A Keen Eye For News

The FalconMonday, February 11th, 2012

Volume 2. Issue 5.

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News Arts & Culture

page 3 page 6

Remains of a Kingfound in unlikely place

The Falcon Guide to Summer MusicFestivals

CROSS CAMPUS

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Lambda Chi AlphaMasquerade Ball

February 12thMain Street Tavern

10 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Cafe Escape (BCM)February 13, 11am – 1pm

BCM

CongratulationsGold Side!

IN THIS ISSUE

continued page 7

Big wins at the BAFTAs and the Grammy’s

Glow Party After Party

February 15, 7pm – 9pmStudent Retreat

by Andrew MechumAssociate Editor

Bonfire and FoodFebruary 15, 5pm – 7pm

by the soccer field

CN Sign RaisingJanuary 22 6pm

Farmer Hall

Happy Valentines DayThursday,

Feb 14, 2013

Party of the QuadFebruary 15,

2:00pm – 4:30pmMain Quad

by Jake SmithStaff Writer

Pope cites waning health in resignation

In a move that hasn’t been seen since the Middle Ages, Pope Benedict XIV an-nounced early Mon-day that he would be resigning February 28. In his resigna-tion announcement Benedict cited his fail-ing health as the pri-mary reason for step-ping down, “In today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes…both strength of mind and body are neces-sary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have to rec-ognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. “With full free-dom I declare that I re-nounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Suc-cessor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals.” Benedict

added that he would like to continue to serve the church and God, “through a life dedicated to prayer.” Benedict, who became the 265 pope in April of 2005, will become only the fifth pope to resign. The last papal resignation was by Pope Gregory XII in 1415. His abdication wasn’t voluntary how-ever, unlike Benedict’s. Gregory left the Vatican to settle a dis-pute over claims to the papacy. The last pope to willingly leave the posi-

tion of Bishop of Rome was Celestine V in 1294. Since becoming pope, Benedict has had his fair share of obsta-cles while leading near-ly 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide. He has had the task of being pontiff during the child sexu-al abuse scandals that rocked the Church. His personal butler, whom he later pardoned, leaked his private pa-pers, causing a firestorm in regards to the Vati-can’s business dealings. A speech he gave in Regensburg, Germa-

ny where he cited this quote by Byzantine Em-peror Manuel II, “Show me just what Moham-med brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,” incited pro-tests in the Middle East. Benedict has also garnered infamy on the Internet by hav-ing pictures of him compared to, or al-tered to look like, Em-peror Palpatine from the Star Wars films.

These comparisons of-ten alluded to his past when he was a mem-ber of the Hitler Youth during World War II. He, nor his family, were ever members of the Nazi Party however. The pope’s res-ignation will leave an empty seat at Saint Peter’s Basilica, but only temporarily. The College of Car-dinals will convene in the first of March and are expected to elect a new pope within a months time.

The British Academy of Film and Television Awards, or BAFTAs, and the 55th annual Grammy Awards were both held on February 10, 2013, and both shows were full of surprises, ex-citement and spectacle. The BAFTAs featured a multitude of categories to be award-ed, but despite the name of the academy pre-senting them, all of the awards were focused on film rather than tele-vision. Ben Affleck’s “Argo” took home two

of the biggest prizes of the night by receiving Best Picture and Best Director despite Ste-phen Spielberg’s popu-lar “Lincoln” competing in the most categories with ten nominations. Even Affleck was surprised as he jok-ingly stated, “I feel like there must be some mis-take” when asked how he felt about his victories. Among the oth-er notable winners was Emmanuelle Riva who, at 85 years of age, be-came the oldest BAFTA winner of all time for her starring role in “Amour”. Equally excit-ing was a victory from the latest entry in the James Bond franchise, “Skyfall”, which won the Outstanding Brit-ish Film award over the hugely successful “Les Miserables” and criti-

cal favorite “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”. On the other side of the Atlantic, music was busy having its biggest night of the year as the 55th annual Grammy Awards com-menced. The awards show, hosted for a sec-ond year in a row by LL Cool J, began in grandiose fashion with a vibrant performance from Taylor Swift. Throughout the course of the evening, a handful of the world’s most successful musi-cians would play some of their most popular material from the past year in music. Perfor-mances were given by The Black Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Mumford and Sons, Jack White, Frank Ocean, Fun, Elton John and Ed Sheeran among others. Perhaps most

moving among these was a tribute to the late Levon Helm, drum-mer and singer for The Band, which featured the talents of Elton John, Mumford and Sons, Brittany How-ard and Mavis Staples just to name a few. The winners of the night’s big awards were spread out among a wide variety of the

musicians present, but there was no doubt that the Black Keys were the rock category’s big-gest winner. The Akron-based duo took home Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Album for their late 2011 album “El Camino” and its lead single “Lonely Boy”. Country music saw awards presented to

Carrie Underwood for solo performance and Zac Brown Band for al-bum, and Frank Ocean took home the first ever Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album for his “Chan-nel Orange”. Ocean would not, however, take home Best New Artist. That honor was awarded to Fun who

Follow me at @amechum

The Falcon Page Two

news “Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools”

-Napoleon Bonaparte

by Matt SanderlinArts & Culture Editor

Boys will be boysPresident upstaged by neurosurgeon

by Andrew MechumAssociate Editor

Jimmy Lee Dykes suspect in kidnapping

Hostage rescued in Midland City

got an idea?E-mail us at

thefalconeditor@gmail.com

P r e s i d e n t Obama sat mostly stone-faced at the Fellowship Foundation National Prayer Breakfast as neu-rosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson blasted Obam-acare and addressed the national debt. Carson, 61, is the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital and recipient of the Presiden-tial Medal of Freedom. He noted how big a problem our coun-try’s $16.5 trillion debt is. According to Carson if one were to count to 16 trillion, one number per second, it would take 507,000 years. He compared America to the fall of Rome. Carson stat-ing moral decay and fiscal woes are what brought down the world’s most powerful war machine so long ago, and that we should be afraid of the same thing happening here. Looking for a better way to tax the people and rescue the nation from fiscal irre-sponsibility Carson sug-gested looking to the Bi-ble. “God has given us a system. It’s called a tithe.” “You make $10

The Boy Scouts of America postponed a decision Wednesday, February 6 that could possibly overturn their policy of no homo-sexual membership. The BSA origi-nally won the right to ban gay members from their ranks after the 2000 Supreme Court Case “Boy Scouts of America v. Dale.” In a five-four vote, the Supreme Court al-lowed the ban based on the BSA’s status as a private organization. After a two year internal review of the ban, the national board of the BSA an-nounced they would uphold the ban in July 2012. However, groups like Scouts for Equal-ity kept pressure on the board by asking the funders of the program to reconsider their contributions based on the organization’s “discriminatory” laws. Their strategy worked. Intel, UPS and Merck dropped their donations to the scouts based on the controver-sial policy. The national board then announced they would reconsider the matter again on Jan-uary 28, beginning dis-cussions on February 4.

The Midland City, AL boy who was kidnapped on January 29th has been safely re-turned to his family. His kidnapper, Jimmy Lee Dykes, was not as fortu-nate to walk out of the bunker where he held the child until February 4th. Sixty-five year old Dykes boarded a Dale County school bus and demanded the driver to give him two children. Bus driver Charles Poland, who was blocking the aisle of the vehicle while children escaped, was shot by the trespasser who then abducted two children. Ethan was taken to Dykes’ home while the other child somehow escaped. The Vietnam veteran had no relation to the chil-dren he took or the bus driver he murdered. On the afternoon of February 4 the SWAT

billion, you put in a billion. You make $10 you put in one,” said Carson, adding, “Of course you’ve got to get rid of the loopholes.” The loopholes he is re-ferring to are the ones that enable the very rich to keep funds in offshore accounts, such as the 602 banks in the Cayman Islands. “That money needs to be back here building our in-frastructure and creat-ing jobs,” said Carson. On the subject of Obamacare Carson offered up his own so-lution to the broken healthcare system, “When a person is born, give him a birth certifi-cate, an electronic med-ical record, and a health savings account (HSA) to which money can be contributed -- pretax -- from the time you're born 'til the time you die. “Instead of sending it to some bu-reaucracy, let’s put it in their HSAs. Now they have some control over their own health care.” In an interview on Fox News the fol-lowing day, Carson said his comments weren’t left or right wing, “It was just logic and com-mon sense and this is what people are starv-ing for coming out of Washington D.C.”

by Reed StrengthArts & Culture Editor

When the time came for the decision to be called, the board stated they would postpone a deci-sion until May due to the high amount of feed-back they received from concerned parties. Key political figures have offered their insight into the situation as well. P r e s i d e n t Obama, who is the hon-orary president of the scouts by the organiza-tion’s bylaws, confirmed in an interview with CBS that he believes the ban should be lifted. “My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and op-portunity the same way everybody else does.” Conservatives, however, have spoken out against lifting the ban. Texas Governor Rick Perry was a boy scout and worries that lifting the ban would cause too much con-troversy and re-edu-cation in the organiza-tion, while distracting scouts from their duties.Fellow former presi-dential nominee Rick Santorum accused the “mainstream media” of attempting to “ad-vance a liberal cause while vilifying a theis-tic-based organization standing by its outdated principles of develop-ing boys into men.” Santorum is par-tially correct about the Boy Scouts being a the-istic organization. When the Scouts of America was established in 1910, it had no ties to a reli-gious doctrine. Accord-

ing to a timeline of the history of the scouts published by the Deser-et News, the Mormon Church was the “first religious group to spon-sor Scouting as part of its ministry” in 1913. That number has grown in the lifetime of the organization. Re-ligious affiliation for a troop is based on the charter of the organi-zation that sponsors it.According to the Scouts official website, “69.7 percent of all units are chartered to faith-based organizations.” Those units that are faith based also hold more youth in their total units than the two other types of non-faith based charters. Within the Scout’s Official Oath they pledge “to do my duty to God and my country.” Many conser-vative groups have also pointed to the use of the word “reverent” in the Scout Law as further evidence of faith based values. While the word can mean to be “wor-shipful”, Merriam-Web-ster does not specify if the word indeed means “worshipful” in respect to a religious faith.` Parents of scouts that were against lifting the ban rallied outside of the organization’s national headquarters in Dallas on Wednesday when the decision was supposed to be made. As the Los Angeles Times reports, several parents at the rally spoke on lift-ing their children out of the organization if the

ban is done away with. This worries cur-rent and future scouts. There is a demographic of scouts that have been working toward the ul-timate honor of Eagle Scout for years. While UM student Jared Ko-rnegay reached his eagle scout status long ago, he is concerned for other members that haven’t reached that honor as well as the dignity of the organization itself. Kornegay says the controversy of lift-ing the ban lay not with homosexual scouts, as much as homosexual scout leaders. A concern among many parents is that overnight camp-ing trips and activities would tempt gay scout leaders to indulge in inappropriate behav-ior with their children. However, ac-cording to Kornegay, “under no circum-stances” are adults and scouts allowed in the same tent during over-night trips. Despite this misjudgment of scout regulations by par-ents, Kornegay states that he is nonetheless against lifting the ban. His concern is that by allowing gay members in, the board is infringing upon the be-lief that the “homosex-ual lifestyle” is wrong by several faith based units of the Scouts.While the individual councils will ultimately have the power to decide if they would allow the inclusion of gay mem-

by Teddie TaylorStaff Writer

team killed Dykes while entering the bunker to rescue the child. The kidnapper sparked the raid when he made it apparent that he had a firearm. Two bombs, one of which was in the pipe used to commu-nicate with the federal agents above ground, were discovered in the dugout room. An FBI hostage negotiator had been speaking to Dykes

via a pipe running un-derground; Dykes had even allowed food and a toy to be given to Ethan. Legislation was passed on February 6 in an Alabama Sen-ate committee making trespassing on a school bus a crime. The bill, if signed into law, will be named for the slain hero who took as many as four bullets from the armed Mr. Dykes.

Ethan, who has Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit disorder, was released from the hospital on Tuesday and celebrat-ed his sixth birthday at a local church on Wednesday. As with all children who experi-ence traumatic events, he will have to rely on a strong support group to guide him through the healing process.

Monday, February 11th, 2012

continued page 7

The Falcon Page Three

Remains of English King discovered in an unlikely place

Ex-Navy SEAL and veteran gunned down

Saturday’s not alright for mailing

On February 2, 38-year-old Chris Kyle and 35-year-old Chad Littlefield were fatally shot at the shooting range of the Rough Creek Lodge and Resort in Texas. The suspect is 25-year-old former Marine Ed-die Ray Routh, who is currently being held on a $3 million bond. Chris Kyle has the distinction of be-ing America’s deadli-est sniper. He has 160 confirmed kills as a Navy SEAL sniper while serving five com-bat tours in Iraq. Kyle is also the author of the best-selling book American Sniper, an au-tobiographical account of his military career and experiences in Iraq. Kyle left the service in 2009. Soon after retiring, he helped found the FITCO Cares Foundation, a non-profit organization that pro-vides aid to U.S. war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Kyle and Chad Littlefield were both very active with the organization. Eddie Ray Routh is one of the many ex-Marines that Kyle and Littlefield at-tempted to help. Little-field and Kyle both

During an ar-chaeological dig in Leicester England, the body of English King Richard III was un-earthed in a small grave. The excavation was in the Leicester City Coun-cil parking lot originally thought to be the old site of Greyfriar’s church. King Rich-ard III ruled England from 1483 to 1485. He died at the Battle of Bosworth when war-ring with Henry Tudor. When King Richard fell, Tudor took up the crown, thus ending the ruling of the Planta-genet Kings and begin-ning the reign of the Tu-dors. Richard’s naked body was ridden into Leicester after and put on display in the town. The body was reportedly abused dur-ing this display, and was then “unceremoni-

Beginning Au-gust 5, 2013, the United States Postal Service will stop all delivery and collection of let-ters and other types of first-class mail on Sat-urdays. Packages and P.O. box mail, however, will still be delivered. The organization be-gan Saturday delivery in 1863 and it has only been briefly suspend-ed a handful of times throughout their history. This bold move was declared by the Postal Service in re-sponse to Congress’ in-decision throughout the development of an ever-increasing fiscal predic-ament. The move is ex-pected to save the Postal Service an average of $2 billion a year. Although this may seem like a big gain for the company, it is not nearly enough as the Postal Service continues its recov-ery from a $16 billion loss reported in 2012. Postmaster gen-eral and CEO, Patrick

by Reed StrengthArts & Culture Editor

ously” buried in a small grave by the Grey Friars. In August of 2012, scientists began the archaeological dig that led to the discovery of Richard’s body. Af-ter slowly uncovering the structural remains of the friar they were hunting for, a body was discovered within the choir of the friary. When scien-tists examined the body several elements of the remains cued them to the possibility of them belonging to Richard III. The skull and back of the skeleton showed what was a battle wound that would’ve matched the same fatal injury Richard III suf-fered at the hands of Henry and his army. In addition to the fatality of that wound, several places on the body showed small signs of abuse, which also matched the his-torical mistreatment of

Richard III’s body when transported to Leicester after the battle. Scien-tists noted several marks on the ribs as proof of abuse, CNN reports. The final and most accurate evidence came from a matching DNA test scientists con-ducted with two distant living relatives of Rich-ard III’s. Canadian cabi-net maker Michael Ibsen is a direct descendent of Richard III’s sister, Anne of York. The other DNA contributor has remained anonymous according to reports. Mitochondrial DNA was extracted from the remains and tested with the donors. The two samples were a perfect match. After the test results, scien-tists announced on Feb-ruary 4 that they were convinced “beyond reasonable doubt” that the remains were in-deed those of the King. The remains

are set to be buried in Leicester Cathedral, with a proper memo-rial honoring the King. However, there is de-bate on whether Leices-ter is the proper burial place for the King. As The Guardian reports, the town of York is claiming that Richard III wished to be buried in York Ministry be-cause of his childhood years spent in the city. Despite the ar-

gument, the York Min-ister made a statement on its website that gave full burial rights to Leicester. “When the possibility of an exca-vation of the Greyfriars site began, it was agreed from the start any re-mains found would be re-interred in Leices-ter,” the statement read. With the remains found and a proper me-morial taking place, historians hope that the

darker legend of Rich-ard III will be buried with his body. Richard’s appearance has long been depicted as a small hunchbacked man with disproportioned limbs.While the skeleton’s spine does show signs of scoliosis, it was not as deformed and bent as some histo-rians claim and Wil-liam Shakespeare dramatized in his histor-ical play “Richard III”.

by Pablo UrbinaContributing Writer

received a call from Routh’s mother, who was seeking help for her son. The two men apparently took Routh to the shooting range as part of a plan to help him with his PTSD. This is not the first time that Eddie Ray Routh has been in legal problems. On Sep-tember 2 of last year, Routh, furious that his father was going to sell his gun, threatened to “blow his brains out” according to his moth-er’s report to the police. He was promptly placed under protective custody and admitted to Dallas’ Green Oaks Hospital for a mental evaluation. Upon killing Kyle and Littlefield, Routh left the scene in Kyle’s black pickup truck, and drove to his family’s home. There, he admitted to them that he had killed Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield, but did not give a reason for doing so. They called the police after he left the home. Police soon caught him and Routh is in jail awaiting trial. The motive for Routh’s actions is un-known. Based on po-lice reports, the three men were the only people present at the time of the shootings. Routh is currently on a 24-hour-suicide watch.

by Jake SmithStaff Writer

Donahoe, expresses optimism for the com-pany despite all of this saying, “It’s a respon-sible decision. It makes common sense.” Do-nahoe also acknowl-edges the downsizing that will be necessary for the plan to work. He expects approximately 22,500 jobs to be im-pacted by the change. The nature of these impacts is current-ly in question. However, Donahoe maintains that changes can be made without resorting to lay-offs. He instead plans to focus on buyouts, elimi-nation over time, and re-liance on part time staff. The service’s woes began in 2006 when a congressional mandate required the pre-funding of health-care benefits for future retirees. Billions of tax-payer money has gone into the support of the service since then. Be-cause of the Postal Ser-vice’s status as a private

company, the use of congressional money to help support the busi-ness has been called into question recently as well, however, no conclusion has yet been reached on the matter. Last year, the situation reached its ug-liest point yet when the Postal Service defaulted twice on payments to-taling $11 billion and exhausted a $15 billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury. This dire loss, on top of the already mounting strains placed upon the company, re-sulted in the decision to make the Saturday delivery cuts this year. This dependence on congressional money has also raised a prob-lem on whether or not the Postal Service has the right to stop Satur-day delivery in the first place. In the past, the Postal Service has had to wait on Congress to make laws allowing it to make changes of a simi-

lar nature. This problem is likely to be solved in the coming months, however, it remains un-touched for now. Dona-hoe expresses a positive outlook though, stat-ing, “We think we’re on good footing with this.” Currently the primary opposition to this plan comes not from Congress but from unions who have been fighting these kinds of cuts for the past sev-eral years. Their only current statement is to say “USPS executives cannot save the Postal Service by tearing it apart.” It appears the unions’ concerns are falling on deaf ears. The Postal Service has made no response to them and does not appear to have any intent to do so. The cuts have not run into any sig-nificant barricades yet. More news on the Post-al Service will be pro-vided as it is announced.

Monday, February 11th, 2012

King Richard III remains found

These trucks will not run on Saturdays

Another homecoming has come to an end

The Falcon Page Four

College Night 13’

by Mandy SteadmanStaff Writer

The main event of College Night is the student-created musi-cal productions. These musicals are written, di-rected, choreographed, conducted and per-formed by the students of each side. This year both sides had great musicals that must have made the judging pro-cess fairly difficult. Palmer was packed with Purple and Gold pride Wednesday night. The evening start-ed with a speech from our SGA President, Ashley Lowe. The fes-tivities and spirit raised as each side performed their cheers and Purple/Gold side songs. Once the songs were sung and the cheers were chant-ed, students could final-ly begin final prepara-tions for their musicals. The Purple side’s production was called: “Taking Up Space.” It had a space/

Star Trek theme where a crew would answer dis-tress calls from differ-ent planets and explore the galaxy. The crew were called Space Cows and were lead by an ex-tremely cocky captain. While the play was very humorous and the songs were very catchy, the Palmer Staff sound was very off. Some microphones were working when oth-ers weren’t, some mi-crophones were turned off or down when they should have been up, and some microphones were too loud and drowned out other sing-ers or actors onstage. The costumes in this show were ab-solutely spectacular. The Space Cows wore sweaters that were similar to the ones on Star Trek. The alien costumes were made of special fabric and the alien actors had special

makeup that glowed in black lighting. The black light-ing gave the coolest effect when the lights turned off and the aliens danced to an African-inspired number. This brought the audience to their feet with applause. The costumes were done by student costume designer, Le-lani Hayes, and her assis-tant, Clark Stackhouse. The set included pieces of the spaceship, a giant monster, and pieces of rock forms that made up the un-known planet. The Purple side show was extremely entertain-ing and had a great presence on the stage. The entire au-dience laughed and applauded through-out the show. The Gold side’s show, “A Sweet Sen-sation,” was also very creative and, as usual,

very organized and precise. It was very cutesy and was done in an old-fashioned style with traditional bobbing of heads and overly-dramatic gestures with arms and reactions (gasping, fainting, etc.). The play was based in an old-fash-ioned small town in the time of jukeboxes and afternoon milkshakes. In the show, a brother and sister move in and open a hair salon. Se-cretly, they are owners of a rival candy com-pany and are plotting to destroy the famous McElroy Candy Fac-tory located in the town. One standout actor was Cody Webb who played the evil and conniving Neil Fletcher. Webb’s character wants to see the McElroy Can-dy factory destroyed. He had an amaz-ing stage presence and a beautiful voice. The au-

dience cheered and ap-plauded after every song he sang and danced in.The costumes for this show were very well-done and well-re-searched. All of the cos-tumes fit with the time period and fit with each character well. Costume designer, Haley Evans, and her assistant, In-Mi Matsunaga, really did a fine job with the organization and ex-ecution of the costumes. Overall, the Gold side show was very organized, clean, and entertaining. The cutesy-ness was a bit too over-the-top for my lik-ing, but it worked for the script and time-frame. It was extremely difficult to enjoy the Gold side show fully. The Gold side audience members were cheering loudly every five minutes and it did not help the rest of the audience get into the

show. It was more an-noying than spirit lifting for those who were just there to watch the shows. There is a time to cheer on your friends and a time to let the ex-citing moments speak for themselves. The cheers during the show included screaming of the actors’ names, yell-ing, “GV,” and the usual loud whooping and hol-lering. It was just too much and made it dif-ficult to invest atten-tion to the show fully. Keeping only the shows in mind, it was really difficult to predict who would win College Night 2013. Both sides had great shows and either one deserved to win. C o n g r a t u l a -tions to the Gold side for their third win in a row. We’ll have to wait and see what next year’s College Night will bring to the table.

James Kinney (sophomore, GV): "To me, college night is the epitome of the Montevallo experience. It means to me finding your family and it has brought me the greatest sense of pride that I believe I have ever felt.”

Amber Chapman (junior, PV): "For me college night is about a di-verse group of people using their unique skills to have the best college night season possible."

Melissa Lawler (sophomore, GV): "To me, College Night means hav-ing a family of other people on your side and all working towards the same goal. Whether you're purple or gold, you have a support system and family and I think that is amazing! And what better way to de-scribe Montevallo than having competitive musical theatre for home-coming!"

College Night in your wordsChristine Jones (senior, PV): "College Night to me is a friendly com-petition that, while at one point seems to be pulling the school apart, it actually seems to be pulling the school together because no matter which side wins this was all done by the students."

Mary Kinney (sophomore, GV): "More than it being a rivalry it is just so unique and interesting and there is so much work and different aspects that go into it and there is a place for everyone no matter what side you're on. It's really great."

Victoria Houston (junior, PV): "For me it's a wonderful experience that can only happen here because it's because it's the only thing in the state that is like this. It is absolutely amazing. Yes, there is a rivalry, but it is a very loving rivalry most of the time."

Monday, February 11th, 2012

The Falcon Page Five

sports

by Neal EmbryStaff Writer

Soccer scandal shocks Europe

Last Monday Europol released the findings of an 18-month investigation into the alleged fixing of soccer matches across Europe. According to the report, nearly 700 matches were fixed from 2008-2011. The fixing took place in the Union of European Football As-sociations (UEFA) Champions League, qualifying games for the European Cham-pionship and World Cup qualifying games. Europol, which is the joint police orga-nization for the Euro-pean Union, said that a crime syndicate based in Singapore was at the center of the scandal. “This is the first time we have es-tablished substantial evidence that organized

crime is now operating in the world of foot-ball,” said Europol di-rector Rob Wainwright. The scope of the scandal reaches throughout Europe, in-volving 400 individuals in 15 different countries. The U.S. has not been indicated in the report. The matches were fixed by bribing officials and players.

According to Europol, gamblers collected near-ly $11 million in profits and spent $2.5 million to bribe participants. The Singa-pore police have said they will assist Inter-pol in finding the peo-ple responsible for the match fixing. No ar-rests have been made in the case as of yet. This isn’t the

first time match fixing has affected the game of soccer. In the 1960s and 70s, Dezso Solti, a Hungarian “fixer,” worked for Italian club Inter, bribing officials and players in order to ensure victories for the club. In 1980, sev-eral teams in the Ital-ian leagues Serie A and Serie B were found to be guilty of throw-

ing games for money. However, the magnitude of this scan-dal goes beyond any-thing the game has seen in the past. Nev-ertheless, FIFA, the worldwide governing body for soccer, has downplayed the sig-nificance of the report. “Football is so big, we will over-come. [Match-fixing]

is a small percent-age. Football will not die,” said Sepp Blat-ter, president of FIFA. What are your thoughts on the scan-dal? What should leagues around the world do? Contact us on Twitter @TheUM-Falcon or via Facebook.

Follow me at @nealembry

After seven years in the United States Army Infantry and three tours in Iraq, Andrew Mechum recog-nized the disconnect be-tween what happens in war and what the news media presents to the public. He noticed that the things the news was saying didn’t match up with the things he actu-ally experienced in war, and the American public was getting a “watered down version of the news,” Mechum said. It was this ex-perience that set him on the path toward study-ing journalism with the goal of someday becoming a war cor-respondent. Mechum is a mass communica-tion major at the Uni-versity of Montevallo, the associate editor of the student newspaper The Falcon, news editor of The Alabamian and the recipient of a pres-tigious yearlong men-torship with the deputy managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. Mechum signed up to begin his military career when he was a student at Auburn Uni-versity. With a 1.98 GPA, Mechum wasn’t a very good student at that time, he said. “What I needed was motivation and some direction in

From rifle to penSpecial Featureby Jennifer EllisContributing Writer

my life, and I needed to learn responsibility,” said Mechum. He want-ed to join the Infantry, and just two weeks after signing up in the recruit-er’s office, he was on his way to boot camp. Throughout his time in Iraq, Mechum lost several friends to the war, and he used his writing as a way to deal with the emo-tional turmoil of be-ing at war and of los-ing loved ones. Some of Mechum’s soldier friends told him that he was a good writer, and that sparked his interest in writing as a career. Mechum de-cided that he wanted to provide the American public with true news accounts of what hap-pens in war. “A lot of the coverage is sani-tized. War is ugly. War is brutal…Americans need to be aware of that,” said Mechum. “We only show you these little snapshots, so people don’t know what it’s really like.” Mechum began attending the University of Montevallo in the fall of 2011. “I wanted to go to a smaller school be-cause I felt like a num-ber at Auburn,” he said. As a mass communica-tion major, Mechum only has great things to say about the university and the staff. “[The pro-fessors] know who I am,

they’re generally avail-able to talk to me, and they’re willing to give me advice and to help me,” he said. Mechum works as the associate editor of the student newspaper, The Falcon. He develops and writes stories, helps to edit and advises staff members. Mechum’s mili-tary background provid-ed him with an amazing opportunity to further his writing career, and he applied for the men-torship with The Wall Street Journal through Student Veterans of America. “I think the thing that gave me the edge was the fact that I went through a group

that specifically targeted veterans,” said Mechum. When Mechum discovered he received a yearlong mentorship with Jim Pensiero, the deputy managing edi-tor of The Wall Street Journal, he couldn’t have been happier. “I was actually surprised to hear back from them since it had been so long since I’d contacted them,” Mechum said. “It’s the number one paper in the country.” Most impor-tantly, Mechum appre-ciates The Wall Street Journal’s lack of biases. “They’re one of the last embodiments of what newspapers should be,”

said Mechum. “They put the truth out there.” Mechum will be mentored by Pensie-ro over the phone and through email. “[Pen-siero] told me that it’s not a way to network, and it’s not a way to get a job,” Mechum said, but he said he hopes that the mentorship will help to better his jour-nalistic writing skills. While Mechum participates in the men-torship, he will continue taking classes at the University of Monte-vallo, and he plans to “keep going to school…and try not to screw up this mentorship.” Mechum’s long-

term goal is to become a war correspondent so he can provide the public with an accu-rate depiction of how devastating and brutal war can be. Whether or not he achieves this goal, Mechum intends to keep writing. “It’s not about money. It’s about doing what you want to do,” he said. “At one point, I signed away my life to the U.S. government, and they gave me a rifle. I’m looking to do the same thing with a news orga-nization that will give me a pen and paper.”

Monday, February 11th, 2012

Andrew Mechum stationed overseas

arts&culturePage SixThe Falcon

The Falcon Guide to Summer Music Festivals

by Matt SanderlinFormer Arts & Culture Editor

Album Review: Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II

by Teddie TaylorStaff Writer

Photos: Reed Strength

Music festivals around the United States have begun releasing their 2013 lineups and tickets are selling fast. Throughout the spring and summer there are countless multi-genre festivals that cater to music lovers. If your goal is to see a number of differ-ent bands for a reason-able price, a music fes-tival is better for your wallet than a typical concert. All festivals, whether two, three or four days, offer gen-eral admission week-end passes for less than $400; early bird tickets are available for most events and will save you a bit of money. Certain venues sell individual day passes should you only care to see a specif-ic day of performances. The most rea-sonable drive for Ala-bama residents is Hang-out Music Festival in Gulf Shores. From a musical standpoint the event offers one of the widest varieties of any festival; last year the lineup included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack White, Skrillex, Mac Miller, Cage the Elephant, Dave Mat-thews Band and many more. With your toes in the sand and mu-sic all around you for three days, Hangout Fest is a vacation to the beach with thousands of friends. The lineup is set to be released within the next week. Many of the

summer music festi-vals take place near the southern region of the US and seem to fo-cus on certain genres. Rockville in Jackson-ville, Florida and Caro-lina Rebellion in Char-lotte, North Carolina, are near Alabama and share similar acts such as Alice in Chains and Stone Sour. Wanee Mu-sic Festival in Live Oak, FL and Shaky Knees Music Festival in At-lanta, GA offer similar styles of music; lineups for the two events range from The Allman Broth-ers Band and Wide-spread Panic to The Lumineers and Band of Horses. Bonnaroo, held on a farm in Manches-ter, Tennessee, is one

of the most popular of the southern festivals. However, they have yet to announce a lineup or to begin selling tickets. Larger festi-vals such as Coachella in California and Sas-quatch in Washington are quite a distance away but have larger bookings than many nearby festivals. Vans Warped Tour has 41 dates from March 28 to August 4 in cities across North America and in-cludes over 50 bands that perform on various dates. Whether a small-er scale indie festival or a massive festival en-compassing two week-ends, there is an event for every musical niche. The most im-

portant aspect of the festival experience is to revel in the music. If you feel the need to be close to the stage, VIP tickets are a worthwhile indulgence. Opting for a general admission ticket and arriving a few hours early to a stage will al-low you to befriend like minded attendees while awaiting your favorite artist to begin their set. An elevated stage and no designated seats make it difficult to have a “bad spot” at any music festival. Researching any festival you plan to at-tend will ensure ease in finding stages, maneu-vering through crowds and generally enjoying the event. Many of the

more widely attended festivals have apps avail-able that provide maps and lineup schedules. While the pur-pose of attending a mu-sic festival is to listen to music and mingle with fellow music lovers you cannot forgo the ba-sics of living. It seems trivial but when you are standing on the beach in ninety degree weather surrounded by thou-sands of people, bath-rooms matter. When your festival releases a map find the port-a-potty groves and mem-orize their locations. Most food ven-dors will have ham-burgers and fries on the menu, but when part-nered with close quar-

ters and heat these may not be the best food choices. Drink plenty of water and eat healthy to keep hydrated and up-right throughout the day. With Buku Mu-sic + Art Project kick-ing off the major festi-vals on March 8 and 9 in New Orleans there isn’t a dull weekend throughout the rest of the spring and summer. Here is a fantas-tic resource for explor-ing the vast number of festivals taking place in the US and finding those which appeal to your in-terests. Any vacation is surely supplemented by spending a few days in the presence of live mu-sic and passionate fans.

-Wear light colors as dark colors attract heat-Wear comfortable shoes since you’ll be on your feet for hours-Pack light-Keep hydrated and eat well -Invest in a recharge-able phone case -Common sense and manners will make the experience more en-joyable for everyone-Bring cash instead of cards

General Tips

There are albums that can be and should be played at maximum volume on loud speak-ers for full appreciation. Other albums are the quiet-but-lush type, and need a great set of head-phones for complete un-derstanding. And then

there are albums that are just great no matter how you listen to them. Unknown Mor-tal Orchestra's highly-anticipated second al-bum (II), is somehow both a "car stereo" album and a "head-phones" album at the

same time. The album starts off quietly, like an entry from a hip-pie's diary ("From the Sun") - Hushed harmo-nies melt naturally over gentle acoustic guitar picking, and little bass bubbles and drum gusts float by as the song pro-gresses. This, of course, is the subdued side. And then there are tracks like "No Need for a Leader." The metallic electric guitar scratches steadily build a violet and red under-current, and the punky drums and serious bass bleed black and blue. And then, about four and a half minutes in, the band shifts comfortably into a brief jam session, chugging ferociously like a psychedelic Clash. The band's ap-

petite for blending sa-vory blues chords and 60's rock rhythmic structures is the key to their success on II. In-fluences as far-reaching as George Harrison, Pink Floyd, and even Jimi Hendrix marinate the already flavorful, lo-fi soundscape with fitting synths or fuzzy electric guitar tones. If "magical" wasn't an already-over-used (and often humor-ously-applied) adjec-tive, I'd be tempted to deem II as such. What-ever word fits best - it's dreamy, layered, and absolutely entrancing. One of the year's best so far, without a doubt. Try "Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark)" and "Faded in the Morning," and let the rest follow from there.

Monday, February 11th, 2012

Hangout Music Fesitival in Gulf Shores, AL

The Falcon Page Seven

The Falcon PlaylistNew music is

added every week on Spotify. Come listen to what we’re talking about...

by Reed StrengthArts & Culture Editor

“Loveless” is one of those albums that every semi-serious underground music fan runs into at some point. The record’s legend and legacy are kept alive by the rabid fans that claim that the album is “majestically incomprehensible .” What makes the album so unique is summed up perfectly in its famous cover. The front of a guitar is swallowed by a haze of heavy pink fog . While “Loveless” didn’t write the book on experi-mental guitar work, it certainly pioneered several chapters of it.The album is first and foremost a “sonic” al-bum. The songs are bathed in a thick and me-ticulously crafted guitar noise via mastermind Kevin Shields. Shields and his band used these strange noises to cover up what would otherwise be highly unimpressive songs. Despite years of rumors and false claims,

Album Review: My Bloody Valentine - m b vthe band has officially released a follow-up album to the mighty “Loveless”. While the self-titled “m b v” seems to still put major focus on the sonics around the songs, Shields and company seem to bite the bullet and play to their old strengths while experimenting with new song structures. Album opener “She Found Now” picks up right where Shields left off in 1991. Thud-ding, cavernous distor-tion surrounds and en-velops his cooing voice as lighter guitar chords blink in and out. The track also sets the bar for what a My Bloody Valentine album should sound like in 2013. One universal flaw of “Loveless” was its poor mixing. Wheth-er due to lack of funds or an experimentally brit-tle recording technique, the album was known for containing incred-ibly loud songs at low volumes. “m b v” on the other hand is mixed just right. The loud points sound huge while the softer moments float and glow with detail.

“m b v” can be seen as a three act play. While “She Found Now” is slow and hazy, “Only Tomorrow” sets a chugging pace of guitar and drum while Blinda Butcher whispers sweet and unintelliglble things over the cacophony. Beginning with “Is This and Yes”, the album moves into a synth driven and gui-tar-less middle phase. Shields’ guitar play-ing is sorely missed throughout this passage. While songs such as “If I Am” and the an-gelic “Is This and Yes” are pretty, they don’t hold up well enough on their own without Shields’ magic touch. On its final act, the album is doused once again with Shields’ “jet engine” guitar work. This phase is much more aggressive with the drums acting as frenetic beat makers against harsh backdrops of guitar noise. Instead of a chorus, “In Another Way” crafts an almost pop hook out of Shields’ throttling his guitar in tune with the driving dance beat behind him.

Closing track “Wonder 2” is the harsh-est of all of the songs on the album. The track is a typical guitar driven My Bloody Valentine track, but one that sounds as if it were thrown down a furious wind tun-nel. The cyclone ef-fect whips around the tune as Butcher’s vocal melody is drowned out by it and a humming guitar effect by Shields.

All in all, “m b v” is a gapped album, a direct follow up to a “master piece” that just happened to be 22 years late to the party. While old fans may view it as the album they thought they’d never see, “m b v” could very well be the current generation’s answer to “Loveless”. To say “m b v” is better than “Loveless” is to graffiti several years

of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Per-formance. Gotye also won big by taking home Record of the Year for “Somebody That I Used to Know” and Best Al-ternative Album for “Making Mirrors”, his sophomore solo album.The biggest award of the night, however, went to none of the above. The coveted Album of the Year went, instead, to

AWARDScontinued

bers if the ban is lifted, Kornegay says that the “chartering organiza-tion” that sponsors his troop would disband in-stead of “going through the legal issues.” He notes that a family member is close to achieving eagle scout status. If the troop dis-bands, however, his cousin will lose that opportunity. Kornegay fears that more scouts will lose this chance as organizations disband because of the change in membership guidelines. Kornegay is sus-picious of the board’s sudden reconsideration of the ban. “If the na-tional committee de-

BOYScontinued

of pent up religious ado-ration by fans and critics alike. By all accounts, the album is barely even a month old. But as I listen to “She Found Now” and feel myself get lost in its heavy thud and gentle melody, it feels more current and mine than “Loveless” ever has. The Falcon gives this album an 8/10

cides to change, it’s not based on what’s right or what’s wrong. It’s more based on money.” He says the funding cuts to the organization from donors have forced the board to reconsider the membership policy for the sake of these “donation dollars.” Whatever the board decides in May, the Scouts will endure despite controversy within units and a pos-sible decline in mem-bership. As Kornegay summed up, “I’m an Eagle Scout, I’m proud to be from the boy scouts,” and regard-less of which side the board lands on, “I will always say ‘I am proud to be an eagle scout’….that will never change.”

the British folk group Mumford and Sons for their second album, “Babel”. Ironically, the album did not win in any of the other categories in which it was nominated.When the night was over, both the BAFTAs and Grammy’s provid-ed their share of giv-ens and surprises. Stick with The Falcon for more coverage as the awards season rolls on.

Monday, February 11th, 2012

The Falcon Page Eight

the staffnext week’sissue- Pope Resigns-Alabama Artist to showcase in Bloch Hall-Darwin’s Birthday Celebration-Gun Control and UM-Music-Politics-Return to Happiness

and more... February 18th, 2013

is accepting articles and applications for staff positionscontact us at thefalconeditor@gmail.com

Webwww.facebook.com/thefalconmontevallo@theumfalconwww.thefalconat.tumblr.com

EditorsEditor-In-Chief:

Kyle Jones

Associate Editor:Andrew Mechum

Art & Culture Editor:Reed Strength

Staff WritersMandy Steadman

Neal EmbryMatthew Lord

Clarke StackhouseJake Smith

Teddie Taylor

Contributing WritersJennier Ellis

Monday, February 11th, 2012