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INSIDE: page designed and edited by SAMUEL SPECIALE [email protected] NEWS, 2 | SPORTS, 3 | OPINION, 4 | LIFE!, 6 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2013 | VOL. 117 NO. 10 | MARSHALL UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER | marshallparthenon.com HIGH 73° LOW 55° HERD FALLS TO BOBCATS 31 - 34 Chilifest heats up downtown By ALISON WICKLINE THE PARTHENON To commemorate the adop- tion of the United States Constitution and John Mar- shall’s birthday, Tuesday kicks off Constitution Week celebrations with a book sign- ing by acclaimed educator Dr. Simon Perry. Perry, professor emeritus of political science at Marshall University, was an educator at Marshall from 1962 through 2010, which made his 47-year tenure the longest in the his- tory of the university. He has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished West Virginian Award and Marshall’s Distinguished Faculty Award. In 2011, the College of Liberal Arts created The Dr. Simon D. Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy, which is an interdisciplinary academic program that pro- motes the study of the United States Constitution and government. Perry’s book, “Thomas Jef- ferson and Andrew Jackson: By Their Deeds You Shall Know Them,” is being published by The Drinko Academy. Alan Gould, director of The Drinko Academy, said the decision to publish was easy. “Simon’s book fits well within our mission, which is to help people better under- stand their civic responsibility and the Constitution,” Gould said. Perry will sign his books beginning at 7 p.m. in the third-floor atrium of the Drinko Library. The books can be purchased through The Drinko Academy. Quoits, a game very similar to horseshoes, is always a sta- ple in Marshall’s Constitution Week celebration because it was John Marshall’s favorite game. Ongoing quoits tourna- ments were played on campus last week, but the big finale will be the President’s Invitational Quoits Media Challenge with members of the news media Sept. 24 at 11:30 a.m. The cutting of John Marshall’s birthday cake by Marshall President Stephen Kopp at 11 a.m. on the Memo- rial Student Center Plaza will precede the event. Another highlight event of Constitution Week is the By GEOFFREY FOSTER THE PARTHENON Despite its somewhat foggy origin, modern chili has be- come so infused into American cuisine that to claim it as a for- eign recipe would be incorrect. In all probability, chili was cre- ated along the Texas border in the early 1800s, but regardless of its place of conception, most Americans know what a bowl of chili tastes like. If they don’t, a trip to Chilifest will change that right away. Chilifest celebrated its 30th year Saturday. While people who attend the festival see it as a chance to sample a wide variety of chili and listen to live music, the chili vendors see it a different way. For them, it is a competition and their 30th Chilifest brings in record $35,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities John Opperman cuts peppers for his team Coal Miner’s Breakfast (top). Attendees enjoy chili (above left) and take time to make donations by entering the 2013 Toyota Camry raffle (above right) on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013. MORE ON PAGE 3> Constitution Week events start Tuesday By BRITANY MILLER THE PARTHENON Thousands of chili enthusi- asts filled Pullman Square and downtown between Eighth and Tenth streets Saturday in celebration of Huntington’s 30th Chilifest. The festival featured nearly 60 different vendors with more than 100 varieties of chili and salsa and drew a crowd of roughly 20,000 to downtown for a day of food and fun. The event brought chili lovers from near and far to sample crowd-pleasing variet- ies, such as third year Marshall University medical student Steven Nakano’s Bacon and Bourbon Chili. Nakano, a Chil- ifest first timer, also prepared both a red chili and chili verde for the West Virginia State Chili Championship. Novice chiliheads were joined in competition by several seasoned Chilifest vet- erans back to defend or reclaim their honor. The returning competitors included Coal Miner’s Breakfast, HillBilly Chili and four-time People’s Choice winner G-Lover Chili. For Chris Kimbler, a fifth gen- eration McCoy and member of Hillbilly Chili who was decked in overalls and harboring a secret stash of watermelon moonshine, Saturday marked his 13th year as part of the event. “We won [People’sChoice] in 2008 and have been Runner Up three times,” Kimbler said. “We’re all about the chili and having fun. We’re just glad ev- erybody came out today.” While the chili tasting ($1 a sample) and the Interna- tional Chili Society cookoff are large parts of the draw for participants, the event, which is sponsored by Ron Smith of Chili Willi’s fame and WSAZ- TV, is about much more than just a hot, hearty cup of beef and tomatoes. Proceeds from the sale of both chili sample tickets and raffle tickets for a 2013 Toyota Camry helped to raise an estimated $70,000 for the 17th Street Ronald McDonald House, according to Smith, Chilifest founder and chair- man. A record $35,000 worth of chili tickets was sold during the event. In addition to chili tents fill- ing the streets, Pullman Square and adjoining businesses pro- vided space for the event to spill over. The Pullman Square lawn featured live entertainment by See CONSTITUTION | Page 5 See CHILI | Page 5 ANDREA STEELE | THE PARTHENON customers decide who wins. It all comes down to numbers — the vendor with the larg- est amount of sales wins the People’s Choice Award. All proceeds go to the Ronald Mc- Donald House Charities of the Tri-State. For the last four years, the reigning champion of the People’s Choice Award was G- Lover Chili. However, according to cook Jason Graham, Chilifest means more to them than just making chili. “G-Lover is named after our friend Todd Glover,” Gra- ham said. “We called him G-Lover, and he loved Chil- ifest. He was at every one I can remember. So, the year after he passed we all got together and decided to do the festival in his memory.” The vendors who work the festival come from all walks of life. Some of them represent organizations or restaurants. Others are just local residents who enjoy cooking chili. Coal Miner’s Breakfast, created by John Opperman, was one such vendor. “I started cooking chili prob- ably 10 or 15 years ago and every- body seemed to enjoy it,” Opperman said. “So, one year I said, ‘Well, let’s go enter Chilifest’ and we’ve been doing it since 2009. Our goal is to raise as much money as we can for the Ronald Mc- Donald House.” Another vendor was Isabel Cross, the lead chef instructor of the culinary arts program at Mountwest Community and Technical College. “Every time there is some sort of a culinary event in Huntington, I take my students there because I want the MCTC culinary program to be there and I want the kids to network with the people around town,” Cross said. “Also, I love chili and Chilifest. I’ve been making chili for the Ron- ald McDonald House for about eight years, so why not do it on our own? That is why we are here today.” Perhaps the most memo- rable vendor was the First Congregational Church United of Christ, whose volunteers wore halos fashioned out of wire and Christmas garland. For most of the day, one or two members stood in the street outside the tent loudly pro- claiming “Come get your Holy Chili, we cooked the Hell out of it.” Aside from the People’s Choice Award, Chilifest is also a venue for the three West Vir- ginia state competitions: Salsa, Chili Verde and Traditional Red Chili. Ron Smith, the chairman of Chilifest, explained the judging process for the three contests. “This is the International Chili Society and a West Vir- ginia State championship for ICS,” Smith said. “We have a judging criteria that we follow. What each judge is seeking to do is pick their first, second and third place choices. Each place gets a certain number of points. Then the numbers go to Chili vendors participate in International Chili Society competitions at 30th Chilifest See COMPETITION| Page 5

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INSIDE: page designed and edited by SAMUEL [email protected], 2 | SPORTS, 3 | OPINION, 4 | LIFE!, 6

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2013 | VOL. 117 NO. 10 | MARSHALL UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER | marshallparthenon.com

HIGH 73° LOW 55°

HERD FALLS TO BOBCATS 31-34

Chilifest heats up downtown

By ALISON WICKLINETHE PARTHENON

To commemorate the adop-tion of the United States Constitution and John Mar-shall’s birthday, Tuesday kicks off Constitution Week celebrations with a book sign-ing by acclaimed educator Dr. Simon Perry.

Perry, professor emeritus of political science at Marshall

University, was an educator at Marshall from 1962 through 2010, which made his 47-year tenure the longest in the his-tory of the university. He has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished West Virginian Award and Marshall’s Distinguished Faculty Award. In 2011, the College of Liberal Arts created The Dr. Simon D. Perry Center

for Constitutional Democracy, which is an interdisciplinary academic program that pro-motes the study of the United States Constitution and government.

Perry’s book, “Thomas Jef-ferson and Andrew Jackson: By Their Deeds You Shall Know Them,” is being published by The Drinko Academy. Alan Gould, director of The Drinko

Academy, said the decision to publish was easy.

“Simon’s book fits well within our mission, which is to help people better under-stand their civic responsibility and the Constitution,” Gould said.

Perry will sign his books beginning at 7 p.m. in the third-floor atrium of the Drinko Library. The books can

be purchased through The Drinko Academy.

Quoits, a game very similar to horseshoes, is always a sta-ple in Marshall’s Constitution Week celebration because it was John Marshall’s favorite game. Ongoing quoits tourna-ments were played on campus last week, but the big finale will be the President’s Invitational Quoits Media

Challenge with members of the news media Sept. 24 at 11:30 a.m. The cutting of John Marshall’s birthday cake by Marshall President Stephen Kopp at 11 a.m. on the Memo-rial Student Center Plaza will precede the event.

Another highlight event of Constitution Week is the

By GEOFFREY FOSTERTHE PARTHENON

Despite its somewhat foggy origin, modern chili has be-come so infused into American cuisine that to claim it as a for-eign recipe would be incorrect. In all probability, chili was cre-ated along the Texas border in the early 1800s, but regardless of its place of conception, most Americans know what a bowl of chili tastes like. If they don’t, a trip to Chilifest will change that right away.

Chilifest celebrated its 30th year Saturday. While people who attend the festival see it as a chance to sample a wide variety of chili and listen to live music, the chili vendors see it a different way. For them, it is a competition and their

30th Chilifest brings in record $35,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities

John Opperman cuts peppers for his team Coal Miner’s Breakfast (top). Attendees enjoy chili (above left) and take time to make donations by entering the 2013 Toyota Camry raffle (above right) on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013.

MORE ON PAGE 3>

Constitution Week events start Tuesday

By BRITANY MILLERTHE PARTHENON

Thousands of chili enthusi-asts filled Pullman Square and downtown between Eighth and Tenth streets Saturday in celebration of Huntington’s 30th Chilifest.

The festival featured nearly 60 different vendors with more than 100 varieties of chili and salsa and drew a crowd of roughly 20,000 to downtown for a day of food and fun.

The event brought chili lovers from near and far to sample crowd-pleasing variet-ies, such as third year Marshall University medical student Steven Nakano’s Bacon and Bourbon Chili. Nakano, a Chil-ifest first timer, also prepared both a red chili and chili verde for the West Virginia State Chili Championship.

Novice chiliheads were joined in competition by several seasoned Chilifest vet-erans back to defend or reclaim their honor. The returning competitors included Coal Miner’s Breakfast, HillBilly Chili and four-time People’s Choice winner G-Lover Chili.

For Chris Kimbler, a fifth gen-eration McCoy and member of Hillbilly Chili who was decked in overalls and harboring a secret stash of watermelon

moonshine, Saturday marked his 13th year as part of the event.

“We won [People’sChoice] in 2008 and have been Runner Up three times,” Kimbler said. “We’re all about the chili and having fun. We’re just glad ev-erybody came out today.”

While the chili tasting ($1 a sample) and the Interna-tional Chili Society cookoff are large parts of the draw for participants, the event, which is sponsored by Ron Smith of Chili Willi’s fame and WSAZ-TV, is about much more than just a hot, hearty cup of beef and tomatoes.

Proceeds from the sale of both chili sample tickets and raffle tickets for a 2013 Toyota Camry helped to raise an estimated $70,000 for the 17th Street Ronald McDonald House, according to Smith, Chilifest founder and chair-man. A record $35,000 worth of chili tickets was sold during the event.

In addition to chili tents fill-ing the streets, Pullman Square and adjoining businesses pro-vided space for the event to spill over.

The Pullman Square lawn featured live entertainment by

See CONSTITUTION | Page 5

See CHILI | Page 5

ANDREA STEELE | THE PARTHENON

customers decide who wins. It all comes down to numbers — the vendor with the larg-est amount of sales wins the People’s Choice Award. All proceeds go to the Ronald Mc-Donald House Charities of the Tri-State.

For the last four years, the reigning champion of the People’s Choice Award was G-Lover Chili. However, according to cook Jason Graham, Chilifest means more to them than just making chili.

“G-Lover is named after our friend Todd Glover,” Gra-ham said. “We called him G-Lover, and he loved Chil-ifest. He was at every one I can remember. So, the year after he passed we all got together and decided to do

the festival in his memory.”The vendors who work the

festival come from all walks of life. Some of them represent organizations or restaurants. Others are just local residents who enjoy cooking chili. Coal Miner’s Breakfast, created by John Opperman, was one such vendor.

“I started cooking chili prob-ably 10 or 15 years ago and every- body seemed

to enjoy it,” Opperman said. “So, one year I said, ‘Well, let’s go enter Chilifest’ and we’ve been doing it since 2009. Our goal is to raise as much money as we can for the Ronald Mc-Donald House.”

Another vendor was Isabel Cross, the lead chef instructor of the culinary arts program at Mountwest Community and Technical College.

“Every time

there is some sort of a culinary event in Huntington, I take my students there because I want the MCTC culinary program to be there and I want the kids to network with the people around town,” Cross said. “Also, I love chili and Chilifest. I’ve been making chili for the Ron-ald McDonald House for about eight years, so why not do it on our own? That is why we are here today.”

Perhaps the most memo-rable vendor was the First Congregational Church United of Christ, whose volunteers wore halos fashioned out of wire and Christmas garland. For most of the day, one or two members stood in the street

outside the tent loudly pro-claiming “Come get your

Holy Chili, we cooked the Hell out of it.”

Aside from the People’s Choice Award, Chilifest is also a venue for the three West Vir-ginia state competitions: Salsa, Chili Verde and Traditional Red Chili.

Ron Smith, the chairman of Chilifest, explained the judging process for the three contests.

“This is the International Chili Society and a West Vir-ginia State championship for ICS,” Smith said. “We have a judging criteria that we follow. What each judge is seeking to do is pick their first, second and third place choices. Each place gets a certain number of points. Then the numbers go to

Chili vendors participate in International Chili Society competitions at 30th Chilifest

See COMPETITION| Page 5

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2013 MARSHALLPARTHENON.COM| |

page designed and edited by BISHOP NASH | [email protected]

See CONFERENCE | Page 5

By ALYSSA SIMONTHE PARTHENON

An online degree audit first released to students in the fall of 2012 through their myMU accounts is gaining popularity.

Degree Works is located on the left side of the myMU browser at the bottom of the QuickLaunch Navigation preferences.

Degree Works is a catalog program that shows how on

track a student is towards grad-uating. Students who began at Marshall University in 2010 or after can track their entire catalog list of courses to keep up with the progress they have made.

Degree Works is a fairly new program that some students became aware of in 2012. Col-ten Settle, a senior jazz studies major from Williamstown, W.Va., heard about the program

through his academic adviser last year.

“It’s an excellent tool for stu-dents to use, it really helps you a lot,” Settle said.

William Biggs, assistant reg-istrar, said he believes Degree Works will bring good things to the future.

“There has been lots of positive feedback,” Biggs said. “Word of mouth helps get the program out there.”

The program shows overall degree progress, lists courses that have been completed, courses in progress and grades students have received. The program shows how many classes are needed in each required department so the scheduling process is more convenient for students and advisers. The program is useful for transfer students because they are able to easily see what

courses they need to take. Degree Works also includes

a grade point average program that shows students their cur-rent grades and current grade point average. A grade point av-erage calculator gives students the option to factor in their cur-rent grade point average along with what grade point average they would like to have. Degree Works will then tell them ex-actly what grade point average

they need to receive to bring their overall grade point aver-age to where they would like it to be.

The program contains a “What If” module that gives students insight on how many courses they would need to take if they were interested in changing their major.

Alyssa Simon can be con-tacted at [email protected].

Degree Works helps track graduation progress online

By SHANNON STOWERSTHE PARTHENON

Live music filled the air at Valley Park in Hurricane W.Va., Friday evening as a Marshall University student’s friends and family came to-gether in support of a good cause.

The music was part of a benefit concert for Schuylar Reggi, a senior advertising major from Hurricane, W.Va., who is raising money for a mission trip that will take her to 11 countries throughout Central and South America. Reggi, who begins her jour-ney in January, will spend time in such places as Costa Rica, Honduras and Peru. The trip is part of World Race, an organization that sends peo-ple on missions around the world.

For Reggi, who will gradu-ate in December before going on her mission, organizing a fundraiser of this level has been a learning experience.

“I had never done a fund-raiser like this before,” Reggi said. “But it means a lot to me that everyone came out and the bands have been really supportive.”

One of those bands was Zane and The Dinosaurs, a folk/rock collective who came together for this spe-cial occasion. Zane Parsley, a senior biology education major, couldn’t turn down the opportunity to help out Reggi even though the group had never been on stage together before.

“Tonight was our first performance,” Parsley said. “Schuylar called us a few weeks ago, we didn’t have a group name or anything, but

we were able to get together for this evening.”

Parsley, who sang and played the banjo, met Reggi during their freshman year of college and was happy to come out and show support for his friend.

“I’m proud of her and I’ll be praying for her,” Parsley said. “I encourage students to be like Schuylar and invest in something that matters.”

The World Race will not be Reggi’s first mission to a foreign country. In 2011, Reggi went to Haiti on a 10-day mission. Ten days, however, do not com-pare to the 11 months Reggi will spend away from home in 2014. Reggi hopes the mission will change her life as much as those that she will help.

“I hope to become a stron-ger Christian,” Reggi said. “I also hope to gain confidence in sharing my faith with others.”

Anthony Mossburg, a rising star who has won multiple talent competitions across the country, followed Zane and The Dinosaurs with his own acoustic set. He has opened for such acts as Toby-mac, Skillet and Switchfoot. Torn In Two, a Christian rock band from Huntington, con-cluded the night’s festivities.

Although it was Reggi’s first experience at a fundraiser of such magnitude, she said she was thankful for those who spent their Friday evening helping her come one step closer to achieving her goal.

For more about Reggi’s mission, visit schuylarreggi.theworldrace.org.

Shannon Stowers can be contacted at [email protected].

Concert benefits Marshall student’s 11-month mission

By CARISSA JANCZEWSKI THE PARTHENON

Sunday marked the Heal-ing Place of Huntington’s first inaugural “Race for Recovery,” a four-mile race through Rotary Park.

The race took place at 2 p.m. and proceeds went to benefit the Healing Place of Huntington.

The Healing Place of Hun-tington provides long-term residential recovery pro-grams from alcohol and drug addiction for men. There are currently 30 beds offered, but is expected to grow to 100 beds in the future.

The Healing Place of Hun-tington was molded after a similar program in Louis-ville, Ky. that was recognized

as a “model that works” to break the cycle of addiction. These recovery programs serve as models around Ken-tucky and other programs in both Richmond, Va. and Ra-leigh, N.C.

The Healing Place is the only center modeled after the Louisville programs in the state of West Virginia.

In this program, men be-come productive members of society and rebuild their lives to restore what they had before their addiction.

John Yeager, race director, said that he’s excited about the race because it will bring awareness to the faces of re-covery rather than the faces of addiction.

Yeager has been involved

with The Healing Place since 2010 and has been with The Healing Place since its open-ing in January of 2011.

Participants in attendance ranged from those who are affected by drug and alco-hol abuse to those who have dedicated themselves to helping others through The Healing Place.

“I’m a graduate of this pro-gram, and I came today to spread the word that recov-ery is possible for those who want it,” said Matt Boggs, a Healing Place Development Associate. “I’m here to make sure the event runs smoothly and help where I can.”

Besides the Race for Re-covery, The Healing Place will be having more events

coming up in an effort to raise funds to get more beds in their facility.

“We have the Rally for Recovery coming up next Fri-day and the Embrace Hope Dinner in November,” said Yeager.

Besides raising money for the facility, those involved are also looking to raise an equal amount of aware-ness about drug and alcohol addiction.

“We live in an area where drug and alcohol addiction is an epidemic,” said Boggs, “People need to know that help is here for them if they want it.”

Carissa Janczewski can be contacted at [email protected].

Runners hit Rotary Park for Healing Place benefit race

By MASON BEUHRINGTHE PARTHENON

Stress and anxiety are factors that can cripple any student’s academic career, but it can be easily avoided with the correct educational tools.

The Marshall University Stu-dent Resource Center will begin a series of workshops starting Wednesday to help students better engage their academic careers.

The first workshop is Tackle Your Time Management in 20. The goal is to teach students how to better their time man-agement skills in 20 minutes in order to decrease any anxieties or stress students may be facing.

“We have chosen Tackle Your Time in 20 because we think that time management is central to all the other skills students have to develop to be successful in college,” said Matthew James, senior resource specialist of the SRC. “If a student can ad-equately mange their time, then they will be successful inside of

the classroom and outside of the classroom, and be able to man-age personal relationships, their work schedule and homework schedule.”

The workshop will take place four times in a two-day period; Sept. 17, at 7p.m. in Twin Tow-ers East, and Sept. 18, at noon and 2p.m. in the SRC Conference Room. The last workshop is at 7p.m. in the First Year Residence Hall South.

Michelle Barbour, SRC Career Adviser and a designer of the workshop, said that it is going to be a fun and quick workshop that will give students tips on how to manage their time.

Not only is the workshop made to help students manage their time, but it also focuses on student retention.

“We want to help our students stay here, if students don’t make the grades then they can’t re-main enrolled and continue on to graduation,” James said. “We want students to realize that managing their time is a really

important component of being a college student.”

The workshop is open to all students and no appointment is necessary. Although the work-shop is geared toward first year students, upperclassmen can benefit from it too, Barbour said.

Mason Beuhring can be contacted at [email protected].

By CARISSA JANCZEWSKITHE PARTHENON

The College of Health Pro-fessions will be a vital partner in the inaugural West Vir-ginia Integrated Behavorial Health Conference that will start this Tuesday, Sept. 17 through Thursday, Sept. 19 at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, W.Va.

Activities on the agenda are engaging with other members of the behavioral health com-munity, creating partnerships throughout the state, have the opportunity to learn from selected speakers, and earn “continuing education credits (CEUs).

Topics to be discussed are issues concerning build-ing integrated care systems supporting individuals with substance use, mental health, intellectual and developmen-tal disorders.

Students will receive a significant discount for the conference and are

encouraged to sign up to take advantage of the 100 plenary and workshop sessions of-fered at the conference.

Dr. William Pewen, as-sistant professor of public health and family medicine at Marshall, said the meeting will bring together profes-sionals from diverse fields, including physicians, so-cial workers, pharmacists, nurses, law enforcement of-ficers, legal advocates and others. Participants will have the opportunity both to en-hance their own skills and learn how to better collabo-rate with other professionals.

“This is the first time so many disciplines have been brought together to confront our region’s behavioral health needs,” Pewen said. “From sub-stance abuse to child welfare to disabilities – this meeting could mark a sea change in im-proving public health in West Virginia and throughout the Appalachian region.”

Each day at the conference will bring special events cre-ated for networking purposes and numerous locally and internationally recognized presenters like, William Kel-librew IV, an international advocate for civil, human, women, children and victims’ right. In 2011, he was recog-nized by the White House as a Champion of Change for his work to end domestic violence and sexual assault and is just one example of the speak-ers that will be present at the conference.

The conference will also fea-ture internationally and locally recognized presenters who will examine the state of integrated health care. Among these is Dr. Daniel Carlat, who serves as di-rector of the Prescription Project in Washington, D.C., and is re-sponsible for the oversight of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ initiatives on medical conflicts of interest.

COHP sponsors W.Va. health conference Student Resource Center offers time management workshops

ANDREA STEELE | THE PARTHENON

Ben Newlon of Huntington races down a dirt path during the inaugural “Race of Recovery” on Sunday, Sept. 15 at Rotary Park in Huntington.

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page designed and edited by WILL VANCE | [email protected]

See VBALL | Page 5

By WILL VANCESPORTS EDITOR

Despite having a chance late in the game, four costly turn-overs were too much for the Thundering Herd to overcome as it lost the 57th Battle for the Bell 31-34 Saturday night in Athens, Ohio.

“You can’t turn the ball over the number of times we did and expect to win a football game,” Marshall head coach Doc Hol-liday said.

The Herd got off to a rough start, fumbling on its first two drives, one of which the Bobcats converted into a touchdown. After a field goal to put the Bob-cats on top 10-7, sophomore running back Steward Butler mishandled the kick-off, which bounced into the endzone and was recovered by Ohio’s Tran Davis for a touchdown.

After halftime, the Bobcats scored on its first two posses-sions, including an 18 play, 75 yard drive that took 8: 31 off the clock.

“They did a great job on that particular drive,” Holliday said. “It felt like 20 plays where we didn’t get them off the field. You have to give that quarterback credit, he made plays when he had to.”

Ohio’s senior quarterback Tyler Tettleton once again played well against the Herd,

completing 25 of 38 passes for 266 yard and a touchdown pass to Troy Hill. In past seasons Tet-tleton has hurt the Herd with his legs, but Saturday that was not the case.

“He didn’t do as much run-ning as we thought he’d do,” senior defensive end Jeremiah Taylor said. “He just sat back there and made plays with his arm. We knew he could do that, we just came up short.”

The Herd offense managed to keep the team in the game for most of the second half, highlighted by a 38-yard touch-down pass from Rakeem Cato to a wide- open Gator Hoskins down the sideline.

The fatal mistake came on the Herd’s first possession of the fourth quarter when Cato tried to get the ball to Demetrius Evans towards the sideline. Evans slid during his cut and fell, allowing Ohio cornerback Devin Bass to collect the easy interception.

“It was a bad play and that’s on me,” said Cato of the mis-take. “He slid down but I should have never thrown the ball in the first place.”

The Bobcats would turn the interception into another field goal, extending their lead to 34-24 over the Herd with 2:39

Turnovers doom Herd against Bobcats, 31-34

RICHARD CRANK | THE PARTHENON

Sophomore running back Steward Butler looks for running room against the Ohio Bobcats Saturday, Sept. 14 at Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio.

RICHARD CRANK | THE PARTHENON

Ohio quarterback Tyler Tettleton escapes pressure by the Herd’s senior defensive end Alex Bazzie.

THE PARTHENONMarshall volleyball swept

three opponents in the Thun-der Invitational in this past weekend at the Cam Henderson Center to improve two on the season. The Herd has turned their entire season around af-ter defeating Southern Illinois, Kent State and Eastern Ken-tucky at home.

“It was a real team effort,” head coach Mitch Jacobs said. “We don’t lose at home, we hold home court.”

A large part of the three vic-tories was the return of senior outside hitter Laura Der from injuries.

“Der gives us a player on court during big situations,” Ja-cobs said “She is a confidence booster.”

Team chemistry also played a big part in the three game sweep at the invitational. The entire team was finally back to-gether and they played a large part, said senior libero Dorothy Rahal.

Volleyball sweeps Thunder Invitational

THOMAS GREEN | THE PARTHENON

Laura Der (4) and Dorthy Rahal (1) motivate their team during a match of the Thunder Invitational last weekend in the Cam Henderson Center. The Invitational were Der’s first since suffering a cuncussion early in the season.

See FOOTBALL | Page 5

By THOMAS GREENTHE PARTHENON

Marshall men’s soccer got its first win of the season this weekend after defeating Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne 1-0 during the Qdoba Invitational at the Hoops Family Field at Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex. The Herd dropped

the first game of the invita-tional against Oakland but improved through the week-end to take their first victory of the 2013 season. “Relief” said head coach Bob Gray af-ter the win. “We played a lot of close ones and lost a lot of close ones, wondered if that

Men’s soccer wins first match of season

THOMAS GREEN | THE PARTHENON

Senior midfielder Anthony Vergara passes the ball during the Herds win against IPFW Sunday, Sept. 15 at the Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex.

See SOCCER | Page 5

Opinion4

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page designed and edited by REBECCA STEPHENS | [email protected]

EDITORIAL

Voice your opinion. It is your right. Answer our poll at www.marshallparthenon.com or tweet us your answer at @MUParthenon.

YOU CAN BE HERD

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The Constitution of theUnited States of America

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble; and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

THE FIRST AMENDMENT

EDITORIAL

Please keep letters to the edi-tor at 300 words or fewer. They must be saved in Microsoft Word and sent as an attach-ment. Longer letters may be used as guest columns at the editor’s discretion. Guest col-umn status will not be given at the author’s request. All letters must be signed and include an address or phone number for confirmation. Letters may be edited for grammar, libelous statements, available space or factual errors. Compelling

letters that are posted on The Parthenon website, www.mar-shallparthenon.com, can be printed at the discretion of the editors.

The opinions expressed in the columns and letters do not necessarily represent the views of The Parthenon staff.

Please send news releases to the editors at [email protected]. Please keep in mind, letters are printed based on timeliness, news-worthiness and space.

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ADVICE COLUMN

MCT CAMPUS

Obama’s college plan needs workPresident Barack Obama recently in-

troduced a new education plan to make college more affordable.

Many colleges and universities struggle under government budget cuts and most turn to raising tuition as a quick fix for their money woes, but ultimately this is not enough.

Under Obama’s new plan, the govern-ment spending would be divvied out in an entirely new way. Colleges and universities would receive funding based on perfor-mance, which would take into account factors such as graduation rates, average incomes and the debt of graduates.

Also, the plan calls for an improvement in quality, such as awarding credits for what the students actually learn as opposed to how much time they spend in a class.

Perhaps most interesting is how the plan proposes to deal with debt. A

graduate would pay 10 percent of his or her income, regardless of the amount bor-rowed. If he or she do not make enough to cover the interest, the government would step in and make up the difference. If the graduate ends up making more than he or she anticipated, he or she would have the option to switch to a traditional repay-ment plan. However, after 20 years, any remaining balance would be forgiven.

This plan sounds good in theory, but when you take a closer look, it has the potential to create more problems than it would solve.

Given that colleges and universities would be receiving funding based on graduation rates as opposed to enroll-ment, they might feel the need to lower degree requirements or graduate unpre-pared students.

Also, this plan is geared toward colleges

operating on a two or four-year plan, but it is well known that most college stu-dents are not graduating in these time frames. How will those who take longer to graduate factor into this new plan?

Another possible side effect of Obama’s plan is the method of repayment. If stu-dents know upfront that after a 20-year period their debts will be forgiven, they might not take as much consideration into choosing a loan. This could also lead to taxpayers being left with the bill if gradu-ates are unable to payback their loans, ultimately costing us more than it would save.

There is a lot of restructuring involved under this plan, and while it is not im-possible for this plan to become a reality, there is a need for more research and thought to make sure this plan best serves the college students.

Dear Ashley, I’m a freshman and feel really terrible

about myself. I’m just really tired of how I look. I’ve struggled with acne for years, and in high school everyone else had it too, so I didn’t feel too out of place. But here I feel extremely insecure about it. It’s taking a serious toll on my self-es-teem. I’ve tried Proactiv to no avail, and am now trying another product, which is only helping a little bit. Any advice you have for me would be greatly appreci-ated. Thank you for listening.

-- Is This Real Life?

Dear “Is This Real Life,” Everyone has been in this type of situ-

ation at some point. More often than not I feel the exact same way when a pimple rears its ugly head. Chances are even the most confident looking people

around campus are insecure about some aspect of their appearance-especially blemishes.

There are a lot of different factors that contribute to the nuisance known as acne such as: diet, genetics, makeup us-age, stress and the type of skin we have.

In some cases it would probably be best to talk with a dermatologist to see what kind of product or medication can alleviate the problem. But the most im-portant piece of advice I can give you is to simply be happy with yourself and don’t focus so much on what you con-sider flaws.

Chances are very few people are ac-tually bothered enough by acne to pick on you, and it’s probable that you’re noticing it way more than other people do. You’re doing a great disservice to yourself when you spend so much time

focusing on insecurities, and that will have quite the impact on your mental health.

So, just take a deep breath and simply don’t worry about it so much. Focus on just being happy with yourself instead of the impossible image of physical per-fection society puts on a pedestal. The more you like yourself, the more stress that will be alleviated, and maybe getting rid of stress will prevent blemishes from starting.

Remember, when you consider your-self beautiful you will end up radiating that beauty!

Ashley Prichard is a guest columnist and will offer advice on any topic. All questions are confidential and kept anonymous. She can be contacted at [email protected].

Dealing with self-esteem issues

LOS ANGELES TIMES (MCT)Churches and other nonprof-

its long have been forbidden from endorsing political candi-dates. But erratic enforcement of the law has emboldened supporters of legislation in Congress that would end the restriction. Far from needing to be repealed, the ban on poli-tics in the pulpit ought to be enforced more aggressively.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., would re-peal a 1954 amendment to the tax code sponsored by then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson. The amendment says that churches and other so-called 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations may not “participate in, or intervene in … any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”

Jones’ legislation seeks to restore the “First Amendment rights” of churches, but that’s misleading. Churches may have a First Amendment right to en-dorse candidates, but there is no constitutional right to a tax exemption. Congress is free to condition such exemptions — which can be worth millions of dollars — on an agreement by churches and charities to refrain from partisan political activity. And it’s the IRS’ respon-sibility to enforce compliance.

Unfortunately, enforcement has been minimal, despite highly publicized protests in which some preachers have endorsed or opposed candidates by name during religious services, daring the IRS to sanction them. Para-doxically, the lack of enforcement is cited by some critics as a rea-son to repeal the law.

Not all critics of the Johnson amendment would abolish it. The Commission on Account-ability and Policy for Religious

Organizations, comprising re-ligious leaders from several traditions, recently suggested that members of the clergy should be allowed to endorse candidates “in the context of a religious worship.” But churches would still be barred from spending tax-deductible contri-butions on election activities.

The problem with that proposal is that a political endorsement from the pul-pit is likely to be influential precisely because it occurs as part of a religious rite. The ban on such endorsements should remain, but the IRS needs to have clearer stan-dards for determining when a preacher has crossed the line. Currently the agency decides whether the Johnson amend-ment has been violated by considering all “facts and cir-cumstances,” an amorphous standard that can lead to time-consuming but incon-clusive investigations. That was the case with a 2004 sermon at All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif., about George W. Bush and John F. Kerry. The rector didn’t en-dorse either candidate but suggested that Jesus would have condemned Bush’s Iraq war strategy.

In a 2007 Supreme Court decision interpreting federal election law, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that a po-litical advertisement should be construed as an endorsement only if it “is susceptible of no reasonable interpretation other than as an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate.” That should be the test for a sermon as well.

The IRS should adopt such a standard, and then vigorously enforce it.

The pulpit should be free of politics

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2013 MARSHALLPARTHENON.COM| |5

page designed and edited by REBECCA STEPHENS | [email protected]

FOOTBALLContinued from Page 3

CONFERENCEContinued from Page 2

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left in the game. The Herd was unable to score quickly enough, however, and Cato ran in a one yard touchdown with 29 seconds remaining in the game, making the final score 31-34, Ohio.

“You never stop until the clock hits all zeros and that’s what we did,” Cato said. “That’s one thing I can say I’m proud of, we fought all the way through.”

Cato completed 30 of 45 passes for 366 yards and the touchdown to Hoskins, while adding 30 yards and a touch-down on the ground. Tommy Shuler once again led the Herd receivers with nine catches for 95 yards, followed closely by Demetrius Evans with nine catches for 59 yards. Sopho-more running back Kevin Grooms led the team in rush-ing in his first significant game action, rushing for 35 yards and a touchdown.

Though the Herd outpaced the Bobcats in total offense, 482 to 335, the Herd struggled to stop the Bobcats on third down, much like they did last season. The Bobcats converted 11 of 19 third down attempts, including many on its first two drives of the second half.

“It’s real frustrating,” Taylor said. “We work on third downs in practice every day and if you can’t get a team off on third down you’re going to have is-sues and as you can see, we had issues tonight.”

The game was the third Bat-tle for the Bell in a row won by Ohio, making the overall record 32-19-6 in favor of the Bobcats.

The Herd will travel to Blacksburg, Va., for its next game Saturday against Vir-ginia Tech.

Will Vance can be con-tacted at [email protected].

VBALLContinued from Page 3

“We are getting used to each other’s flow,” Rahal said. “Now we are like a wave, whereas be-fore we were scrappy, now we’re all together playing as one.”

Rahal received the MVP award at the end of the tourna-ment after leading the team in kills and totaling 35 digs.

The Herd ended the tourna-ment on a high note by defeating Kent State in the fifth set 15-7.

Freshman outside hitter Cassie Weaver provided a ma-jor boost leading the team in both blocks and kills through

the deciding set. “Weaver’s blocking was

pretty incredible,” Jacobs said.The volleyball team now

turns to its next challenge of the season, No. 7 ranked Michi-gan at the Michigan Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich. However, the Herd has an entire week to prepare.

“We’re prepping for tough-est opponents to date,” Jacobs said. “But we have three days of practice for first time since start of season. We’re just going to play our hearts out.”

“Dr. Carlat brings a key per-spective to our concurrent meeting of the International Symposium on Safe Medicine as an expert in how conflicts of interest influence the use of prescription drugs,” Pewen said. “The chance to attend a meeting of this sort should be a com-pelling opportunity for health professionals and concerned

members of the public.”“This is an extremely unique

conference; it has never been done before and students should take advantage of the learning opportunities this conference offers,” Pewen said.

Carissa Janczewski can be contacted at [email protected].

first win would ever come.”The Herd came out strong in

the first half and kept the score even at zero. The first and only goal of the game came in 15 minutes into the second half at 46:29 as freshmen midfielder Trevor Starcher scored on an assist from sophomore forward Andrew Ferguson.

The men’s soccer team finally has a win on the season but there is still much to be done for the team. Coach Grey is still trying to find the best player to start for every game. “It’s a work in progress, we have a solid six or seven the rest are battling for playtime,” Grey said.

The biggest question mark on the field still remains at the goal keeper position, where it is a daily battle for the starting po-sition. “We have a big gap to fill at goal keeper, we were solid for four years with [Daniel] With-row,” Grey said. Although Sellitti started yesterday in the Herds first win he has not completely won the position yet.

“It all depends, Sellitti said. “If I don’t play my hardest every

practice I won’t start.” There are currently two

keepers in the race for starter, Sellittti and Tyler Atwell, both have three starts each.

The Herd enjoyed its first home field advantage of the sea-son and it was emotional to get its first win in its brand new soc-cer complex in front of a crowd of 458.

“I almost got a little teary,” said sophomore transfer goal keeper Danny Sellitti.

The Herd will look to keep their momentum moving as the season continues this Tuesday against Virginia Military Institute at the Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex.

“Got to get homefield advan-tage,” said coach Grey. “We need to find a way to recreate the at-mosphere at Sam Hood Field.”

“We want to keep the streak going, just like a tire,” Sellitti said. “Play better soccer and stop making errors.”

Thomas Green can be contacted at [email protected].

SOCCERContinued from Page 2

PHOTOS BY RICHARD CRANK | THE PARTHENON

LEFT: Junior wide receiver Craig Wilkins stretches out for a catch.

BOTTOM: Marshall University fans cheer for The Herd during the "Battle of the Bell" against Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Saturday, September 14, 2013. Attendence at the game was 24,836, the third largest in Peden Stadium history, and had plenty of kelly green in the stands.

RIGHT: Junior receiver Devon Smith (11) celebrates with senior tight end Gator Hoskins (26) after Hoskins third quarter touchdown. The touchdown catch was Hoskins' third of the season.

Robert C. Byrd Forum on Civic Responsibility lecture featuring Freedom Rider Joan C. Browning. She has been feted all across the country for her efforts in the civil rights movement. She has been on the Oprah Winfrey show and a guest of Congress. She currently writes and lectures at colleges and uni-versities on her experiences as a white woman supporting civil rights.

Her address, titled “Oh the Places That Freedom Rid-ing Take Me” is Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. in the Francis-Booth

Experimental Theatre. In addition to that address, Browning will speak about the Constitution and civil rights at 7 p.m. in the Fran-cis-Booth Experimental Theatre.

A later Constitution Week event will be an Amicus Cu-rae Lecture featuring James Simon, dean emeritus of New York Law School. The lecture will take place Oct. 8 at the Marshall University Founda-tion Hall.

Alison Wickline can be contacted at [email protected].

CONSTITUTIONContinued from Page 1

Chris Sutton and C&S Railroad, and provided guests with room to dance to performances by One Foot and City Heat.

Specialty contests such as Hot Pepper Eating, Beer Drinking and the Shot N’ Hol-ler competition also took place in front of the Pullman Square fountain.

The Marshall Pediatrics Kid’s Korner complete with inflatables, face painting and temporary tattoos took over all of Ninth Street between Third Avenue and Veteran’s Memorial Boulevard.

Leah Payne, director of public affairs for

the Marshall University schools of medi-cine and pharmacy, spoke about their first year of involvement in the event.

“Chilifest is a natural fit for Marshall Pediatrics and for the School of Medicine because it’s a major fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House and our mission is to take care of kids,” Payne said. “We just wanted to be involved.”

The event also provided a great oppor-tunity to invite locals into the re-opening of Huntington’s Kitchen, where chili tick-ets could be used towards a sampling of

Chilifest’s one and only vegan chili.Barbara Neal, a volunteer for the Ronald

McDonald House, expressed her content with the event’s turnout and hope for the future.

“It’s a great day, it can only get better,” Neal said. “I’d like to see this be bigger and have arts and crafts, because a lot of peo-ple like to go to those fall arts and crafts fairs. I think if they added more arts and crafts and just spread it out, we could do even more.”

Britany Miller can be contacted at [email protected].

CHILIContinued from Page 1

COMPETITIONContinued from Page 1

our master scorekeeper, who does the tally, and from those points that we deter-mine the winner.”

This year’s winner of the Salsa competition was Jerry Workman of Charles-ton. The winner of the Chili Verde contest was Margie O’Shaughnessy. For the Tra-ditional Red Chili contest, the winner was Gayle Donovan from Cincinnati. All three winners will compete in the World Championship Cook-off

in Palm Springs, Calif. Oct. 11.The champions of the Peo-

ple’s Choice Award was Cabell Huntington Children’s Hospital with $7,417 worth of chili sold.

Not surprisingly, The First Congregational Church of Christ won for best showmanship.

This year, Chilifest raised a record breaking $35,000 for the Ronald McDonald House.

Geoffrey Foster can be contacted at [email protected].

6

page designed and edited by CODI MOHR | [email protected]

Life!MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2013 | | MARSHALLPARTHENON.COM*

ww

1. Mothman 6. Dikembe Mutombo

2. Bigfoot 7. Chupacabra

3. Tree Octopus 8. Kraken

4. Slender Man 9. Basilisk

5. Flatwoods monster 10. The Great Pumpkin

EDITORS’ PICKS | TOP TEN LEGENDARY CREATURES

“ THEY SAW IT. BUT SEEING ISN'T ALWAYS BELIEVING.

By VINCENT ESPINOZATHE PARTHENON

Marshall University is home to many student organizations, including the Society of Black Scholars.

Maurice Cooley is the cur-rent director and founder of the organization as well as the creator of the concept, which helps provide students with the tools to reach their professional goals.

The society has grown over the years — beginning with about 12 students in 2003 and growing to about 50 members.

According to Cooley, the pri-mary goal of the society is to help students realize their pro-fessional goals by providing them with the tools to succeed academically.

The society offers tutoring and men-torship to help make the transition into college easier for freshman. Each new member is assigned a mentor to help with school or college living.

Mentors are upperclassman, and ac-cording to Cooley, the focus is on conduct behavior, academic performance and help-ing students solve problems.

“The hard part is the early work the students need to develop during the first semester of school,” Cooley said.

Each student must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher to join and remain in the organization.

Upon arrival, the average GPA is around 3.5 and the average ACT score is about a 23. Each student is not only required to meet certain academic standards but also to go through a series of extensive interviews.

Students are required to attend a se-ries of scheduled events and activities each semester. Events range from social and personal development to cultural

and academic. Each student is required to attend at least 70 percent of the events.

“If the students follow society standards, around 90 percent of students go on to graduate and professional school,” Cooley said.

Since the program began in 2003, it has graduated six medical students, two doc-torate and pharmacology students, one physical therapy doctorate and several other students with master’s degrees.

Vincent Espinoza can be contacted at [email protected].

SOCIETY OF BLACK SCHOLARS GROWING

Members of the Society of Black Scholars pose in front of the John Marshall statue. The society offers students an opportunity for mentorship and achievement. SUBMITTED PHOTO

By GEOFFREY FOSTERTHE PARTHENON

The Mothman. Many people know the name, but how many know the story? Some might say that the story begins in the '60s, when two couples driving down a dark road encountered a creature that should not exist. Others say it began much earlier than that, before there was even a state called West Virginia.

In the year 1777, Chief Corn-stalk, a formidable Shawnee warrior who fought for the land that our forefathers wished to own, grew tired of war. He de-cided to strike a peace treaty with his adversary, Captain Arbuckle, the commander of the garrison at Fort Randolph, which sat on the land that is now Point Pleasant, W.Va. Cornstalk arrived at the fort with two companions at his side, seeking an audience with the commander. Instead of dis-cussing the prospect of peace, Arbuckle detained the three men.

After several days with no word, Cornstalk's son arrived at the fort and demanded to see his father. Arbuckle or-dered the young man be taken prisoner as well.

On Nov. 8, 1777, a group of Arbuckle's men, enraged by the death of their compatriots at the hands of another Native Ameri-can, redirected their rage at the prisoners. They burst into the room that the four Native Amer-icans occupied and opened fire. It is said that as Chief Cornstalk lay dying, he cursed the region for 200 years. Many people be-lieve that the Mothman was a manifestation of this curse.

One hundred and eighty nine years later, on Nov. 15, 1966, two couples were traveling down Route 60 in the desolate TNT area just outside Point Pleasant. Just before midnight,

they saw what appeared to be two red reflectors on the side of the road, possibly affixed to a street sign. However, as the car approached the reflectors, it became apparent that they were actually eyes. The face of the creature was not clear, but it had gray skin, a muscu-lar physique and folded wings on its back. It stood between 6 and 7 feet tall. The driver, Roger Scarberry, sped past the creature, desperate to leave the thing behind. Instead, it opened its wings and took flight. Scar-berry stomped the gas, quickly accelerating to 100 mph. The creature followed, matching their speed with apparent ease. During the terrifying pursuit, the creature slammed its body against the roof of their car several times. Then, almost as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. Scarberry drove on. When they came closer to Point Pleasant, almost certain that the creature was gone, they saw it again on a small hill near the road. It seemed to be waiting for them. Its legs were pressed against its chest and its wings were wrapped around its body like a cocoon. As the headlights shone on its face, causing its red eyes to glow, it shot straight up in the air and flew off.

Once they were inside the city limits, the two couples informed the police of the incident. They were the first to report the crea-ture, but they were not the last.

The Mothman had come to Point Pleasant.

Over the next year, eyewitness accounts of the cryptid came in with startling frequency. How-ever, the Mothman sightings were not the only unusual occur-rences in the area. During that time, residents reported strange lights hovering over the skies of the city on a regular basis. It happened so often that people

would frequently drive to a hill in nearby Gallapolis Ferry to get a better view of the lights.

Perhaps the strangest phe-nomenon during that time was the sudden appearance of the men in black. These men would show up at the houses of people who had claimed to see either the Mothman or UFOs. They drove black cars that looked fresh off the showroom floor. They were often described as having high cheekbones and olive colored skin. They appar-ently spoke with strange accents and tended to exhibit odd be-havior. A few of them wore suits that didn’t appear to fit quite right, as if the bodies under-neath were misshapen or their suits were poorly tailored. Their visits generally had a single pur-pose: to warn witnesses to keep quiet about the strange things they had seen.

One woman, a reporter named Mary Hyre, had fre-quent visits from a number of these men. One of them had “strange eyes” and kept his left hand in his pocket for the entire visit. Another one had abnormally long fingers and a prominent speech impedi-ment. Only one feature among her visitors was consistent: They never blinked their eyes, arguably their most disturb-ing characteristic. Hyre later told a friend that she felt like she was speaking to aliens dis-guised as human beings.

Another aspect of the phe-nomenon, a notion posited by John Keel, author of “The Moth-man Prophecies,” was that the creature’s appearance signaled the coming of an impending disaster.

Precisely thirteen months after the Mothman's first sighting, on Dec. 15, 1967, di-saster struck. The Silver Bridge — which crossed the Ohio

River between Point Pleas-ant and Kanagua, Ohio — was crammed full of rush-hour traf-fic. The bridge’s suspension cables began to snap. Wit-nesses said that it sounded like a shotgun volley. Moments later, the bridge came crashing down, dumping cars, trucks and 18-wheelers into the river. Rescue teams were dispatched, but there was not enough time to save everybody, resulting in 46 deaths.

After that, the Mothman was never seen in Point Pleasant again.

However, the creature's leg-acy lives on. Every September, the Mothman Festival takes place in Point Pleasant. The festival features live music, guest speakers, food vendors and a variety of merchants. The Mothman Museum, lo-cated right around the corner from the festival's main thor-oughfare, will be open to all visitors.

Jeff Wamsley, the festival's director and author of two Mothman books, says the fes-tival's worldwide appeal has fueled its continual growth.

“The Mothman Festival at-tracts the curious from all over the world,” Wamsley said. “I think the small hometown ap-peal of Point Pleasant and a world-known monster called Mothman have worked well to-gether in peaking the interest of people from all corners of the globe. The Mothman Festival continues to grow each year. We have all sorts of new surprises in store this year as well.”

The Twelfth Annual Moth-man Festival will be held on Sept. 21 and 22 on Main Street in downtown Point Pleasant, and admission is free.

Geoffrey Foster can be contacted at [email protected].

MOTHMAN FESTIVAL COMMEMORATES CREATURE'S LEGACY

By A. JAY MEADOWSFOR THE PARTHENON

It is an understatement to say that gamers are excited for the release of “Grand Theft Auto V” on Sept. 17. Unlike annual re-lease titles, such as “Call of Duty” and “Assassin’s Creed,” it has been over five years since the release of “Grand Theft Auto IV,” and fans have become ravenous for a new game. With a record breaking budget of $265 million, “GTA V” is projected to make $1 billion before the year ends, with over 3 million pre-orders and 25 million stop-keeping units made available at launch. Move over “Bioshock Infinite” and “The Last of Us,” it would seem we have a new lead for “Game of the Year,” right?

Does it not seem a little asi-nine to hand out GOTY awards when there are still three and a half months left in the year? The game is not even out yet, but my mind keeps telling me that it is going to be the greatest gam-ing experience yet. Whenever a “GTA V” trailer comes on tele-vision, I have to hush everyone in the room because I want to experience the addictive feeling of hype I get from this game. The story mode has set itself apart from other “GTA” titles with an innovative three-protagonist gameplay system, along with the claim from developer Rock-star Games that the open world is bigger than “Grand Theft Auto 4,” “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” and “Red Dead Re-demption” combined.

Besides multiplayer game-play that you would see in shooters, open world games seem to hold attention of gam-ers long enough for developers to put out downloadable con-tent to increase the longevity of their game. The story and missions included in the game

will take up a good chunk of time, but the reason why I love “GTA” is because I can get lost for hours doing everything that is not the missions. From driving cars and engaging in gunfights, to playing fully func-tioning games of golf, tennis and more within “GTA V,” there is no shortage of activities to do on your own, or with others. With “Grand Theft Auto Online” set to launch Oct. 1, you can now do all of these things with friends and strangers.

“GTA V” has only been an-nounced for the PS3 and Xbox 360, with no word on a PC or next generation console version of the game. That is a whole other realm of possibilities that will keep you playing this game for years. I have seen mods that range from flying cars to skin packs that make your charac-ter look like The Hulk. Some of my favorite YouTube gaming channels, like Inside Gaming, EatMyDiction1 and more, con-tinue to play “Grand Theft Auto IV” with mods.

Rockstar Games does not need to put out a “GTA” game every year, nor do I think they will release four or five downloadable content packs during its lifetime. Like “GTA IV’s” expansions, “The Lost and Damned” and “The Ballad of Gay Tony,” I can see a simi-lar release strategy for “GTA V,” along with support for “Grand Theft Auto Online” and the modding community once a PC version is released. If they do all of this, “Grand Theft Auto V” will continue to have a space on my hard drive, with no fear of being deleted for at least five years or more.

A. Jay Meadows can be con-tacted at [email protected].

GTA: WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES

A statue of Chief Cornstalk, Shawnee warrior who cursed Point Pleasant, W. Va., stands as part of the town's history and Mothman's legacy.

PHOTO BY GEOFFREY FOSTER

”– Alexander Leek, "The Mothman Prophecies"