybody.”

In the end, alcohol is a legal substance for anyone over the age of 21, but Barkley recommends moderation when drinking with friends.

“Overall it’s not very healthy for your body,” Barkley said. “For some people it might be euphoric, but it is a depressant.”

College students run risks with binge drinkingBy Sean Thomas

sthomas.connect@gmail

“I got pulled over leaving a party earlier this year and I’m still pay-ing the ticket off. It wasn’t worth it.”

— Mayra Flores

CRC Student

As the overcast sky loomed over Southside park in Down-town Sacramento, the chants of “Sí se puede (yes we can)” echoed through the trees.

More than 500 people gath-ered for the 13th annual Cesar E. Chavez March on April 6 hoping to bring awareness to several is-sues, notably immigration and workplace issues.

“We are not here to glorify his [Chavez] struggle, we’re here to continue it,” said Eric Alfaro, president of the Labor Council for Latin American Advance-ment, the group that organized the event. “We want legalization for all and that’s all we’re willing to accept.”

Several local unions set up booths and offered to speak with any attendee interested in educat-ing themselves on the issues that were being talked about through-out the march.

Prior to the march Alfaro, along with a few other union leaders, activists and politicians, including assemblyman Richard Pan, spoke to the crowd through a portable public address system.

“Bring back opportunity,

fairness and justice to our soci-ety,” Pan said to the applauding crowd.

Following the speeches, at-tendees filed on 6th street and prepared to make the trek to the State Capitol.

“I am here to urge the Senate and the Congress to pass immi-gration reform because it would be very good for the economy,” said Jim Hard, who is a former member of the Service Employees International Union after retiring. “I think bringing the 12 million people out of the shadows where they can stand up for their rights, where they are underpaid very often would be a boost to the rev-enue of the country.”

Hard was not the only at-tendee who wanted immigration reform, the sign that headed the front of the march read “stop the deportation now!”

“We believe in rights for everyone,” said Sophia Perkins, who spoke on behalf of SEIU Lo-cal 1000. “Immigration reform is a big right, it’s not only going to help Californians, but us as a na-tion.”

The march was lead by young men and women with colorful headdress and costume in tradi-

tional Mexican style. The group stopped every so often to perform traditional dances and draw at-tention to the march.

“I am out here supporting the students, as well as the stu-dents who are immigrants,” said Cosumnes River College history professor and President of the CRC faculty union Jason New-man. “One goal is to help move immigration reform to a more so-cially just outcome.”

As the marchers weaved in

and out of the city streets, more citizens began to take notice of the protest, exactly what Hard and so many others were trying to accomplish.

“I hope this [march] sends a message that this is important to all, even those of us that were born in the United States,” Hard said.

“This is going to be a very positive thing for not only immi-grant workers, but for people that were born here.”

Cesar E. Chavez March seeks immigration reform

Stephen Starnes | The Connection

Hundreds march to the Capitol for awareness on immigration reform during the Cesar E. Chavez March on April 6.


2 APRIL 11, 2013

www.thecrcconnection.com NEWS

On July 28, 2009, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators en-acted the 2009-2010 California State bud-get, cutting funding for Disabled Student Programs and Services, which served an estimated 115,461 California Community College students at the time.

Funding for categorical programs, such as DSPS, was reduced by an aver-age of 40 percent to minimize the overall budget cuts for community colleges to ap-proximately 13 percent, setting back years of effort to establish adequate state funding for DSPS programs.

“We were close to $113 to $115 mil-lion total [in 2009],” said Scott Hamilton, Cosumnes River College’s DSPS Learning Disability Specialist. “At that point we were getting close to having as much money as we ought to as a system to carry out what we should do.”

The total state budget for DSPS dropped to $69 million for the last four years, funding all of California’s commu-nity colleges and a handful of state funded facilities that produce alternative media such as braille.

“That was a huge mistake,” said Rich-ard Scott Sparks, a 36-year-old behavioral science major. “There are a lot of people who, for unseen circumstances and things that happened beyond their control, were born with challenges. It’s vital that they stay around.”

Sparks is a military veteran who was sta-tioned in the Re-public of Kosovo during the late 1990s and uses several of the ac-commodations, such as a class-room notetaker and extended time for test-tak-ing, which DSPS offers to eligible students at CRC.

“Every single thing that they have, I’ve used, and it has all been necessary for me,” he said. “If I didn’t have the accommodations I don’t think I would have been able to graduate.”

Though Sparks is utilizing DSPS to its full potential, the program as a whole has faced serious challenges over the past years.

“When the program first came out de-cades ago, the funding was adequate to run the program,” said Donald G. Wallace, the vice president of administrative services and student support at CRC. “But the state, I would suggest, has a history of starting a program that the funding then dwindles away from.”

As a result of cuts to funding, districts and campuses across California compen-sated for the loss by pulling finances from their reserves and “reducing or eliminat-ing services” provided by DSPS, according to a 2012 study on the Effects of Reduced Funding on DSPS by MPR Associates, a research and consulting firm on education.

The reduction of services correlated to an increase in wait time for counseling and accommodations statewide. Of the 2,348 DSPS students interviewed in the report,

26 percent said that they had to drop or withdraw from a class.

“Over 32,000 people theoretically would have dropped a class because they couldn’t get accommodations in time … If you’re blind and you can’t get your book, how are you going to stay in class?” Ham-ilton said.

So far, no services provided by DSPS have been cut at CRC and this is in part due to the use of reserve funds from the college and district, along with an effort to maintain services for students, said Celia Esposito-Noy, the vice president of student services and enrollment management at CRC.

“We don’t reduce services,” she said. “We re-envision. We change how we de-liver.”

To counteract state funding cuts over the past three years, CRC has contributed $519,099 to its DSPS program, the Los Rios district has contributed $100,564 and the Vocational and Technological Education Act provided $56,000.

However, even with the efforts that CRC and the Los Rios district have made to maintain DSPS, the program is still struggling, Hamilton said.

NEWS APRIL 11, 2013 3www.thecrcconnection.com

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Between the years 2001 and 2011, students requiring services from DSPS in-creased by 35,000, which is approximately 39 percent, according to the MPR Associ-ates report.

“We have to provide the accommoda-tions and we have no idea what that is going to be from year to year, but it goes up every year,” Wallace said. “One, I think perhaps we’re getting more students that have those needs, and two, I think people are becom-ing aware of those services.”

Regardless of funding, DSPS cannot deny services to anyone with a disability so they maintain strict guidelines and require a full assessment before accommodations can be provided to any student on campus.

“I rarely see someone in here where there isn’t a justification for them getting an accommodation,” Hamilton said. “The problem is that we have had a huge in-crease in the number of students that this office services, so maintenance of funds still leaves us behind.”

In comparison to an analysis of the DSPS student population in 2001, two cate-gories of disabilities have risen rapidly: stu-dents classified as having a psychological disability and those categorized as having “other disabilities”, according to the MPR report.

“There was a cutting back on the amount of learning disability assessment that has been done,” Hamilton said. “So students got classified as ‘other’ instead of making another assessment to update the situation.”

In combination with un-assessed stu-dents, those on the autism spectrum or with attention deficit disorder, attention hyperactivity and specific health conditions are all under the umbrella of “other disabili-ties,” according to the MPR report.

However, there are outside factors con-tributing to the increase as well.

“Services out in the community have been reduced,” Esposito-Noy said. “We are the only option for many folks who are too high functioning for a day treatment pro-gram but can’t really be at a four-year col-lege.”

$60 Million

$80 Million

$100 Million

$102.1m2006-07

$109.3m2007-08

$108.9m2008-09

$64.9m2009-10

$64.8m2010-11

$64.6m2011-12

$65.7m2012-13

Hearing impairedAcquired

brain injuryLearning disabledVisually

impairedMobility impaired

Other disabilityDelayed learner

Language disability

Psychological disability

0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000

2001-02Total DSPS population:89,389

2010-11Total DSPS population:124,051

• Between 2001 and 2011 ‘Other disabilites’ increased by approximately

25,194 students

# of students

*Totals derived from percentages in the MPR Associates 2012 DSPS report

By Josh Slowiczekjslowiczek.connect@gmail

The administrative faculty at CRC is addressing the steadily growing popula-tion of students who utilize DSPS by taking steps to adjust and streamline certain as-pects of the program. A part of this effort is the implementation of universal design in certain classrooms, an educational and classroom format that focuses on providing information in an easy and accessible man-ner for students with a wide range of learn-ing needs and abilities, Esposito-Noy said.

“The instructional faculty has really taken on the challenge for Universal De-sign,” she said. “In particular, [professor] Mary Martin in math has done a phenom-enal job flipping her classroom and imple-menting universal design that works really well for students with disabilities.”

Sparks, a former student in one of Martin’s math classes, said that he agrees.

“She is a wonderful teacher. I love Mary Martin,” Sparks said. “Her class is very hands on and she understands that not everybody learns the same. There are teachers who are very supportive of their students and she is one of them.”

Currently, in her Math 30 class, Martin is applying an aspect of Universal Design known as flipping the classroom, where students view lectures at home and spend time in the classroom working on home-work and assignments.

“I have a larger-than-normal num-ber of DSPS students in this class and as a group their scores are solid,” Martin said in an email to The Connection. “The students are working in an environment where they have greater access to individual help, the students can tailor their ‘in class’ work to focus on clarifying concepts and strength-ening their weaknesses.”

Another addition to the DSPS pro-gram is the new test proctoring room, P76, which now has a full-time test proctor and is open to DSPS students, said Dr. Michael Marion, Jr., the dean of student services and counseling.

Currently, the DSPS offices and the test proctoring room are on separate ends of the CRC campus. However, that may change in the future.

“We are also in the process of look-

ing at other spaces to potentially bring test proctoring and DSPS together into one central location,” Marion said.

But both Hamilton and Sparks said they believe a new DSPS facility is long overdue.

H o w e v e r , even with a new facility, the DSPS program would require two full-time counselors and a learning dis-ability specialist along with part-time staff, Hamil-ton said.

“We don’t have a full-time counselor and we now see more than 800 students a year,” he said.

Unfortunately, only so much can be done without the adequate state funds to support the program, Dr. Marion said.

“What we’re hoping is that soon, and very soon, the economy in the state is going to pick up so that our funding can be re-stored,” he said. “That’s how practical it is.”

So while campus administrators and DSPS staff hold their breath for the coming budget proposal, some argue that the cuts in funding should have never occurred in the first place.

“If this was about race, or gender, or religion, we wouldn’t have even heard about it. It would have been taken care of, it would have been done,” Hamilton said. “But because it’s about people with disabili-ties, somehow, that’s acceptable.”

“I am not objective,” he said. “I try to think objectively but I can’t come up with any logical or rational reason why that is okay.”

“Tens of thou-sands of people had their civil rights violated, and you’re not going to put money back into it? ”

—Scott HamiltonDSPS Learning

Disability Specialist

A GROWING NEED

STEPS TOWARDS RESTORATION

“There are a lot of people who, for unseen circumstances ... were born with challenges. It’s vital that they stay around.”

—Richard Scott Sparks

CRC Student

This article has been shortened for print. To read the full version and view our new interactive features please visit our website.


4 APRIL 11, 2013

www.thecrcconnection.com NEWS

The Associated Students of Cosumnes River College yearly elections are set to take place on April 16 and 17.

Polls will be held in the Admissions and Records lobby area from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“These elections are for the students, so it’s important that they come out and vote,” said faculty coordinator of campus life Winnie LaNier.

LaNier, who also serves as the adviser to ASCRC and Los Rios Student Trustees, said that the voting will be done electronically on computers.

Three candidates will be running unopposed for po-sitions that are available on the Student Senate, while five candidates will be running for one position as a Student Trustee.

However, those running unopposed will be subject to a yes or no vote, with no votes counting against them.

As part of the application to run for office, candidates had to pick up an application in the Student Development Office, write a statement of intent and gather 50 signatures from currently enrolled CRC students, said current AS-CRC student senate president Christina Alvarado. The ap-plications were due on March 19.

Phase two of the election process involves an approved candidate campaigning and talking to students Alvarado said.

Alvarado said that a person who is “goal driven, orga-nized and has experience leading others” usually makes a good candidate.

However, Alvarado and LaNier both agreed that it is up to the students to decide who they want in office.

“They [students] should expect someone to represent them,” LaNier said.

Those elected will take office in the fall 2013 semester.“We try to get more people to come out and vote than

the previous year,” Alvarado said. “That is usually our goal.”

It Takes One Tree To Make 300 Cigarettes

A pack-a-day smoker smokes the equivalent of one tree in just two weeks.

The earth is your future. Live tobacco-free.

For resources to help you quit smoking, stop by CRC Health Services or call (916) 691-7584.


ASCRC elections will bring new faces

Students can begin enrolling in summer semester classes at Cosumnes River College based on their prior-ity level beginning April 22.

When searching the class schedule for the summer semester, students may notice a decrease in the number and type of courses that will be available.

“We’ve gone to one full academic year that starts in the summer so it’s a more integrated schedule in terms of how the department chairs and the deans look at what they schedule and staff,” said Whitney Yamamu-ra, vice president of instruction and student learning “Within that, deans and department chairs have made individual choices about what to offer in the summer.”

These decisions are not made lightly and involve a great deal of discussion.

“There has been quite a bit of thought put into which courses are going to be offered over the summer,” said Kale Braden, president of the Academic Senate.

The difference between courses offered last sum-mer and this summer is not simply a cut in the number of courses available but also which courses are being of-fered.

“We’re really focusing on the three elements that the state has identified which would be the basic skills, transfer and career and technical education courses,” Braden said. “We’re really focusing on those key courses that could be barriers to keeping students from being able to complete.”

California community colleges have faced difficult decisions in dealing with budget cuts over the past few years.

“There have been campuses in the southern part of the state which have simply cancelled summer school all together,” Braden said. “We’re nowhere near where some of the other colleges have been.”

the community college,” Williams said. “So literally while our community college system has been starving, we’re just not trying that hard to get federal money.”

The first vote for AB 606 went up in committee on April 9, and will go into appropriations soon. If passed, the bill will take a trial period in which se-lected community colleg-es will get to participate.

“…Not all colleges will have the opportunity to participate [in the trial period] if more than 10 are interested,” said Roy Beckhorn, director of the financial aid systems in the Los Rios Com-munity College District. “[Whether] or not CRC or any one of the Los Rios colleges will be a pilot college is yet to be deter-mined.”

Despite the initial plan, Williams is hopeful that he will quickly be able to expand the program, and any community college that wishes to participate in the trial period will be able to do so.

When asked about funding for the bill, Williams stated that though it will require a small amount of funding, he is confident it will be deemed “minor and absorbable.”

Williams believes opening more classes and help-ing students get through community college in shorter time is the most important educational issue to be ad-dressed right now, and believes AB 606 is a solid solu-tion to this problem.

Continued from page 1 By Emily Collinsecollins.connect@gmail

Offered summer courses to change

AB 606: Bill moves to utilize FAFSA

“Life in America in the 21st century is about filling out forms. If we’re going to be able to get through life we’ve got to learn to fill out forms.”

— Das WilliamsCalifornia Assemblyman

SPORTS APRIL 11, 2013 5www.thecrcconnection.com


Hawks’ offense falters, baseball team loses series to San Joaquin Delta





Freshman pitcher Kyle Von Ruden pitched into the fifth inning and allowed six runs against Delta College on April 6.

Delta College’s freshman infielder Connor Torres was called out at home after being tagged out at the plate by sophomore catcher Bryan Case on April 6.

Sophomore first baseman Garrett Heisinger is hit by a pitch in the first inning.

Hawks’ head coach Tony Bloomfield argues with the first base umpire when sophomore catcher Bryan Case was called out at first in the Hawks’ game against Delta College on April 6.

In a tense, defense-heavy game, the Cosumnes River Hawks sought to defeat the San Joaquin Delta Mustangs and win the tied series.

Pitching and defense were the strength for both teams as the game began. In the second inning, Delta came out swinging as freshman first baseman Wyatt Castro hit the ball high up towards right field for a home run putting the Mustangs up 1-0. The Mustangs added five runs in the fifth in-ning including another home run courtesy of sophomore catcher Jordon Devencenzi bringing the score to 6-0, Mustangs’ favor.

A pitching change on the part of CRC was not enough to change the game’s mo-mentum. No runs were scored for the Hawks, even as they managed to keep the

Mustangs from scoring again, till the eighth inning.

The Mustangs’ sophomore pitcher Cody Lane beaned Hawks freshman Mason Watkins and freshman Josh Cosio, which allowed sophomore Garrett Heisinger to hit a drive towards first base letting Wat-kins bring it home for the Hawks only run of the game.

Delta ended the final inning quickly winning the game and the series, 6-1.

“It’s embarrassing, it’s depressing,” said Hawks’ head coach Tony Bloomfield. “And some of these kids you know need to look in the future what they’re gonna do with their lives cause they’re not baseball play-ers. It’s embarrassing.”


The Hawks’ pitcher throws a pickoff attempt at first, but the Delta College base runner made it on base before sophomore first baseman Garrett Heisinger could tag him out on April 6.

—Scott Redmond

With a go-getter attitude and an ad-mirable commitment to the team, it is no wonder why Cosumnes River College Hawks’ freshman pitcher Kyle Von Ruden won the player of the month award for Feb-ruary.

Von Ruden has played exceptionally well as a pitcher and is determined to keep improving over-all as a baseball player.

“It’s pretty cool, I didn’t re-ally win many awards in high school or any-thing, so to be able to come out here and win something is a big confidence booster,” Von Ruden said.“I do what I can to help the team win and getting a scholarship somewhere to be able to keep playing afterwards.”

That is just one of Ruden’s goals here at CRC.

Coming in as a freshman from Frank-lin High School, Von Ruden has proved to be a major asset to the team by performing strongly as a pitcher.

“He’s been inconsistent, but he’s had great moments of domination when he’s pitching, and he’s a typical freshman kid, they gotta learn how to play at this level on a daily basis,” said Hawks’ head coach Tony Bloomfield. “He’s got high character and he’s a hard working kid. We’re hoping he

finishes up the last few weeks strong and he comes back next year. I imagine he’ll be the ace of the team coming back as a sopho-more.”

Achieving player of the month was a big confidence booster for Von Ruden, who mentions confidence is key in baseball.

Regarding his statistics Von Ruden says, “It started off really well[my batting average] and now it’s kind of dropping a little bit, but if he[Bloomfield] keeps put-

ting me in the lineup, then I’m gonna do what I can to help the team win.”

“I’ve had some bad at-bats lately, but you can’t carry it to your next one. You got-ta go out there and do what you can to help the team,”

When asked about his favorite part about baseball and the team, Von Ruden said it’s being with the guys. Von Ruden says that since the team is pretty close with everyone, it’s fun being out there with them.

In addition, it is no secret that working with coach Bloomfield has also helped Von Ruden improve as a player.

“Bloomfield has definitely taught me to be a good teammate and be there for the guys. Overall, I think playing for Bloom-field will make me a better person in the long run and a better baseball player. He’s the best coach I’ve ever had, I’ve learned more about baseball now than I have my whole life with him. He knows his stuff.”


6 APRIL 11, 2013www.thecrcconnection.com SPORTS

A hard work ethic earns pitcher CRC honors

Scott Redmond | The Connection

Hawks’ pitcher Kyle Von Ruden, 27, stretches before getting ready to bat against Sacramento City College on March 9.

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“He’s got high character and he’s a hard working kid ... I imagine he’ll be the ace of the team coming back as a sopho-more.”

—Tony BloomfieldHawks’ head coach

Coming off a loss Saturday against Si-erra College, the Cosumnes River softball team took the field at home against strug-gling Modesto Junior College on April 10 in Big 8 Conference play.

The club’s ace, Sophomore Allison Barsetti took the mound for CRC to battle Modesto’s Roxy Corella.

Barsetti started off shaky, allowing a leadoff walk to center fielder Madalyn Ad-ams in the top of the first inning which re-sulted in Adams scoring later in the inning putting Modesto up 1-0.

“My main thing is we have to come

out with more energy and fire if we want to play consistent ball,” said head coach Kristy Schroeder.

The team looked to show signs of that fire and energy, that Schroeder was talking about when they came to bat in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at 1-1 but it quickly evaporated as they went score-less the next three innings. In large part to Corella’s pitching who struck out the side in the third.

Coach Schroeder praised Corella. “I thought she (Corella) did start off

very strong and then she kinda fell apart a little bit but she had some good innings,” Schroeder said. “There were a couple in-

nings where she walked quite a few and then kinda came back and struck out the side. She’s a good pitcher.”

The score remained 1-1 until the bot-tom of the fifth inning when freshman Jes-sica Venturelli hit a two out, two run triple to right field putting the Hawks’ up 3-1.

“I just wanted basically a line drive or

just a hit so we could at least score one run but it ended up being a triple so that was pretty nice,” Venturelli said.

Not to be outdone by Corella, Barsetti threw a good game of her own. After al-lowing the one run in the first inning, Bar-setti settled down and with help from the defense, didn’t allow another run until the sixth inning when infielder Leah Layman hit an RBI single making the score 3-2 bringing Modesto within one run.

That was all as Modesto failed to capi-talize with the bases loaded in the sixth that could’ve tied the game or put them ahead. A sigh of relief for Barsetti.

“I think she (Barsetti) did really good,” Venturelli said. “She kept them off balance and her changeup looked pretty good.”

Next up for the Hawks is a doublehead-er with rival Sacramento City on April 13 as they continue their playoff push.

“We’re in the hunt,” Schroeder said.

In baseball, winning the big cham-pionship is mountains above all other achievements. The final pitch is one of the most satisfying and equally disheartening events in sports, immortalizing the win-ning team, while devastating the loser.

Following an offseason of prepara-tion, The Cosumnes River College Hawks entered 2013 as the defending California Community College Athletics Association State Champions, and with the weight a title like that carries.

“Expectations are pretty high,” said freshman utility player Josh Pigg. “When you’re the state champions you’re expected to beat everybody.”

The 2012 CRC baseball team made their way into the CCCAA record books last season after defeating Rio Hondo Col-lege of Whitier 8-6 for the first state cham-pionship in CRC history.

The Hawks also became the first team to do so while playing every game away from their home field, due to continued construction on the recently dedicated Conway field. The Hawks compiled a 28-15 record while earning the nickname: the road warriors.

Sophomore pitcher Anthony Amara played on last year’s team and recalled how the players used the stadium situation to rally together and win ball games.

“It brought us closer together, we were always traveling together,” Amara said. “It was definitely a challenge but we really didn’t use it as an excuse.”

Already short of two of the key play-ers from the 2012 championship team, the Hawks started their 2013 title defense with big holes to fill. Austin Ales, last year’s ace pitcher, resigned from the team to go on a Mormon missionary trip and number two pitcher Nick Swardon decided to leave the team to join the Air Force.

The team also had to make adjust-ments for unforeseen injuries to players expected to contribute heavily to the team. Freshman utility player Zach Stilwell, freshman first baseman Garrett Heising-er and Pigg all have missed more than a month due to injury at one point during the season.

Last year the Hawks went the dis-tance with the smallest roster in Northern California, a total of 22 players. This year, head coach Tony Bloomfield said that hav-ing less players, 21, on their roster has made dealing with injuries difficult.

“It’s a catch twenty-22,” Bloomfield said. “You carry small squads to get guys experience but when guys get hurt you have no depth.”

The season has not been without its success despite the injuries. Bloomfield mentioned a number of players on the rosters that are currently having solid 2013

campaigns. “Kyle [Von Ruden] has done good

for us, and Colby Wilmer is a guy who we didn’t even expect to play for us, he’s doing well in the number two order,” Bloomfield said. “The [Josh] Cosio kid got shoved into center field and he’s playing real good de-fense and [Bryan] Case is hitting .350, but it’s a soft .350.”

The 2013 season began with huge expectations but hasn’t gone the way the Hawks hoped it would. Currently the Hawks sit fifth place in the Big 8 with a 5-8 conference record, not exactly how Bloomfield wanted to christen the new field, but Amara believes there’s still time to grab one of the remaining playoff spots.

“We’re going to have to change some things to try to get hot at the end and make the playoffs,” Amara said. “We figure if we make the playoffs we have the chance to do it again.”

SPORTS APRIL 11, 2013 7www.thecrcconnection.com


TheCheap$eats

By Emily Collinsecollins.connect@gmail

Chewing tobacco and baseball go

hand in hand

Seeing a batter spit as he approach-es the plate or a pitcher nod to his catch-er and spit before starting his windup is as much a part of baseball as peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

It seems that most players on the field during a MLB game has a dip, or wad of smokeless chewing tobacco, in his mouth.

“It’s been a part of baseball for years and years,” said Cosumnes River Col-lege baseball head coach Tony Bloom-field.

The MLB added a restriction on the use and visibility of smokeless chewing tobacco to their contracts in 2012.

Players, coaches, managers and other team personnel can no longer carry a can or package of chewing to-bacco on themselves while on the field or while fans are in the ballpark. They are also restricted from using smoke-less chewing tobacco during on-camera interviews, autograph signings and fan meet-and-greets.

Student athletes at CRC are not al-lowed to use tobacco products during the intercollegiate athletic season of their sport, according to the CRC Ath-letes’ Handbook.

Bloomfield does his best to enforce the restriction of the use of chewing to-bacco by his players but acknowledges that he “can’t control what they do when they leave the field.”

Advocates of the MLB restrictions believe it is the first step in curtailing the use of smokeless chewing tobacco and the influence it has over young players wanting to mimic their heroes.

“I always saw [New York Mets’] David Wright come off the field, I would see the dip in his mouth and it always just fascinated me,” said sophomore pitcher Ryan King.

Major league players and their be-haviors do influence the youth watching them play.

“I grew up and I saw the major leaguers do it, I wanted to be like them,” King said. “I realized that it really wasn’t that good for me so I just stopped.”

Some people use smokeless chew-ing tobacco as an alternative to smoking cigarettes.

“It’s exchanging one unhealthy habit for another,” said CRC nurse Mi-chelle Barkley.

The risks of using chewing tobac-co include oral cancer, oral infection, stomach irritations and bleeds, cavities, the loss of part of the tongue and more, Barkley said.

King believes that chewing tobacco in baseball has been going on for so long that it has “become the social norm.”

Candy makers have gotten in on the action with Big League Chew bub-ble gum, which now offers you the abil-ity to personalize your pouch with your own photo.

Bloomfield said that kids often em-ulate the things that they see.

“You just inform [the players], you give them the handouts that we have for them and they make their choices,” Bloomfield said.

Hawks’ baseball team attempts to follow up state championship season

By Sean Thomassthomas.connect@gmail

Softball beats Modesto in pitcher’s duel


The Hawks’ baseball team stands together before their first game of the 2013 season against Skyline College on Feb. 8.

Elizabeth Witt | The Connection

CRC Head coach Kristy Schroeder talks to her players after a win against Modesto.

By Victor Maciasvmacias.connect@gmail

“We’re in the hunt.”

—Kristy SchroederSoftball head coach

OPINIONAPRIL 11, 20138 www.thecrcconnection.com


Hawk TalkBinge drinking is on the rise and

becoming a big issue for college stu-dents both past and present.

Research shows that people who are of the same age as college students, but do not attend college, are less likely to be binge drinkers, and the number of incidences of binge drinking in that age range has dropped immensely, ac-cording to the New York Times.

What is it about college students that makes them more prone to binge drinking?

Binge drinking is five drinks for men and four drinks for women in a two hour time period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On paper that does not sound like a lot, but when one is having a good time with friends, it is quite easy to lose track of how many and just keep going.

The problem is that binge drink-ing parties of college are catching up to us later on in life. The ages of binge drinkers have been slowly creeping from 18-26 to 18-34.

“While binge drinking is more common among young adults aged 18–34 years, binge drinkers aged 65 years and older report binge drink-ing more often—an average of five to six times a month,” according to the CDC.

A study conducted by the Al-zheimer’s society showed that those

who reported binge drinking at least twice a month were more than twice as likely to experience a higher level of cognitive decline in adults ages 65 and older.

This shows that the effects of

binge drinking will carry over into our futures.

Binge drinking raises alcohol de-pendence. When alcohol is consumed the liver converts the drug into a chemical called acetate into the brain, which is used as fuel, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine Re-searchers.

The body naturally has very little acetate, so binge drinking hooks the brain on the extra acetate and be-

comes addicted. This has been shown to encourage alcohol dependence and even cause people to show signs of withdrawal, according to Yale’s study.

Seventy percent of people who develop alcohol dependence have a single episode that lasts on average three or four years, according to the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism study on alcohol and it’s related conditions.

Binge drinking has been linked to many cases of alcoholism as well as many other health problems, includ-ing birth defects and liver disease, ac-cording to the CDC.

In fact, according the the CDC, “More than 38 million U.S. adults binge drink about four times a month, and the largest number of drinks per binge is on average eight. This be-havior greatly increases the chances of getting hurt or hurting others due to car crashes, violence, and suicide. Drinking too much, including binge drinking, causes 80,000 deaths in the US each year and, in 2006 cost the economy $223.5 billion.”

The phrase “please drink respon-sibly” is on every alcoholic beverage label and in every commercial that en-courages the purchase of alcohol and it is there for a reason.

Everything in moderation is good advice to follow in drinking situ-ations and allows you to prevent binge drinking from destroying your life.

Binge drinking has future backlash

AT A GLANCE

The Issue: An increase in college binge drink-

ing has shown addictive tendencies and negative effects for the future.

Our Stance:Binge drinking causes

detrimental side effects, but drink-ing in moderation can curb them.

Agree? Disagree?send us your thoughts at

[email protected]

Compiled by Latisha Gibson and Sean ThomasPhotos by Oswaldo Guzman

Joella Morones, 19Criminal Justice

Chris Cannon, 25Television Production &

Broadcast Journalism

Jason Henderson, 22 Public Relations

Kristy SchroederSoftball Coach &

Kinesiology Professor

“I do, especially at the high levels, the division one levels. They’re making so much money for the NCAA and really have been taken advantage of overall. And a lot of times people say, ’Oh, they owed us, ’ and they get their scholarship payed for. But really with the money they make off of the student athletes, there should be some sort ofcompensation.”

“At the NCAA level, no, I don’t think

they should be paid. They are athletes

secondary to being students. If they’re

going to pay athletes then they should

also pay the biology majors or chem

students that go to universities for whatever their

extracurricular is or their major.”

“No, because they still have a lot more time to learn things

and a lot more practice needs to be

put in before they can be signed to a

team.”

“They should, but I understand why they’re not. But, I think that they should get some type of compensation just because a lot of people are making money off of their products. How come they don’t get anything for it? I think that they should have some type of compensation.”

Check out the full video and other Hawk Talk

content on our website.

“On the NCAA level, do you think student

athletes should be paid?”

EDITORIAL

Parents are role models, not celebrities

In a society that glamorizes celebrities, parents should beware that it’s not unusual for children to look up to these people as role models.

It’s not the responsibility of ce-lebrities to censor themselves. It’s the responsibility of the parent to cen-sor what their children are exposed to, especially if the behavior of these so-called role models is teaching our youth that it’s okay, even cool, to break the law, to get drunk, use drugs and to be disrespectful towards others.

This is not the message most parents want their children to hear, whether they have a toddler or teen-ager. That being said, the burden of teaching children the difference be-tween right and wrong, of teaching them morals and being good people lies with parents, not celebrities.

With access to celebrities becom-ing more readily available in this age of technology, it is easy to get sucked into the drama of their lives.

You can easily look them up on websites such as omg! from Yahoo!

where you can access “celebrity gos-sip, news photos, babies, couples, hotties, and more,” according to the website.

Recently on the website’s homep-age is an article titled “Ray J’s ‘I hit it first’ all about Kim Kardashian.”

This is cause for concern, not concern for Ray J or Kim K or even Kanye West, but for the youth and what they are being subjected to.

Celebrities are going to do what they do best: produce their work and live their lives in the light of the me-dia.

Some journalists are going to do what they do best: give people infor-mation about topics they find inter-esting, namely celebrities.

It’s up to parents of children to guide and teach them about what is appropriate and what is not.

Ray J should feel no shame for releasing such a provocatively titled single.

The shame lies with any parent who ignores the influence and nature of the music industry, and many ce-lebrities that their children may be influenced by.

You can find inappropriate mes-sages in almost every form of music out there.

For example, country music sing-

er Carrie Underwood’s song “Before He Cheats” details the damage she caused to the truck belonging to her cheating man.

Young girls may hear this and think that it’s okay to cause property damage if they have been wronged.

It’s not Underwood’s job to teach young girls that vandalism and prop-erty damage are wrong, it’s the job of the parents of young girls.

Children looking up to celebrities as role models is not a new trend. For years children have looked up to a va-riety of celebrities as their role mod-els, from sports figures to pop stars to actors and more.

With the daily lives of celebrities being flaunted all over the TV and internet, it’s easy for impressionable children to become confused about how they should behave.

It’s the influence of the parents that should be most important in the lives of their children.

Take the time to teach your kids what it means to have boundaries, the difference between right and wrong and how to be productive citizens.

Don’t leave this important job to the celebrities of today. Take control of what your children are being ex-posed to and teach them about what is really important.

By Emily Collinsecollins.connect@gmail

LETTER TO THE EDITORRE: “Rihanna likes the way it

hurts too much” by Rachel NorrisIssue date: March 14

Dear Editor,

It’s sad that we live in a culture where we allow our children (espe-cially our young girls) to look up to pop stars that sing about how much they enjoy S&M, drinking, etc. And when these same pop stars do some-thing or are involved in something

negative in their personal lives, most parents and guardians get angry and that classic line, “But they are a role model! How could they?!” is passed along from parent to parent. It is up to the parents to teach their children right from wrong, not Rihanna, Brit-ney Spears, Nicki Minaj or any other person to that degree. We have to hold these pop stars accountable in an artistic manner, not in a moral one. So instead of bashing her about Chris Brown (when we have way

bigger issues internationally), bash her god-awful, eardrum-splitting song “Diamonds” or some other song because if we do otherwise, we are just substantiating the false idea that these are the people we want our future generation of bright, young women to look up to. My opinion.

— JoshuaElkridge, 21,

Journalism

OPINIONAPRIL 11, 2013 9www.thecrcconnection.com


Young girl ruins two football players’ lives:how media twists predators into rape victims

Steubenville, Ohio recently hosted deplor-able behavior as the highly publicized rape of a young girl caught the attention of nation-al news sources.

A 16-year-old girl was raped by a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy. These boys were stars on the high school football team and as such had many opportunities ahead of them.

I do not need to tell anyone that rape is horrible, so when I say that Steubenville was host to deplorable behavior, I refer to the way that the media has treated the verdict of the case. Both boys were found guilty of rape, but somehow they are being portrayed as victims.

In the breaking news report on March 17 by CNN, Poppy Harlow opined how, “Incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart.”

If the viewer did not know any better, it would almost sound like the boys were being falsely charged as guilty. Of course, it went on to explain that justice had been served because these boys did rape an un-conscious girl and brag about it on social media sites, right? They did take pictures

of the girl’s body with semen on it, so the reporter probably mentioned whether the victim now had some form of closure, right? No. None of these things happened.

A legal expert by the name of Paul Cal-lan was brought on to discuss the ramifica-tions of what they had done, though. “That will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Employers, when looking up their back-ground, will see that they’re registered sex offenders. When they move into a new neighborhood and somebody goes on the Internet where these things are posted neighbors will know that they are regis-tered sex offenders.”

It feels like the viewer should be sad-

dened by the fact that the boys will be registered sex offenders. If the boys had not raped anyone, they would not have to worry about being registered sex offenders.

This speaks to a larger, prevalent prob-lem in our society surrounding rape. It is called “rape culture,” and it refers to the harmful ideas that are perpetuated by the media and consumers about rape. In es-sence, these ideas contribute to victim blaming and the idea that a girl can be “ask-ing for it.”

Oftentimes in a case of rape someone will ask, “what was she wearing?” or, “was she drinking?” The answers to these ques-tions should not matter at all. A far more

appropriate question would be, “were they engaging in consensual sexual behavior?”

The former questions imply that there is a situation in which it would be under-standable to rape someone. In case there is any confusion about this, it is never okay to rape someone under any circumstances.

No matter how much skin was or was not showing, no matter how much alcohol was consumed, and no matter how good someone is at football, rape is not excus-able. It is a violation of someone’s body, trust and mental health, and it is never something that happens on accident.

Sexual assault is far too common in America, with someone being sexually as-saulted every two minutes. Of those sexual assaults, only 54 percent are reported to the police, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

The rate of sexual assault is high, as is the number of cases not reported to the po-lice. A common reason for not reporting an assault is shame and embarrassment. Vic-tims feel terrible about the event.

The media does not need to increase that shame by being rape apologists.

So no, I do not feel sorry that the boys of Steubenville have lost their “promising” football careers.

No, I do not feel sorry that the boys of Steubenville will be registered sex offend-ers.

I do, however, feel sorry that these boys violated a young girl’s body and as a result of rape culture there are some who would say that what they did was excusable.

By Courtney Richcrich.connect@gmail

One month is not enough for centuries of history

For airline tickets, what you weigh is the price you pay

Sorry ladies, if you’re planning on travelling via Samoa Air any time soon, you may want to pack light, even though your hubby probably won’t mind.

The small Pacific airline is now charging based on each passenger’s body weight plus their luggage weight for inter-national flights.

Customers aren’t reacting very well to the change in airline fare. Apparently, offended passengers see it as weight-dis-crimination.

In reality, it’s not discrimination at all. Planes have weight limits and it makes sense for people to pay based upon their own weight rather than paying for just a seat.

“If I am getting less than 100 percent of the seat I paid for, the person taking my space should have to make up the dif-ference,” a CNN.com reader commented.

If people have a tendency to bring heavy suitcases on their vacations, they should be paying for that weight too.

From a positive point of view, flying with children is much cheaper and you only pay for the space you take up.

Plus the airline will try to make ac-commodations for larger passengers such as wider seats and more legroom.

The airline doesn’t dsicriminate against those who are heavier or lighter.

Each person is charged the same amount per kilogram - or pound, here in the states.

Though some people may have a ge-netic predisposition to being overweight

or underweight, many passengers really can control how much they will be pay-ing to fly.

People talk about working out or go-ing on a diet before a vacation.

The price of a plane ticket is a pretty good incentive to follow through with those plans.

If we really think about how much a flight ticket costs through any other air-line, aside from the first-class-to-coach difference, prices are all the same.

But since cost is based on the weight capacity of a certain plane, you could be paying for your own weight and part of someone else’s weight.

Now is that fair?It’s not fair if the smaller passenger is

being charged for space they aren’t using.“We have worked out a figure per

kilo. This is the fairest way of you trav-elling with your family or yourself,” said Samoa Air CEO Chris Langton. “You can put your baggage on, there are no sepa-rate fees because of excess baggage - a kilo is a kilo is a kilo.”

Though some may say this won’t work for a larger airline, Samoa Air seems to be having success with their airfare methods.

Samoa Air operates three small air-craft, two 10-passengers and one four-passenger.

“Weight restrictions are the key prac-tical problem they have to deal with on every flight,” said airline analyst Vaughn Cordle, an Ionosphere Capital partner.

On smaller planes, the cost-per-pound is higher than on larger aircraft, so charging a flat rate would be discrimina-tory against all passengers, Cordle said.

Do you agree? Disagree?Comment at thecrcconnection.com

By Elizabeth Wittewitt.connect@gmail

February and March marked the cele-brations for Black Histo-ry and Women’s History Month respectively, and Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month is just around the corner.

Each history month is designed to ex-plore the heritage and history of different cultures, races and people and what they have contributed to America.

One would assume that is a good thing, but in that regard one would be wrong.

How can celebrating history and heri-tage be a bad thing you might ask?

Easily. Squeezing the celebration of the various people that have made our na-tion great, no matter their race or creed or orientation, down to just one month is in itself degrading.

The contributions of African-Ameri-cans, Women, Gays & Lesbians, the elderly, and various other groups are nothing to just look at for one month and move on from. We are one nation, supposedly unit-ed in our goals.

Celebrating and learning about the founding fathers and the contributions of those deemed history worthy all the time in school yet only setting aside months for other people and groups does not fit a na-tion that claims to seek equality.

On the other side there will be those that argue that having the history months makes sure we don’t forget about the con-tributions of others. That through those months we get a chance to peel back the curtain and celebrate and learn about peo-ple of different groups than our own per-haps, while those in the groups get their

time to shine.The question posed to that argument

is, why do they only get that one month to shine? The contributions of everyone in this nation should be celebrated and learned about at all times.

The founding fathers might have been instrumental in the formation of this na-tion but they were not alone, and in the time since then many others have played their parts.

Sure in history class one can learn about Martin Luther King Jr or Susan B. Anthony because those that decide what history we follow has deemed them impor-tant enough, but what about the rest?

Having some speeches or a cho-sen meal to sig-nify a group is not enough when, come the end of the month we move on to another group. Why should events that are to celebrate women be rel-egated to just one month when they can be spread out over the year so that the contribu-tions of the major-ity gender are al-ways presented?

We don’t need September to October to be the month for Hispanic Heritage or for November to be National American In-dian Heritage Month. What we need is for each and every day to be a day that we learn about and celebrate the people that make this nation what it is.

To have it any other way is to delude ourselves into believing we are truly reach-ing for equality, when it achieves thing but that at the end of the day.

By Scott Redmondsredmond.connect@gmail

“What we need is for each and every day to be a day that we learn about and celebrate the people that make this nation what it is.”

Broadcast and cable have long held ground in the battle for dom-inance in the world of television, but they might just have a new contender in the form of Netflix’s “House of Cards.” Netflix, long known for their DVD mailing program, has made a bold move by jumping into the ring of television show produc-tion.

Kevin Spacey (“American Beauty”) stars as Congressman Francis Underwood and from the first moments of episode one, you learn quickly what sort of man Underwood is.

Wheeling, dealing, outright manipulation of individuals and the very political process that governs our country are just busi-ness as usual for Underwood and almost every character on the show. Underwood may be one of the most power hungry, but no one is innocent in the series.

Underwood uses and abuses all of those around him to get the ultimate power he craves, yet is connected to a woman that is his equal. Claire Underwood, played by Robin Wright (“The Princess Bride”), is just as manipulative as her husband and at times seems even more ruthless.

Spacey truly is the draw of the series and the very glue that

holds it together, but Wright and the supporting cast are no second fiddles to Spacey as they bring their A-game to the table.

Kate Mara (“American Hor-ror Story”) as the ambitious journalist Zoe Barnes and Corey Stoll (“The Bourne Legacy”) who plays Representative Peter Russo, a functioning alcoholic, are just pawns to Underwood but are much more than that.

Michael Kelly (“Person of In-terest”) who plays Underwood’s assistant Doug Stamper helps Frank with his dirty dealings but is more than just a lackey. Every character has their own subplot and back story that adds to the ongoing story, and each gets a moment to shine in the series.

The acting is superb, and matched only by the writing and direction of the series. Little touches like Underwood breaking the fourth wall to talk to the audi-ence make the series unique.

David Fincher (“The Social Network”) is the main executive producer, as well as director of some of the episodes, including the pilot. Fincher’s noted style of cinematography is infused in the series as every episode feels like a part of a greater whole, almost like a movie spread out into parts.

Fincher and Spacey paint a picture of a Washington that is solidly built on the dirtiest of pol-itics and the true beauty of their

painting is that one can’t help but wonder how close to reality it truly is.

Each and every episode grips you and makes you want to see where things will go and to what new levels Francis, Claire and others can go in their unscrupu-lous ways.

The beauty of it is that there is no weekly wait for another episode in the season as with the system they have set up, Netflix has another way to get one up on the broadcast and cable networks since they released all of season one at the same time.

Binge watching of the show easily becomes the preferred method.

With a gripping finale where plans reach new levels and the plot deepens, it’s hard know-ing that the entire second sea-son won’t come out for months. When it does it will come all at once, making the wait worth it in the end.

If politics and realistic char-acters pique your interest, then “House of Cards” might be right up your alley.


10 APRIL 11, 2013www.thecrcconnection.com FEATURES

Netflix builds a house out of anything but cards

Courtesy Photo

Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright play a power hungry couple wheeling and dealing their way to the top in Netflix’s first original series “House of Cards.”

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Over his 41 years at Cosumnes River College, kinesiology professor Travis Park-er has pushed students and sports teams alike to their limits. However, this will be his last year doing so as he has announced his retirement.

Parker’s decision to retire stems from a recent diagnosis of scleroderma, a chronic autoimmune disease. Parker notes that he had been considering retirement before the diagnosis.

“I felt that [fall 2012] was my worst semester as a teacher because I wasn’t able to demonstrate and jump in,” Parker said. “There were days when I was in pain.”

Parker’s retirement is met with sad-ness from students, especially those who have taken multiple semesters under his instruction.

“He’s great! [He’s] very hard, he pushes you hard,” said Akili Daniels, a 36-year-old former television and film major and cur-rent student of Parker’s. “It sucks [that he’s leaving], especially because of health rea-sons.”

Since joining the CRC faculty in 1972, Parker’s career has been filled with ac-complishments. In addition to teaching seven classes each semester, Parker has also coached cross country and men’s track.

In 1979, Parker started the first in-tercollegiate soccer team in the Los Rios District, coaching both men’s and women’s divisions for several years. Parker has also served as CRC’s athletic director and dean.

While this is already a lengthy list of accomplishments, it does not end there. Parker has been a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. for 31 years, and under this fraternity co-founded the Alpha Academy.

The Alpha Academy is an Afrocentric program established nine years ago that aims to provide male youth with “men-toring, character education, and life skill training.” In addition, the Alpha Academy provides tutoring for boys and girls of all ages.

Through the Alpha Academy, Parker also created the Martha Parker scholarship, named after his mother, which is available to Alpha Academy students.

Parker also arranged for and organized Cornel West’s visit to CRC in January.

Throughout his career, Parker has been inducted into the California Black Athletic Hall of Fame and the California Community College Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame. Parker has also received numer-ous awards including the Hayward Award for excellence in education.

Most recently, Parker was inducted into the International Educators Hall of Fame following the announcement of his retirement.

The list of Parker’s activism and ac-complishments continues to go on, and he states that he is very satisfied with how his career has gone.

“Well, it’s been what I would consider a great run,” Travis said. “Some people say 40 years is a long time … I don’t consider my-self unusual in that aspect, especially since I enjoyed working here. My wife used to say ‘you don’t really have a job, you like it too much.’ And that’s true.”

Colleagues of Parker are sad to see him go, but are happy for his satisfaction of his lengthy career.

“I have a long history with Travis, I played [soccer] for him in 1981 and 82, I coached with him from ‘93-’97,” said Cesar Plasencia, kinesiology professor and col-league of Parker’s at CRC. “I’m really happy for him, he’s had a very fulfilling life ... I

wish him the best in his retirement.”Parker’s educational philosophy has

played a large part in his enjoyment of his job.

Typed on a gray sheet of paper, Parker’s philosophy opens with “I am the world’s wealthiest man because I stand at ‘the place for which my father sighed,’” explaining that he has achieved things his father had dreamed of.

He has specific and detailed examples of what he believes are the roles of educa-

tors and in the final paragraph of his phi-losophy, he states “I desire to share my wealth by helping students succeed.”

With all of his activism, accomplish-ments and recognition, Parker has arguably attained this goal several times over.

Parker plans to stay involved in CRC by joining the Emeriti Association, where he will still be able to interact with both students and faculty. Even in retirement, Parker plans to hold true to and practice his educational philosophy.

Physical education professor Travis Parker amps up the vibe in his boot camp fitness class by joining in with lunges during warm-ups on April 9.

FEATURES APRIL 11, 2013 11www.thecrcconnection.com


By Nick Valenzuelanvalenzuela.connect@gmail

Admired professor announces retirement

He chose to make a difference. Chose to get a degree. To learn new skills. And it was all made possible by the National Guard.

Education BEnEfits • skills training • Part-timE sErvicE

This momenT began wiTh a choice.

Contact Sergeant First Class Antonio Costa at 916. 233. 76131-800-GO-GUARD

10BW-04_5.88x7_Costa.indd 1 1/15/13 11:38 AM

Rachel Norris | The Connection

quite valuable.”With the support of the cam-

pus in hand, the CRAWL Lab has already put together a small piece of the puzzle.

“We have a lot of stuff that came from underneath broth-els, so the artifacts represent the women that were there,” said 37-year-old anthropology ma-jor Angela Evoy. “We were able to prove that a lot of the women were successful, that they were able to make more money than a lot of the men doing gold mining. All the money is coming in from the gold mines and going to the women.”

Almost all the artifacts tell their own story, but Paskey and Evoy couldn’t help but smile at the mention of a pair of loaded dice that were found on the site.

“They haven't found many dice in archaeological collec-tions,” Paskey said.

The dice coupled with sev-eral medicine bottles that con-tained anywhere from 30-80 percent alcohol have made for some pretty interesting findings,

Paskey said.S o m e

of the find-ings have a l r e a d y been pre-sented at a conference in Berke-ley, but that won’t be the only news coming out of the lab.

“We’re looking at putting to-

gether some short papers on specific artifacts,” Paskey said. “Then we're looking to do larger presentations and larger publi-cations once we have it all put together."

While the information that the CRAWL Lab has found has shed some light into Sacramen-to’s past, they are not resting on their laurels.

“We want to finish up and complete the collection,” Pana-gakos said. “It's unusual for a community college student to have this kind of access.”

CRAWL: Students get opportunity to study SacramentoContinued from page 1

“We’re taking what we got and we’re trying to come up with a story.”

-Marcos Martinez,

anthrophology major

With “Garston Parade,” local band The Vietnams have crafted an impressive debut album that covers a diverse range of genres and sounds, from folk medleys to blues riffs.

Their first album, released on iTunes and other online resources Jan. 25 for $10.98, demonstrates a great deal of mu-sical knowledge and finesse. The album is certainly a promising start, especially for a college band that has been around for less than a year.

Two members of the group, keyboardist Seth Coalwell and guitarist Brent Elkings, are actually Cosumnes River College stu-dents.

The songs on Garston Parade are pre-dominantly folk heavy and are often bitter-sweet. The album kicks off with “Between You and Me,” a soft folk song that seam-lessly combines guitar and banjo riffs as lead vocalist Sean Kennedy sings words to dispel a lover’s idealistic notions about him.

The album carries on with folk for the next few songs, “Jimmy Boy,” “Fifteen Min-utes” and “Empty Seat.” All of them are well worth a listen, but my favorite is “Empty Seat,” a somber song that heavily features banjo woven into acoustic guitar riffs, com-plemented with the voices of Kennedy and back up vocalist Karen Huntington.

From there, the album changes up with the piano laden “Color Inwards,” in which the voices of Kennedy and Huntington meld for a moving, bittersweet song. It is followed by more folk with “Oh Miss De-ceiver,” which is also another high point for the album, especially when the backing vo-cals tie the song together in its second half.

After two more folk songs, the album switches gears into material that shows more influences of blues and rock, though most songs still retain a dominance on folk. “Step Two” sets the tone for these songs well by opening with an electric guitar, and later introducing a bluesy piano riff.

It’s difficult to compare this album to many contemporary releases from other bands, as The Vietnams move through dif-ferent genres over the album. Mumford & Sons might come to mind at moments of a couple of their folk songs, especially “Jimmy Boy” and “Fifteen Minutes,” but Mumford & Sons are streamlined for mainstream success to the point that their albums are often fairly repetitive.

This is not the case with The Vietnams, who may be more accurately compared to bands like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in respect to the diverse range of sounds they employ. Such is the case with the slow song “The Most Astounding Fact,” which dem-onstrates flavors of rock, blues and folk. The song sucks in the listener again and again over seven minutes of acoustic and electric guitar mingling with excellently placed trumpet.

At times, it seems as if the band is still playing with the exact combination for their overall sound. If that’s the case, it’s an experiment that definitely benefits the lis-tener.

Those who dislike folk may not find a lot to enjoy with this album, but to them, I recommend listening to the album on a weekend drive through the countryside. “Garston Parade” is the perfect soundtrack

for it.Personally, I loved the album, and I ea-

gerly look forward to the next release by The Vietnams.


12 APRIL 11, 2013www.thecrcconnection.com FEATURES

Club’s passion aims for a better futureSeven individuals gathered in a quiet

classroom in the corner of Cosumnes Riv-er College’s Science building on a muggy April afternoon with only one thing on their minds: saving the Earth.

They’re not superheroes and the meet-ing wasn’t a scene out of an inspirational movie. They are members of the Students for a Sustainable Future Club.

While their discussions were not about something that would fix the issues of the planet all at once, their vision was set firm-ly on the future and creating a planet still viable for the generations to come.

“Sustainability basically means to be able to have enough of everything left on the planet, enough resources on our plan-et, for the future,” said 39-year-old club President Veronica Vogan. “So in order to have enough for this generation and all fu-ture generations we have to be resourceful with what we have.”

Part of the club’s plan for making sure that there is enough for future generations includes trash audits.

Trash audits are comprised of weighing all the various bags in the different cans around an area of campus and then sorting them correctly and weighing them again.

Last semester the club adviser, geog-raphy professor Debra Sharkey, engaged in a trash auditing project with one of her classes for the campus’ first ever sustain-ability day. Their goal was to audit, then educate the population of the campus about the right bins to use for disposed items.

“The mission of the club is to teach stu-dents how to live more sustainably and to learn about environmental problems and what can be done about them and to edu-cate other people to be aware of environ-mental problems and hopefully themselves to live more sustainably,” Sharkey said.

As the campus celebrates Earth Day with various speakers and events, the SSFC made plans for their tables and displays as well as ways to educate students through leaflets that describe the materials on cam-pus and the proper way for disposal.

“Through the club, I actually discov-ered the concept of sustainability and I realized living your life sustainably is the only way that we as a people can continue to co-exist with our surroundings,” said

25-year-old environmental studies major Cesar Aguirre. “So maintaining our re-sources and living a lifestyle that doesn’t deplete them is really the only way to live, its sustainability.”

In the future, the club is seeking to at-tend various sporting events on campus to collect the cans and bottles that accumu-late in order to turn them in for recycling to further fund their efforts to educate the population.

Tuesdays in science room 106 at 4:30 to 5:30 are the location for the meetings of the club, as they seek more like-minded individuals to join their cause.

“It’s something I’m passionate about. I try to promote it in everything in my life so my campus, my home, my work, every-where,” Vogan said. “So this is just a natu-ral progression. This is my last semester here and I wanted to do something for the campus.”


Scott Redmond | The Connection

Students for a Sustainable Future Club President Veronica Vogan and Cesar Aguirre discuss club membership and plans for Earth Day on April 4 in room 110 of the Science building.

Local band provides music with new album

By Kevin Frodahlkfrodahl.connect@gmail

Courtesy Photo

Local band The Vietnams released “Garstron Parade” on Jan. 25. The album com-bines folk with elements of blues and rock.

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