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A SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID

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� ursday, February 17, 2011 www.theplainsman.com Vol. 117, Issue 19, 20 Pages

Eric AustinMANAGING EDITOR

O� cials from the Alabama State Pesti-cide Residue Laboratory have con� rmed the live oaks at Toomer’s Corner, landmark icons of the city and the University, have been poisoned and are unlikely to survive.

“It was malicious,” said Gary Keever, pro-fessor of horticulture. “� ere’s no other way to look at it.”

Keever said the trees were poisoned with tebuthiuron, commonly known as Spike 80DF. Horticulture experts reported the lowest amount detected was 0.78 parts per million. Keever said a typical measure-ment of the substance is taken in parts per billion.

“� at gives you some idea of how con-centrated it is around Toomer’s Oaks,” Keever said.

� e trees, estimated to be more than 130 years old, are not expected to survive such a concentrated dose of the poison.

Soil samples were sent to the lab the day after a caller claimed Jan. 27 on air to have poisoned the trees on the Paul Finebaum radio show out of Birmingham.

“I poisoned the two Toomer’s trees,” said an audibly outraged caller who identi� ed himself only as Al from Dadeville. “I put spike 80DF in them. � ey’re not dead yet, but they de� nitely will die. Roll Damn Tide.”

� e caller said he poisoned the trees following the Iron Bowl in reaction to Auburn fans al-legedly rolling the Toomer’s trees after the death of Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant in 1983 and, more recently, tap-ing the No. 2 Cam Newton jersey to the Bryant statue in Tuscaloosa before the 2010 Iron Bowl.

“� at puts it at three months ago,” said Scott McElroy, associate professor of weed science in the College of Agricul-ture.

McElroy said the e§ ects of the poison will be visible at “greening,” when the tree grows its � rst leaves of spring.

“We should start seeing them over the next few weeks,” McElroy said. “� e trees will drop all of their leaves.”

After several cycles of leaf-shedding, McElroy said the trees will begin to die, but the process could take several years. He did not rule out the possibility of the trees recovering.

“� ey’re very stressed trees anyway,” McElroy said. “No one really knows how much was taken up by the soil. If they sur-vive, they’re not going to look good.”

Keever said activated charcoal was

placed on the trees Wednesday morning and an active transpirent, which will stop the tree from losing water, will be laid down � ursday morning in an attempt to stop the spread of poison.

However, if the trees were indeed poi-soned three months ago, Keever said the poison could have spread through the soil to surrounding trees. Keever said samples had been taken at 10-foot increments in a 65-foot radius around the trees.

McElroy said the poison is not harmful to humans in small amounts

and said he was not con-cerned about human harm.

“You would have to eat a pound of stu§ for it to kill

you and several grams for it to make you sick,” McElroy

said.Keever said the poison was also

not harmful to wildlife who nest in the trees.While the investigation is ongoing,

McElroy said he hopes it will not be dif-� cult to determine who purchased the poison.

“� is is not something everybody goes out and buys,” McElroy said. “� ere’s only a small amount of people in the state of

Alabama who buy this every year.”McElroy compared the poisoning of the

Oaks to the Treaty Oak in Austin, Texas, which was poisoned by a similar substance in 1989, sparking local outrage. � e person responsible was apprehended and sen-tenced to nine years in prison.

President Jay Gogue urged the Auburn family to use caution before rushing to judgement.

“It is understandable to feel outrage in reaction to a malicious act of vandalism,” Gogue said. “However, we should live up to the example we set in becoming national champions and the beliefs expressed in our Auburn Creed.”

TOOMER’SOAKSPOISONED

“It is understandable to feel outrage in reaction to a malicious act of vandalism. However, we should live up to the example we set in becoming national champions and the beliefs expressed in our Auburn Creed.”

—Jay Gogue AUBURN PRESIDENT

PHOTOS BY EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR AND MARIA IAMPIETRO / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

News A2 The Auburn Plainsman � ursday, February 17, 2011

A SPIRIT THATIS NOT AFRAID

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The Auburn Plainsman

Chelsea HarveyASSISTANT CAMPUS EDITOR

Sen. Richard Shelby’s dream is coming true.

� e College of Engineer-ing is in the process of completing its new Shelby Center, a cluster of build-ings designed speciº cally to house engineering students.

� e project was the brain-child of Shelby and is one of º ve Shelby Centers that he has helped fund around the state, said James Killian, di-rector of communications and marketing for the Col-lege of Engineering.

“It’s been his dream and his vision to have a science technology and engineering center in each of the univer-sities—major universities,” Killian said.

According to Killian, Shel-by was able to secure federal funds for part of the center. State funding covered an-other portion of the project, and the rest was covered by private funds.

“We raised nearly 20 mil-lion dollars in private fund-ing,” Killian said.

Fundraising in the College of Engineering relies heav-ily on support from alumni, said Veronica Chesnut, di-rector of development for the College of Engineering.

“Well, we do rely on pri-vate donations. We work

with corporations and foun-dations, we do solicit from companies, so you know just the whole gamut, any-body that you know would have an interest in support-ing the College of Engineer-ing,” Chesnut said. “But we do have over 40,000 gradu-ates, so we do have a lot of alumni and friends that we do rely on for support.”

With º nancial aid taken care of, the Shelby Center has been divided into two phases. � e º rst phase is already complete and has been functioning for several years. It houses the dean’s oÀ ce, the student services oÀ ce and two departments: industrial and systems engi-neering and computer sci-ence and software engineer-ing.

� e second phase is a work in progress, and is ex-pected to be in use by next spring.

“� e second phase will consist of two buildings. One of those buildings is the mechanical engineering building, and it’s called the Dwight Wiggins Mechanical Engineering Hall.  Current-ly, mechanical engineering shares a building, Ross Hall, with chemical engineering,” Killian said. 

“� e other building going up is called the Advanced

Research Center.  What that building will allow us to do is it will create Ä exible re-search space for us so that all departments in the Col-lege of Engineering can do research in that building.  So let’s say that you’re a pro-fessor and you have a proj-ect or a contract, you can arrange to do your research there.”

� e space currently oc-cupied by the Shelby Cen-ter was previously used for the old student health cen-ter and a men’s dormitory, Killian said.

� e health center has since been moved to a new location on Lem Morrison Drive, and the men’s dormi-tory has been accounted for by the new residence halls in the Village.

Scott Gentry, senior in mechanical engineering, said he looks forward to the increased space for future

mechanical engineering students.

“Mechanical engineers have to know a little about electrical, a little about mechanical, as well as the chemical, so we have to be kind of a jack of all trades in each discipline. So that does us a little bit of good to have that interaction that we gain from sharing buildings, but I feel like as a unique discipline we would gain a lot from having our own lit-tle space,” Gentry said.

� e Shelby Center is ex-pected to create better working conditions for all departments of engineer-ing. 

“So when mechanical moves down to the build-ing here in the Shelby Cen-ter, this will not only let mechanical have the kinds of facilities they need (to be a) º rst rate program, it will also let chemical engi-neering use up the freed up space in Ross Hall so that they have better facilities too,” Killian said. “You know, our enrollment’s been grow-ing over the years. Right now the College of Engineering’s the largest college at the University.  So we need this kind of space to support our student growth and also to support the research that our faculty does.”

Feb. 11 — Pleasant AvenueTheft of property reported. $109 in cash.

Feb. 11 — North Ross StreetAuto theft reported. Gray Honda Accord.

Feb. 11 — South College StreetTheft of property reported. 12 packs of Bud Light.

Feb. 11 — Opelika RoadTheft of property reported. One T-Mobile smart phone.

Feb. 12 — East Samford AvenueBurglary of residence reported. Golf clubs and bag, clothing, two iPod docking stations, one iPod and one MacBook Pro.

Feb. 12 — Opelika RoadTheft of property reported. Miscel-laneous women’s clothing items.

Feb. 12 — Rosie StreetBurglary of residence reported. One Xbox, four Xbox games, one control-ler and one � ash drive.

Feb. 12 — South College StreetTheft of property reported. One wallet with $10, one credit card and Auburn University ID’s.

Feb. 13 — South College StreetTheft of property reported. One can of power steering � uid, one can of brake � uid and one pack of fuses.

Feb. 13 — Opelika RoadTheft of property reported. One polo shirt.

Feb. 13 — South College StreetTheft of property reported. One Verizon iPhone.

Feb. 13 — Bent Creek RoadTheft of property reported. One Alabama license plate.

Feb. 14 — Thach AvenueTheft of property reported. One Mac laptop, one i>clicker, one debit card, one backpack, one wallet.

— Reports provided by Auburn Department of Public Safety

CRIME REPORTS FOR FEB. 11 – FEB. 14, 2011DUI ARRESTS IN THE CITY OF AUBURN FEB. 11 – FEB. 14, 2011

■ John E. Enslen Jr., 22, of MontgomerySouth College Street at Shug Jordan ParkwayFeb. 11, 3:35 a.m.

■ James P. Naylor, 19, of Cincinatti, OhioEast Longleaf DriveFeb. 12, 1:06 a.m.

■ Elwood H. Barringer III, 22, of ValleyLee Road 12Feb. 12, 2:09 a.m.

■ Eduardo C. Aguila, 29, of Michoacan, MexicoLee Road 137Feb. 12, 7:12 p.m.

■ Lonny E. Niehoff Jr., 20, of Chicago, IllinoisCox Road at Dawson DriveFeb. 13, 4:11 a.m.

Shelby Center near completion

“We raised nearly 20 million dollars in private funding.”

—James KillianDIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR

THE COLLEGE FOR ENGINEERING

Madeline HallWRITER

Traveling around Au-burn by foot or bicycle will soon be easier with the work of the South Col-lege Street Sidewalk Proj-ect and the Safe Routes to School Sidewalk/Cross-walk Project.

� e City Council recent-ly allocated more than $260,000 to Walker Pat-ton Company, Inc. for the construction of new side-walks.

� e largest stretch of sidewalk to be built will begin at Blooming Colors on the corner of South College Street and Dona-hue Drive and run all the way to Shug Jordan Park-way.

“It º lls a missing link,” said JeË rey Ramsey, direc-tor of public works. “Au-burn will now have side-walks all linked between the interstate and Drake Avenue.”

Ramsey believes the new sidewalks will be ben-eº cial to students and res-idents in the area.

“Obviously, there are a lot of students along South College Street with all the residential living nearby,” Ramsey said. “Putting in these sidewalks will give them a safe place to walk to help connect them with all the businesses there.”

Joe Harrell, owner of Big Blue Bookstore on South College Street said he is glad for the added secu-rity for students traveling along the side of the road.

“TraÀ c is high, and it’s pretty hectic most of the time,” Harrell said. “We have lots of customers coming from both sides, so it is a great plus for them.”

From a business per-spective, however, Harrell doesn’t think much will change.

“Anything the city can do to help with safety, we are fortunate for, and I think it will be an en-hancement,” Harrell said.

� e construction is set to begin in three to four weeks after º nal details of the project are worked out.

“It is probably going to take 90 days,” Ramsey said. “We’re hoping to be

º nished by mid-summer.”Drivers who frequent

the South College Street area should not be wor-ried with problems caused by construction.

“TraÀ c is always an is-sue, and I encourage stu-dents to avoid the section if possible,” Ramsey said.

“But we know there is still going to be traÀ c, and we just want to keep our workers safe.”

Sidewalks and cross-walks will also be added in four other locations around Auburn for the Safe Routes to School Sidewalk/Crosswalk Proj-ect.

“Some of the schools that will be more ac-cessible by sidewalk are Drake Middle School, Cary Woods Elementary, Dean Road Elementary and Wrights Mill Road Elementary School,” said Charles Duggan, city man-ager.

� e funds came from a transportation grant given by the Alabama depart-ment of transportation.

“� e project is geared toward helping kids get to school if they are biking or walking,” Duggan said.

Auburn locals have ap-preciated sidewalk proj-ects in the past.

“Sidewalk projects ranked high in interest and satisfaction in our citizen surveys,” Duggan said.

While the need of more crosswalks and sidewalks was recently brought to attention with the death of Dean Marie Wooten, her accident did not spark the project.

“Although that was an unfortunate accident, our plans were well underway before then,” Ramsey said. “We could see the need for sidewalks by the paths in the grass beside the street.”

Duggan said he wants to keep the quality if life in Auburn as high as pos-sible.

“We are always on the lookout for places in town that need sidewalks, look-ing at maps, listening to citizens and councilmen,” Duggan said.

“And we will continue doing it as long as there is a need.”

Derek LaceyCAMPUS EDITOR

� e º rst nine words of the Auburn University Division of Student AË airs strategic plan for 2010–2013 are, “� e student is the most impor-tant person on campus.”

� e plan is made up of four major goals: student learning, student engage-ment, student retention and health, wellness and safety.

Ainsley Carry, vice presi-dent of Student AË airs, is the driving force behind the DSA initiative.

“� e student is the center for us,” Carry said. “We are the unit on campus where that is our No. 1 job.”

When putting together the plan, Carry and his staË began by reading publica-tions like USA TODAY and

the Chronicle of Higher Ed-ucation to º nd out what ob-stacles students were facing on a national basis.

To fulº ll its mission, the plan states a fundraising campaign will attempt to raise $19 million.

“� is is what we’re do-ing with corporations and alum,” Carry said. “We’re going to go out and have donors, ask donors, people who love Auburn, people who want to support diË er-ent initiatives.”

Included on the fundrais-ing list is $10 million for wellness and sustainability initiatives; $6 million for a new, state-of-the-art lead-ership center; and $1 mil-lion each for a global service initiative, memorial endow-ment fund and emergency

student aid. “Donations and corpora-

tions are what will take us to the next level,” he said.

� e strategic plan is in its º rst year, and while no re-ports on the success of the plan are available, progress is being made toward the goals it is trying to accom-plish.

“We began by saying, ‘What’s our big picture? Where do we want to take students? What do we want to do that’s intentional?’” Carry said.

� e º rst part of the plan, a mix of assigning tasks and implementing initiatives, is currently underway.

“� e º rst year, it’s all about º guring out the lo-gistics of it,” Carry said. “We know these things are

important, but we don’t know how to measure it yet.”

As the plan progresses, more actions will be taken to accomplish goals, and the progress can be as-sessed in order to ensure its validity and importance.

“We’re still building the foundation for our plans, so we’re still trying to get into place what works and what doesn’t work and exactly how do we want to do ev-erything,” Carry said.

� e three-year time frame of the plan allows the DSA to accomplish goals and º x problems so their work will still be relevant when º n-ished.

Sidewalk project gets green light Strategic plan puts students � rst

» Read the rest online atwww.theplainsman.com

Thursday, February 17, 2011 www.theplainsman.com Page A3

ACommunity

Kala BoltonWriter

Heirloom cake recipes may be old, but the Lee County Historical Society made sure they didn’t become stale at its first heirloom cake contest Satur-day in Loachapoka.

An heirloom cake must be made from a recipe handed down through at least three generations or one that is 100 years old.

“each entry had to have some kind of documentation from where it came from,” said Deborah McCord, secre-tary of the Historical Society Board and chair of the education program, “either a recipe book or a handwritten recipe if it was from a family member,

passed down from generation to gen-eration.”

This is the first year the contest has been held, and McCord said the idea came about when board members were trying to figure out ways to in-crease awareness of the community’s history and culture.

“We were trying to think of other things we could do to demonstrate our heritage,” McCord said. “Some-one thought about the old recipes that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers used to bake.”

eleven cakes were entered, the bak-er of each hoping to win the $25 grand prize. While most recipes were passed down through family members, some

were found elsewhere.“This recipe is from a book that my

daughter and i got when we were in indiana,” said Mary ellen Farrington of Auburn. Her entry, which took third place in the competition, is called a “cup cake.” Farrington said the recipe is from the 1830s.

“it only has butter, sugar, flour and eggs in it,” Farrington said. “i’m sure they cooked it in skillets and stuff over the fire, but of course i didn’t have anything like that, so i just cooked it till i thought it was done.”

The first place cake was baked by Peggy Mitchell of Auburn. Her “Lane Cake” included cherries, pecans and,

Sheriff Jones» Page a6

Carnivále» Page a4

Daddy, may I have this dance?

elizabeth FiteStAFF Writer

Couples dressed to impress gathered at the Lexington Hotel on College Street for a night of dining and dancing; however, more noticeable than the elaborate dresses was the significant height difference in the pairs.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were sold- out nights for Auburn Parks and recre-ation’s 22nd annual Daddy-Daughter Date Night.

Jim Perry has been deployed in Bahrain for six months and took a two-week leave to return home for a date night with his 10-year-old daughter, rachel.

The couple has attended the event every year since 2005.

rachel, a fifth grader at Sanford Middle School in Opelika, said she was jumping up

and down with excitement when her dad surprised her by picking her up at school that day.

“My favorite part is being with my dad, and he’s fun to dance with,” rachel said.

Of all the activities at the date night, the culmination of the evening is the dancing contest, said Alison Hall, community pro-grams director and organizer of the event.

“The dads will take off their jackets and ties—this contest is serious,” Hall said. “Sometimes i think the dads will have a heart attack.”

Hala Buckhalt, 13, a seventh grader from Drake Middle School in Auburn, and father Joe, 2007 dance contest winners, were also in attendance.

Joe said the pair always enjoys attending the event, and he said he has fond memo-ries of the year they won the dance contest.

“We did a lot of spinning and somehow i found surges of adrenaline and threw her up in the air,” he said.

A total of 1,365 people attended the event, Hall said.

The theme for this year’s Date Night was candy, and there was certainly no shortage

The 22nd annual Daddy-Daugther Date Night sold out, drew more than 1,000

Rebekah WeaveR / assistant Photo editoR

A young girl jumps in excitement while she dances with her father at the 22nd annual Dad-dy-Daughter Date Night hosted by Auburn Parks and recreation Saturday.

Rebekah WeaveR / assistant Photo editoR

Museum curator Jessie Summers talks with another member at Lee County Historical Society’s heirloom cake contest.

Cake contest brings back heirloom tastes

» See CakeS, A4

Rebekah WeaveR / assistant Photo editoR

A father thrills his daughter by lifting her in the air at Daddy-Daughter Date Night Saturday.

» See Date, A4

Liz ConnASSOCiAte CAMPuS eDitOr

in a bleak job market, Mike Hubbard, Speaker of the state House of represen-tatives, is working to give Al-abama businesses a boost.

Hubbard has created a commission that will col-laborate with state busi-ness owners to increase job growth.

“Both sides of the aisle during the last campaign ran on the platform of cre-ating jobs,” Hubbard said, “and we need to prove to the people that that was just not empty political rhetoric, that we actually meant it, and we’re going to do some-thing about it.”

State rep. Phil Williams said the plan rests on the principle that the people who are most likely to cre-ate new jobs are existing business owners.

“They’re the ones that should be supported, strengthened, helped,” Wil-liams said, “so that they in turn can go create another job or two.”

The Commission on Job Creation, led by Williams, will hold several meetings in major cities across Alabama during the next few months.

“We’re actually going to go out and do what the gov-ernment usually doesn’t do,” Williams said. “We’re going

to go out and sit quietly and listen and let other people talk.”

Williams said the com-mission will meet with entrepreneurs, CeOs and majority shareholders to brainstorm ways to expand companies’ payrolls.

“These are the folks that, day in and day out, are mak-ing a payroll, that are actu-ally creating the jobs out there,” said todd Stacy, Hub-bard’s press secretary. ”The best thing the legislature can do is listen to them and get their input.”

The first meeting was held Feb. 15 in Huntsville.

it was not closed to the public, but Williams said he wasn’t advertising it, either.

“There’s a very different way that a business owner sees the world, and those are the people that are in-vited and will be invited to speak,” Williams said.

Williams said proposals from business owners might include incentives such as tax credits.

“if suddenly investors were to get a small tax credit for investing in Alabama, they would invest,” Williams said. “Those companies would in turn have capital to go hire people.”

Williams said after the se-ries of meetings is finished,

Hubbard creates commission to boost job market

» See CommiSSion, A4

Community A4 The Auburn Plainsman � ursday, February 17, 2011

surprisingly, Scotch whis-ky.

McCord said while not everyone could take home the grand prize, she hoped it was a fun activity for those involved and helped raise awareness about the Historical Society.

“We thought it would be a good way to get people to come out and see what we have to o� er,” McCord said. “� ere are still a lot of peo-ple in Auburn, Opelika, Lee County and surrounding counties that don’t know about us, and we’ve been here since 1968.”

� e Historical Society is planning to collect all heirloom recipes used in the contest and compile a book by the end of the year.

“We’re hoping that in a couple of months we’ll have a pie contest,” McCord said. “We might have other

kinds of contests during the year on second Satur-days trying to collect these recipes for an heirloom

cookbook.”� e entry fee for each

cake was $5, and slices were sold for $1 following the judging. All proceeds went toward renovating parts of the museum, like the cook house.

“Apparently, the building is in need of repair and a new oven,” Farrington said. “So one of the things that this cake contest is sup-posed to do is start raising money for that.”

While the cake contest was the main attraction Saturday, other activi-ties included open-hearth cooking, Valentine’s Day card-making, spinning and weaving classes and an open house at the black-smith shop. � ese activi-ties take place throughout the year at the museum.

“A lot of parents and grandparents come out

with their children,” Mc-Cord said. “It’s something that’s educational, it’s fun and it’s free.”

� rough the museum and reenactments, the His-torical Society aims to edu-cate residents on the his-tory of the area.

“Loachapoka was three times as big as Auburn 150 years ago,” said Deena Rowell, board member and Loachapoka resident. “� is was the hoppin’ place.

Auburn was nothing.”With various upcoming

events, including the 39th annual Historical Fair, Syr-up Sopping Saturday and the heirloom pie contest, members of the Histori-cal Society board said they hope local residents will become more aware of all the Historical Society has to o� er.

“� is is a secret that we don’t want kept,” Rowell said.

in quantity or variety.Guests were treated to

a candy bar consisting of M&Ms, candy corn, Skittles, gummy bears, Sour Punch straws, Hershey’s Kisses, Sweet Tarts and pepper-mints, as well as Gigi’s cup-cakes.

Valentine’s candy deco-rations adorned the walls, tables and ceilings.

Dinner from Chick- ̈l-A on Magnolia Avenue, goody bags and numerous door prizes were also provided.

Dinner was served down-stairs, with the upstairs of the hotel ballroom being re-served for dancing to music from DJ Ozz.

� e DJ played favorites such as the “Hokey Pokey,” Miley Cyrus and Taio Cruz.

However, it was Justin Bieber’s song “Baby” that received the most enthusi-astic screams of approval.

Other features of the event included a profes-sional photographer and coupons for other events around town to encour-age dads and daughters to have more nights together throughout the year.

AUBURN GAS MONITORWEEK OF FEB. 17

Location Reg Mid Prem

Shell — Glenn and Gay 2.969 3.089 3.209

Circle K — Glenn and Gay 2.979 3.119 3.259

Walmart — South College 2.989 3.109 3.229

Shell — Wire 2.999 3.139 3.279

Chevron — South College 3.099 3.299 3.499

Chevron — University 3.159 3.259 3.359

BP — Samford and Gay 3.159 3.259 3.599

Exxon — Wire 3.199 3.299 3.399

Chevron — Glenn 3.199 3.369 3.499

Chevron — Wire 3.199 3.399 3.499

Average 3.095 3.234 3.383

$2.40

$2.65

$2.90

$3.15

$3.40

Jan.27, 2011 Feb. 3, 2011 Feb. 10, 2011 Feb. 17, 2011

Regular Mid Premium

CAKES » From A3

DANIEL FRIDAY / PHOTO STAFF

Disc Jockeys for Dead?Wait! provide entertainment for the masquerade ball hosted by � e Layman Group at Pebble Hill.

Carnivále unmasks local artistsMolly MontgomeryWRITER

Guests at � e Layman Group’s Carnivále didn’t want to show their faces.

At the masquerade-themed party inspired by Cirque Du Soleil, guests were greeted with a red carpet and mingled in for-mal gowns and sequined masks under a romantical-ly lit tent.

� e ball was held Feb. 12 at Pebble Hill and bene ̈ted artists connected with � e Layman Group, a nonprof-it art organization whose purpose is to promote local art in the Auburn area and throughout the state.

� e night of glamour and mystery was also a show-case for artistic talents.

Doc Waller, founder of � e Layman Group, con-tacted local vendors and artists to create a di� erent experience for attendees.

Waller said the ball was an opportunity for people to come out and have fun as well as learn about what � e Layman Group does.

“We deal with visual art, music, dance,” said Ashley Mobley, events ambassa-dor for � e Layman Group. “If people think it’s art, then we want to see it.”

� e ball highlighted several artists and mer-chants from nearby areas

including dancers, musi-cians, makeup artists and a local brewing company.

� e décor was a South-ern twist on a masquerade with stylish conversational areas set up throughout the tent. Vintage couches and contemporary tables topped with rose petals mixed together to create the backdrop.

“A lot of smiles on a lot of faces, and that’s what this is all about,” Waller said.

“We just want to make some people happy.”

Brad Wilson, event par-ticipation coordinator with Back Forty Beer Company, said he was glad to help � e Layman Group sup-port local artists.

“It took a lot of philan-thropy for us to get started,” Wilson said. “We wanted to give that philanthropy back.”

� e ball featured a per-formance by Dance Truck,

an Atlanta based contem-porary dance company, as well as music by Adven-ture, a band made up of Au-burn undergraduates.

“We’ve done some stu� with � e Layman Group before,” said Chandler Jones, freshman and Ad-venture band member. “We did their Feed the Band se-ries and they asked us to do this, too, so we’re really glad to be here.”

While guests were en-tertained with musical and theatrical performances, they also enjoyed refresh-ments provided by Earth Fare and Opelika Pork Tour, a championship bar-becue team from the Au-burn-Opelika area.

“We’re trying to get out there and let people see who we are and what we do,” Mobley said.

“We’re not all business—we want to have fun—we want people to be involved as much as they possibly can.”

Mobley said proceeds from the event will be used to help � e Layman Group fund upcoming art projects in the community, includ-ing art exhibits and work-shops.

� ey will also help sup-port Geste, � e Layman Group’s company of danc-ers and local artists.

REBEKAH WEAVER / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

An onlooker waits for the winning cakes to be announced before the cake tasting begins at the heirloom cake contest.

DATE» From A3

his commission will make recommendations on ways to incorporate the business owners’ suggestions into Al-abama law.

� e recommendations will go before the Economic Development Committee, led by Rep. Barry Mask.

Williams said the legisla-ture will then use the suc-cessful recommendations from this session to pass laws that will aid state busi-nesses or remove regula-tions that currently hinder them.

“We’ve got to be able to

compete globally against China and India,” Williams said. “We’re going to do that by revamping the way we do business in Alabama, and we’re open for ideas.”

Hubbard said the over-arching goal is to improve the job outlook for college graduates.

“� e job market out there right now is not very good,” Hubbard said. “I under-stand that in government, we don’t create jobs. What we can do is we can incen-tivize and enable the pri-vate sector to create jobs. I think this is something ev-ery Auburn student should be watching and following with interest.”

COMMISSION» From A3

DANIEL FRIDAY / PHOTO STAFF

Kelly Davino and Chase Cox enjoy a night of dancing at the Carnivále masquerade ball Feb. 12.

REBEKAH WEAVER / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

An heirloom cake is made from a recipe that is more than 100 years old or handed down through three generations.

A5� ursday, February 17, 2011 www.theplainsman.com Community

Commentary

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The Editorial Board

Rod GuajardoEDITOR

Eric Austin – chairMANAGING EDITOR

Jillian ClairNEWS EDITOR

Derek LaceyCAMPUS EDITOR

Miranda DollarhideINTRIGUE EDITOR

Crystal ColeSPORTS EDITOR

Adam BulgatzDESIGN EDITOR

Emily CleverCOPY EDITOR

Emily AdamsPHOTO EDITOR

Our View

Your View

Last week’s question:How did you spend your Valentine’s day? With my signi� cant other

36%

With strangers at the bar 35%

With a pint of ice cream 29%

This week’s question: How did you react to the news about Toomer’s oaks?

❍ I broke down and cried. ❍ I was angry, but calm. ❍ Pitchforks and torches!

Vote atwww.theplainsman.comwww.theplainsman.comwww.theplainsman.com

No one really knows how much (poison)

was taken up by the soil. If they survive, they’re not going to look good.”

—Scott McElroy, professor“TOOMER’S CORNER POISONED” A1

“

Being average is not always a bad thing

I don’t see what’s so wrong with being average. I’ve spent my entire life doing just that.

Most people might see this statement as selling myself short, but I call it being realistic.

Tragically, your kindergarten teacher lied to you when she told you that everyone can be exceptional. � e truth is that people can only be exceptional when being compared to some-one who is less than exception-al.

I don’t mind admitting that I’m average because that’s ex-actly what I am. Average grades,

average height and an average job equal an average life.

Naturally we all have our mo-ments of staggering kindness, hilarity, brilliance or whatever, but for the most part a lot of us are average, and that’s OK. I imagine that doing otherwise would be exhausting.

I used to get o� ended at the thought of being average be-cause the word seems to carry a negative connotation when it shouldn’t. Average does not mean bad.

While it isn’t necessarily ex-citing, there’s nothing wrong with it.

During the summer and win-ter holidays, I don’t go jet-set-ting to exotic locales. Instead, I go home and work in a res-taurant and save money for the upcoming semester—which is

about as typical as it gets.Like I said, boring, but not

bad.Have I ever wished that I was

the beauty queen or the smart-est kid in class?

Sure, with the exception of Miss America and the valedic-torian, who hasn’t?

But I feel like people should recognize the word average for what it is. � ink about any data, such as test scores, that’s plotted on a bell curve. � ere’s always some that lie on the low end of the scale and the higher end; however, most of us sit in the middle.

� at’s all average is. � at’s all it means.

At the end of the day I may fall in the middle of the bell curve, but I can say I’m con-tent with just being myself, and

that’s all that really matters.Being average is more than

just the participation trophy of life; it’s what makes the world go ‘round. You can’t have a world where everyone sits at the top of the bell curve, where everyone is the prettiest, smart-est, kindest person because then no one could be that per-son.

So give being average a chance. After all, that’s what most people are.

I choose not to worry about trying to seem exceptional. Be-sides, there’s always one thing in my life that I’ll always be ex-ceptional at and that’s being av-erage.

So if it’s all right with every-one, I’ll rest on my laurels of be-ing exceptionally average and take life as it comes.

Christen HarnedPHOTO@THEPLAINSMAN.COM

Girlfriends still want, need friends too

Senior year of college may be just as awkward as those we-just-don’t-talk-about-it-any-more middle school years.

I remember back in middle school when all the girls were “going out” with boys (where we went I still don’t know), and everyone seemed to be pairing up like penguins. Social circles began to revolve around who had gone out with Zach or who liked Kevin.

It certainly hasn’t stopped since then, but up until now, balancing friends and relation-ships was kind of easy—it’s not like people were talking about getting married or anything.

Well, now they are. We are. Everyone is. I’m one of them, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I love my boyfriend.

But it suddenly seems like a girl’s gotta pick between being in a relationship and having friends.

My friends are great, and this isn’t an angry rant aimed at them, but let’s face it: when they think about who to call for a Friday night hangout, it’s gen-erally not me.

“Oh, I thought you’d be hang-ing out with Scott, so I didn’t call.”

� at makes total sense, of course, because at this point in so many women’s lives, they’re so wrapped up in Mr. Right that they ditch their friends who haven’t found him yet.

� ere’s reason behind the stereotype. Girls with boy-friends are known to decline invitations, leave parties early and talk too much about how wonderful their boyfriend is.

We’ve been groomed for this day all our lives, and when it actually comes, a lot of women buckle under the pressure and stay glued to their boyfriends’

sides, afraid to leave him alone for even a second.

But there are some of us who don’t drop everything for a man, and we still get the shaft based solely on principle.

� at group of friends you used to crush on boys with—generally called the “Fab Four” or something like that—looks di� erent now that one of the boys actually made a move. Tension arises.

Part of that is because of the newly-in-love girl’s sickeningly repetitive stories about her per-fect romance (when she doesn’t � ake out all together on your plans), and part of that might be just a twinge of jealousy from the others. No one is com-pletely to blame.

Fellow girlfriends, we have to realize that he’s not the center of our world. Our friends have been around a lot longer than him, and, in many cases, they’re going to be around long after he’s gone. Make time for them. � eir love for you is valuable

and can’t possibly be replaced by any man, no matter how wonderful you think he is.

Face it, he will never actually enjoy watching Julia Roberts movies with you, and he prob-ably tunes you out when you talk for more than � ve minutes straight about the new dress you want to buy. Sometimes, you just need girlfriends.

All the single ladies, give your friend some grace. You’ll be just as giddy and � aky when you � nd your guy. � e � rst couple of months of a friend’s new rela-tionship will test your patience, but as the newness wears o� , she’ll probably stop talking about him so much. Be patient. Most of all, keep calling her. Tell her you miss her.

Ask her to go to lunch or have a sleepover. Don’t assume she’s busy before you even ask.

Love and the idea of mar-riage are beautiful things, and so is friendship. We all want both, and everyone has to work to keep the balance.

Jillian ClairNEWS@THEPLAINSMAN.COM

Keep close the ties that bond

I wouldn’t say my heart is where my home is.

Don’t get me wrong—I love my home-town. I love everything about it. But the thing is: I’ve had a lot of hometowns, met a lot more people along the way and as a re-sult have said a lot of goodbyes.

Some people were born and raised in the same town their entire life, maybe calling people their best friends on and o� , maybe having the same one since preschool.

To those people, their heart is where their home is. Everything they may know and love is in that one special place. But to me, home is where my heart is.

And my heart is all over the place.I haven’t lived in the same state as my two

best friends since the third grade.Is it strange that I’ve kept the same best

friends since � rst grade? Sure. But I can’t see my life being any other way.

� at’s why home is where the heart is—home is who, not where, has your heart. Family and good friends held over the years should be above all.

� rough relationships like those with good friends, we can be constantly remind-ed of the solid rocks on which we will al-ways have to stand and be reassured that any move made in life will signify no separa-tion from the people we love.

� is philosophy helped me tremendously during the move away from my family and friends to Auburn—keeping those “solid rocks” of relationships close to my heart helped me move on.

College is a huge step in everyone’s jour-ney, and I am sure we are all enjoying new relationships to hold on to. Let this be an encouragement to both you and myself to keep in touch.

We humans are social creatures with a need for attention and a� ection. But so many times, we let relationships fade. We put o� keeping in touch until it’s too late.

Please don’t let it fade. Take it from some-one who knows—investing time and love in a friendship or any relationship is the most valuable investment you could possibly make.

With this in mind I will hold onto the spe-cial people of my past, but move forward with everything in me.

Won’t it be great to look back in 50 years and see that long after the work is � nished and goals are or are not achieved, the peo-ple you love are still by your side?

Lindsay RifeINTRIGUE@THEPLAINSMAN.COM

Battered, but not broken

Chubb’s slap on the wrist shameful for Auburn basketball team, family

Loved your letter on Chubb letting his team and the school down.

Unfortunately, Coach Barbee seems to think that an apology to the team is su� cient enough to let him back on the team to play.

How about an apology to the Auburn family and an apology

to the o� cer that he injured while resisting arrest?

We talk about how integ-rity is such a large part of the Auburn family. His actions showed me that he has no in-tegrity.

He was a coward running from the police taking no re-sponsibility for his actions.

Has Auburn basketball become so concerned with winning that they throw aside their in-tegrity for a win?

Your last line of your edito-rial stated, “the unlawful ac-tions committed last week have more than likely guaran-teed Chubb will never wear an Auburn uniform again”.

When I heard he was kicked o� the team (not suspended) I thought, “Good for you Coach Barbee. Show the AU family what we stand for and what we won’t tolerate”.

Guess I spoke too soon.

—Jan King

Wednesday, the Auburn fam-ily learned the tragic news that its beloved oak trees at Toom-er’s Corner have been poisoned.

� ough the investigation is ongoing, all of the signs point to the actions of a lone criminal who was outraged following his team’s loss in the Iron Bowl.

While every member of the Auburn family is undoubtedly outraged at the deplorable ac-tions of this man, we must exer-cise caution and sound judge-ment in a moment like this.

Now is the time when we show what makes Auburn the classiest school in the South-eastern Conference, and for that matter, the entire nation.

At this time we do not have all of the facts. At the time of this printing, an arrest has not been made in the investigation.

We do not know how long the trees have to live or how far the damage has spread.

� ough it is easy to point the � nger at the University of Alabama, the crime was com-mitted by a single actor, and though his loyalties may lie with the Tide, his actions do not represent the University of Alabama community.

Nonetheless, another ugly page has certainly been turned in this most historic of rivalries.

Now is not a time for out-rage. It is a time for us to come

together as a university.Following the most exciting

season in most of our lives, Au-burn has been a city of nonstop jubilation.

Joy is the only word that could be used to describe the spirit this community has felt in the weeks since our NCAA Na-tional Championship victory.

Wednesday’s news will not change this. Ours is a spirit that is not afraid. We proved this time and again this season. When we were written o� , we battled back.

Yes, we will mourn. But this community will come back with a roar heard beyond Tus-caloosa.

We do not know for how much longer we have our trees.

In the meantime, we will roll them as we have done with ev-ery victory celebration. We will party downtown with our trees towering behind us. We will snap pictures with friends and share in the joy Toomer’s has given this town for generations.

Now is a time to sing the � ght song. Now is a time to shake our shakers and pump our � sts. Now is a time to link arms and sing our Alma Mater before the beautiful oaks that hold more than a century of memories.

Now we will raise our voices as one and shout, “War Eagle!”

Let the nation hear us. Again.

Community A6 The Auburn Plainsman � ursday, February 17, 2011

Elizabeth FiteSTAFF WRITER

Lee County Sheri� Jay Jones, a 35-year employee of the department, just began his fourth term as sheri� .

Jones was elected sheri� for the � rst time in 1998.

“I really work hard to educate people on what the sheri� ’s o� ce really does,” Jones said. “We do so much more than just law enforcement.”

Jones is originally from Montgomery and gradu-ated from Lanier High School.

He graduated from Au-burn in 1976 with a degree in law enforcement, mak-ing him the � rst person in his family to graduate from college.

Jones said his law en-forcement career began as a result of his senior internship at the old Lee County Sheri� ’s o� ce on Ninth Street in Opelika.

“I reported to the sher-i� ’s o� ce, and my � rst as-signment was to clean the bathroom,” Jones said.

After his fall internship, Sheri� Jim Pearson o� ered Jones a paid position.

During his early years at the department, Jones worked in the jail as a com-munication o� cer receiv-ing 911 calls, and he was later o� ered a commission as a deputy sheri� .

� e two sheri� s who preceded him, Pearson

and Herman Chapman, were major in ̈uences in Jones’ decision to pursue the position of sheri� .

“I just admire both of those men for their dedica-tion to public service, and they both were advocates of service to the people, and that stuck with me,” Jones said. “� ey were great mentors.”

Jones said there are many aspects of his job that are rewarding, but some of his most enjoy-able moments come from working with the people in his o� ce and being able to make a positive impact on their lives.

“It really bothers me to see somebody treated un-fairly, and that goes a long way to motivate me,” Jones said. “If someone makes it their business to cause in-justice to others, then it’s our job to try and set that straight.”

As for the challenges of being sheri� , Jones said they have evolved during

the years. Currently, the biggest challenge is the budget.

“� e economy a� ects our funding, and our level of funding a� ects our abil-ity to provide services,” Jones said.

He said even though the balance between budget and services is a constant struggle, the lack of funds does promote creativ-ity and improvisation that seem to unify the depart-ment.

Jones said having the University in his jurisdic-tion has an impact on his job as sheri� , but that im-pact is a positive one.

“It keeps the community vibrant—you’re exposed to new ideas from di� er-ent segments of interest,” Jones said. “Plus, there are opportunities to partner with the University and develop better ways to do what we do.”

Sheri� Jones � nds intrinsic rewards in his work for the county

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Sheri� Jay Jones has had four terms in o� ce since 1998.

» Read the rest online atwww.theplainsman.com

Tra� c lights to receive updatesJeremy GerrardASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Tra� c lights and pedes-trian signals at the intersec-tions along College and Gay streets in downtown Au-burn will be updated in the coming months.

� e Auburn City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to remove the old incandes-cent halogen bulbs and re-place the lights with LEDs.

According to city manag-er Charles Duggan, the new LEDs will be brighter, help the city conserve energy and will last longer.

Duggan added the pe-destrian signals will feature new button � xtures and a countdown sequence to help pedestrians use cau-tion when crossing the street, stressing that safety

is the city’s main concern.Stone Electric Company

Inc., who supplied the low-est bid, received the con-tract for the project.

While many cities around the country are switching to LED tra� c lights, north-ern cities have experienced problems with snow ac-cumulating on the lights, making their colors indis-tinguishable to drivers. � e heat produced from the old halogen bulbs melts the snow on contact, but the new LEDs do not generate enough heat to melt snow.

� is will generally not be an issue for Auburn; how-ever, as the last few years have yielded some snow ac-cumulation, should a prob-lem arise the city would be at a disadvantage as far as

removal is concerned.Other business resolved

at the Council meeting in-cluded the unanimous agreement to submit an application to the 2011 Al-abama Recycling Grants Program as well as the ap-proval of a liquor license for Heisman’s Sports Bar, which recently acquired the space previously � lled by Calypso’s Sports Bar and Grill on Col-lege Street downtown.

� e Council also agreed to amend a zoning ordi-nance for the city, which stipulated the placement and size of signs that can be placed outside shopping centers. � e new amend-ments will allow for bigger signs proportional to the total space occupied by the shopping centers.

� ursday, February 17, 2011 www.theplainsman.com Page B1

BCampus Disney program» PAGE B3

Choir show» PAGE B5

Bullying brought full circle with KARMA foundationLiz ConnASSOCIATE CAMPUS EDITOR

When it comes to bully-ing, Jessica Brookshire be-lieves what goes around comes around.

Brookshire, graduate student in Spanish, hopes to teach children this les-son through the foundation she started in 2009, Kids Against Ridicule, Meanness and Aggression.

“You have to under-stand that every decision you make is going to come back to you,” Brookshire said. “� e way life works, it comes back tenfold. If you choose to ignore your teach-ers and you choose to hurt your classmates, one day you’re going to � nd you’re in a situation you don’t want to be in.”

Brookshire, 23, said her epiphany to start KARMA happened when a girl at Smiths Station Intermedi-ate School asked her what to do when other students are mean to her.

“I said, ‘You have to kill them with kindness. You be the nicest person in the room so it makes them look foolish to be mean to you,’” Brookshire said. “And she said, ‘If I was as pretty as you, they wouldn’t make fun of me.’ My heart just broke. I realized that I had blocked out all these memories.”

Brookshire said she faced extreme amounts of bully-ing in school.

“I would fake illness so I didn’t have to go to school,” she said, “and when I did have to go to school, I really would get sick from anxi-ety from being around my classmates.”

� e e¤ ects of being bul-lied followed her to college, Brookshire said.

“I was afraid to walk in crowded rooms by myself,” Brookshire said. “Walking into a classroom late wasn’t even an option. If I was late to class, I skipped it because I was scared of being made fun of.”

� rough KARMA, Brook-shire has spoken to more than 70,000 students at school assemblies. She re-cently spoke to the sixth- and seventh-graders at Drake Middle School.

“Jessica will talk to kids on a level where they really get it and understand it,” said Sandy Resa, assistant vice principal at Drake. “It was a really great experi-ence for our children.”

Resa said bullying isn’t a major problem at Drake.

“Many times it’s teasing,” Resa said, “but she did a great job of explaining the di¤ erence. If it makes some-body uncomfortable, it’s bullying.”

Brookshire said victims of bullying generally either im-plode or explode.

“When they explode, they lash out with acts of violence,” Brookshire said. “When they implode, they hurt themselves, which is when you get kids that will cut themselves, eating dis-orders, anxiety, panic at-tacks and suicide.”

Brookshire recently shared her story at a town hall meeting in Montgom-ery.

After she spoke, a 14-year-old girl approached Brook-shire backstage and pulled up the sleeves of her shirt.

“Her arms were just mu-tilated,” said DiDi Henry, public relations director for KARMA. “It was horrible. � e girl said she was con-templating suicide because of the bullying she had gone through.”

Henry said the girl is now going through counseling to help her cope with the pain of being bullied.

“It’s overwhelming,” Brookshire said. “I always say that out of a thousand kids at an assembly, if one kid listens to me or one kid feels better or one kid is talked down from suicidal thoughts or one kid changes the way they talk to some-body, I’ve accomplished enough.”

After she earns her mas-ter’s from Auburn, Brook-shire said she plans to go to law school.

“We’ve forgotten how to be nice to each other,” Henry said. “Jessica is school-by-school, student-by-student, teaching them the value of human kind again.”

CHRISTEN HARNED / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Jessica Brookshire started Kids Against Ridicule, Meanness and Aggression, a foundation to help kids deal with bullying.

Fifth women’s conference helps build leadership skills Kate JonesWRITER

� e Women’s Resource Center is holding the � fth annual Women’s Leader-ship Conference Feb. 22–23. � e theme for this year’s conference is Woman2 Ris-ing to the Next Power.

Carrie Kilpatrick, diversi-ty initiatives coordinator for the Women’s Resource Cen-ter, said the mathematical theme was created to match the workshops’ names to the conference name and to promote women in math and science.

“We’re also talking about how together we are so much in� nitely stronger and bringing ourselves to a new level of leadership be-cause we are connecting,” Kilpatrick added. “Women are actually building net-works now, so leadership is being brought to a whole new level.”

Women as leaders in

today’s society are becom-ing more prevalent.

Kilpatrick said women now make up 51 percent of the workforce and hold 30 percent of the CEO and ex-ecutive positions, but most are still in lower level posi-tions.

“So what we really want people to know and what we want to instill in young women: you can take those leadership roles, you can hold higher paying posi-tions, and you can break that glass ceiling,” Kilpat-rick said. “We’re trying to encourage because more women are working now, but more women can take a hand in their organization and in the group that they are actually working for.”

� rough workshops, panel discussions and high-lighted speakers, women will have the opportunity to build their leadership skills and connect with

professional women.� e conference will be-

gin with a panel discussion titled “Be the Change: � e Possibilities are End-less.”

Panelists will be profes-s i o n a l s from the c o m m u -nity in-cluding n o n -p r o f i t and social work lead-ers.

Kilpatrick said most of the ques-tions they r e c e i v e c o n -cern women want- ing to bring about change, but not knowing where they want their focus to be.

� e panel will discuss “tips for � nding what you are interested in, tips for

organizing after you � nd what you are interested in a n d ways to get together

with your com-munity,” Kilpatrick

said.As a part of the Wom-

en of A u b u r n Helping

Women p r o -

g r a m , the Miss

A u b u r n W o m e n ’ s

L e a d e r s h i p i n i t i a t i v e will present

E S P N A n -chor-

woman and host of First Take Dana Jacobson to con-clude the � rst day of the conference.

� e WOAH Women pro-gram was started to give back to the student body

and to help give women the chance to network and bring various speakers to talk on issues that a¤ ect women today.

Kristi MeGahee, Miss Auburn 2010–2011, said Ja-cobson will speak on what it is like to be a woman in a “man’s world” and the tri-als and tribulations she has faced in her career.

“We hope that through Dana coming to speak, women see that they too can follow their dreams and achieve them by staying true to who they are,” MeGa-hee said.

� e second day of the conference will provide sev-eral workshops on topics in-cluding self defense, healthy relationships, � nancial sta-bility and food sustainabil-ity.

Leading the food sustain-ability workshop will be 2011 Miss Auburn candi-date Courtni Ward, whose

platform was food sustain-ability.

� e workshops will be divided into two parts; the � rst hour will be instruc-tional and the second part will be interactive.

� e conference is de-signed for women of all ages, not only college-age and older.

Kilpatrick said faculty, sta¤ , high school students and members of the Young Women Leaders Program, a mentor program for girls at Auburn Junior High School, are attending.

“All walks of life are com-ing,” Kilpatrick said. “We have something for every-body.”

Katy Battle, who was mentored in the YWLP, at-tended the conference last year with her mentor.

“It was pretty fun,” Battle said. “We did all these work-shops and learned about

» See WLC, B2

Destiny BrownWRITER

Alabamians who have supported the state’s agri-culture are to be recognized at the Agriculture Alumni Association annual meeting and Hall of Honor banquet for their contributions to the industry.

Five individuals will be inducted into the alumni association’s Hall of Honor on Feb. 22 at the Auburn Hotel and Dixon Confer-ence Center.

� e Hall of Honor was es-tablished in 1984 with the purpose to bestow honor and recognition upon living

Alabamians who have made signi� cant contributions to the agriculture industry in Alabama.

“It’s a great way for the College of Ag to honor and give something back to the people who have done so much for the advancement of the College of Agriculture and agriculture in general,” said Kirk Cogle, senior in ag-riculture communications.

Jerry Newby, Dallas Hart-zhog and Harold Pate will be recognized by AAA for their contributions in three sectors of the industry.

Jerry Newby of Athens will be recognized for his

work in the agribusiness sector of agriculture.

Dallas Hartzhog of Head-land will be honored for his work in education and gov-ernment.

Harold Pate of Lowndes-boro will be recognized for his work in production ag-riculture.

� e biographical plaques of these Hall of Honor in-ductees will be displayed on the � rst · oor of Comer Hall.

Along with the Hall of Honor inductions, the AAA will present the 2011 Agri-cultural Pioneer Award to the families of two recipi-ents. � e 2011 recipients of

the Pioneer Award are the late John “Doc” Cottier, for-mer poultry science faculty member at Auburn, and the late B.W. “Buck” Appleton, a leader in the Alabama poul-try industry.

� e Pioneer Award was established in 1995 to post-humously recognize in-dividuals whose lives and work impacted the Ala-bama agriculture industry.

Past recipients of the Pi-oneer Award have ranged from faculty administrators to farmers and ranchers.

� e brass plate that lists each year’s recipients of the Pioneer Award can also be

found on the � rst · oor of Comer Hall.

In past years, the ban-quet has had a large turn-out, with attendees ranging from students to agricultur-al leaders and politicians.

“No doubt many in at-tendance will be future re-cipients of the Hall of Honor award,” said Donald Mul-vaney, associate professor for the department of ani-mal sciences.

Behind the scenes of the banquet, Elaine Rollo and Martha Patterson, both ad-ministrative support spe-cialists for the College of Ag-riculture, work to organize

and script the annual event. “Agriculture Alumni As-

sociation members are na-tionwide. Our association hosts around 1,700 mem-bers,” Rollo said.

Most members are from Alabama, but have moved elsewhere in the country.

“We already have 220 guests attending, and I ex-pect there to be many more in attendance by next week-end,” Rollo said.

Tickets to the 2011 Hall of Honor banquet are $50 and are available to the public.

For more information, contact Elaine Rollo at 334-844-3204.

College of Agriculture distinguishes � ve in banquet

gin with a panel discussion titled “Be the Change: � e Possibilities are End-

Panelists will be profes-s i o n a l s from the c o m m u -nity in-cluding n o n -p r o f i t and social work lead-

Kilpatrick said most of the ques-tions they r e c e i v e c o n -

a n d ways to get together with your com-munity,” Kilpatrick

said.As a part of the Wom-

en of A u b u r n Helping

Women p r o -

g r a m , the Miss

A u b u r n W o m e n ’ s

L e a d e r s h i p i n i t i a t i v e will present

E S P N A n -chor-

“You have to understand that every decision you make is going to come back to you. The way life works, it comes back to you tenfold.”

—Jessica Brookshire GRADUATE STUDENT IN SPANISH

Campus B2 The Auburn Plainsman � ursday, February 17, 2011

relationships. My favorite part was the workshop on self-respect and boundar-ies.”

Amy Hecht, assistant vice president of Student A� airs, will be the keynote speak-er at the luncheon, and the Women of Distinction Awards will be presented at that time.

In addition, there will be an award given to Ma-rie Wooten, former dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics, who was killed in a pedestrian acci-dent in November.

� e conference will take place in the Student Center, and the deadline to register is Feb. 21 and can be com-pleted online.

Cost is $30 and $20 for students.

For more information, visit http://www.auburn.edu/wrc and click on the Women’s Leadership Con-ference graphic.

WLC» From B1

EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR

Jake Sparkman, freshman in engineering, plays Cupid, shooting math professor Gary Sampson with a love arrow on Valentine’s Day, in front of the Science Center Auditorium.

AU View

CALENDAR: THURSDAY, FEB. 17 – SATURDAY, FEB. 26

SUN. MON. TUES. WED. THURS. FRI. SAT.17

JCSM Third Thursday: Late Night■ Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art■ 5 p.m. to8 p.m.

18

Tiger Nights: Winter Won-derland■ AU Student Center■ 7 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.

19

A Wren by Any Other Name: Selections from the Miller Audubon Col-lection■ Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art■ 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

20

BSU “Life Through Lit-eracy” Gospel Concert and Book Drive■ � e City Church■ 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

21

Disney College Program Pre-sentation■ Lowder Busi-ness Building Room 19■ 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

22

AU Federal Credit Union 51st Annual Meeting■ Auburn Uni-versity Federal Credit Union■ 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

23

Softball vs. Georgia State■ Jane B. Moore Softball Com-plex■ 5 p.m.

24

Southern Outsiders Film Series presents Idlewild■ Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art■ 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

25

Gymnastics vs. Pittsburgh■ Auburn Arena■ 7 p.m.

26

“Zap Out Hun-ger” Laser Tag Tournament■ AUSC Ball-room■ 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

PLAINSMAN ARCHIVES

Participants crowd last year’s Women’s Leadership Conference at AU Student Center.

Annie FaulkSTAFF WRITER

� e Plains just got a little brighter with record en-rollment of National Merit Scholars.

“� e enrollment of 134 National Merit Scholars summer and fall 2010 is a record, up from 64 last year,” said Velda Rooker, director of University scholarships.

� e signi° cant increase in National Merit Scholars places in third, with the most National Merit Schol-ars in the Southeastern Conference.

Out of the 343 schools at which these scholars were enrolled, the University ranked 16th.

� e Scholars not only bring intelligence and pres-tige to Auburn, but they also represent diversity through-out the student body.

“� ese students are also enrolled in nine of Auburn’s 10 undergraduate colleges and schools, a� ecting stu-dent academics by demon-strating interest in a broad range of majors,” Rooker said.

Annually, more than 10,000 students enter the National Achievement Pro-gram and approximately 4,800 receive recognition.

Of the recognized stu-dents, 1,600 are deemed semi° nalists and proceed to the next level to compete for the National Achieve-ment Scholarships.

Last year, the National

Merit Scholarship Corpo-ration awarded $51 million to more than 10,000 eligible students from across the United States.

To be quali° ed for the National Merit Scholarship Program, students must: take the PSAT/NMSQT (Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Quali-fying Test), be enrolled in high school and be a United States citizen.

During the 11th grade, students take the National Merit Scholarship quali-fying test or the PSAT/NMSQT.

� e test is made up of three sections: mathemat-ics, critical reading, and writing.

“Auburn is pleased that so many National Merit Schol-ars recognize the academic quality of Auburn Univer-sity,” said Wayne Alderman,

dean of enrollment man-agement.

Auburn University Na-tional Merit Finalists are awarded with tuition for four years, a technology al-lowance, on-campus hous-ing for four years, invitation to the Honors College and an enrichment experience stipend.

“� e enrollment of these students a� ects the campus by providing geographic di-versity with 20 states repre-sented,” Rooker said.

� e record enrollment is not only a feat for the Uni-versity, but in regional rep-resentations as well. Among the 77 public schools which enroll the Scholars, Auburn is ranked second.

National Merit Scholars may be few and far between, but celebrities and political ° gures such as Stephanie Meyers, Bill Gates, Ben Ber-nanke, Elena Kagan and Jer-ry Green° eld (co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s) are all Na-tional Merit Scholars.

National Merit Scholars bring promise to the stu-dent body, enriching the University, not just academ-ically, but through their tal-ents.

“� e enrollment of Na-tional Merit Scholars raises the overall academic pro° le of Auburn’s student body, a goal of the Board of Trust-ees, and promotes the aca-demic reputation of Auburn University nationally,” Rook-er said.

Record number of Merit Scholars shows AU quality

PLAINSMAN ARCHIVES

Alexis Jones, former Survivor contestant, was the keynote speaker at last year’s Women’s Leadership Conference.

“Auburn is pleased that so many National Merit Scholars recognize the academic quality of Auburn University.”

—Wayne Alderman DEAN OF ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

� ursday, February 17, 2011 The Auburn Plainsman Campus B3

Jenna MoranASSOCIATE COPY EDITOR

Executive Chef ’s Kitchen will be hosting a free cook-ing class Feb. 17, teaching all who attend how to cook up some delicious Valen-tine’s treats.

� e class will begin at 6 p.m. at Terrell Dining Hall on the Hill and will be host-ed by executive chef Dennis Neuhring.

Executive Chef ’s Kitchen o� ers free cooking classes once a month, and gener-ally one chef is featured at each of the classes, said Gina Groome, Tiger Dining marketing manager.

“We try to switch up themes a lot and come up with any new ideas, like

holidays or anything else going on,” Groome said.

T h i s m o n t h ’s cooking c l a s s t h e m e is Val-e n t i n e ’ s sweets.

Most of Ne u h r i n g ’s classes tend to be dessert-o r i e n t e d , and this month’s featured sweet will be a red velvet brownie.

Neuhring will prob-ably have a few other dessert ideas up his sleeve as well, Groome said.

No cooking experi-ence is needed to attend

the 30-minute class, Neuhring said.

“ U s u a l l y the classes

are hands-on, but because of the popularity for this class, it’s

just going to be a demonstration

style,” Neuhring said.Neuhring ex-

plained that it is more e� ective to

teach demonstration-style classes when there is a larger num-

ber of attendees be-cause not everyone can

use the cooking equipment all at one time.

“We’ll have some sam-ples, so everybody gets to eat, and that’s the best part,” Neuhring said.

During a demonstra-tion-style class, the chef stands in front of the class and cooks while the par-ticipants observe and take notes.

Neuhring has previously hosted a hands-on tru ̈ es class as well as a creme brulee class, where the stu-dents learned to use a blow torch and formed their own scorched sugar crust, he said.

Katelyn Ward, junior in human development and family studies, has attended an Executive Chef ’s Kitchen cooking class before, and

said she is also planning on attending the Valentine’s cooking class.

“I really enjoyed the last cooking class that I went to, so I’m de© nitely looking forward to attending this month’s class,” Ward said. “� e Valentine’s theme is such a great idea for Febru-ary’s cooking class.”

� e Valentine’s cooking class will be held in Terrell Dining Hall because of the convenient number of park-ing spots available around the building and the suª -cient space inside of Terrell, Groome said.

Sign-ups are available online through both Face-book and the Tiger Dining website, www.auburn.edu/

dining.“Tiger Dining has cre-

ated an event on Facebook, and then we are posting the link to a survey that’s set up on the Facebook wall of the event. You can just go straight to the Facebook page and sign up,” Groome said. “Or people can go to our website and we have links there under our event page.”

Groome stressed the importance of signing up quickly to reserve a spot since space is limited.

Neuhring said he is look-ing forward to teaching Feb-ruary’s Valentine-themed cooking class and is excited about the expected high at-tendance for this class.

Annie FaulkSTAFF WRITER

For some college stu-dents, “happily ever after” is just an internship away.

� e Disney College Pro-gram o� ers students paid internships to learn about the corporation through ed-ucation and job experience.

“� e Disney College Pro-gram o� ers a unique and valuable experience to gain leadership, teamwork and interpersonal skills,” said Meaghan Weir, career ad-viser for Career Develop-ment Services.

� e Disney College Pro-gram will hold informa-tion sessions Feb. 21 and 22 at 6 p.m. in room 019 of the Lowder Business Build-ing. If students are unable to attend the information session, there will be an E-Presentation recap on the

Disney website. “At the information ses-

sions a Disney recruiter along with the Disney Col-lege Program campus repre-sentatives will describe the program and basic expecta-tions in regard to housing, employment and educa-tional opportunities,” Weir said. “� ey will also explain the process for applying to become a Disney College Program participant.”

Students are encouraged to RSVP to the information sessions in Tiger Recruit-ing Link (www.jobs.auburn.edu).

“Students should con-sider our paid internship program for a variety of rea-sons, but one of the main reasons is Disney’s repu-tation for excellence,” said Wayne Hampton, Disney internship and program

recruiter.� e program is a good

resume booster, said Julia Walsh Howell, Disney Col-lege Program participant who is also a campus repre-sentative.

“Every job interview I have been to asks me about my experience at Disney, and it can be the

foot-in-the-door that some students can use to begin a career at Disney,” Howell said.

� e Disney College Pro-gram is open to students regardless of major or year. � e program is an intern-ship where participants have the opportunity to work at the Disneyland

Resort in Anaheim, Calif., or Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando.

“All of us campus reps did the program,” Howell said. “I feel so strongly about its merits that we now recruit other students to partici-pate.”

Participants in the Disney College Program receive bene© ts including theme park admission, discounts on selected merchandise, discounts on admission to certain parks, resort dis-counts and opportunities to participate in certain holi-day celebrations.

“And some students are able to earn credit for our internship or for classes that we o� er—or both,” Hampton said.

� rough the program, participants earn up to nine credit hours.

Participants are required to complete college course-work, write papers, cre-ate projects and read text-books. � e coursework will be directly applied to the participants’ jobs.

Participants can enroll in a variety of courses ranging from hospitality manage-ment to corporate commu-nication.

Students can also work with di� erent aspects of the Disney parks.“Students can gain a num-ber of transferable skills, which are highly valued by employers, communica-tion skills and customer service skills ,” Hampton said.

For more information on the Disney College Program visit www.disneycollegepro-gram.com.

e n t i n e ’ s

Most of Ne u h r i n g ’s classes tend to be dessert-o r i e n t e d , and this month’s featured sweet will be a red velvet brownie.

Neuhring will prob-

the 30-minute class,

just going to be a demonstration

style,” Neuhring said.Neuhring ex-

plained that it is more e� ective to

teach demonstration-style classes when there is a larger num-

ber of attendees be-

Disney College Program o� ers fairy tale endings

Cooking class celebrates Valentine’s Day

Education advocate gives lecture on action, responsibilityChelsea HarveyASSISTANT CAMPUS EDITOR

� e message is about re-sponsibility.

Steve Perry, CNN educa-tion contributor, will speak at Auburn Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. in the Student Center ball-room. � e lecture will be hosted by the Black Student Union.

“I will call him more so one of the African American leaders from our genera-tion that’s actually getting some light,” said Shawntell Pace, president of the Black Student Union. “We didn’t want to bring a Cornel West or a reverend; we wanted to bring somebody nowadays where © ve years from now when our students look back, they’re, ‘Oh, he came to our school, and he spoke really, really well.’”

Perry is a regular © gure on CNN and speaks fre-quently on issues regarding education and the African-American community. Per-ry is also known for a num-ber of accomplishments, including founding Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., in 2005 and publishing a best-sell-ing book.

Capital Preparatory is recognized for having a 100 percent graduation rate.

“We didn’t believe that poverty or race or where you were born had any indi-cation as to whether or not you could be successful,” Perry said. “It’s not that we believe it’s where you start life, but where you end that determines how successful

you will be. And so, there-fore, we wanted a school that would change the di-rection of history, not just for the individuals, but edu-cation as we know it.”

Perry’s best-known book, “Man Up! Nobody is Coming to Save Us,” was published in 2006.

“‘Man Up’ is a call to ac-tion for the African Ameri-can community,” Perry said. “It says that black people, we need to stop blaming everybody and everything else for the circumstances that we © nd ourselves in. We have to own the pieces of it that are truly ours, and with that accept full respon-sibility and the power to do something. So it’s as much a call to action as it is an in-trospective look into who we are and who we should be. It talks about every-thing from black churches to black parenting, the way we eat, drink and engage in intimate relations.”

Perry, who often speaks at universities, said his message to the college

community is a call to ac-tion as well.

“Many a generation has been de© ned by what they did when they were kids,” Perry said. “A new genera-tion is the consumer. You guys take technology, but don’t create. You partici-pate, but don’t lead. I think that this is a sleeping lion of a generation. I think that there’s never been a genera-tion that has had more ac-cess to resources than this one.”

Perry said the resources to which students now have access give them the power to revolutionize their gen-eration.

“We don’t need this gen-eration to necessarily pro-mote as much as we need the American college stu-dents to perceive the great position they © nd them-selves in and make it bet-ter for those people that are in front and behind,” Perry said.

Pace said the Union’s pur-pose for hosting the lecture is to encourage students to take initiative.

“Who would have known that this guy who was raised in the projects would own a high school, and at that a 100 percent graduation rate?” Pace said. “Like, this can be done. And not only this can be done, but other things out there that you imagine or dream can be done as well.”

� e lecture is free to any-one who wishes to attend. Guests are encouraged to arrive early for seating.

“Many a generation has been de� ned by what they did when they were kids.”

—Dr. Steve Perry CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR

Campus B4 The Auburn Plainsman � ursday, February 17, 2011

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Madeline HallWRITER

� e recent revolution in Egypt has brought new ap-peal to the International Relations in the Middle East class, which helps students better understand current events around the world.

� e class, taught by pro-fessor Jill Crystal, covers domestic politics in Middle Eastern countries, includ-ing the series of wars that have taken place in the last 50 years.

“I focus � rst on historical background, and after that we look at Israeli and Arab con� icts, then Arab and Pal-estinian con� icts,” Crystal said, “then on to the three Gulf wars.”

After 18 years of teach-ing the course, Crystal has learned to make room in the syllabus for unexpected lec-tures.

“Inevitably, something blows up, like Mubarak,” Crystal said. “Last week, we took a detour and spent an hour talking about nothing but Egypt and what was go-ing on.”

� e discussion tried to

explain the reasons for the Egyptian riots and upris-ings.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t un-derstand half the stu� go-ing on over there if I didn’t know the background and history of Egyptian politics,” said Laura Fleming, junior in political science. “Now I understand the dynamics of their situation.”

Crystal said what hap-pens in Egypt will have re-verberations across the Middle East.

“What goes on there is important because of the ef-fect it has on the area,” she said. “It is the most power-ful central country in that region.”

International relations gives students an introduc-tion into foreign policy.

Crystal said it is di£ cult for many people to pick up on foreign policy concepts .

“I think that understand-ing foreign policy is some-thing that people have a hard time acquiring if they haven’t already by the end of college,” Crystal said.

C.J. Henley, junior in po-litical science, is taking the

class because of his focus on international relations.

“� e amount of knowl-edge that the teacher has is pretty substantial to any other class,” Henley said. “It is interesting because you can apply it to today, and politics in general is really enjoyable to me.”

Crystal was drawn to the Middle East because of the weather.

“I like studying in plac-es where it’s warm—same thing that brought me to Alabama,” Crystal said.

� e weather might have brought her, but the politics kept her there.

“What’s interesting about the Middle East is that there’s always something going on,” Crystal said. “It’s always new and completely unexpected.”

Crystal can’t say the same for the United States.

“I � nd American politics deeply boring because it’s elections every four years, this one or that one,” Crystal said. “But in the Middle East we’ve got coups, uprisings, wars and revolutions.”

Learning about the Mid-dle East is one thing, but traveling there is another matter, according to stu-dents in the class.

“I don’t really want to go there since it is such a high-con� ict area,” Fleming said. “It would de� nitely be an ex-perience, though.”

Crystal, who has lived in the Arab states o� and on over the years, said the Gulf area, such as Qatar and Dubai, is her favorite.

Fleming and Henley both recommend the interna-tional relations class to stu-dents as a way to stay in-formed even if one is not a political science major.

Class explores con� ict in Middle East

Brave expressions

Morgan McKeanWRITER

Jake, 11, has nonverbal autism, meaning he doesn’t use spoken language in the traditional way.

However, he gets to ex-press himself every other Monday night when he at-tends Brave Hearts.

Auburn social work pro-fessor Angie Burque start-ed “Expressions of a Brave Heart” in January 2010 as a program for young adults with disabilities to ex-press themselves creative-ly through art, music or dance.

“I felt like kids who have moderate to severe disabili-ties have less opportunities than typical kids,” Burque said.

One of the driving forc-es behind the program is Burque’s experience with her two sons, one of which has autism.

“Growing up, I’ve watched as the oldest one gets to participate in band and sports and make friends and perform, while

the younger one has had fewer and fewer oppor-tunities for these things,” Burque said.

She wanted to design a safe place where young adults with disabilities could have fun with their peers.

“He’s been a lot less shy,” said Emily Burkett, senior in social work who has worked with Jake at Brave Hearts since last fall.

Jake’s mother Luanne Helms said he enjoys the program and always looks forward to it.

“We always tell him on Sundays, ‘You’ve got Brave Hearts tomorrow night,”’ Helms said. “And then when he comes home from school the next day, he gets his stu� together and is geared up and ready to go.”

� e program lasts from 5:30–7 p.m. and the partici-pants, ages 11 to 21, choose to engage in two of three sessions from art, music or dance.

Last Monday, art includ-ed decorating Valentine’s cards and painting and twisting pipe cleaners un-til they resembled a � ower or letter. Music sessions in-corporated rhythmic drum beating, while dance took a more modern approach, teaching the participants moves to Miley Cyrus’ hit “Party in the USA.”

In its third season, Brave Hearts has 22 participants

and more than 60 volun-teers. Most of the volun-teers are students, but � ne arts specialists, Auburn professors and local spe-cial education teachers also help.

Burque said her biggest success is knowing the par-ticipants look forward to coming to a place they call their own.

“� ey know this is their club where they can make friends, see old friends and get to know some college students,” she said.

Hope Lollis said her son seems happier and more self-con� dent since begin-ning Brave Hearts.

“Professor Burque is a wonderful lady,” Lollis said. “She is very passion-ate about children, and she also works with families very well.”

Kristin Lupton, junior in social work, works with Burque both as one of her students and Brave Hearts’ volunteers.

“She’s just really fun and really good at making you believe in yourself,” Lupton said.

After last season’s � nal performance, two special education teachers from the local junior high told Burque that Brave Hearts was a huge thrill for their students.

“It’s just one wonderful stream of neat experiences,” Burque said.

CHRISTEN HARNED / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Courtney Rogers, junior in political science, takes notes in International Relations in the Middle East.

“What’s interesting about the Middle East is that there’s always something going on.”

—Jill Crystal PROFESSOR, POLITICAL SCIENCE

Social work professor gives young adults with disabilities an artistic outlet

� ursday, February 17, 2011 The Auburn Plainsman Campus B5

CLASSIFIEDSTo Place a Classi� ed Ad Email

classad@auburn.edu or Call 334–844–7928� e Auburn Plainsman reserves the right to refuse any ad it considers

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Ellen WeathersWRITER

� e Society of Profession-al Hispanic Engineers now has a student chapter at Au-burn.

A group of Los Angeles engineers created the SPHE in 1974 to serve as profes-sional role models to the Hispanic community. Au-burn’s student chapter was started in November 2010.

Khristine Pizarro, senior in chemical engineering, is the chapter’s president and said she became interested

in the society after speaking with a friend who is a mem-ber at Florida State Univer-sity.

She then spoke to Virgin-ia Davis, associate professor of chemical engineering and adviser to the group.

“I started researching about the national organi-zation, their purpose, their objectives,” Pizarro said. “� en Dr. Davis and I start-ed talking about how we should have a chapter here on campus because there are no real professional

chapters or organizations for Hispanics.”

Membership and bene« ts aren’t only open to Hispan-ics and engineers. Although it has a strong Hispanic base, the SPHE mission statement says it obtains excellence through integri-ty, empowerment, achieve-ment, diversity and contin-uous improvement while enhancing America’s posi-tion in science, technology, engineering and math.

“A lot of the other nation-al chapters, the majority of

their members aren’t His-panic,” Pizarro said.

Katie Mantooth, career counselor for career devel-opment services, said in-volvement in organizations like the SPHE is a great way to network while building skills for use after college.

“I think it’s an opportuni-ty for students with similar interests to encourage one another and share ideas,” Mantooth said.

Pizarro said networking, scholarships and the SPHE’s annual career fair are the

three best bene« ts of mem-bership.

“I’ve had the opportu-nity to do a lot of network-ing through the national organization,” Pizarro said. “� ey also have a really big career fair with di¬ erent companies from oil to phar-maceuticals to aviation.”

Auburn’s chapter will be monitored for a year before it will be eligible for promo-tion from its current provi-sional status to an o® cial campus organization.

Pizarro said the SPHE will

focus on recruitment and fundraising while waiting for its promotion. It will also participate in this year’s E-Day and the Big Event.

� e SPHE’s « rst general meeting is Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. in Ross Hall 136. Mantooth is also the guest speaker for the upcoming meeting.

“When I went to the na-tional conference, they were all a big family,” Pizarro said. “People love that the SPHE has such a huge career fair and di¬ erent opportunities to become a good leader.”

Auburn says ‘bienvenido’ to newest student society

Jade CurridWRITER

Colorful prints of birds with scienti« c names commemorating individ-uals will be on display at the Jule Collins Smith Mu-seum of Fine Art in the ex-hibit, “A Wren by Any Oth-er Name: Selections from the Louise Hauss and Da-vid Brent Miller Audubon Collection.”

� e exhibition, show-casing the prints of 19th-century American natural-ist and artist John James Audubon, will be held Feb. 19–June 11.

As one of the South-east’s largest collections, the museum’s Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection holds more than 100 of Audubon’s most valuable prints.

“It is a cornerstone col-lection,” said Scott Bishop-Wagoner, JCSM curator of education for the mu-seum’s permanent Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collec-tion.

� e collection contains Audubon’s greatest illus-trated work, “� e Birds of America.”

According to Bishop-Wagoner in her explanato-ry piece on the exhibit, the number of known plants and animals increased in the 18th century, and sci-entists attempted to cre-ate a standardized sys-tem for classifying and

organizing species.Bishop-Wagoner said

Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus developed a sys-tem of binomial nomen-clature that allows for a standardized classi« ca-tion and naming system.

Each name is composed of the genus and species names, and as a whole is known as the scienti« c name or the Latin name.

Bishop-Wagoner said the species name is some-times derived from the proper name of a place or person.

� e occasion arises for a scientist to immortal-ize himself, a friend or a historic « gure when he is describing and naming a new species, according to Bishop-Wagoner.

Bishop-Wagoner said the names of 39 people ap-pear in the nomenclature of “� e Birds of America.”

“It’s always an opportu-nity to see Audubon prints in a new light,” Bishop-Wagoner said.

Andrew Henley, also a JCSM education curator, said the museum’s newest Audubon exhibit will pro-vide biographical sketch-es.

He said the exhibit will focus on the context in which the birds were named.

Marilyn Laufer, direc-tor of JCSM, said she con-siders the collection to be one of the greatest trea-sures of the museum.

Bishop-Wagoner said the upcoming exhibit will feature smaller birds.

“It’s a particularly pretty exhibition,” Bishop-Wag-oner said.

According to JCSM’s website, Audubon’s works were originally appreciat-ed most for their scienti« c value.

Around the time of his death, his art was per-ceived to be among the most accurate and earliest accounts of wildlife.

Historians consid-er Audubon’s drawings, paintings and engravings some of the « nest artistic achievements of the 19th century,

During the « rst half of the 20th century, David Brent Miller, who spent much of his life operating a successful family-owned lumber business in Brew-ton, obtained the Audu-bon collection now found at JCSM.

After his death, his wife, Louise Hauss, continued to add to his collection.

� e Miller’s grand-daughter, Susan Phillips, donated the Audubon col-lection to Auburn Univer-sity, according to JCSM.

She carried out her grandparents’ wish to en-sure the accessibility of the collection to Alabama citi-zens by providing funds to the museum for the con-servation, study, care and continuous exhibition of the prints.

Exhibit showcases prints from renowned naturalist

Christina SanteeWRITER

A unique collaboration took place Feb. 12, unifying both the Auburn University and � e University of South-ern Mississippi choirs for a public choral performance at Auburn United Method-ist Church.

With the ensemble, USM continued its semester tour titled “� e Southern Cho-rale,” conducted and orga-nized by Gregory Fuller.

William Powell, director of choral activities at Au-burn, was responsible for coordinating Auburn’s 45 vocalists.

� e USM choir of 55 indi-viduals completed four con-certs during the weekend, including its feature with Auburn.

“One of the biggest values of doing something like this is that it gives our students the opportunity to hear what’s going on outside of Auburn,” Powell said. “Hav-ing the opportunity to hear

a group outside the state of Alabama helps us to « gure out where we stand in the midst.”

� e USM choir has com-pleted 10 concerts since January.

“We’re very active,” Fuller said. “It’s just a combination of being visible regionally, nationally and internation-ally.”

More than 75 individu-als « lled the pews of the 126-year-old church.

� e show opened with both choirs singing “Dread Farewell” by Dan Forrest.

� e two groups also har-monized in singing their second and « nal combined number, “Ave Maria” by Franz Liszt.

� e performance includ-ed the men’s and women’s choirs from both schools.

Jody and Missy Powell, parents of two of the vo-calists, made the trip from their hometown of Mobile to see their sons sing.

� eir youngest son,

freshman Marc Powell, sang with the Auburn chamber singers group, and their el-dest son, junior Joseph Pow-ell, with the USM choir.

Jody, choral director at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile, and Missy, assistant choral director, said they were proud to witness their sons carry on the family tra-dition.

“I’m just ecstatic that we could come and have the opportunity to hear both of our kids perform on the same program in two totally di¬ erent choirs under two totally di¬ erent directors,” Jody said.

� e USM choir also pre-sented � e Spirit of South-ern, its men’s a cappella en-semble, and � e Southern Belle Tones, its women’s a cappella ensemble.

� e performance ended with “I Can Tell the World” arranged by Moses Hogan.

Both groups received a standing ovation from the audience.

Universities unite in song

CHRISTEN HARNED / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

William Powell introduces the Auburn University Chamber Choir at Saturday’s concert.

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Campus B6 The Auburn Plainsman � ursday, February 17, 2011

On the Concourse Question:

What do you think about the con-struction of the new Student Act?

“I’m naturally bu� . I didn’t even know it was being built.”

—Grace Moss, junior, English

“I think it needs to hurry up. � e one now is crowded.”

—Jamie Madere, freshman, apparel merchandising

“I think it’s going to be awesome. � at’s what I think.”

—Owen Meadows, freshman, business

“I think that’s awesome. Compared to other colleges, our activities center is pretty sad.”

—Brooke Van Dyke, freshman, early elementary education

“I don’t ever go there. I don’t really care.”

—Garrard Conley, graduate student, English

“I think it might be a little extravagant. I hate that I’m having to pay for it when I’m graduating.”

—Bethany Cochran, senior, social science education

� ink you know an Auburn woman who has what it takes to be the Loveliest Lady on the Plains? Send submissions, with names

and contact information, to campus@theplainsman.com

OLIVIA GLASSCOCK, 18Born and raised in Auburn, this week’s Loveliest could

just as easily � t in on the streets of a big city as in small-town Alabama. “Diverse” is the word to describe

Olivia’s wide range of interests. “I’m interested in art of every form,” she says, expressing her inner creativity as a member of the AU Circle sta� . In addition, Olivia stays

spiritual with Dive Campus Ministry and even gets political as a member of Young Americans for Liberty.

Can you say Renaissance woman?

Philanthropy Bene�t Night

Support theKappa Delta Shamrock Run

TODAY (Thur. 17th) 5pm-7pm at Foy

It’s ALL $1.00!Tacos, Chips, Salsa,

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auburn.edu/dining

� ursday, February 17, 2011 www.theplainsman.com Page C1

CIntrigue Dean’s dual citizenship» PAGE C2

Headphone review» PAGE C4

What a knockout

Miranda DollarhideINTRIGUE EDITOR

Like many mothers, Malcolm Hardmon’s mom doesn’t like his current love interest.

“My mom, she does not want to watch me � ght,” said Hardmon, junior in psychol-ogy and mixed martial arts � ghter. “Her last � ght, she said she was absolutely nerve-wracked.”

� at hasn’t stopped Hardmon from pur-suing his love of MMA � ghting.

“I’m not a violent person by any means; I’m actually one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet,” Hardmon said. “But to be completely honest, it is just fun beating people up.”

A football player in high school, Hardmon wasn’t really looking to start a new sport, but after he broke his back his senior year of high school, that all changed.

“I was going to play football in college—a broken back puts a stop to that, but it healed up, and I found MMA,” Hardmon said. “It has been love at � rst sight.”

Hardmon started his career in MMA three years ago after being approached by trainers outside of Winn-Dixie.

“� ey had just gotten done working out, so they were outside cooling down,” Hard-mon said. “� ey saw me in the parking lot and told me to come over there and train with them. “

He said he returned the next day, and thus began his journey.

“It wasn’t anything that I expected,” Hard-mon said. “I was instantly good at it as far as the wrestling and striking.”

Since his � rst day, Hardmon has compet-ed in three � ghts, winning all three, and is competing for a state title Feb. 19.

Keith Johnson, Hardmon’s trainer and professional MMA � ghter, said he attributes Hardmon’s undefeated streak to commit-ment and heart.

“He won’t quit,” Johnson said. “He’ll go un-til he pukes. He pushes his body to that limit

every time.” Hardmon is so committed he does little

else besides train in the gym and work at Jimmy John’s.

He wakes up at 5 or 6 a.m. and drinks a protein shake. He eats a good breakfast and two hours later, eats again.

� en he works out with weights, relaxes and goes to Nutrition First to spar.

Shortly after, he drives to Auburn MMA to train with Johnson and ends the day at work.

One advantage Malcolm has that most of his opponents wouldn’t consider a bene� t in MMA � ghting is hearing loss.

Hardmon was born hearing impaired and wears a hearing aid when he isn’t in the ring.

“You get serious tunnel vision during a � ght, so it is just you and that guy,” Hardmon said. “You are completely focused on him.”

Hardmon said it obviously has disadvan-tages, too.

“My trainer is yelling at me, and I’m like, ‘I can’t hear you; I don’t know what you are saying,’” Hardmon said. “� e tips that he would give me I can’t follow because I can’t hear them.”

But like other di® culties, Hardmon � nds a way to work it out.

“What I try to do, say we go to the ground, is drag him over to my corner so I can hear them,” Hardmon said.

Another advantage he has is his back-ground in psychology.

“You have to play a psychological fac-tor with your � ghter,” Hardmon said, “like Muhammad Ali—he was the greatest sim-ply because of the psychological games he played on his opponents. “

One trick he uses is adding an opponent on Facebook.

“Not in the case that I want to get to know him because we de� nitely aren’t going to be friends in the ring, but to loosen him up,” Hardmon said. “Get him to underestimate me a little bit.”

Johnson said psychologically, � ghting is like a human chess match.

“� ere are so many variables at any

given time, so if you’re not dialed in, you’ll get punched in the head or choked out or any number of scenarios,” Johnson said.

Recently, Hardmon has been fully com-mitted to preparing for his next � ght.

He has maintained a diet of no sugar, fat or carbs and drinks two gallons of water a day.

After taking a year o ̄ from MMA in 2010, Hardmon said he is glad to be back.

“I took a hiatus for at least a year, and it kind of messed me up,” Hardmon said. “I am a very physical person, and I didn’t even work out for a long time. It messes with you mentally.”

Hardmon said his break from MMA was

REBEKAH WEAVER / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Auburn MMA � ghter Malcolm Hardmon takes a break from training to drink his required two gallons of water for the day. Hardmon will compete for a state title Saturday.

REBEKAH WEAVER / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Because of hearing loss, Hardmon’s tunnel vision gives him an advantage in the ring.

MMA � ghter wrestles with everyday life

ROD GUAJARDO / EDITOR

Andy Roberts, trainer at Auburn MMA, wrestles with Hardmon into a headlock.

“It wasn’t anything that I expected. I was instantly good at it as far as the wrestling and striking.”

—Malcolm Hardmon JUNIOR, PSYCHOLOGY

MMA QUICKHITS

• Rear naked choke: A type of choke that is applied behind an opponent upon capturing his back.

• Guillotine choke: In this maneuver, you are facing your opponent and you have your opponent in a headlock either standing or on the ground with hands clasped together.

• Anaconda choke: This choke is made by trapping an opponent’s arm with an underhook and clasp-ing hands on the other side of his neck, squeezing his neck and arm together to cut off air supply.

• Grappling: A general term used to describe wrestling and ground-oriented martial arts.

» See KNOCKOUT, C2

Intrigue C2 The Auburn Plainsman � ursday, February 17, 2011

TurkeyMeatloaf

Kerry’s recipe of the week

Ingredients:1 tablespoon olive oil½ cup onion, diced � nely1 pound ground turkeysalt and pepper, to taste1 egg white¼ cup water½ cup dry bread crumbs2 tablespoons Worces-tershire sauce, divided½ cup ketchup

Directions:Preheat oven to 350° F. In a skillet over medium high heat, add the olive oil and onion. Sauté for 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix the ground turkey, salt and pepper, egg white, water, bread crumbs, Worcestershire sauce and cooked onions until incorporated. Shape into a loaf and place into a loaf pan or on a greased baking sheet. In a small bowl, mix the remain-ing tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and ketchup. Pour on top of the meatloaf. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes.

Contributed by Kerry Fannon

Favorite snack?I like sweet yogurt.

Hardest class you’ve taken?Business Cal 2

Any tattoos or piercings?I have a tattoo. It’s just two days old. It goes with my zodiac sign, Taurus.

Favorite spot on campus?Foy. I eat here every day.

Best band you’ve seen in concert?Gorilla Zoe.

If your life was a movie, what would the title be?Perplexed. Most of the time I’m confused.

What song gets stuck in your head?Just a Dream by Nelly.

Which came   rst, the chicken or the egg?The egg.

How about a fun fact?I’m from India. I moved here two years ago.

Joe RandomSam Joshi

Junior, entrepreneurship──

Jillian ClairNEWS EDITOR

On a tiny island o£ the coast of Germany, a young Anna Gramberg watched “Gone with the Wind” and dreamed of one day living in a place where it was hot at night.

Years later, that dream came true. Gramberg, who is now dean of the College of Liberal Arts, has enjoyed the sweltering heat of Ala-bama summers since her arrival at Auburn in 1993.

Gramberg became a U.S. citizen Feb. 1.

As Gramberg said the Pledge of Allegiance and listened to a school choir sing the National Anthem, she said she felt a connec-tion with all the immigrants who had come to the United States throughout its his-tory.

“I think sometimes a lot of people who were born here really forget that this has always been the country of opportunity for so many who came here and arrived by boat, by ship,” Gramberg said. “It links you back to those times, so that’s what was going through my head—that this country has

always stood for opportuni-ty. It’s big.”

Gramberg said she had expectations of the U.S. be-fore she arrived.

� e lifestyle of Americans along with the weather was always appealing to her, she said.

“(My expectations) were not only met, they were ex-ceeded because I always saw the United States as a country where immigrants came with a real chance to succeed, and America is still the country of mul-tiple opportunities, where if you work real hard, you can be successful,” Gram-berg said. “� e countries in Europe are much older, and you have a lot more bureau-cracy.”

Freedom is also some-thing Gramberg values.

“� e freedom here—not just freedom in terms of speech—they have that in Europe too —but more free-dom from the shackles of ‘We’ve always done it this way’—It’s still fresh and new in comparison to the very old traditions in Europe,” Gramberg said.

After earning her Ph.D. in German with a

concentration in business from Michigan State Uni-versity, Gramberg began teaching German for busi-ness and economics at Au-burn. She has been an ad-ministrator in the College of Liberal Arts since 2001 and became dean in 2005.

Gramberg said she enjoys living in the South and has even developed an appreci-ation for football.

“I didn’t grow up with it, so it’s not in my blood like it is for many of you all, but I certainly have grown an un-derstanding for it,” she said. “I mean, you have to be on somebody’s side when you live in Alabama, right?”

Gramberg said she is ex-cited about the future of the College of Liberal Arts.

“We are doing very, very well, especially considering we have all gone through hard times with the bud-get cuts, and thanks to our faculty, we have met the challenge of serving our students very well with less resources,” Gramberg said. “And also our students are really very, very good, and they work with us, so that’s really the key. I hope we can just continue in this path.”

Dean pledges to dual ags

because of an ex-girlfriend.“She broke up with me

and messed me up for a while,” Hardmon said. “We dated for a year, and things changed. She just came out of left � eld one day and just cut it o£ .”

Hardmon said he is emo-tionally driven, and after the breakup, he was devas-tated.

“If I have something I

can hold on to emotionally, I can go pretty far,” Hard-mon said. “I put all my eggs in one basket. I put them all on her, so I was pretty emotionally drained after that.”

Since the breakup, Hard-mon is channeling all his emotion on winning his next � ght.

“I think he likes getting back into something com-petitive again,” Johnson said. “� ere is a void there for most guys when they get done with high school.

If they don’t do something the next level, you know you’re either going to get fat and drink a beer or you’re going to start � ght-ing in bars.”

One thing Hardmon is looking forward to is � n-ishing his degree and get-ting a � ghting nickname.

“I want one so bad,” Hardmon said. “A lot of people back home call me the giant teddy bear. I want to do something like Mal-colm ‘� e Eclipse’ because I’m black.”

KNOCKOUT» From C1

MARIA IAMPIETRO / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

Anna Gramberg, CLA dean, stands by a mural of famous German scientist Albert Einstein.

Thursday, February 17, 2011 The Auburn Plainsman Intrigue C3

Crossword Puzzle oCto

sudokuACross 1. Between ports 5. Janitors’ tools 9. Kind of student 12. “Devil Inside” rock band 13. All thumbs 15. Sushi wrap 16. Reindeer 17. Longhorn 18. Furry red Muppet 19. Booty 21. Galoshes, e.g. 23. Hair style 25. Widen a hole 26. Greenspan stat 29. Jungle crushers 31. Nod off 35. Grain crop 36. Gain admission 38. Puts in the fridge 39. Woe is me! 41. Bundle 43. Van __, California 44. Olympics symbol 46. Scope 48. Open meadow 49. Haphazardly 51. Trig function 52. Kind of humor 53. Air-show stunt 55. Soap target 57. Bahamas cruise stop 61. Skulks about 65. Like a dishrag 66. Very reluctant 68. Talking bird 69. Belief systems

70. Minaret 71. Remove snow 72. Asian export 73. Insult 74. Equine fodder

down 1. Has a fever 2. Crackle 3. World’s fair 4. Savory jelly 5. Embassies 6. Hamilton’s prov. 7. Social equal 8. Asparagus morsel 9. Burrowing animal 10. Ms. Bombeck 11. Designer label 14. Made an effort 15. Lunar phase (2 wds.) 20. Brain part 22. Drug-squad cop 24. Earl Hines’ nickname

26. Persona non __ 27. Stocking material 28. Polar explorer 30. Looks as if 32. Is willing to 33. More cagey 34. Montaigne opus 37. Extreme 40. Moves laboriously 42. Successful marathoner 45. Basketball rim 47. Gull cousin 50. Cashmere and merino 54. Braces 56. Speed 57. Dart about 58. Hilltop 59. Jane Austen heroine 60. Plane part 62. Auel heroine 63. Shoelace annoyance 64. Cuts into pieces 67. Play about Capote

Instructions

1. Place the num-bers 1–8 in each of the octagons such that the numbers are not repeated in any row, column or diagonal.

2. The numbers along the edges, top and bottom are the sums for the num-bers in the diagonal that begins or ends at that number.

3. The number in each diamond is the sum of the numbers of each of the four faces that border that diamond. The numbers that bor-der the diamonds do not have to be unique.

4. 50 numbers are provided in this Octo.

© 2009, Doug Gardner Patent Pending

bAsketbAll sCrAmblerClue 1: R B L I B D E Clue 4: S F N E O F E

Clue 2: N D u K Clue 5: E N R C T E

Clue 3: z B u R E z Bonus: use circles to solve

Answers to last issue’s crossword

Check www.theplainsman.com for the answers. For more OCTOs, go to home.comcast.net~douglasdgardner/site

4 2 9 5

1 7 5 3

4 9

3 2 7 8

8 9 6 2

2 3

4 1 7 8

9 5 8 1

Answers to last issue’s puzzle

3 5 6 1 9 4 8 7 2

8 2 9 5 3 7 1 4 6

7 4 1 6 8 2 9 5 3

1 8 3 4 5 6 7 2 9

2 7 4 8 1 9 3 6 5

6 9 5 2 7 3 4 1 8

4 6 7 9 2 8 5 3 1

5 3 8 7 6 1 2 9 4

9 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 7

Alison McFerrinASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

A record total of 134 Na-tional Merit Scholars were admitted to Auburn sum-mer and fall 2010, accord-ing to National Merit Schol-arship Corporation Annual Report.

One of those Scholars is Chelsea Appleget, freshman in civil and materials engi-neering.

“This way I don’t have to worry about money,” Apple-get said. “I can just focus on school.”

Auburn’s provisions for a National Merit Scholar include preferred housing and a housing stipend.

“It saves so much money that you don’t even really consider living off-campus,” Appleget said. “I’m a little bit worried about being a senior and being surround-ed by freshmen in the dorm, but it’s worth it.”

William Riley, also a Na-tional Merit Scholar and freshman in biochemistry, said the housing stipend has been a relief for him.

“I’ll probably be staying on campus for four years and won’t have to pay for it,” Riley said. “I don’t know of

anybody that wouldn’t take a $2,500 housing stipend ev-ery semester.”

Appleget said she didn’t even know she was taking the test for National Merit Scholarship until the day of the test.

“My mom had signed me up for it and forgot to tell me,” Appleget said. “Once I got to a certain point I knew how important it was, so I started getting nervous about whether I was going to get it or not.”

Students must first take the PSAT to become semi-finalists in the competition.

Other requirements in-clude good grades in high school, a PSAT score of more than 200, an essay and recommendations from school officials.

“I totally cried,” Appleget said on finding out she was a National Merit Scholar. “I was really excited because I knew what it meant.”

For some, the Nation-al Merit Scholarship is in the family. Sarah Evander, freshman in anthropology and Spanish, has two older brothers who were also Na-tional Merit Scholars.

“When I got it, I was

really happy,” Evander said. “It just opens up so many more possibilities.”

Although Evander said she felt confident she would qualify, she said she tried not to get her hopes up.

“It’s better to not expect it and not be disappointed than to think you’re going to get it, and then not get it,” Evander said.

Riley said he wasn’t sure he would be able to make the grade because of his SAT score.

“I made barely the mini-mum,” Riley said. “But I was pretty confident with my es-says and my recommenda-tions and my grades from high school.”

Riley said waiting to find out whether he had quali-fied wasn’t stressful.

“I figured at that point, if I got it, I got it, but if I didn’t, there was no reason to be too upset about it,” Riley said. “It wasn’t something that kept me up at night.”

Evander said in her ex-perience, being a National Merit Scholar means you can set higher goals, but it’s no guarantee.

“I feel that because I’m a National Merit Scholar,

people expect that I’m able to do a lot of things,” Evander said. “I’m able to do what I’m able to do, and what I’m not able to do, I just don’t worry about.”

Evander said the Nation-al Merit Scholarship indi-cates one of two things.

“It really just means that you’re either intelligent, or you’re a good test-taker,” Evander said. “I have friends who are just as smart as me, work just as hard, and they just don’t test well because they get stressed out about it.”

Appleget said she studies a lot, but still makes time for extracurriculars.

She is a part of the Au-burn High Altitude Balloon Team, which launches and tracks balloons that fly to the edge of space.

“It’s a lot of time and a lot of work,” Appleget said. “It has a lot of benefits and you get to see results.”

Appleget isn’t the only Scholar with interests out-side the classroom.

Riley said he spends most of his free time playing on the lacrosse team.

“It’s like the movement of soccer and the physicalness

of football and plays like basketball,” Riley said.

This is his fifth year play-ing lacrosse, and he said he hopes to get more playing time next year when this year’s goalie graduates.

“If I’m not doing lacrosse or homework or class, I just like to relax a little bit,” Riley said.

But making time for hob-bies doesn’t mean these Na-tional Merit Scholars slack off of schoolwork.

“School is important; that is why we’re here,” Evander said.

Even though the mini-mum requirement to keep the scholarship is a 3.0 GPA, personal goals may be high-er.

“I’m expecting myself to keep a 4.0,” Riley said. “I don’t like to talk about school and scholarships and stuff like that a lot be-cause, I don’t know, I feel like I’m bragging a lot of the time. So I just kind of keep it to myself.”

Appleget said she also has high expectations for herself.

“So far it hasn’t com-pletely taken over my life,” Appleget said, although

she is taking 17 hours this semester and plans to take 18 in every future semester. “Maybe next year will be a different story.”

Evander said finding out someone is a National Merit Scholar gives her a new re-spect for that person.

“You just randomly find out that other people are National Merit,” Evander said. “There’s actually a lot more than you think. It’s just really cool because you have a connection with them.”

Appleget said she is glad Auburn has enrolled so many National Merit Schol-ars.

“It’s nice that Auburn is getting recognition for that,” Appleget said. “That’s the most appealing thing because a lot of colleges have cut their scholarships for National Merit.”

Evander said the Nation-al Merit program confirmed her decision to attend Au-burn.

“It really took coming to visit for me to realize how perfect Auburn was for me, and I feel like National Mer-it just made that possible,” Evander said.

Christen harned / assistant photography editor

William Riley, undeclared freshman, shows his love for la-crosse with an Au Lacrosse T-shirt and playing stick.

Christen harned / assistant photography editor

Sarah Evander, freshman in anthropology and Spanish, re-laxes on the rocks of the Au amphitheater.

Christen harned / assistant photography editor

Chelsea Appleget, freshman in civil and materials engineer-ing, leans back on the walls near the Science Center.

National Merit Scholars talk testing, extracurriculars

C4� ursday, February 17, 2011 www.theplainsman.com Intrigue

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Rachel HamptonWRITER

Local bands are using all the right keys to cre-ate their own promotional Facebook pages.

“Facebook is just so structured and easy,” said Luke Sheehan, rhythm gui-tarist for Blame Sydney!. “You can message and in-vite a thousand people to a show with two clicks of the button.”

Blame Sydney!, a ska-style band which combines big band horns to a fast Bob Marley beat, has been promoting on Facebook since the fall of 2009.

“I probably wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now, with connections in New Orleans and Atlanta, with-out Facebook,” Sheehan said. “I don’t know if Face-book is directly the reason, but we’re starting to play bigger shows now.”

� e social network gives bands the bonus of being able to reach thousands of users without having to do all the legwork.

“� e ability to create events on Facebook is the biggest advantage to us-ing Facebook,” said Caleb � omas, lead guitarist for Bottle Up And Explode, a 50s- and 60s-inspired ga-rage rock band. “I make an event; I invite my friends;

they invite their friends. � en we have hundreds of people attending an event that would have been pretty di¦ cult to promote if we had just put posters around town.”

Composer and pianist Rodney King of the band � erapy created a Face-book page before the band was o¦ cially formed.

King said he wanted to make sure the Facebook world knew they were coming soon.

“We just felt we can get a lot of people to know who we are just through Facebook,” King said, “even people that can’t come to shows because they’re so far away. We put videos online, and they can see that and just support us through there.”

As with personal Face-book pages, the group can give Facebookers a sense of who they are as a band.

“You kind of need an on-line persona, so that way people who have never seen you before will see a picture of you and be like, ‘Oh, they look interesting,’ and, ‘Oh wait, I like this band under their in© uenc-es,’” Sheehan said. “It gives you a sense of our style.”

� e usability of the net-work allows bands to tune up their pages wherever

they are and connect with users on an individual lev-el.

“It’s pretty easy these days with phones,” � omas said. “We keep it updated with the things we like and that inspire us, whether its other musicians or just lit-tle things we see through-out the day.”

For these local bands, playing outside of the Au-burn area means playing outside of their usual fan base.

“It’s really good when no one in the area has ever heard your band be-fore, and you ª nd people within that town to be like, ‘Hey, get your friends and send them to the Facebook page,’” Sheehan said.

Out-of-town shows give bands a chance to amplify their fan base.

An increase in fan base is a key for success, and Facebook allows for a more genuine approach than its predecessor, MySpace.

“It’s not so much a digi-tal sensation thing like MySpace, where suddenly you’re adding all these kids, and they don’t even listen to your music,” � omas said. “I feel like the people on our Facebook page re-ally care and come out to our shows and really listen to our music.”

Bands rock Facebook

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CONTRIBUTED

� e guys of Blame Sydney! met in Auburn University’s Department of � eatre in 2008.

Thursday, February 17, 2011 www.theplainsman.com Page D1

DSports Bass fishing» Page d4

Basketball preview» Page d3

Taylor JonesWriTer

After an exciting end to last season, the Auburn baseball team is not con-tent with being satisfied with their SeC Western Di-vision championship and making the regionals.

The Tigers have bigger plans for the future—plans to get on the board as a na-tional force.

“We want to have a chance to go to the SeC Tournament, play in the postseason and win a na-tional championship,” said coach John Pawlowski.

Pawlowski isn’t the only person who is “all in” on this plan. Senior pitcher Cory Luckie and senior outfield-er Justin Fradejas both ex-pressed high hopes for this team.

However, it will be diffi-cult to match last season’s team.

in 2010, the Tigers not only won the SeC West Di-vision Championship, but posted a 43–21 overall re-cord with a 20–10 SeC re-cord and hosted NCAA re-gionals.

The 2010 Tigers led the

SeC in team batting aver-age and home runs and set an SeC record by having 11 players drafted into Major League Baseball.

Not only are the 23rd-ranked 2011 Tigers faced with matching a stellar sea-son from last year, they are also dealing with key loss-es such as Trent Mummey, Hunter Morris, Cole Nelson, Grant Dayton and Austin Hubbard, all of whom were taken in the first 15 rounds of the draft.

The Tigers face a loss of batting power and must look to a different style of play to win games.

The NCAA has installed a new rule requiring teams to use bats with heavier aluminum, resulting in less carrying power on hits.

Losing key players hurts, but several new additions to the team will help ease the pain.

The Tigers are welcoming 17 new players to the team including freshman infield-er Zach Alvord, freshman Jay Gonzalez and junior An-drew Morris.

Alvord was drafted in the 18th round by the Atlanta Braves, but chose to take his chances at the college level before entering the pros.

Alvord attended South Forsyth High School in Alpharetta, Ga., and was named a 2010 AFLAC, Under Armour, rawlings and Louisville Slugger All-American. Alvord set South Forsyth’s school record with 16 home runs as a junior and was an invitee to Team USA.

Gonzalez also chose to come to Auburn out of high school after being drafted in the 27th round by the Boston red Sox. Gonzalez is an outfielder coming from Freedom High School in Orlando, Fla. He holds the Freedom High School sin-gle-season record for runs scored and stolen bases. Gonzalez also participated in the 2009 National Show-case and in the 2009 Nation-al Underclass Showcase.

Junior pitcher Andrew Morris chose to transfer to Auburn from Gulf Coast

Community College after being drafted in the 44th round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers and in the 16th round of the 2010 MLB Draft by the Brewers.

Playing for Prattville High School in Prattville, Morris was named the 2008 Metro Player of the Year.

in his years at Gulf Coast Community College, Morris was named the 2010 JUCO Pitcher of the Year and earned All-American hon-ors in 2009 and 2010.

Adding a power hitter

like Alvord, a speedy base runner in Gonzalez and a pitcher like Morris should increase Auburn’s chances for success.

When asked about team attitude, Pawlowski said he was impressed with the team’s attitude and work ethic.

While Pawlowski ap-plauded the players, Luckie gave his coach most of the credit.

“i think one of the things that Coach Pawlowski was trying to change when he came in here was to create

a winning attitude because we didn’t really have that before he came,” Luckie said.

The eleven-year coach-ing veteran has compiled a 412–238–1 record in his coaching career, including a 74–46 record in his two years at Auburn.

Pawlowski led the Tigers to their first SeC Western Division title since 1995 in his second year at Auburn.

He has also helped create some serious interest in Au-burn’s program.

This season Pawlowski guaranteed the first 500 students will be admitted to each game for free. After the first 500, students can pur-chase tickets for $2.

During the regionals hosted by Auburn last year, the Tigers saw incredible fan support.

Fans showed up in throngs, selling out every game at the regional and even spilling out of the sta-dium and crowding into the parking deck and onto the hill behind the outfield wall to get a chance to support the Tigers.

Tim Penix, president of Auburn’s student section (110–111) is optimistic about this season.

“We just want as many people to come out as pos-sible to enjoy themselves and to take part in trying to repeat what we did last sea-son.” Penix said.

Penix stressed the impor-tance of getting students in-volved and mentioned sev-eral promotions, including

Big expectations ahead for TigersAfter winning the West in 2010, hopes are high for Auburn baseball in 2011

Brian WoodhamASSiSTANT SPOrTS eDiTOr

After winning a national championship at the Uni-versity of Wisconsin-White-water, Jared rehm brought his passion for basketball to the Plains.

rehm, graduate student in kinesiology, doubles as point guard and coach for Auburn’s wheelchair basket-ball team.

“i’m a really competitive guy,” rehm said. “i really love winning, so it’s an out-let to compete.”

rehm, who has been in-volved in adaptive sports programs for 12 years, has worked with Nathan Wa-ters, graduate student in rehabilitation counseling, since the fall of 2008 to build an adaptive sports program at Auburn.

“i got used to practicing every day and playing ev-ery day,” rehm said. “And so when i came down here, i kind of thought that that was done and over with, but having this program now is

an opportunity to get back into it and be competitive again.”

Waters said the Adaptive recreation and Athletics program is a permanent or-ganization.

rehm said the games can get intense and physical.

“it’s just like able-bodied basketball—like, the chair’s part of your body, and so you see guys running into each other and bumping each other down the court,” rehm said.

Waters said the program became a member of the National Wheelchair Bas-ketball Association last fall.

For now, the team is in Di-vision iii, a league that isn’t limited to students, allow-ing community members to participate as well.

The association also has a more competitive Division ii classification, as well as an intercollegiate division for university students, ac-cording to Waters.

“We hope to, in the next couple years, have enough

students on campus to have an intercollegiate team,” Waters said.

With that goal in mind, rehm said he will soon be going on the road to high school tournaments and camps to recruit players to Auburn.

rehm is also Auburn’s only wheelchair tennis play-er and plays singles matches against Waters.

“The great thing about tennis is that a wheelchair player can play anybody,” Waters said. “The rule dif-ference on it is they get two bounces—everything else is the same.”

“He can go play anybody he wants to, and he’s good enough—he can hang with a lot of people.”

rehm, who started play-ing wheelchair tennis at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham when he was in high school, said he hopes to see other players come out to join him.

“i would love for some-one to come out and play

some tennis,” rehm said. “it would be awesome to have some guys in chairs come out and really start a pro-gram here for that, too.”

Waters said the program has nine sports wheelchairs in a variety of sizes that are available in the Student Ac-tivities Center.

Sports wheelchairs,

which range in cost from $1,500 to $3,500, have an-gled wheels and a wider base, which provides more balance and better han-dling, allowing players to make quick cuts and even 360-degree maneuvers.

The wheelchair basketball team is open to students, faculty, staff and interested

community members.The basketball practices

are held every Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the auxiliary gym be-side the Aquatics Center.

For more information on the Adaptive Sports Program, go to its web-site at www.auadaptive.org or e-mail Jared rehm at jmr0020@auburn.edu.

Adaptive sports program has eye on expansion

emily adams / Photo editor

Jared rehm and Nathan Waters practice defense at a wheelchair basketball practice.

» See BaseBall, D2

todd van emst / media relations

Auburn celebrates its 18–4 win over Ole Miss after winning the SeC West May 21, 2010.

Sports D2 The Auburn Plainsman � ursday, February 17, 2011

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Mackenzie CogleWRITER

Senior Auburn gymnast Rachel Inniss has become a crowd favorite this sea-son after incorporating the song “All I Do is Win” and striking a Heisman pose in her � oor routine.

Inniss said she consid-ers gymnastics to be one of her greatest passions, but admitted it was some-thing she tumbled into by accident.

At age 7, Inniss attended a cheerleading clinic with her cousin, where the two received passes for a free gymnastics class at a local gym.

Inniss quickly found she enjoyed all aspects of the sport.

Fourteen years later, she continues to pursue her passion as a member of the Auburn gymnastics team.

Inniss grew up in Rio Rancho, N.M. As a fresh-man at Rio Rancho High School, Inniss was a mem-ber of the dance team and she said she still enjoys

recreational dancing. After taking a break

from gymnastics her ju-nior year of high school to focus on track, Inniss said she decided to get back on the mat.

She joined the Albu-querque club gymnastics team her senior year of high school and earned the title of New Mexico’s Level 10 all-around and individual state champion in 2007.

Inniss also placed fourth on the � oor at the 2007 Ju-nior Olympic Nationals.

Inniss earned a gymnas-tics scholarship to Auburn in April of 2007.

Last April, the 21-year-old was selected to com-pete in the NCAA gymnas-tics championship after scoring a 9.9 on her � oor routine at regionals.

Inniss § nished nation-als with a 9.7 in the § fth rotation on � oor.

“I didn’t perform as well as I would have liked at nationals,” Inniss said. “� at was my drive for this year.”

To prepare for meets, Inniss said she prefers to listen to music or dance in order to distract herself.

“I do better when I’m not thinking about what I’m doing,” Inniss said.

Head coach Je ̈ Graba said he has spent this sea-son getting to know Inniss and views her as a leader both on and o ̈ the mat.

“She’s de§ nitely a com-petitor and a hard worker,” Graba said. “She is some-one you can rely on day-in and day-out.”

Sophomore team mem-ber Toi Garcia said she considers Inniss to be one of her best friends on the team and someone she looks up to.

“She’s real and upfront,”

Garcia said.Garcia also said Inniss

does not fail to disappoint the team’s expectation that she will nail her rou-tines.

“She’s been a rock for ev-eryone on the team,” Gar-cia said.

With only a handful of meets left this season, In-niss said the feeling is bit-tersweet.

She said she will miss the support system her team has given her.

“It’s scary to think it’s ending because this has been my life for four years,” Inniss said.

Majoring in public ad-ministration, Inniss plans to graduate next fall. Af-ter graduation she said she would like to coach gymnastics and choreo-graph routines for other gymnasts. She said she wants to stay attached to the sport even if it’s just by judging competitions.

“Gymnastics has given me so many opportuni-ties,” she said. “I still want to continue my career.”

§ reworks after every Friday night SEC game.

Michael Bazzy, vice presi-dent of the student section, said he is excited about this season, especially about the new rule concerning bats.

“� is team is going to have a di ̈erent feel than what most people are ac-customed to,” Bazzy said. “And it’s exciting because you get more of that minor league feel with the new bat, trying to play small-ball and use your technique to get an advantage.”

A large part of getting the crowd excited is the in-volvement of the Diamond Dolls.

“� e Diamond Dolls goal is to get as many people here as possible and to pump up the crowd and be very loud,” said Morgan Powell, public relations representative for the Diamond Dolls.

Powell also said they are holding a 5K race April 2 before the Vanderbilt game to raise money in honor of Coach Pawlowski’s daugh-ter Mary Louise, who bat-tled cancer.

Fradejas and Luckie said they hope fan support will carry over from last year’s regionals.

“Last year was so excit-ing, and we are very ap-preciative of our fans, Paw-lowski said.

Pawlowski said he would love to see fans spilling over into the parking deck again.

According to Penix, there are plans to add seating to Plainsman Park, possibly resulting in 500 more seats.

� e new seats would raise the total amount to 2,000.

While there are numer-ous obstacles that the Ti-gers will have to overcome, the team is con§ dent going into the season behind lead-ers such as Tony Caldwell, Justin Fradejas, Cory Luckie and Bradley Hendrix.

� e leadership of the vet-erans combined with the enthusiasm of the newcom-ers could be a successful formula for the Tigers as they hope to repeat a vic-tory in the SEC West cham-pionship.

While the players will do all they can to end up in Omaha at the end of the season, they are also ex-pecting fans to do their part and be “all in” this season.

� e Tigers will open their season with a tournament in Auburn, playing Arkan-sas State Friday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m., facing the University of Virginia Saturday, Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. and UAB Sunday, Feb. 20 at 3 p.m.

� e biggest test for the Tigers in the weekend tour-nament will be the 13th ranked Virginia Cavaliers, who § nished the 2010 sea-son with a 51-14 overall re-cord.

INNISS

Innis brings excitement, experience to team

Alexandria SmithWRITER

After a loss to the Geor-gia Bulldogs Saturday, the Auburn equestrian team will take on South Caro-lina this weekend.

During the Georgia meet, Auburn came back to an 8–7 lead following the horsemanship event, after being down by two points.

� e Tigers lost that lead during the reining event, though, and Georgia pulled out the win with a § nal score of 11–9.

Auburn will face the South Carolina Game-cocks Saturday at home at 10 a.m.

“We have lost to South Carolina the last two times at home, but we do not want that to happen again this weekend,” said

Anna Schierholz, senior hunt seat rider. “We have a lot of seniors and four- year starters so we hope to go out with a bang.”

Sixth-ranked South Carolina faced third-ranked Georgia Feb. 5.

� e meet was tied go-ing into the last event, but the Gamecocks pulled out a comeback win with a § nal score of 10–9.

South Carolina’s West-ern riders were key in the victory against Georgia.

At the end of the meet, the Western riders in both the reining and horse-manship event came out undefeated.

“South Carolina has swapped back and forth between which team is the strongest, Western or English,” said Greg Wil-liams, Auburn equestrian

coach, “but recently their Western team has been stronger, which could be a challenge for us, but I am con§ dent in the team and how they have been riding.”

Home meets are easier because the riders are more familiar with the horses they ride, Williams said.

At away meets, every rider is required to ride the home team’s horses.

Williams also said he was very proud of the way the athletes rode at the Georgia meet, and this week of practice will be focused on staying uni-§ ed and upbeat.

If Auburn wins the meet against South Car-olina Saturday, they will hold the best record in the SEC and will enter the

postseason in the § rst-seed position.

To prepare for the South Carolina meet, the team will focus on § xing small mistakes.

“We will review the vid-eos of the Georgia meet, and § x every little detail,” Schierholz said.

� e SEC teams will al-ways come in strong and be tough to compete with, Schierholz said.

Williams said after a hard week of practice, the Tigers hope to be in the right state of mind to take on South Carolina at home.

Along with being the equestrian team’s senior meet, there will also be a tailgating competition and other activities for children.

Admission is free.

Equestrian saddles up for South Carolina

TODD VAN EMST / MEDIA RELATIONS

Head coach Greg Williams discusses strategy with the team. Williams is currently in his ninth year as head coach.

BASEBALL» From D1

EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR

Sophomore Tim Hewitt returns a serve against Southern Mississippi Friday. Auburn won the match 6–1.

Four Game Win Streak

� ursday, February 17, 2011 The Auburn Plainsman Sports D3

Miranda DollarhideINTRIGUE EDITOR

Whether it’s at home with his twins or at home plate with the baseball team, Scott Foxhall’s “kids” are his life.

“He has a way of comfort-ing us,” said Cory Luckie, pitcher and senior in bio-medical sciences. “� e way he talks to you lets you know that everything is go-ing to be all right.”

Foxhall, assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, said he has loved Auburn baseball since he played on the team in 1990.

After his sophomore year, Foxhall said he transferred to the College of Charles-ton to pursue more playing time.

After graduation, they o¢ ered him a job on the coaching sta¢ .

“It was a quick transition for me—on the job training,” Foxhall said. “I was just in an environment I was com-fortable with because I had played there. It was a little bit easier transition, and I knew a lot of the guys that I was coaching that ¦ rst year because I had played with them.”

� en in the summer of 2008, Foxhall got an oppor-tunity to be part of Auburn baseball again.

“I am de¦ nitely an Au-burn person,” Foxhall said. “I went to every home football game from the time I was 2 years old to the time I was a senior in high school.”

Not only has Auburn been a big part of Foxhall’s life, but so has baseball.

“Everybody says do what you love and the rest will take care of itself,” Foxhall said.

When he ¦ rst started coaching, Foxhall said he barely survived, but he didn’t give up.

“I think the best advice that anyone has ever given me is, ‘Whatever you love, choose that as your occupa-tion, and you have a chance to be happy,’” Foxhall said. “� at’s what I did.”

Luckie said Foxhall has a true understanding and passion for the game.

“I think he is very sea-soned,” Luckie said. “He’s ex-perienced and knows how to deal with every situation that comes up. He’s very bat-tle-tested.”

When Foxhall isn’t on the baseball ¦ eld, he is at home with wife, Laura, and his twins, Kade and Kennedy.

Foxhall said his twins love to dance and sing. Kennedy loves princesses and Kade loves race cars.

When Foxhall gets an o¢ -day, he said he likes to spend it with his family.

“We try to have an activity planned where the kids are with us,” Foxhall said.

However, the moments together with his family are limited.

Besides assistant coach, Foxhall is also recruiting coordinator. When he isn’t traveling with the baseball team, he is traveling to re-cruit new players.

“� at is something he spends so much time on—recruiting and bringing us good players,” said Slade Smith, pitcher and sopho-more in public relations.

Foxhall said because of all his traveling, his wife has be-come like a single mom.

“She is a saint,” Foxhall said.” She has the children when I travel recruiting and when we travel with the team. She de¦ nitely has to do the bulk of keeping the family together because I am on the road so much.”

Foxhall’s time on the road and ¦ eld has paid o¢ . Last year, 11 Auburn play-ers were drafted for Major League Baseball.

Even despite this achieve-ment, Foxhall said their focus is to train the team for Auburn games, not the MLB.

“If they are successful here as an SEC player and a player at Auburn, then usu-ally Major League Baseball is going to be interested in them,” Foxhall said. “But we don’t ever coach them or train them with it in mind.”

Foxhall’s coaching style plays a factor in the team’s success.

He said he likes to remain positive.

“I am not a yeller or a screamer at all,” Foxhall said. “My goal as a coach is for my player to be his own best coach.”

Luckie said Foxhall un-derstands the players.

“� at is one quality you have to have as an assistant coach,” Luckie said. “You re-ally need to connect with your players and get inside their head.”

Foxhall said he takes pride in seeing his players do well on and o¢ the ¦ eld.

“I’ve got guys that played for me that are no longer in baseball, but are doctors or lawyers,” Foxhall said. “� at’s very satisfying per-sonally for me to just have seen somebody and been with somebody in their for-mative years, when they’re trying to ¦ gure out their life, maybe as a baseball player but also as a person.”

GETTING TO KNOW FOXHALL

Erik YaborWRITER

� e Auburn women’s basketball team will face archrival Alabama � urs-day at 7 p.m.

Alabama (13–12, 2–10 SEC) began the season with an 11–2 record, but lost nine consecutive games be-fore its ¦ rst conference win versus the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs earlier this month.

� e Crimson Tide’s losing streak was entirely to con-ference foes and set them back second to last in the league despite winning two of its last three games.

Auburn (14–11, 7–5 SEC) had an 11–3 stretch in the middle of the season before losing four of ¦ ve games.

� e Tigers’ three-game losing streak was snapped

Sunday when they defeated the Arkansas Lady Razor-backs 64–59.

As a result of their slides, both teams are still ¦ ghting to reach the postseason.

“All the players know the importance of this game, and it is important on dif-ferent levels,” said head coach Nell Fortner. “� is is our rival, and you always want to beat your rival, es-pecially when you are play-ing at home.

“But we are also playing for our postseason life right now, and every win is very important to us.”

Auburn defeated Ala-bama 66–55 in Tuscaloosa earlier in the season, but Tierney Jenkins caused problems for the Tigers, grabbing 15 rebounds and ¦ ve steals in addition to

scoring 31 points. For Auburn, Jordan

Greenleaf led the team in scoring with 19 points.

Jenkins leads the Tide in scoring with 411 points, averaging 16.4 points per game. She has lead the team in scoring for all but ¦ ve games. Jenkins also leads in rebounds and steals.

Besides Jenkins, Fortner cited freshman Kaneisha Horn as a potential threat.

Horn is third on the team in scoring, averaging 8.9 points per game.

“Alabama is tough, fast, scrappy and athletic,” Fort-ner said. “� ey will press you and try to get up the · oor quickly on o¢ ense. We have our work cut out for us.”

Auburn averages 62.5 points per game, but before

the Arkansas win, the last time the Tigers scored 60 or more points was nearly a month earlier against LSU.

Alabama averages 66.6 points per game, but has been outscored by oppo-nents who average 67.3 points per game.

By winning two of their last three games, the Crim-son Tide have put them-selves back in a position to make a postseason run.

Auburn can earn a ¦ rst-round bye in the conference tournament by ¦ nishing in at least fourth place, though it cannot happen without help from other teams.

Both the Tigers and Tide can possibly make the NCAA postseason tourna-ment with at-large berths without winning the confer-ence championship if they

win out.“I always look forward to

playing Alabama,” Fortner said. “It’s just such a good

rivalry game, and the teams get up for it, and it’s good for the fans, and I’m just looking forward to playing.”

Former player turned coach connects with players

Tigers to face Tide with postseason on the line

TIM SIMPSON / PHOTO STAFF

Sophomore guard Morgan Toles shoots for two in Auburn’s 54-47 win Jan. 30 against South Carolina.

FOXHALL

Sports D4 The Auburn Plainsman � ursday, February 17, 2011

Victoria RodgersWRITER

� e Crimson Tide rolled over the Tigers in the 110th gymnastics meet at Coleman Coliseum in Tus-caloosa Friday night.

No. 21 Auburn (2–4, 2–3 SEC) lost to No. 7 Alabama (7–1, 2–1 SEC) 197.850–194.850.

� e Tigers came to Tus-caloosa fresh o� a win in their last meet against Kentucky, but could not clench consecutive victo-ries.

� e team started strong on the bars, with Kylie Shields leading the event with 9.875, a career high for the junior, but the Ti-gers later faltered.

“Well, I thought we did a pretty god job starting out, and we actually didn’t do a poor job through the meet until we got to the very end,” said head coach Je� Graba. “We let it get away from us on beam.”

� e team did well on the bars with a score of 48.950, which ties its highest score of the season, previously set against the Georgia Bulldogs.

� e Tigers put up 48.700 on vault and 48.850 on « oor. � e Tigers tried to catch up with the Tide on the ¬ nal rotation, but came up short with a team score of 48.350 on beam.

Alabama was in top

form in the rivalry match, scoring a season high 197.850.

“� ey probably could have won the national championship tonight,” Graba said. “� ey could be one of the top three or four teams in the country.

“I know they’re a big rival, but basically, how I look at it, we had to have been perfect tonight, and they’d have to mess up for us to win.”

� e Tigers performed on the road in front of a sellout crowd of 15,075 in Tuscaloosa and can expect a similar crowd when they travel to Gainesville, Fla., Feb. 18 to face the No. 1 Florida Gators.

“Since we had an away meet this week, we know what to expect,” said sophomore Petrina Yokay. “Florida is going to be like Bama. It’s going to be a lot of fans. � ey’ll be obnox-ious, but I think we’ll be able to handle it.”

� e Gators (7–0, 4–0 SEC) put up a season high 197.725 against Georgia Feb. 12.

So far this season, the Gators have averaged 49.267 on bars, 49.371 on vault, 49.392 on « oor and 49.121 on beam per match.

Although the Gators will present a di± cult chal-lenge for the Tigers, Gra-ba said he is not worried

about his team.“You take a look at the

big picture, we started out the season with our ma-jor players injured,” Graba said. “You don’t win many meets when you have a lot of your major players with experience injured.”

Although the Tigers are coming o� of a tough loss, the team continues to per-severe on the road by con-centrating on its own part.

“We only focus on our-selves,” Shields said. “So it could be Florida, it could be Alabama, it could be any school we’re going up against.

“But we have our job that we need to do, and it’s the same thing every time we go out.”

Morgan McKeanWRITER

� e women’s tennis team faces o� against Al-abama A&M and the Uni-versity of Memphis Sat-urday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

� ey will be the ¬ rst home matches of the sea-son for the Tigers.

� e matches will be at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., re-spectively.

Auburn has not posted a win so far this season, but each of the team’s four losses was to a ranked op-ponent, said head coach Tim Gray.

“We have the players who can play at this level, but they just have to be-lieve that they can play and belong at this level,” Gray said.

Out of eight women on Auburn’s team, four are freshmen, three are sophomores and one is a junior.

“We are a young team, and we are still learn-ing,” said Taylor Schrei-mann, the sole junior on the team. “It’s not that we aren’t doing well, we just

need more experience. � ere’s a lot of room to grow.”

Auburn will square o� Saturday against a Mem-phis team that is also mostly made up of under-classmen.

� e Memphis Tigers (3–4) have struggled on the road as well, losing each of their four away matches.

In practice this week, Auburn has been focus-ing on fundamentals and playing at a high level, Gray said.

“We’ve been practicing with the mentality that we’re going to rebound and take these matches this next weekend,” Sch-reimann said. “We started the week o� positively in practice and are carrying it throughout the week, so we are all positive and ready to go.

“I really think this past weekend we improved on managing our emotions and working the points and ¬ ghting.”

Last weekend, Auburn lost to both Florida State and Georgia Tech.

Against Georgia Tech, freshman Olivia Bennett lost 6–4, 6–4 to Sasha Krupina.

“It was just a matter of one break in each set,” Bennett said. “I think I did well, and I think with more experience I will be able to pull out closer wins like that next time.”

Sophomore Paulina Schippers boasts the No. 1 position for Auburn.

During the fall, Schip-pers had a 6–3 singles record and won back-to-back matches at the SEC Fall Coaches’ Classic.

Memphis freshman Kathleen Hawkins is on a ¬ ve-match winning streak and has the best record on the team at 5–2.

Hawkins plays in the No. 5 position.

“Even though we lost our last two matches, we just need to keep our heads up and keep look-ing for the win because hard work will pay o� in the end,” Bennett said.

“I believe that if we keep going the way we are going, good things will come.”

Nick Van Der LindenASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR

� e Auburn Bass Fish-ing Club tops the charts after reeling in another top performance last weekend at Lake Wheeler in Deca-tur.

� e Tigers ¬ nished ¬ rst in the overall standings af-ter handing the University of Alabama at Birming-ham and the University of Alabama its ¬ rst losses of the season last weekend.

Auburn also took ¬ rst place in individual stand-ings after the team of Dan-iel Holland and Eric Ter-rell ¬ nished with a total of 21.11 pounds, just above teammates Adam Mur-phree and Blake Evans, who ¬ nished with a total of 18.25 pounds.

“� e ¬ rst day was pret-ty slow,” Terrell said. “We struggled and only caught four ¬ sh—they just hap-pened to be quality ¬ sh.

“� e second day picked up, and things went a lot better. We caught our ¬ sh on beaver bait, which to that point we had not ¬ shed before. I caught the two biggest ¬ sh on the sec-ond day on it and thought if we had thrown that the whole time we could have had an even bigger bag.”

Auburn has an impres-sive record of 4–0 and is

one of only three remain-ing undefeated teams along with Bethel and the University of North Ala-bama.

Jann Swaim, who works with the team, said the team does a lot of pre¬ sh-ing to prepare for the tour-naments.

“We usually send boats in four di� erent direc-tions, and at the end of the day, we’ll come back together and discuss what the options are, what bait to use and put together a game plan,” Swaim said. “� e guys work very close together, and I’d say right now we have the best four group of guys that are in it for the team.”

� ere are three two-day tournaments and one championship tour-nament in a season, and whoever has the highest win-loss record at the end of the season wins $2,000, a plaque and several gifts for club members such as rods and reels.

“It’s more for bragging rights than it is for prizes,” Terrell said.

Each school brings four two-man teams that com-pete for team honors.

� e tournament also has an invitational where one two-man team com-petes against all other

two-man teams, includ-ing those from their own school for individual hon-ors.

Terrell has been part-ners with club president Daniel Holland since last year and said chemistry plays a bigger role in ¬ sh-ing together than many may believe.

“Daniel is a slow, me-thodical ¬ sherman who practically drags bait in front of a ¬ sh all day until they eat it,” Terrell said. “I like to run and do things fast and get reaction bites, so we compliment each other. When I throw some-thing fast, he’ll come in be-hind me and pick up the slower ¬ sh.”

� e team’s next tour-nament will take place March 17–19 at Lake Guntersville, and Swaim said he believes the team stands a chance at ¬ nish-ing strong.

“Daniel Holland is an excellent captain,” Swaim said. “� e guys have ¬ shed together for a few years and have con¬ dence in each other’s abilities. When you have that con-¬ dence it creates a bond, and that has paid o� so far. If we get through the matches at Guntersville, hopefully, we’ll be able to win this thing.”

CONTRIBUTED

Daniel Holland and Eric Terrell show o� after the ¬ rst day of the second tournament event.

Tigers face foe Florida

Bass club remains undefeated

Women’s tennis still ghting for rst win of the season

“We only focus on ourselves. It could be Florida, it could be Alabama, it could be any school we’re going up against. But we have our job that we need to do.”

—Kylie Shields JUNIOR GYMNAST