The East TexanThe East TexanSTUDENT NEWSPAPER OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSIT Y- COMMERCE SINCE 1915

Task force requests more information

CALEB SLINKARDMANAGING EDITOR

A task force created by A&M-Commerce Provost Dr. Larry Lemanski to formulate a recommendation regard-ing the reorganization of the university’s colleges has voted not to accept the reor-ganization plan on the grounds of a lack

of information. The College Reorganization Task Force turned in their recommendation to Lemanski on Sept. 24, voting 11-to-2 that the Provost’s office needs to provide more information and direction in order for them to create a reorganization plan. “The College Reorganization Task Force strongly recommends that you

consider the results of the survey then reconstitute a new Task Force to include individuals with the knowledge and skill set to craft a clear argument for change and a clear method to produce that change,” the recommendation read. The task force, which is co-chaired by current Faculty President Dr. LaVelle Hendricks and Literature and

Languages Head Dr. Mary Dunbar-Odom, was charged by Lemanksi with consulting groups representing all constituencies, gathering information via public forum and internet survey, synthesizing information, and offering recommendations to the Provost by Dec. 8, 2010.

See REORGANIZATION page 3

Lions persevere

XCV, No. 5, 8 pages www.theeasttexan.com Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010

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A&M-Commerce students earn appreciation for sister city in Cambodia

Freshman defensive lineman Jake Williams strips the ball from Southeastern Oklahoma running back Baylen Laury. The fumble was recovered

by Lions cornerback A.J. Billings and returned 70 yards for a touchdown, A&M-Commerce’s first score of the night.

Bois d’Arc looks to next year

JAMES BRIGHTEDITOR

The 25th Annual Bois d’ Arc Bash featured music, games, crafts and an assortment of other activities for students and residents of Commerce. Manager of the Commerce Chamber of Commerce Trey Boyles said this year’s Bash was a success. “We had two stages, and we are moving toward our goal of hav-ing continuous entertain-ment,” he said. The College Night was another area Boyles said succeeded as he had hoped. He said students pro-vided plenty of feedback, which let him know how well its debut went. There are few areas that Boyles said he and other event planners will be looking at for improvement. “We are looking at going to a 3-year cycle, so we can have the event more planned out,” he said. According to Boyles, a committee will decide what to change about the Bash. Boyles said volunteers are a major reason the festival is possible. “We have over 100 volunteers who are not paid for their efforts, and that’s quite a feat,” he said. The versatility of musical acts is another aspect of the Bash Boyles said contributed to the event’s success. “’The Bois d’ Arc Bash has an overall broad appeal,” he said.

Goddard takes issue with Lohan

ADAM TROXTELLSPORTS EDITOR

Members of the Cambodia Service Learning Project took a trip to Cambodia from July 10-26, which includ-ed sightseeing, learning about the culture and his-tory of the country, visit-ing Commerce’s sister city Pailin, and helping vari-ous local schools. Political science department head and associate professor Dr.

JoAnn DiGeorgio-Lutz is the instructor of the Cambodia Project course, PSCI 497, and she said the trip helped students get the full experience of studying a country. “This is the first time I had been to Cambodia, and it was amazing,” DiGeorgio said. “We got to put context to what we were studying in the abstract. You can learn about something, you can look at a country on a map, you can look at

pictures of a country and read about its history, but when you’re there experi-encing it, it becomes very real. It becomes some-thing you can attach meaning to.” Senior political science major Kaycie Clark said the trip was a revealing experience. “It was life-changing, seeing people in a society that is completely differ-ent than what you’re used to, a developing world,” she said. “It changed my

perspective on life. I real-ize how lucky I am to be here.” DiGeorgio said she thinks most of the students who visited Cambodia came away with a similar feeling. “I think, for most of them, it really opened their eyes to the develop-ing world and situations in the developing world,” she said. “Cambodia is what we would call a war-torn society, rebuild-ing after years of war and

a genocide that basically eradicated anything, any education, any infrastruc-ture, and so on.” The Cambodian Civil War lasted from 1967-1975, and led to the Khmer Rouge, or Communist Party of Kampuchea, rising to power and instigating the Cambodian Genocide. During their four-year reign, millions of Cambodians were killed or imprisoned, and the Cambodia Project mem-

bers spent some of this trip learning about those darker times in the coun-try’s capital. “The first few days, it was all learning about the genocide,” Clark said. “During the first four days in Phnom Penh, we went to the S-21 museum, the political prisoner museum. It was a political prisoner camp where they executed thousands of people.” Also during those first

See NAMED page 3

PAGE 6Facebook makes it to the silverscreen in the “Social Network.”

CALEB SLINKARDMANAGING EDITOR

East Texas State University’s name may only be a memory for ETSU alumni, but for-mer A&M-Commerce Associate Vice President of Development Larry Goddard wants it to remain unsullied by troubled Hollywood actresses. In 2007, actress Lindsay Lohan was photographed wearing a navy and gold East Texas State University shirt, a photo that has Goddard talking. “We are so sorry that she is having a hard time, but if you were a parent and look-ing across the web for schools and you saw that Lindsey (sic) Lohan had the t-shirt from the school you were thinking of sending your child, I think you would back out or think of another school,” Goddard said in an interview with KLTV in Tyler, Texas. In light of Lohan’s recent stay in jail, Goddard said he thinks she is not a good repre-sentation of ETSU. See SHIRT page 3

Lohan with ETSU shirt in 2007.

CALEB SLINKARDMANAGING EDITOR

A strong start and tough defen-sive effort in the fourth quarter helped A&M-Commerce (2-3, 1-1) overcome a shaky second half and defeat Southeastern Oklahoma State (1-4, 0-2) 19-14. The Lions moved the ball well on their opening drive, including a 22-yard rush by junior running back Marcus Graham, but two major penalties shut down the drive. After both teams failed to score on successive drives, the Lions defense drew first blood. A&M-Commerce senior cor-nerback A.J. Billings recovered an SOSU fumble and returned it 70

yards for a touchdown, although A&M-Commerce missed the extra point. The Lions failed to convert on two of their three extra point attempts, in what was a frustrating special teams effort. A&M-Commerce incurred two penalties on the fumble return. The Lions were undisciplined through-out much of the game, losing 119 yards on nine penalties. “There isn’t a whole lot we can do about that in practice,” Graham said. “That has to do with mental toughness. We have to concentrate and focus in our next game.” In the second quarter, Graham led the Lions on a 10-play, 95-yard drive and punched in the touch-down with a 14-yard run. Later in the quarter, quarter-

back Adam Farkes connected with freshman receiver Jillian Hayes for a 10-yard touchdown to cap off a 12-play drive. After a fumbled snap on the extra point, the Lions went up 19-0. SOSU had a chance to put points on the board at the end of the sec-ond quarter, but missed a 30-yard field goal wide left. A&M-Commerce failed to come out with the same intensity offen-sively in the second half, while penalties, terrible field position and poor play-calling kept them from scoring again for the rest of the game. Following an SOSU punt, which was downed at the Lions one yard line, quarterback Adam Farkes

See LIONS page 8

College reorganization plan runs into speed bump after faculty input

Writer encourages people to be more courteous

MELISSA ARCHER STAFF CARTOONIST

OPINIONOPINION www.theeasttexan.comThursday, Oct. 7, 2010Page 2

The East Texan, official student newspaper of Texas A&M University-Commerce, is published 12 times per semester during the Fall and Spring by students in reporting and editing classes. Content is solely the responsibility of the student editors and writers. The comments and views expressed in The East Texan do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of other students, staff, faculty, administration, or the Board of Trustees. The East Texan is located inside the Journalism building on the east side of campus in room 113. Single copies are available in Journalism 113 for an additional 25 cents.

Letters to the Editor are welcome and should be limited to 250 words. They will not be edited for spelling, grammar and libelous or malicious statements. We reserve the right to refuse publication. Letters should be typed or e-mailed and must include a signature, classification (grade level) and telephone number. Mailing address is The East Texan, P.O. Box 4011 Commerce, Texas 75428.

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CHAnCELLOR MILLSOpINION EdITOR

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CHANCELLOR MILLSOPINION EDITOR

If someone were to make a movie based on your life, would anyone want to watch it?

Those who know me know that I love watch-ing movies. I could watch movies all day every day – and I actually do during breaks from school. I watch a wide variety of movies too, including slasher flicks, rom-com’s, comedies, dramas, super-hero movies and so on. As the movie connoisseur that I am, I can tell you that nothing turns me off about a movie more than a weak rating. Maybe it’s just because I’m coming up in years, but I can no longer stand anything cheerier than an R-rating.

It’s just something about watching “Resident Evil” – rife with blood and gore, strong lan-guage, graphic violence and nudity – that makes it just impossible for me to stomach a movie like “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga-Hoole.” If a movie has what seems like an iffy storyline, but also has an R-rating, then I (personally) am much more likely to see that as opposed to an interesting-looking movie with a PG-rating. The reason is simple: R-rated material is much more entertaining to watch.

And this brings me

back to my initial ques-tion: If someone were to make a movie based on your life, would anyone want to watch it?

Personally, I have all the faith in the world that somebody will one day produce the film adapta-tion of the best-selling biography of my life. (Honestly, who could resist that golden goose?) That’s why I try to make sure that the scenes de-picting my time in college are as R-rated – and thus entertaining – as possible.

Now, ordinarily, I would mind my own business and not advocate debauchery in the lives of others. However, this is my senior year, which means that I have seen three years worth of in-nocent, cautious freshmen who don’t understand

what college means.It’s a bit of a cliché, but

college is the time to make your life a little R-rated. Think about it this way: in 20 years, when your kids ask to hear about some of your college stories, are you going to want to tell them about how you used to stay up all night every Saturday on a “home-work binge”? (Granted, that will likely set a much better example for your children than telling them about the time that you got kicked out of the mall for sodomizing all of the “wo-mannequins” that were “asking for it.”) There’s only one problem with your story: your children will likely be so bored that they will slip into a comatose state. Congratulations, you just put your children into

comas – they’re probably going to die.

Well, I don’t want your children to die. I want your children to live, which is why I encourage you to do everything you can to give your time in college an R-rating; drink, smoke, get a tattoo, get something pierced, “raw-dog some randoms” and so on. Essentially, what I’m saying is, during your time at this university, rape, pillage, plunder and do just about anything you can to make sure that nobody under the age of 17 will be allowed to see the movie of your life without a parent present.

Oh, and then gradu-ate and become a fully functioning, upstanding member of society…or something like that.

Writer advocates living R-rated life

1.BP.BLOGSPOT.COM

Part of the fun of being a college student is doing things to ensure that “nobody under the age of 17 will be allowed to see the movie of

your life without a parent present,” columnist Chancellor Mills writes.

G-ECX.IMAGES-AMAZON.COM

Dusting off the Classics:George Orwell’s “1984”

JAMES BRIGHTEDITOR

Few books capture rebellion, hopelessness, re-ality and love like George Orwell’s “1984.”

These themes are at the forefront of almost every college student’s mind at some point, and that’s why this book is a perfect mid-semester read.

Set in London, “1984” depicts a world where personal freedom and ingenuity have been replaced with automa-tonism. It follows Win-ston, a low-ranking member of the ruling party as he goes through his life questioning the rationale and authority of the ruling party. As the story progresses, Winston meets Julia, a dark-haired beauty who shares his af-finity for mental rebellion. They carry on a romantic relationship for some time until they’re lured into a false party opposition group. Both are captured and tortured for their “treason.”

The real beauty of this book is in its versatility of connectivity. Everyone can get something differ-ent from “1984.” There are those who will see problems described in “1984” that mimic those in modern society. Forbidden love is always a popu-lar topic, so others may dwell upon the romantic inclinations of Winston and Julia. This book can even reach readers who

consider themselves as people who don’t fit in. The two protagonists are the quintessential defini-tion of misfits. It’s easy to connect to them from this standpoint.

Another fascinating side of this book is charac-ter development. Winston is not a hero. He is not some brave soldier out to rid the world of wrong and restore freedom to the masses. He’s an average Joe. He’s scared of death. He’s terrified of losing the little freedom in life he has. It’s these features that make him so wonderful for the role as the protago-nist. Orwell creates a man, not a hero. By doing this, he has related to more readers than he ever could have hoped with a gun-slinging freedom fighter.

Mystery is another aspect of the book that makes it so appealing. The reader never really knows who Winston can trust and who he can’t. Orwell does a fantastic job of de-fining characters in a way that makes their allegiance seem ambiguous. The book doesn’t reveal the true villain until the end, which is a staple in almost any good piece of literature.

This is a novel that needs to be read in col-lege. It coalesces perfectly with the average college student’s thought process, and is a breath of fresh air when the semester hits that dreaded point of monotony.

JARED WATSONDIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR

Do you ever immedi-ately regret saying some-thing? Not later on that day after reflecting on it, but halfway through the sentence itself?

A few weeks ago, I was in the middle of a busy cashier shift, staring at a line of customers ten deep, who all had a “can you get someone else up here to help” look on their faces. Nobody responded to my distress signal, and I ultimately had to ring them all up myself.

Just after that, another employee walked up and asked, “Hey, did you need help?”

I exploded.“Of course I needed

help, you idiot! What in the world were you doing, sitting in the back having

coffee? You are the most useless…”

I came out of my rage long enough to realize how hateful and hurtful what I was saying was.

“…I mean yes. Yes, I did.”

I’ve come to a realiza-tion about the way I inter-act with people: I’m a jerk. If someone says some-thing that even slightly rubs me the wrong way, I will fire back with both barrels without hesitation, and without considering the consequences of what I’m saying.

I’m not at all alone in this. We as a species tend to derive a lot of satisfac-tion out of venting our frustrations, unloading whatever is making us upset on anyone within earshot, either hoping to find a sympathetic ear or make them feel as bad as

we do.The problem with that

is we do not even consider what the other person might be going through or how they will respond. In the cashier episode, I didn’t care that the other employee might have had a legitimate reason for not hearing my call for help. I was thinking only of myself and how stressed I was, and I just wanted them to know how upset they made me.

We all know that the preeminent authority on rage management, Thumper, from “Bambi,” has a simple philosophy on the subject: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” Grammatical inconsisten-cies aside, there’s a lot of truth to it. But silence can be just as offensive as a harsh remark, so I would

suggest a slight reworking of that adage.

I think the world would be a much better place if everyone just took three seconds to think about what they’re going to say before they say it. Give your head and your conscience just a moment to look past pure emotion-al retaliation and think about the how the other partipants in your conver-sation might feel.

So, if you can’t say anything nice, by my log-ic, give yourself a second to see if you can. It’s not as catchy, I’ll admit, but I think it can be a lot more useful. Maybe next time, by pausing to collect my thoughts, I’ll give my fel-low employee the chance to explain she was helping a customer and couldn’t come help me, before I bite her head off.

Celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears live for publicity stunts. Driv-ing on the wrong side of the road, hosting a show in which you select your “best friend” from a dozen hopeless wannabes, shav-ing your head and show-ing your business to every paparazzi by “accident,” are only a few of the ways Hollywood’s finest steal the limelight.

Although his wasn’t quite as extreme, Larry Goddard’s attempt to put

together a group of angry people demanding Lohan return an East Texas shirt she was photographed wearing is exactly the same: a publicity stunt. We think he is clearly just look-ing to make news.

We are also not con-vinced by his argument, which says that people who see Lohan wearing the shirt will be turned off to the university. Since it’s not even called East Texas State University anymore, and the only people who would really care about that are

those who have attended the university and not the ones who are looking to at-tend, maybe he is really just venting some personal feel-ings he has toward Lohan and her past.

Think about it: does he REALLY expect Lindsay Lohan to return some old t-shirt you could probably find dozens of in some warehouse? Giving in to the demands of a few upset alumni or students of a fair-ly small university in the middle of Northeast Texas has to be the last thing on

her mind right now. If Goddard is really con-

cerned about the reputation of the university, we think he should be concentrat-ing his efforts on getting alumni more involved in issues closer to A&M-Com-merce itself.

For example, convinc-ing more of them to attend football games or to just be more active in how the uni-versity is run, not worry-ing about what celebrities thousands of miles away are dressing themselves in nowadays.

Editorial: ETSU alum makes unnecessary fuss over Lohan’s shirt

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Last Week’s Solved Puzzle:

newsnewswww.theeasttexan.com Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 Page 3

...wardrobe choice worries alumnusCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“We are not trying to be malicious or mean, but it is just ‘Lindsey (sic), good luck with your recovery, but we would rather have our shirt back,’” Goddard said.

A Facebook group that Goddard created titled “We want our East Texas State University Shirt Back from Lindsey (sic) Lohan” currently has more than 100 members.

Goddard serves on the East Texas State Alumni Association Board of Directors and is the execu-tive director of the Tyler ISD Foundation.

In August of this year, Goddard was given the Texas School Public Relations Association’s 2010 Key Communicator award.

Goddard’s comments, which were picked up by

CNN, inspired no response from the A&M-Commerce administration.

“I have no comment,” A&M-Commerce Director of Alumni Relations Derryle Peace said.

A&M-Commerce President Dan Jones’s office and Assistant Vice President of Marketing Communications Randy Jolly also had no official comment on the story.

Even Goddard refused to comment when the East Texan contacted him.

“Mr. Goddard does not wish to comment on this any longer,” an e-mail from Goddard’s office read. “He feels the story has run its course. Thank you for your interest.”

Texas A&M University-Commerce was known as East Texas State University from 1962 until the univer-sity joined the Texas A&M System in 1996.

...journey a learning experience for classCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

named in Time Magazine’s Most Influential People of the 20th Century. Chang is the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which, according to DiGeorgio, is tasked with tracking all the testimonies of anyone affect-ed by the genocide. “We also got to visit the international criminal tribunal that’s trying the leaders for war crimes and genocide, and met with the U.N. special prosecutor there,” DiGeorgio said. While these remnants of the war still exist, Clark said she thinks the people as a whole are getting past it. “Cambodia is making strides to advance them-selves,” she said, “but after a whole generation died, they’re still trying to pick up the pieces from the Khmer Rouge destruction.” After their time in Phnom Penh, the group went to Battambang and met with people from Dewey International University, a partner of A&M-Commerce. “We met with students there, they had a big welcome for us, and we got to inter-act with university students in Cambodia and see what life is like for them there,” DiGeorgio said. Education was one of the main focuses for members of the Cambodia Project, as this is one of the aspects of soci-ety the country is faced with rebuilding. “The GDP per capita, the income, is about $300 per year,” DiGeorgio said. “So, families are oftentimes faced with the choice of paying $15 a year to send a kid to school and you only have $300 a year.” Among the multiple schools the group visited was Hometown School in Siem Reap. The Cambodia Project is working to help this school buy a computer, bikes for their 5 teachers, and school supplies for the students, according to the group’s web-site, thecambodiaproject.com. They also delivered sup-plies to Elizabeth School in Lak 62, a village settled by

refugees from the war. “We got involved with a village close to Thailand, actually on the border, where we delivered school sup-plies,” Clark said. “That was a big part of the trip, deliver-ing school supplies to these kids. It was really cool.” Toward the end of their trip, the group visited govern-ment officials from Pailin, which became Commerce’s sister city on Nov. 19 of last year. Commerce City Councilman and Cambodia Project member Doug Rohrabaugh got the chance to meet with his counterparts. “[The trip was about] a cultural exchange,” group member and Student Government Association sen-ator Adam Haney said. “A lot of Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia, after Vietnam, was really ignored and for-gotten about by the West. It’s to try and re-establish some of these ties with regimes and peoples like the Cambodians that want to re-engage with the rest of the world.” Some of the students who took this trip are looking to go back along with new Cambodia Project members. DiGeorgio is already starting to plan her return as well. “I’m going back in December and going to be to be developing the service learning program for Dewey International,” she said. “I’ll be helping them to create programs like I have here for service learning. Then I’m going back in May mini and doing a small mini-mester for credit. I can only take about 10 students, and I’ve got some graduate students already signed up.” Clark said she is one of the members hoping to return and do volunteer work, and she is also planning on doing the same in other developing countries. “I’m actually looking at going this summer to Guatemala, and DiGeorgio actually compares Guatemala to Cambodia as far as devel-opment,” Clark said. “I think I’m going to go for two months; learn Spanish for a month and teach for a month.”

...reorganization plan requires more data

Goddard demanded that Lohan return the East Texas State University

shirt that she was photographed wearing in 2007.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“Based upon input obtained from the university survey and for a, it is clear to the Task Force members that more data and direction should come from your office before reorganization can be implemented on this campus,” the recommendation read. The task force hosted public forums on Sept. 6 and Sept. 23 and sent out a university-wide survey during the week of Sept. 13. The co-chairs produced a draft of the proposed realignment, which was given to the task force on Sept. 3. A revised draft was later sent on Sept. 8. The draft proposed a splitting of the College of Arts and Sciences into two colleges: The College of Liberal Arts, Fine Arts and Social Sciences and the College of Science and Engineering.

“Nursing would be housed in the College of Education until it becomes a separate college,” the draft read. The draft listed the increased importance of scholarship and its evaluation across the disciplines, the administrative “thorniness” of administering a college as diverse as Arts and Sciences, and the development of a nursing program, as reasons for the proposed reorganization. While it was initially proposed that smaller departments be com-bined or eliminated, the idea was removed from the table. “I want to point out that the Task Force has been charged to look at the overall structure of the colleges, and that the merging and/or splitting of departments is not being addressed at this time,” Lemanski said.

The task force submitted the first draft to the faculty senate in Sept. 7 meeting. The concept of reorganizing the colleges was first broached by Lemanski in a memorandum to A&M-Commerce President Dan Jones last semester. “The structure of the academic division outlined in the memoran-dum to Dr. Jones on May 20, 2010, was meant to start the discussion for the need to address the current organization of the entire division,” Lemanski said in a statement at the beginning of the 2010 fall semester. “The reorganization accompany-ing this memo was a ‘straw man’ proposal, meant to be the starting point for discussions - it was never meant to be the final word on reor-ganization, or even a first draft.” Calls to Lemanski’s office were not returned by press time.

Dr. LaVelle Hendricks teaching A&M-Commerce students. Hendricks was one of the co-chairs of the college reorganization task force, which

recommended more information and direction from A&M-Commerce Provost Dr. Larry Lemanski.

ADAM TROXTELLSPORTS EDITOR

Junior math major and edu-cation minor Andy Pickles may not look out of place in East Texas, which he has called his home for the past two years. However, once he speaks, it quickly becomes clear Texas has not always been his home.

“I’m from Maidstone,” Pickles said. “It’s in the south-east corner of England, in the county town of Kent.”

Pickles said he initially came to the U.S. in 2004 on a visit, and made multiple returns after that. He then stayed with some friends in the southern U.S., who knew residents of the Northeast Texas area.

“Through them, I met some other people, and ended up in Sulphur Springs, and that’s where I was staying for two years,” he said. “That’s where I went to the first two years of college at PJC (Paris Junior College). I got my Associate’s (degree) there, and then trans-ferred to here.”

“This is my first semester of the second two years, and hopefully there’ll be another two years after that, so some-where down the line, I’ll need to get my Master’s.”

Pickles said there is a sig-nificant difference between a smaller college like PJC and A&M-Commerce for an inter-national student.

“You feel like much more of a small fish in a big pond in this college,” he said. “There’s marginally less of a fascina-tion, if you want to put it that way. Obviously, there’s less of a sense of foreign people being really strange. I think there are a lot more foreign people around.”

Although he may always

have a sense of his national origin, Pickles said he easily became comfortable with his surroundings at American college.

“It’s really hard to feel completely regular, other than being around people that know me,” he said. “I felt very known in PJC, because it was a small campus. Things were not split building to building, everyone sees everybody all of the time. Now here, it’s very much easier to go unnoticed, if you choose to or simply don’t step out.”

Pickles certainly did not go unnoticed at junior college, where he made a friend in Joy Hogue. She had many good things to say about him.

“We met at PJC here in Sulphur Springs,” she said. “I needed help in Algebra and he helped me a lot. He’s a very good man, very trustworthy, dependable, and one of the smartest people I’ve ever known.”

Hogue said she realized a significant difference between Pickles’s culture and hers after completing a joint writ-ing assignment they earned an award for at PJC.

“We wrote a paper together last year,” she said. “He let me realize through his writ-ing how different English and American is. He’s so proper.”

In Commerce or Northeast Texas in general, it may be easier to “step out” than else-where, according to Pickles. He said one of the main reasons he kept revisiting the South and decided to go to school here, is its hospitality.

“It’s known for its warm behavior toward people, and it seems to really stand out in the conversations with strangers,” Pickles said. “I didn’t talk to

strangers before I came here, and you wouldn’t want to talk to strangers most of the time if you were in England. If you start to, they’d start reacting toward you like, ‘Why are you interfering with me and my life? Leave me alone.’”

Pickles said he was made keenly aware of this difference when he first arrived at A&M-Commerce.

“It amused me that at the international orientation, there was a comment made toward the end to be aware that here, people that you’ve never met-

before, people that just walk by, will nod and say ‘Hi’ and stuff like that,” he said. “I’d been here some time and was aware of that, but I thought if I hadn’t been here, didn’t know that, and all these strangers kept saying ‘Hi,’ I’d wonder what was going on. There’s just that friendliness, and that’s something I really like about here that is distinctively different.”

He said the questions from these strangers usually follow a similar pattern.

“Usually the first question

is ‘Where are you from?’ and the next one is ‘Australia?’” he said. “That’s a very common guess, and I think that’s just because of an interference of accents. Beyond that, it would be, ‘Why in the hell did you end up in little old Sulphur Springs?’”

Pickles said his friends usu-ally do not understand the type of climate he comes from.

“I love the weather here, that’s another reason I wanted to come back, as well,” he said.

“In fact, I got into the car with the person that brought me here this morning, and they actually had the air in the car set to just slightly warm, and I said, ‘This is getting nice now, when it’s getting cool in the mornings and I don’t have to face an air conditioner.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, do you ever stop wearing shorts?’ And I said ‘Sure, when it cools down, but I know in two hours it’s going to be warm.’ I had to point out to them that anything mid-70s and up is very good English weather. I love the sunshine. I love the temperature.”

While he would like to stay and pursue a career here in the U.S., Pickles said he under-stands the limitations and is not getting too ambitious with his thinking.

“I couldn’t say plan, because it’s all down to following the right channels,” he said. “I’m here on a student visa, which means I would go back. But, what I’d really like to do is to find a position, a job connected to my degree, and I would love to stay here. Stay here and use that degree to teach here, and I gather there is a shortage. If there’s still a demand at that time, then, yeah, I like to think I’d be able to stay.”

RACHEL BAILEYSTAFF WRITER

Texas A&M University-Commerce held its Commerce Best Dance Crew competition Tuesday, Sept. 28 in the auditorium of the Ferguson Social Sciences Building.

The competition, modeled after MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, was the first of its kind to be held in Commerce. The competition consisted of six student-led crews comprised of members from Under Construction, a dance organization at A&M-Commerce, and showcased student choreographed dances.

“Being a part of the event in its first year was overall a good experi-ence, and something I would love for others on campus to get involved with,” Sharena Michael, a member of Under Construction, said.

Coordinated by the Assistant Director of the A&M-Commerce Fitness and Wellness Program Moira Johnson, the event was hosted by comedic musician Johnny Cardinale. It was judged by a panel consisting of two dance professionals and two students.

“My favorite part of the experi-ence would be performing, getting to show the result of my labor,” Shane Tolliver, a member of Under Construction, said.

Blue Print Crew won first place and received the $500 grand prize, followed by Quad Divas in second

place and Under Construction in third.

The event featured a special per-formance by Staff Infection, a dance crew composed of faculty members. The competition helped bring out the dance talent in Commerce.

“It helps incorporate dance in the university and lets dancers in Commerce have a place to perform,” Gregory Bonilla, a member of Under Construction, said.

In the future, Johnson would like to see more diversity among the dance crews.

“Dance crew is a loose term,” Johnson said. “We want a lot of dif-ferent students to participate, hope-fully bringing more diversity to the type of dance”.

The event is a way for partici-pants to get involved with dance programs on campus and further their performance and dance opportunity.

“I encourage those who want to be a part of Commerce Best Dance Crew to just contact someone who dances, and have fun,” Hanna Abraham, secretary and treasurer of Under Construction, said.

www.theeasttexan.comThursday, Oct. 7, 2010Page 4 Campus LifeCampus Life

Multiple groups showed up to compete at Commerce Best Dance Crew Sept. 28. In addition to the student dancers, the event featured a per-

formance from Staff Infection, a dance crew comprised of faculty members.

British student loves southern hospitality

Junior math major Andy Pickles said he moved to Sulphur Springs after leaving

England because his enjoyed his time in the town during a visit.

SAVANNAH CHRISTIANSTAFF WRITER

Texas A&M University-Commerce set a record enrollment this semester with a student population of almost 11,000.

Enrollment increased 12.29 percent from the Fall 2009 semester, reaching 10,813 students, according to official twelfth day class numbers.

“The record enroll-ment, particularly com-pared to other universities in our region, indicates we have become a first-choice university,” Vice President for Student Access and Success Dr. Mary Hendrix said.

A&M-Commerce has one of the highest student populations in the Texas A&M University System.

“This enrollment increase was planned growth, which has been expected for years,” Dean of Campus Life and Student Development Dr. Brian Nichols said. “Faculty has had several meetings to prepare for this change, and has set a population goal of 12-15,000 students for the university.”

Nichols said A&M-Commerce saw a surge in freshman students in particular.

“We wanted under-graduate growth, spe-cifically in the freshmen class, and that is definitely what we got,” he said. “We are currently at the highest occupancy to date, and are planning new residence halls for continued growth.”

New features on cam-pus this semester include the nearly completed new Music Building, visi-tor’s bleachers and a new

scoreboard at Memorial Stadium, a ropes course and an expanded walking mall.

“In addition to the new attractions on campus, we are planning for other fea-tures, which we hope will continue to catch prospec-tive students’ attention,” Nichols said. “Some of these developments include a recreational bike path, as well as expansion of buildings such as the cafeteria.”

However, according to Nichols, architectural advancements are not the only factor in drawing new students.

“[Departments of] admissions, enrollment management and finan-cial aid are doing such a great job at communicat-ing with prospective stu-dents and reacting to their needs,” he said.

The marketing depart-ment has been advertising in the Dallas metroplex.

“Many students who come to Commerce hear about the university through leaders in their communities who have received their education here and are proud to help us grow,” Nichols said.

The faculty and staff of A&M-Commerce are the primary sustainers of stu-dent success, according to Nichols.

“We have amazing staff and faculty, who truly care about the suc-cess of students in the classroom, as well as in the future,” Nichols said. “I believe that here at A&M-Commerce, we have departments that are lead-ing the way regionally and nationally, making college a transformational experi-ence for the students.”

University reaches official 12th day enrollment record

Commerce looks for best dance crew

ADAM TROXTELL / THE EAST TEXAN

LIANU CANTU / THE EAST TEXAN

LIANU CANTU / THE EAST TEXANA couple competes using two-stepping during

Commerce Best Dance Crew.

www.theeasttexan.com Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 Page 5Campus Life

Awareness program successful for Smith and Berry Halls

Five or more Texas A&M University-Commerce students will participate in The Abbey Program in Pontelvoy, France next semester. The program will offer courses in economics, art history, English, history and all-level French for $8,500. Financial aid is available. A total of fifty American students from different universities will participate. A&M-Commerce French and Philosophy Associate Professor Dr. Philippe Seminet will join The Abbey Program to teach the French

courses. He said it is a golden opportunity for students to learn French. “There’s no better way to learn a new language than to have this immersion experience,” Seminet said. “Otherwise, it just seems unnecessary. I mean, French, here? In East Texas?”

The program can also furnish students a new outlook from which to examine their lives, according to Seminet. “[The Abbey Program] got me thinking about my own study abroad experience,” he said. “I went to Ireland, and it really changed me. As a

result of that experience, I became a philosophy major. By stepping out-side of yourself and step-ping outside of your com-fort zone, you are able to look from the outside back at this existence that you had, and others at home. You really come to appreciate what you have.” A&M-Commerce student Christina Presti participated in The Abbey Program last spring. “It gives you a really good experience,” she said. “You hear people talk about [how] studying abroad is so great, and it’s an experi-ence you don’t want to forget. I believed them, but I didn’t

realize how amazing it really was.” Presti said the best experience she had was walking through the streets of France. “When I was walking through Paris, it was very clean and I felt safe,” she said. “The people there are actually very nice.” Students will be allowed to leave France and visit surrounding areas during their free time. For more information, visit theabbeyprogram.og or contact Seminet at Philippe_Seminet@tamu-commerce.edu.

Abbey Program offers education in France next semesterJUSTIN VITZ

STAFF WRITER

“By stepping outside of yourself and stepping outside of your comfort zone, you are able to look from the outside back at this existence that you had, and others at home. You really come to appreciate what you have.”

- French and Philosophy Associate Professor Dr. Philippe Seminet

• The Abbey Program in Pontelvoy

• Five students or more attending

• Held in France

• Courses offerd in economics, art history, English, history and all-level French

• $8,500

• Contact Professor Dr. Philippe Seminet

• Philippe_Seminet@tamu-commerce.edu.

Key Points

Smith and Berry Halls came together to host the Drunk Olympics Monday, Sept. 27.

Despite its name, the Drunk Olympics is not reminiscent of Revenge of the Nerd’s drunk tricycle races. In fact, the Drunk Olympics is an awareness program aimed at spreading knowl-edge about the risks of substance abuse.

“It’s a chance for students to come out and learn about not drinking and driving, and have some fun,” Smith Hall Residence Assistant Skylar Thomas said.

The event began with a talk given by a University Police Department Officer, who answered questions and showed various

police equipment. “Alcohol is our number one prior-

ity here,” University Police Officer Chad Ballard said. “We’ve had two students transported out for alco-hol.”

Once Ballard finished talking about the dangers of substance abuse, residence hall assistants passed out chips, drinks and free, non-alcoholic jell-o shots.

Ballard also administered sobriety tests to willing students who wore “beer goggles,” a visual substitute for the effects of intoxication.

“It’s like everything shifts over to

the left,” Smith Hall resident DaiJah Williams said.

Students were also able to test their ability to drive under artificially inebriated conditions. They got to attempt to navigate a small driving course in the Smith

Hall parking lot with a university transportation cart, while wearing gog-gles that simulated the visual distortion of being three times over the legal blood alcohol limit.

Many students found it difficult to maintain simple curves, even at low speeds, and often found themselves looking back at multiple knocked down parking cones.

“Some people can do it, some

people can’t,” Smith Hall resident Stephanie Blanks said.

Those desiring information regarding the university’s policies on alcohol and substance abuse may refer to the student guidebook.

NICK BAILEYSTAFF WRITER

It’s a chance for students to come out and learn about not drinking and driving, and have some fun.

- Smith Hall Residence Assistant Skylar Thomas

“

”

Art SceneArt Scene www.theeasttexan.comPage 6

JORDAN WRIGHTSTAFF WRITER

A major difficulty of basing films on true sto-ries is presenting what happened in an unbiased fashion, while making the story feel important. Many films “based on true stories” have been known to blatantly alter facts to achieve a more interesting plot presenta-tion, or fail to give the audience a reason to care about the tale being told. Fortunately, “The Social Network” avoids such downfalls by craft-ing a film that presents people in a realistic fash-ion, as well as covering a topic relevant to many people worldwide. Telling the story of the founding of the social networking site Facebook, the film features Jesse

Eisenberg in the role of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. “The Social Network” plot covers the events leading up to the founding of Facebook, and also discusses the 2007-2008 lawsuits related to Zuckerberg’s alleged intellectual property theft for the site of ConnectU founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) and co-creator Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield). An immediate plus of the film is the relevance of its subject matter. As a user of Facebook myself, the movie already had my attention if only out of curiosity for how such a popular network achieved mass popularity. The nonlinear direc-tion of the movie keeps the audience on their toes and prevents an interest-

ing story from becoming boring. The movie has a feel similar to a “rise and fall” type of storyline, with the fall aspect based more around the charac-ter relationships than the creation itself. Such a film would not work without a proper cast, and this is inargu-ably the strongest ele-ment of the film. Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Zuckerberg is one of the greatest performances I have seen this year. He convincingly presents himself as a very arrogant and self-centered, yet cal-culating individual, saved from being unlikable only by the hilarity that his antics cause. Andrew Garfield also gives a com-mendable performance as Zuckerberg’s good friend Saverin, whose patience is slowly, but surely being stretched thin. The solid ensemble cast

of the movie already had excellent chemistry, and under the direction of the talented David Fincher, of “Fight Club” fame, they each contributed to mak-ing this one of the best-acted dramas I have seen all year. Several points in the middle of the movie seemed to drag things out a little, and the ending of the film seemed abrupt rather than smooth. The point chosen to end the movie seemed like an odd choice, how-ever, it did not by any means diminish what I found overall to be a text-book example of how to depict true events in film, while staying neutral as to who the audience should cheer for. In that respect, as well as having a well-told and beautifully shot story, I cannot recommend “The Social Network” enough.

Facebook founding film brings drama, deception to big screen

Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as self-centered Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is what cinches “The Social Network” as a must-see film.

GEEKTYRANT.COM

MEGAN CAREYART SCENE EDITOR

Few websites can compete with the hilar-ity of fmylife.com and textsfromlastnight.com, but somehow the picture proof of unfortunate situ-ations and families that these websites cannot offer is what places awk-wardfamilyphotos.com ahead of the curve.

When entering the website, the first text encountered, besides the title, is a sub-header, which reads, “Spreading the Awkwardness.” The line itself is what makes the website so funny – the mortification and shame is communal.

The website was cre-ated on a whim by two friends with an awk-ward family photo, who decided to share it with a world and people who have plenty of awkward photos themselves.

While viewing the website, I constantly found myself laugh-ing out loud and I think anyone with a sense of humor, or a family, would do the same.

Some of the photos are just plain outrageous, like an office Christmas photo with five uncooperative employees and a boss all clustered around Santa (that it is extremely hard to relate to.) The only option is to laugh out of pure excitement at the fact that someone, somewhere had to suffer through the humiliation.

Many of the photos display poor, forsaken children dressed up, paraded in front of a cam-

era, or forced into strange formations so that there is photo proof of a lovely childhood and adolescence.

In other cases, there are photographs that border on the insane, or in some cases, accidentally inces-tuous. Yes, at one point it seemed like a good idea to photograph a rare father-daughter kiss, but later down the line, the realization will hit that an unmoving photo capture of the moment is creepy.

A thought to consider when looking at the web-site and comparing it to its interweb counterparts is that this stuff cannot be made up. Sure, the texts from last night are unmatched in their come-dic relief, but think about it, people can make that stuff up. What’s stop-ping a person from just

creating the most inap-propriate conversations and sentences and posting them as “texts from last night”? The same goes for fmylife.com, where the stories and happenings from people’s lives give others the will to continue on in their not so horrible day-to-day lives.

Just like other real-ity websites, awkward-familyphotos.com has a selection of categories to choose from when want-ing to view awkward photos.

Categories include such titles as preg-nancy, random awk-wardness and also an AFP (awkward family photos) Hall of Fame. Awkwardfamilyphotos.com has branched off to include awkward family stories, as well as awk-ward family pets, and if

someone especially loves this website, which not even I am that obsessed with, the website adver-tises for an “Awkward Family Photos” book.

My main complaint of the site is I can only appreciate five awkward photos at a time before I have to click to the next page and wait, and wait for the next page. I want to giggle and laugh at 10, or 15 or 20 awkward pho-tos at a time!

From now on, instead of visiting the hilarious, but somewhat unbeliev-able websites that feature text messages and life stories, I am going to click on over to the website with the gift of showing the visitor exactly how bad a situation or a time in someone’s life was instead of resorting to flat, unimaginative words.

JARED WATSONDIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR

There are really two basic types of B-movies. First, there are mov-ies that, if they had the budget, good actors and competent direction, would be good movies.Second, there are mov-ies that are trying to be intentionally bad. Often called “campy” or some other whimsical thing, these films clearly don’t take themselves serious-ly and don’t want the audience to either. “Dark and Stormy Night” clearly falls into the latter category. It seems to be a comedic take on the haunted house film genre, in the style of the film version of “Clue” or, to a lesser extent, “The Addams Family” or “Casper.” The film follows an eclectic cast of charac-ters who have come together, some by very questionable means, to hear the reading of the will of an old, rich dead guy, Sinas Cavender, in his big, spooky house. Just a listing of the characters’ names should clue you in on what kind of movie you’re getting into. There’s the rival reporters, 8 O’Clock Farraday and Billy Tuesday, big game hunter Jack Tugdon, cab driver Happy Codburn, foppish noble Lord Partfine, Teak Armbuster, Farper Twyly, Dr. Van Von Vandervon and, of course, Kogar the Gorilla. Hamlet, this is not. What this movie is, however, is hilarious. There is a lot of snappy, Abbott-and-Costello-style wordplay that is just hokey enough to be noticeable and witty enough to keep you laughing, even as you remark to your-self, “Wait, that doesn’t make any sense.”

Really, the movie this reminds me of most is “Airplane,” a kind of rapid-fire spoof that goes from joke to joke so quickly that you can only appreciate how funny it was after you’ve gotten off the roller-coaster and given your brain a chance to settle back down. Overacting artfully is not an easy task, and the cast of this movie pulls it off brilliantly. The biggest ham of he bunch is easily Lord Partfine (Andrew Parks), who fills the film with lines that he believes are witty, but just make everyone else stare blankly or offer half-hearted pity laughs. He plays the the butt of the joke with style and panache. The dueling report-ers and stars of the film 8 O’Clock Farraday (veteran character actor Daniel Roebuck) and Billy Tuesday (Jennifer Blaire) also deserve special mention. The pair drive the film at a breakneck pace, chiefly because of the machine-gun pace of their dia-logue, which seems to come straight from “The Hudsucker Proxy.” One of the more effective running gags in “Dark and Stormy Night” is the always random and never explained appareance of an old woman and a gorilla at various points throughout, and is emblematic of the humor of the entire movie: there for no rea-son, but somehow it works. That’s pretty much it, really. There shouldn’t be any reason why this movie is entertaining, but it is. The plot is non-existent, the costumes and sets are ridiculous, and the acting is very, very silly. Yet, I loved it anyway. There are much worse ways to spend two hours.

4.BP.BLOGSPOT.COM

“Dark and Stormy Night” hearkens back to the “big, creepy house” movies of the 40’s and 50’s.

Fromage du Jour

Website shares family awkwardness for laughs

“Dark and Stormy Night” is campy “mystery” romp

This movie is riotously funny in spots, and never tries to be anything approaching serious. It has many color-ful characters, memorable lines, and lets you blissfully ignore how prepos-terous the story is. Sometimes, you just want a movie that you can sit back and enjoy with-out having to think about it too much. “Dark and Stormy Night” is certainly that. -Jared Watson Digital Media Editor

A weekly look at film cheese

The lines between siblings are blurred and relationship boundaries are bent in this especially awkward family photo.

AVOISION.COM

Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010

Next week on “Fromage du Jour”: “Little Hercules in 3-D,” starring Hulk Hogan.

SPORTSSPORTSwww.theeasttexan.com Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 Page 7

JUSTIN CHEATHAMSPORTS INFORMATION

The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team dropped to 4-9 on the season with a 3-0 loss to the Texas Woman’s University Pioneers on Tuesday, Sept. 28. The Lions are winless in five Lone Star Conference games. “A lot of the loss comes down on me and making sure we’re ready to play, just being better prepared,” Head Coach Craig Case said. The Loins came into the game with a new strategy, playing new lineups and substituting player more often. “[The new strategy] allowed us to go into line-ups we were working on that people have not seen before,” Case said. “We were trying to keep them off guard. Any time they made a tactical change, that played into our advantage.” Senior Terra Ousley and sophomore Rachel Robertson led the team offensively with nine kills apiece. Freshman Jordan Neal was a strong defen-sive presence with 13 digs

and 25 assists. Senior Naomi Mays anchored the team, play-ing almost the entire match and rounding out the leader board with 8 kills and 11 digs. “It was a defensive loss,” Case said. “We were out blocked and we never get out blocked, out dug and they out served us as well.” Denton native and freshman Kayla Bond, who had three kills and two assists in the loss, said she was actually up against some familiar faces. “I went to high school with two of the girls, they are really good friends,” Bond said. ”It actually helped because I know how they play.” The Pioneers were led by senior Launa McClung with 11 kills, while senior Kendra Coulson had the most digs with 19. Senior Sydney Veitenheimer and freshman Kaytlin Harrison led the Pioneers in assists with 14.

(from Oct. 2) The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team won for the second day in a row,

defeating host Texas A&M-International, 25-22, 25-18, 25-16 on Saturday afternoon. A&M-Commerce (6-9) sophomore Morgan Moeller (pictured, photo by Jared Horn) led the attack with a team-best 12 kills. The Lions out hit the Dust Devils by a .247 to a .103 margin. The entire contest was tied 10 times and the lead exchanged hands just five times. A&M-International (0-16) got 10 kills from Jacquelynne Matula in the loss. Moeller and the entire Lions lineup hit a posi-tive hitting percentage, including a .320 clip from the Scurry, Texas native. Senior Naomi Mays had eight kills and hit .350 and freshman Kayla Bond added five kills and hit .214. Setting the attack for the Lions was freshman Jordan Neal, who had 25 assists and nearly a double double with eight digs. The Lions will look to continue their winning ways on Tuesday eve-ning, when they travel to Ouachita Baptist for a 6:00 p.m. contest.

Volleyball week ends with win

SPORTS INFORMATION

The Texas A&M University-Commerce athletic department announced its newest inductees for the Hall of Fame for 2010. The inductees include the 1999 soccer team, the 1980 football team, the 1980 volleyball team and former Lions standouts – Dennis Dyce, Harry Fritz, James Thrower and Cheryl Zachary. In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, Clarence Lynch and Marvin Sedberry will be recognized as the Bobby Fox Outstanding Coach Award recipients. The 1999 soccer team posted a 16-4-1 record, won the Lone Star Conference regular season and tournament titles as well as advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. Lions Erin Adamson, Toni Catchings and Sarah Fagan earned NSCAA all-region recognition. Adamson, Catchings, Fagan and teammates Stacy Carr, Laurie Donovan and Sherri Konlande were named first team all-Lone Star Conference.

After winning the regular season LSC title, A&M-Commerce defeated Midwestern State by a 2-1 margin to win the LSC Tournament for the first tourney title in program history. The Lions were the first-ever LSC representative in the NCAA Tournament. In their debut appear-ance, they advanced on a 1-0 victory over Incarnate Word. Next, A&M-Commerce dropped its Elite Eight contest to host Cal Poly Pomona by a 2-1 score in overtime. A&M-Commerce fin-ished the season ranked No. 6 in the country. The 1980 volleyball team posted a 25-18 mark. The Lions rattled off eight straight wins in the post season to reach the finals of the NAIA Championship against Azuza Pacific. East Texas State dropped a 3-15, 15-10, 2-15, 10-15 deci-sion. In pool play leading up to the championship, the Lions did not drop a set. To advance to the championship match, they rallied from a two-set deficit against Nebraska Kearney to win

the match in five. The 1980 football team reached the NAIA semifinals before los-ing to eventual national champion Elon, 14-6 after posting an 8-3-1 mark. The Lions reached as high as No. 3 in the rank-ings before ending their season No. 8 in the NAIA polls. Quarterback Wade Wilson led the LSC in total offense and passing en route to being named the J.W. “Dough” Rollins Outstanding Back after passing for 1,978 yards on 116 of 227 passes for 19 touchdowns. Wilson also earned NAIA first team and Associated Press hon-orable mention All-American honors. For his efforts, the Minnesota Vikings selected Wilson in the eighth round of the NFL draft. Linebacker Danny Kirk was named NAIA second and AP honorable mention All-American as well as first team all-LSC. Others earning all-LSC recognition on the first team was defensive guard Curtis Ray. Plus, on the second team were defensive guard Jimmy Buster,

center Blake Cooper, defensive back Anthony Freeman, split end Randy Smith and honor-able mention honors was tackle Bishop Spencer. Dennis Dyce was originally from Brooklyn, New York before com-ing to A&M-Commerce, where he was a four-year member of the Lions track and field team from 1967 to 1970. In 1967, he was the Lone Star Conference champion in the 440-yard dash. To this date, Dyce is a member of three record-setting relays that include the outdoor and indoor mile relay and the sprint medley. He served as a team cap-tain as a junior and as a senior. After graduation from East Texas State, he participated in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, where he was a member of the Jamaican Olympic Team and was selected as a Distinguished Alumni in 1993. Harry Fritz was a key member of the 1972 national cham-pion tennis team at East Texas State. He won the 1972 National

Singles Championship and partnered up with Bob Hochstadter to win the National Doubles Championship. Fritz was also the 1972 Lone Star Conference singles champion, where he defeated his Lions’ teammate Hochstadter as well as he and Hochstadter teamed up to win the LSC doubles title over teammates. At the end of the season, he was selected as first team All-American and first team all-Lone Star Conference.James Thrower, who is originally from Camden, Arkansas, was a three-sport athlete at East Texas State in basketball, football and track and field. He originally came to the Lions on a basket-ball scholarship, but it is in football where he excelled. As a three-year starter on the football team, he intercepted 12 passes for 135 yards. He also earned one let-ter in basketball and two in track and field as a member of the 440-yard relay and the high jump. Following his playing days, he went

on to a five-year career in the NFL. He spent two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and three additional years with the Detroit Lions. Cheryl Zachary fin-ished second at the 1981 TAIAW State Championships in the discus with a throw of 143-8 as a senior. As a junior, in 1980, Zachary and the Lions tied for fourth place honors with Baylor at the TAIAW State Championships. In the discus, she was second with a throw of 133-8 and fourth in the javelin with a toss of 119 feet. Earlier in the sea-son, Zachary was third in the discus and fifth in the javelin at the ACU Open. At the Lions home meet, the East Texas State University Invitational, she won the discus and was third in the javelin. At the Sam Houston Invitational, she took second in the discus and fourth in the javelin. As a standout athlete at Grapevine High School, she was the district and regional champion and brought home fourth-place honors in the dis-cus as a senior.

Athletic department names 2010 Hall of Fame class

SPORTS INFORMATION

Two second-half goals were enough to lead host West Texas A&M to a 3-1 win over the Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s soccer team on Friday afternoon. West Texas A&M (6-1-2, 2-0 LSC) got on the board first when Samantha Cameron found the back of the net for the fourth time on the sea-son in the 24th minute. She lofted a shot from 10 yards out over the Lions goalkeeper for the 1-0 advantage. The Lions (5-3, 1-1 LSC) looked to equalize for the remainder of the first half when a Megan Monroe shot sailed high and a header attempt by senior Chelsey Haight was saved by the Lady Buffs keeper Kelly Skehan. Haight also had opportunities in the 43rd and 62nd minute. The Granbury, Texas native had a match-high five shots in the contest. Later, West Texas A&M

added goals in the 68th and 73rd minute to build a 3-0 advantage. The Lions dashed the hopes for a shutout when senior Alex Germain scored her first goal of the season from Haight. The Cleburne, Texas native slipped past backup goalkeeper Yvette Bedoy for the Lions’ goal in the 87th minute.Next up for A&M-Commerce is a contest against Eastern New Mexico on Sunday at noon in Portales, N.M

(from Oct. 3) Two second half goals within six minutes of each other led the Texas A&M University-Commerce women’s soccer team to a 2-0 win over host Eastern New Mexico on Sunday afternoon. A&M-Commerce (6-3, 2-1 LSC) out shot the Zias by a 10 to 7 margin but it was their two shots on the goal that proved to be the difference. The first came in the 58th minute when senior Chelsey Haight headed in

a corner kick from senior Megan Monroe for her team-best fourth goal on the year. The Lions added to their lead when freshman Elle DeFreitas (pictured - #9 - photo by Donny Haight) scored her second goal of the season when her shot banked off the far post in the 64th min-ute. Looking for her first multi-goal game of her career, the Flower Mound, Texas native had a header attempt that was blocked and another shot that went wide. Lions goalkeeper junior Randi Hafele faced seven shots; however, none were on goal for her fifth shut-out of the season. Eastern New Mexico (3-7, 0-3 LSC) had four players with shots, includ-ing three from Brook Serrano in the loss. Next, A&M-Commerce returns home to host Angelo State on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and LSC newcomer Incarnate Word on Sunday at noon.

Lions return to LSC play in soccerFreshman Kayla Bond tries to get a point against Texas Woman’s University during a midweek match.

Senior Chelsey Haight tries to keep the ball in play during a game at the A&M-Commerce Soccer Field.

sportssports www.theeasttexan.comThursday, Oct. 7, 2010Page 8

Listen to From the Bench Friday nights from 6 to 6:30 p.m. on your station 88.9 KETR

with Jared Watson and Caleb Slinkard

FridayOct. 8

Lions Sports Week

@ N’easternState

2 p.m.

v. AngeloState

7 p.m.

v. TarletonState

2 p.m.

@ SouthernArkansas

6 p.m.

v. IncarnateWordNoon

SaturdayOct. 9

SundayOct. 10

MondayOct. 11

TuesdayOct. 12

Wed.Oct. 13

Thurs.Oct. 7

That Sports Thing: Most influential in football win?

ADAM TROXTELLSPORTS EDITOR

Out of all the posi-tives you can take from the A&M-Commerce football game last Saturday, the running game sticks out in my mind as the game changer. For the Lions offense to have a good game, it must be balanced. We cannot expect Adam Farkes to step back and pick out a receiver every single time and have to keep the defense guess-ing. That is exactly what the efforts of Marcus Graham did against Southeastern Oklahoma. The first half was

all Graham. He touched the ball five times on the opening possession. This made the Savage Storm defense take a cautious approach, they had to think more, and it all played into the Lions’ hands. Before long, he even scored the first offensive touchdown for A&M-Commerce. More than that, Graham’s 110 yards on 24 carries was a huge moti-vational factor. Breaking off even a six or seven yard run can jump start an offensive drive. Things did slow down in the second half, but he was still there, charging away, getting precious yards at a time when the Lions needed to hold onto the ball and run out the clock. This was Graham’s second 100+ rushing yard game in a row. The junior is really stepping into the role of playmaker, and the Southeastern game is the best example of that so far. He was unques-tionably the biggest factor in the Lions’ win.

Box Score:TAMU-C v. SE Oklahoma

SE Okla.......0......0....7....7_14TAMU-C.....6....13....0....0_19

First QuarterA&M-C_Billings 70 yd fumble recovery (Abo-Mahmood kick failed), 1:22

Second QuarterA&M-C_Graham 14 yd run (Abo-Mahmood kick), 10:28A&M-C_Hayes 10 yd pass from Farkes (T. Fore rush failed), 2:59

Third QuarterSOSU_Shelley 15 yd pass from Turner (Peoples kick), 1:44

Fourth QuarterSOSU_Shelley 17 yd pass from Turner (Peoples kick), 14:24

SOSU A&M-CFirst Downs..........21...........17.....Total Yards..........341.........332....Rushes-Yards....45-210...32-108.Passing.................131.........224....Punt Returns.......1-10........0-0....Kickoff Returns...4-75.......3-64...Interceptions.......2-65.........0-0....Comp-Att-Int....16-32-0..21-34-0Sack-Yds Lost......0-0.........3-21...Punts...................7-198......4-229..Fumbles-Lost.......1-1..........1-0....Penalties-Yds......7-55.......9-119..TOP.....................30:33......29:27..

LSC Volleyball Scores:(from Oct. 2)

Emporia State 1, ACU 3Central Mo. 3, SW Okla. 0Ark.-Ft. Smith 3, W.T. A&M 0SW Baptist 0, ASU 3Ark.-Monticello 3, ECU 0TWU 0, Mizzou Southern 3Henderson State 0, UCO 3Tarleton 0, Washburn 3Okla. Baptist 3, SE Okla. 0TAMU-C 3, A&M-Intn’l. 0Cameron 3, UT-Permian 1ECU 0, Arkansas Tech 3Truman 3, ACU 0St. Mary’s 0, Midwestern 3Okla. Pan-Handle 1, Tarleton 3

Standings

1) ACU, 13-3 (4-0)2) West Texas A&M, 10-7 (4-0)3) UCO, 14-5 (4-1)4) Midwestern State, 9-7 (3-1)5) Angelo State, 7-9 (3-1)6) A&M-Kingsville, 7-8 (2-2)7) Tarleton State, 14-5 (2-2)8) Cameron, 7-9 (2-2)9) Incarnate Word, 4-7 (2-3)10) Texas Woman’s, 4-13 (2-3)11) Eastern NM, 8-9 (1-3)12) SE Oklahoma, 4-10 (1-3)13) East Central, 2-17 (1-3)14) SW Oklahoma, 6-13 (1-4)15) TAMU-C, 5-9 (0-5)

LSC Football Scores:

West Texas A&M 34Northeastern State 22

Eastern New Mexico 10Southwestern Okla. 21

Southeastern Okla. 14A&M-Commerce 19

Angelo State 34Tarleton State 37

Abilene Christian 31A&M-Kingsville 24

Incarnate Word 31Midwestern State 38

East Central 28Central Okla. 31

Standings

North Division1) UCO, 2-3 (1-0)2) NE State, 2-3 (1-0)3) Eastern NM, 2-3 (1-1)4) TAMU-C, 2-3 (1-1)5) SE Oklahoma, 1-4 (0-2)6) SW Oklaoma, 1-4 (1-1)7) East Central, 1-4 (1-1)

South Division1) Midwestern, 5-0 (1-0)2) ACU, 5-0 (2-0)3) West Texas A&M, 4-1 (1-0)4) A&M-Kingsville, 4-1 (1-1)5) ASU, 2-2 (0-2)6) Incarnate Word, 1-4 (0-2)7) Tarleton, 1-4 (1-1)

CALEB SLINKARDMANAGING EDITOR

The Lions 19-14 vic-tory over Southeastern Oklahoma State University last Saturday was hardly a convincing one. We saw two sides of A&M-Commerce’s offense – a powerful, balanced attack in the first half and an impo-tent, inefficient one in the second – and wit-nessed a depressingly poor special teams effort in Saturday’s game. One consistent part of the Lions football team, however, was the defense. They shut out the Savage Storm in the first half, relying on a

LSC Women’s Soccer Scores:

Oct. 1TWU 1, Eastern NM 0UCO 1, Angelo State 4Midwestern 3, NE State 1ACU 4, East Central 2TAMU-C 1, W. Texas A&M 3SW Okla. 0, Incarnate 2

Oct. 3TAMU-C 2, Eastern NM 0UCO 0, Incarnate 1East Central 0, Midwestern 8SW Okla. 1, Angelo State 2TWU 0, W. Texas A&M 0ACU 2, NE State 1

Standings

1) Midwestern, 8-1 (3-0)2) Angelo State, 6-3-1 (3-0-0)3) W. Texas A&M, 6-1-3 (2-0-1)4) ACU, 7-2 (2-1)5) TAMU-C, 6-3 (2-1)6) Incarnate, 4-3-2 (2-1-0)7) TWU, 3-6-1 (1-1-1)8) UCO, 5-5 (1-2)9) NE State, 4-3-2 (0-2-1)10) East Central, 4-4-2 (0-2-1)11) SW Oklahoma, 4-6 (0-3)12) Eastern NM, 3-7 (0-3)

Lions weather ‘storm’ to claim wincontinued from page 1

threw his first intercep-tion of the game. The A&M-Commerce defense held firm and, once again, SOSU downed the punt within the Lions’ 10-yard line. Following an A&M-Commerce three and out, the Lions defense forced SOSU to punt, despite their short field. A&M-Commerce’s offense had to start from within their own 10 for the third straight time and recorded another three and out. SOSU finally took advantage of their supe-rior field position when sophomore quarterback Logan Turner connected with sophomore wide receiver Ryan Shelley for a 15-yard touchdown. A&M-Commerce began

moving the ball well again until Farkes’s pass was picked off by Eric Walker and returned 65 yards to the Lions 10. Turner and Shelly struck again a few plays later to bring the visitors within five points. On their opening drive of the fourth quarter, head coach Guy Morriss went for it on fourth and two, and the Lions failed to convert for the first down. A&M-Commerce’s defense held SOSU on their own fourth down attempt, but the offense could only eat up a min-ute of time before punt-ing the ball. Both teams punted on their next possessions, and SOSU found themselves in Lion territory with three min-utes left in the game. Turner almost com-

pleted a third touchdown pass to Shelley, but the wideout dropped the pass in the end zone. SOSU could not recover, and A&M-Commerce linebacker Marlin Terrell stopped receiver Brandon DeFrance short of a first down on fourth and six to effectively win the game. Graham finished with 110 yards on 24 carries and one touchdown, his second straight 100-yard effort. He now has 437 yards and four touch-downs through five games. Wide receiver Kenzee Jackson led the Lions with eight catches for 70 yards, increasing his team-leading recep-tion total to 17. Linebacker Danny Mason, who had several impressive stops during

the game, led the team with 15 total tackles and now has 55 on the year. “The win feels good,” Mason said. “We held our composure and our instincts kicked in because we knew we had to dominate.” Farkes finished with 224 yards, one touch-down and two intercep-tions and was not sacked. “It was pretty easy to play quarterback tonight,” he said. “I wasn’t really touched all night. It all starts with the offensive line.” A&M-Commerce travels to Northeastern Oklahoma State next week for a 2 p.m. kickoff before returning home to play Tarleton State in the first televised home football game in A&M-Commerce history.

Junior running back Marcus Graham runs the ball in for a touchdown during the Lions’ 19-14 win over Southeastern Oklahoma State.

“bend but don’t break” philosophy and the ball control of the offense to limit Southeastern’s attack. In the second half, the A&M-Commerce D came out firing on all cylin-ders, constantly pres-suring the quarterback en route to three sacks. Lions defensive lineman and linebackers were in the backfield on almost every passing down, rendering the Savage Storm’s passing attack all but useless. To begin the second half, Southeastern had a short field for their first three drives and A&M-Commerce held them to only seven points. Granted, only a dropped touchdown by Southeastern’s Ryan Shelley kept the Lions from losing, but the last defensive stand for A&M-Commerce dem-onstrated how dominant their defense can be, even without Cory Whitefield and the numerous defen-sive starters they lost to graduation.