No. 09

Transcription

No. 09

University of North Florida
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
SAVIOR
OR SOCIALIST?
A comprehensive look at
Obama’s health care plan
Page 12
Don’t fear the reaper
Ospreys prepared for H1N1
Page 19
Look, Ma!
I’m on the net!
The rise of the YouTube subculture
Page 14
hodgepodge
Page 2
Photo of the week
Erik tanner | SPINNAKER
Florida Atlantic University goalie Ciro Martinez boats the ball down field during a 3 to 2 overtime win against UNF at Hodges Stadium Sept. 27.
Spinnaker by the numbers
Each week during the school year the Spinnaker staff reports
what’s going on around campus, the city, the state and the nation: the good, the bad and the ugly. In this little space, we want
to summarize the life of the Osprey, or things they should care
about.
3,600
970
132
63
0
teenagers start smoking every
day.
dollars UNF raised during the Human Trafficking
awareness event.
million orphans worldwide.
What do you think should be done about Florida’s high human trafficking numbers?
“Well I am just shocked and appalled! I had no idea; I
thought the amber alert was doing a better job.”
- Killian Eckert, Junior, Civil Engineering
“I’m not surprised. We are a peninsula and then there’s
Miami, but we should have a specialized task force for
these types of issues.”
- Kristen Martinez, Sophomore, Nursing
“I’m surprised, who would have thought Florida? I think
there should be an agency investigating long-term
missing persons.”
- Shelby Grinds, Sophomore, Nursing
YouTube user Charles Trippy’s
rank out of the 100 most subscribed users.
bars serving SweetWater
420 Extra Pale Ale on tap
in Jacksonville (go to Total
Wine, and More).
Front Page: Dan Rosemund
Index
Q of the W:
Page 2, Hodgepodge
Page 3, Police Beat
Pages 4-8, News
Pages 9-11, Discourse
“I’m not too surprised. Many think that this issue is limited to Southeast Asia or Europe but no, it’s happening
right here. Scary.”
- Michelle Tsengas, Sophomore, Business
“I’m pretty shocked! I wasn’t even aware this went on in
the U.S., let alone Florida. There definitely needs to be
more awareness and much stronger regulations.”
- Kevin Ruiz, Freshman, Spanish and French
Pages 12-13, Health Care Special
Pages 14-18, Expressions
Pages 19-23, Sports
police beat
Page 3
1
Sept. 12 - Criminal Mischief (Lot 55) An officer
responded to the Osprey Fountains parking lot about
a student who reported damage to his BMW. The gas
cap was ripped out, and the driver’s side rear wheel
was missing its BMW center cap. The student said
he keeps the car covered with a tarp, so he is unsure
when or how the incident happened.
Sept. 12 - Sept. 23
2
2
9
Sept. 19 - Simple Battery (Lot 18 Recreation Fields)
UPD was dispatched to the recreation fields beside
Lot 18 after a fight broke out between two students
during an intramural game. One of the students, after
it was determined he was not affiliated with UNF, was
banned from the intramural league. The UNF student
who was not banned declined to press charges against
the banned student, saying that he did not want to
pursue it.
Cases of theft (including petty theft and
grand theft) filed
since Aug. 21, 2009.
Burglary cases filed since
Aug. 21, 2009.
4
3
Sept. 21 - Petty Theft (Lot 7) A Parking Services
employee noticed a car that had what looked like a
counterfeited parking pass on the rear view mirror. He
was unsure, so he booted the car. When the student
found the car booted, she contacted Parking Services
who in turn contacted UPD. Since she counterfeited
the parking pass, she was given a notice to appear.
4
3
In this badge, the Spinnaker is
keeping a running total of certain crimes around UNF during
the 2009-2010 school year.
8
Sept. 21 - Petty Theft (Building 41) A UNF student,
who is also a swimming instructor, noticed his debit
card was missing when he tried to purchase something
at Starbucks after work. The student went online to
check his bank account and found two charges made
off campus, one at Publix and the other at a local
Chinese restaurant. The student cancelled his card.
5
Sept. 22 - Property Damage (Lot 100) A Parking
Services employee in a golf cart was trying to give a
student directions, when he accidentally drove into
the side of her car. They both went to the Parking Services parking lot and then contacted UPD. There was
an estimated $20 worth of damage caused.
6
4
1
5
10
6
7
9
Sept. 22 - Burglary (Lot 55) A student contacted
UPD after his parking permit and his iPod Touch were
stolen from his car, which had been parked in the
Osprey Fountains parking lot. The officer was able to
draw five fingerprints from the student’s Chevrolet
truck and placed them in JSO’s evidence room.
7
Sept. 23 - Burglary (Lot 55) A student contacted
UPD after realizing his passenger window had been
broken overnight in the Osprey Fountains parking lot.
His radar detector was missing from the dashboard
of his car. Nothing else was taken. The radar detector was valued at $500. The officer didn’t try to get
fingerprints due to “the lack of printable surfaces,”
according to the police report.
8
Sept. 23 - Grand Theft (Building 10) A UNF employee contacted UPD after realizing one of the computers
was missing. The officer checked for fingerprints but
did not find any since the computer area was heavily
used that day. The computer, valued at $1,000, was
entered into the National Crime Information Center
system, which is a database that records stolen or
missing items.
BEAT of the Week
Sept. 24 - Drug Possession
(Building Z)
9
Sept. 23 - Petty Theft (Building 55) After noticing her GPS was missing from her room, an Osprey
Fountains resident contacted UPD. She told the officer
she allowed three unknown males into her room and
a female friend, whom she would not name. She said
she just wanted the police to report the incident for
insurance purposes.
Compiled by Josh Gore.
A resident assistant in the Osprey Hall dormitory
contacted UPD after smelling marijuana coming
from a student’s room. The student told the officer
that he didn’t smell anything or have any marijuana. He gave the officer permission to search
the room. The officer found marijuana in an open
drawer and in an M&M wrapper. The student was
arrested.
Source: UPD Police reports
news
Page 4
Student group fights human trafficking, sex slavery
UNF walks to fight child
prostitution, trafficking of
persons across borders
By April schulhauser
assistant features editor
April Schulhauser | Spinnaker
The U.S. Constitution’s 13th
Amendment abolished slavery
in 1865. Yet 143 years later, two
teenage girls were forced into sex
slavery after being trafficked to
Jacksonville.
Marvin Leigh Madkins is currently undergoing trial after being convicted of trafficking minors for prostitution across state
lines, according to a Deparment
of Justice news release.
Madkins brought the girls to
Jacksonville from Virgina, promising them lavish trips and cocaine. Then he forced the teens to
prostitute themselves at all hours
of the night, according to the release.
The clients met them at different hotels along Baymeadows
Road until police caught the perpetrator while they were working in a Ramada Inn.
“Some of the victims in human trafficking are our age. It
could happen to anybody,” said
OB Bera, an international business sophomore at UNF.
As the President-elect of
UNF’s Kappa Sigma Fraternity,
Bera joined 40 of his brothers
Sept. 26 at the Human Trafficking
Awareness Walk. Kappa Sigma
was aware of the issue, yet they
didn’t realize illegal trafficking
hit so close to home, Bera said.
Students bond together at a Human Trafficking informational luncheon Sept. 23.
He considers raising awareness to be the first step.
Human Trafficking Awareness
Week took place from Sept. 21 to
Sept. 26. Campus-wide events honoring this issue began Monday,
Sept. 21 with a free showing of
“Taken.” A late-night breakfast
and two luncheons dedicated to
sharing the stories of many rescued slaves and raising awareness for those still in captivity occurred during the week as well.
The
Volunteer
Center
and G.I.V.E. — Grow, Inspire,
Volunteer, Empower — coordinated the events to raise awareness.
“[Students] can make a difference,” said Rebecca Stevens,
director of the UNF Volunteer
Center. “We want students to use
[the center] to raise awareness
on campus, getting students to be
passionate and active.”
According to the Florida
Department of Children and
Families, Florida is considered having the third highest
number of people trafficked in
the nation. Internationally,
600,000
to
800,000 people are trafficked annually, 50 percent children with
a female majority, and most
are forced into sexual labor, according to the U.S. Department
of State’s 2004 Trafficking in
Persons Report.
UNF
psychology
senior
Victoria Elian is one of the campus ambassadors for the Stop
Child Trafficking Now organization and serves as director
for Student Life with Student
Government. Unlike the 260
groups actively working to rescue
sex slaves, SCTNow targets the
predators who buy and sell children first so the detained can be
rescued.
For the same amount a
predator can pay for 15 minutes
of sexual relations with a minor,
a team of four operatives can be
funded to stop the perpetrator, according to SCTNow’s Web site.
A percentage of missing persons are assumed to be trafficked
each year, and SCTNow is working to lower that number.
“With anyone who goes missing, there’s a high probability
they were trafficked,” Elian said.
There are an estimated 27
million slaves, according to
worldwide researcher Benjamin
Skinner, member of Carr Center
for Human Rights Policy at
Harvard Kennedy School of
Government.
Another estimated 12.3 million people are victims of forced
labor worldwide, according to
the United Nations International
Labour Organization. Forced labor is the illegal exploitation and
abuse of workers when vital human necessities are often withheld.
The week’s events ended
Sept. 26 with the walk in San
Marco Square. Special guest Dr.
Laura Lederer, former U.S. State
Department senior adviser on human trafficking, also attended the
walk. She currently works with
Global Centurion, an organization that fights child sexual slavery.
A portion of the proceeds
raised from these events benefited victims in North Florida. The
Jacksonville walk raised $6,902
and of that UNF raised about
$970.
E-mail April Schulhauser at
[email protected].
Community First serves UNF community with location in Student Union
Full-service credit union official, only
financial institution on campus
By Josh Gore
staff writer
Erik tanner | Spinnaker
Community First Credit Union was the only financial institution of
five total that accepted the bid to rent out the space.
For the first time in UNF’s history, an official, exclusive full-service financial institution exists on campus.
UNF sent offers to bid to Bank of America,
Wachovia, Vystar and Regions institutions in search
of the right bank.
Community First Credit Union was the only institution that put in a bid, so it was UNF’s only choice,
said Tully Burnett, associate director of Auxilliary
Services.
Burnett said the other banks did not respond because of their proximity: Regions and Wachovia both
have locations at the St. Johns Town Center, and the
nearest Vystar is off Beach Boulevard and 9A.
John Barnes, president of UNF Student
Government, said he was in favor of the decision.
Though Barnes does not personally bank with
Community First, he said he encourages all students
and faculty to stop by and see what programs they
have to offer.
Frederick Santory, a UNF freshman physical therapy student, said the bank on campus saves him time
and energy.
“I live on campus, so having the bank on campus
is very convenient for me,” he said.
Santory said he did not bank with Community First before he started college this past semester.
Community First pays $26,000 in addition to the standard rent to be “exclusive” on campus. It’s the only bank
allowed to rent office space at UNF, Burnett said.
Though this office is exclusive, the ATMs on campus
aren’t, meaning that if Vystar or another bank wanted to
open an ATM at UNF, they could do so. The old Community
First office near Sbarro will be an ATM hub, Burnett said.
John Hirayabashi, chief executive at Community First,
said the bank has a five-year contract with UNF with a possibility for a five-year extension.
Hirayabashi said for the bank on campus to be profitable, they would need to raise membership from 1,100 to
2,800. The office at the Student Union is averaging 80 to 90
new members per month.
“We are on a good pace right now,” he said.
Community First also sponsors UNF Athletics by
renting out some of the banners that are located under
the scoreboards at the Softball Complex and Harmon
Stadium. It also sponsors Jacksonville University athletics, Hirayabashi said.
“Our roots have always been in education,” he said.
E-mail Josh Gore at
[email protected].
news
page 5
UNF faculty, student researchers patent sensor technology
a really excellent opportunity to see every
aspect of having a grant.”
Huebner has obtained a variety of
grant funding over time, but for the past
five years, the U.S. Department of Defense
has contributed the most toward the project — over $5 million.
“There are some restrictions put on
what I can talk about,” Huebner said regarding his “major client” — an organization called the Edgewood Chemical
Biological Center, which according to its
official Web site is the “nation’s premier
authority on chemical and biological defense.”
The new sensors
Rebecca Mckinnon | spinnaker
Two research assistants stand, leader of the project Dr. Jay Huebner sits and Erica Mejia, research
coordinator and UNF alumna, sits in front of a dry erase board that’s used for project planning.
Funding from U.S. Department
of Defense keeps research project
going
by Rebecca mckinnon
news editor
This funding has led to the project’s inventors’ four new sensors. One has been
patented — the photo-electrical chemical
E-mail Rebecca McKinnon at
sensor — and three others are in the [email protected].
cess of being patented — nanocrystalline
indium tin oxide solid state gas sensors,
nanocrystalline indium tin oxide enhanced quartz crystal microbalance sensors and photo-electric microbe sensors.
The researchers’ No. 1 strength in these
sensors is also their No. 1 goal, Huebner
said.
“Many people that study sensors … try
to mimic the sensors that nature has,” he
said.
Think of an everyday mechanical sensor like a thermometer that contains
mercury or red alcohol. Now think of an
everyday electrical sensor like a digital
thermometer. UNF’s sensors defy both concepts, Huebner said.
“A thermometer measures temperature.
That’s it. These sensors are what we call
platform technologies; they can measure
over 100 different [materials],” he said.
The nanocrystalline-based sensors can
only be measured using an electron microscope and are able to detect natural gas, explosives, alcohol and much more.
The photo-based sensors use light and
contact technology to work, similar to nature’s sense of smell, taste and sight.
The photo microbe sensors detect viruses and other bacteria. But the photo chemical sensors detect materials in wet envi- The nanocrystalline-based sensors can only be
ronments, similar to the natural sensor used in this specialized electron microscope.
environments of your sinuses and tongue.
Rebecca Mckinnon | spinnaker
UNF faculty and students have invented
and patented technologies that could very
well end up in your future, either through
commercial products or governmental endeavors.
This research, led by Dr. Jay Huebner,
adjunct professor in the chemistry and
physics departments and founding professor for about two and a half decades at
UNF, has been and will continue to be ongoing.
The teams, comprised of
over
115 students, have focused on developing
new
types
of
sensors.
“You may have heard in elementary
school that we have five senses, and that’s
bologna,” Huebner said. “We have all kinds
of senses that help us keep track of not only
our internal state but as well as provide
information about the external world.”
These paid students are not just science
majors but also engineering, physics, computer science and mathematics majors.
Huebner said that even a few “business college folks” found commercial applications
which are being considered by Floridabased companies such as Prioria Robotics,
American Research and Development and
more.
Erica Mejia sees the project as a transformational learning opportunity for all
involved, as she began working on the
project as a graduate student. Mejia has
since earned her master’s degree and been
promoted to full-time research coordinator
with the project.
“The work is unique, and the opportunities that I and the rest of the team have had
working here have been really good, especially for students,” she said. “It gives them
Huebner said that science and law work
together “energetically” and continually
when it comes to the UNF-invented sensor
patents. UNF obtained patent No. 7,354,770
for the photo-electric chemical sensors and
has applied for three additional patents,
as well as additional revisions to those
claims, he said.
“It’s on-going work. It doesn’t look like
to me it’s going to have an end, because we
keep finding new things to do with [sensors],” Huebner said.
Though Heubner said obtaining and
broadening patents is a long and complex
process, he is confident enough to claim
the discoveries as UNF’s.
“I like to call those UNF-invented sensors,” he said.
FDA bans flavored, candy cigarettes in an attempt to lower underage addiction
Students who smoke must adjust
to new regulation
By Rebecca McKinnon
News editor
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
banned the sale of flavored and candy cigarettes Sept. 22 in an effort to reduce addiction to tobacco products in children and
young adults, according to the FDA’s official Web site.
The regulation sparked the interest
of UNF sophomore secondary education
major Meghann Mueller, who didn’t know
about the regulation when it was passed.
“I don’t personally agree with smoking.
I don’t think it’s a good habit,” Mueller
said. “But if you’re gonna make some of it
illegal, make it all illegal.”
The FDA’s reasoning behind banning
type-specific tobacco products relates to
the age-specific advertising efforts of the
banned products’ companies. These ads
could make the 3,600 young adults that begin smoking every day believe the products
are less harmful or addictive than they
actually are, according to an FDA news release.
FDA officials wrote that close to 90 percent of adults who smoke began the habit
as kids, and this generation’s children are
twice as likely as adults to see marketing
related to flavored tobacco products.
One marketing document stated that a
flavored tobacco product was “for younger
people, beginner cigarette smokers, teenagers … when you feel like a light smoke,
[you] want to be reminded of bubblegum,”
according to the FDA’s Web site.
Other students fight back against this
claim by FDA.
“That’s ridiculous. If you want to smoke
vanilla-flavored cigarettes, you should have
that choice,” said Matt Marshall, senior
accounting major at UNF. “It’s not gonna
make any difference [because] kids are
gonna smoke cigarettes no matter what. If
they’re gonna smoke it, then they’re gonna
smoke it.”
The FDA will not release a full list of
banned products but rather said on its Web
site that the ban includes flavored “tobacco, in any form, that is functional in the
product, which, because of its appearance,
the type of tobacco used in the filler, or its
packaging and labeling, is likely to be offered to, or purchased by, consumers as a
cigarette or as roll-your-own tobacco.”
The ban will not include most flavored
cigars though it did note that cigars functioning as cigarettes could be banned. It won’t include hookah or any other
form of “bona fide pipe tobacco,” according to the FDA’s Web site.
UNF psychology and sociology junior
Carmen Mims said that she doesn’t care
about smoking since she rarely smokes but
that the ban could be confusing to some
smokers.
“It’s just that there are double standards
everywhere,” Mims said. “It’s not right, but
they’re everywhere.”
Menthol cigarettes and non-cigarette,
flavored tobacco products are also under
question, as the FDA said in a news release
that they were under consideration for regulation as well.
E-mail Rebecca McKinnon at
[email protected].
Editor’s Note: The Spinnaker tried
multiple times to contact the Food and
Drug Administration for comment.
The organization’s spokespersons did
not respond to these attempts.
news
Page 6
As ACORN grows, so does its clout and its problems
By Barbara Barrett
McClatchy Newspapers
Long before two conservative
young activists strode into an
ACORN office wearing a hidden
camera, the grassroots organization had been racking up kills in
its decades-long quest to protect
working-class people from what
it saw as wrongheaded corporate
interests.
ACORN — the Association of
Community Organizations for
Reform Now — was founded in
1970 by a 21-year-old organizer
who wanted to try a new way of
lifting up low- and moderate-income workers.
It grew over the years, mushrooming from a one-man operation in Arkansas to 400,000 members working in 105 cities — the
largest community organizing
group in the nation.
According to Republican investigators and a top ACORN official, the group has received some
$53 million in federal funding
since 1994. Other funding comes
from members’ dues and foundations.
Along the way, activists helped
pass state laws requiring living
wages from companies contracting with state and local governments and raising minimum wages. They helped monitor banks
and lenders on the illegal practice
of steering minorities into certain neighborhoods. They forged
deals with corporations such as
H&R Block to protect low-income
earners. And they called attention
to the rising scandal of subprime
lending and the foreclosures that
followed.
The non-partisan group also
has helped register 1.7 million voters since 2004, many of
them African-Americans and
Hispanics in urban neighborhoods who were more likely to
vote Democratic.
“[ACORN] has given a voice
to people who would otherwise
be politically powerless,” said
Peter Dreier, a professor of public policy at Occidental College
in Los Angeles who has written
about ACORN’s work. “And it’s
rubbed the powerful forces in
American society — particularly
the Republican Party and big
business — the wrong way.”
In recent years, the organization also found itself accused
of voter registration fraud after
some of its canvassers turned
in fake names to election offices
in some states. And last year,
the organization’s board pushed
out its founder, Wade Rathke, after learning he had concealed
for eight years the embezzlement of nearly $1 million by his
brother.
Internal ACORN notes obtained by Republican investigators found some of the agency’s
top leadership worried about
news coverage and angry at the
actions of Rathke.
“Leadership has no faith in
staff,” read the minutes of an
August 2008 meeting. “Wade betrayed them.”
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., used
the minutes as part of an 88-page
report in July outlining what he
called questionable — even criminal — practices by the group.
The GOP staff of the House
Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, of which
Issa is the top Republican, accused the organization of evading taxes, obstructing justice and
improperly engaging in partisan
political activities.
Weeks after the Republican
House report, two undercover
conservative activists began visiting ACORN offices across the
country posing as a prostitute and
her pimp.
In many of the offices, ACORN
workers kicked the couple out
and called police. But hiddencamera videos released earlier
this month show ACORN workers
at a handful of offices offering tax
advice that appeared to encourage illegal activity.
Washington
lawmakers
reacted with fury, pushing to deny
ACORN the right to receive much
of its federal funding in separate
votes last week in the House and
Senate.
President Barack Obama’s
spokesman called the video’s findings “completely unacceptable.”
ACORN fired the offending employees and ordered a halt to all
new customers at its offices.
Conservative
commentator
Glenn Beck urged listeners to call
their local newspapers and demand that the ACORN stories be
put on the front page. Republican
lawmakers lambasted the group
as corrupt.
“Every day we continue to allow ACORN access to federal
funding is another opportunity
for this troubled organization to
misuse and abuse taxpayer dollars,” said House Minority Leader
John Boehner.
The massive community group
never was launched as a national
effort.
It was founded in Little Rock,
in 1970 by Wade Rathke, who had
previously worked as an organizer in Massachusetts.
“We were going to work very
locally,” Rathke recalled Friday
in an interview. “I’d hoped that I
could build an organizing model.
I knew the chances of failure
were huge.”
Within a few years, the group
expanded to South Dakota, then
Texas and other states, 28 in all.
The group has worked within
the mainstream political and economic system as well. Last summer, ACORN chief executive officer Bertha Lewis appeared with
big-city mayors at a Washington
press conference to tout mandatory settlement conferences
between lenders and borrowers
prior to foreclosure sales.
Around the country, workers
at ACORN offices offer tax advice,
loan counseling and housing assistance in low-income neighborhoods — some of it with federal
funds.
In 2007, the group received $1.9
million from the Department of
Housing and Urban Development
for housing counseling, resident
support services and Section 8
housing assistance, according to
the database FedSpending.org. But in recent years, the organization faced difficulties as it grew,
say some observers.
According to the GOP investigation of ACORN, an outside
legal firm warned the agency in
2008 that it could be improperly
co-mingling financial accounts.
Meanwhile,
local
district
attorneys in several states charged
some ACORN workers with voter
registration fraud. In one highly
publicized case, forms were filled
out with such names as Mickey
Mouse and Donald Duck.
Dreier said most of those cases were revealed after ACORN
brought the fraudulent registrations to officials’ attention.
(MCT)
news
Wednesday, september 30, 2009
page 7
Around the State
Dunk Your Civil Servicemen at UNF
Police play with arrested man’s Wii during drug bust
Photos: lyndse costabile
Photos: lyndse costabile
(Above) A woman throws a ball at
the dunking booth target, attempting to get a Jacksonville police officer
wet. The event occured on the Green
Tuesday, Sept. 29, hosted by the First
Coast Collegiate Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
The dunking event was one of a few
separate events that are planned for
the 2009-2010 school year, all meant
to raise funds for AFP’s Stunt Show
for Scholarships, which is planned for
fall 2010. (Right) A fire fighter hangs
out in the dunking booth, waiting
for someone to hit the target.
A multi-departmental task
force raided the Polk County
home of drug dealer Michael
Difalco Sept. 21 in search of
drugs, drug paraphernalia and
more. Difalco has previously been
arrested on various charges, and
five days after the search of his
home, he confessed to drug trafficking.
During the nine-hour long
raid, the man’s computer and
his home surveillance system
caught the officers and supervisors on camera playing the Wii
video game console in Difalco’s
home. Sixteen detectives from
Polk County Sheriff’s Office and
Auburndale, New Haven and
Lakeland police departments
spent $4,000 of taxpayer money
to raid the house.
A YouTube video online shows
the officers bowling on the game
Wii Sports instead of focusing
on the search of Difalco’s home,
taunting and congratulating
each other during play. One
female officer even jumps up and
raises her hands in the air victoriously.
Officials from the police
department said they shouldn’t
have played with the man’s Wii,
and are not sure why they decided to do so.
Around the Nation
Income gap grows disproportionately in recession
The 10 percent of Americans
earning the highest incomes
now make 11.4 times as much as
those who live below the poverty
line. The income gap is now the
highest it’s been, toppling the
previous record of 11.22 in 2003,
as reported by the Associated
Press Sept. 28.
The last time the richest 1 percent of America had such a large
share of national income was in
1928. Plano, Texas is apparently
the richest suburb, averaging
$84,003 per household income.
Cleveland, Ohio is the poorest at
$26,731.
Food stamp use has also risen
over last year by 13 percent. In
total, 9.8 million households
receive food stamps.
Experts are unsure if this
trend will continue or worsen
over time, but some are blaming
the unemployment rate for why
these figures came to life in the
first place.
Around the World
Guantanamo may close, 78 prisoners to be released
Investigators cautious about precedent set in false rape report
By ann Givens
Newsday
Prosecutors deciding whether
to charge the woman who falsely
reported that she was gang-raped
in a Hofstra University men’s
room last week will have serious
issues to weigh, experts said yesterday.
On the one hand, they will
want to discourage people from
lying to law enforcement, and
show that there will be consequences for doing so, experts
said. On the other, they don’t
want to discourage legitimate
rape victims from coming forward, or discourage people who
lied at first from telling the truth
later on, experts said.
“That’s the tension right now
in the D.A.’s office,” said Jim
Cohen, a criminal law professor
at Fordham University. “There
should be some sanction for the
consequences she caused,” he
said. “On the other hand, if they
charge this woman, then someone similarly situated in the future might decide to stick with
her story rather than coming
clean.”
A law enforcement source said
Sunday that it is likely that the
woman, who prosecutors have
not named because she has not
been charged with a crime, is
“likely” to face charges this week.
The woman told Nassau, N.Y.,
police that she was tied up and
gang-raped about 3 a.m. Sept. 13
in a Hofstra University dormitory bathroom by five young men,
authorities said. Four of the men,
one of them a Hofstra student,
were charged with rape in a case
that gained nationwide attention.
She recanted Wednesday evening, after prosecutors interviewing her told her that a cell-phone
video of the incident might exist.
Cornell Bouse, president of
the Nassau Criminal Courts Bar
Association, said the crimes the
woman would most likely be
charged with are all Class A misdemeanors, carrying a maximum
of a year in jail.
Lois Schwaeber, director of
legal services for the Nassau
County
Coalition
Against
Domestic Violence, said cases
where people make false reports
of rape hurt all legitimate rape
victims seeking justice. But she
said prosecuting someone who
has made a false report will discourage real rape victims from
coming forward as well.
“They may feel that if they
can’t support the charges they
are making with enough proof,
they could be charged.”
KC Johnson, who wrote a recent book about the false rape
charges filed against three Duke
University lacrosse players in
2006, said the mental health of
the person making the false
report may also be an issue.
In the Duke case, the state
attorney who took over from
Durham
District
Attorney
Michael Nifong, did not charge
the woman, in part because he
had seen voluminous medical
records proving she was deeply
disturbed.
“This is one of the reasons
prosecutors
have
discretion
about whether to file charges,”
Johnson said. “It is perfectly appropriate for them to take all
these factors into account.”
(MCT)
The Obama administration
is working toward meeting the
goal of closing the U.S. military
prison of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
the Associated Press reported
Sept. 25. The prison was created
by the Bush administration to
hold captured al-Qaida, Taliban
and others.
Seventy-eight Guantanamo
Bay detainees are listed to be
released, and though no names
were announced, a list organized
by nationality said 78 of the 223
men detained were cleared for
release.
The list was posted in Arabic,
Pashto and English. Navy Capt.
John F. Murphy, the chief military
prosecutor, said about 65 of the
remaining detainees are viable
for prosecution.
Obama’s goal is to close the
prison by Jan. 2010, but complications of where to house the remaining detainees has not sealed
that goal as obtainable yet.
Compiled by Max Jaeger & Rebecca McKinnon
News in Brief
Delaney will deliver State of University Address
Faculty, staff and students are all invited to attend the fall convocation ceremony Friday, Oct. 2 at 10 a.m. in the Lazzara Performance
Hall in the Fine Arts Center. This is the 38th year the ceremony has
occurred.
UNF President John Delaney will be giving his State of the University Address and faculty winners will be awarded for their contributions
to the university.
For more information, call 620-2700, the Office of Academic
Affairs and ask for Jennifer Urbano. You can contact her directly at
[email protected].
Compiled by Rebecca McKinnon.
advertisement
Page 8
Take the Internet.
Leave the bulk.
The HP Mini netbook. Connected. Portable. Affordable.
Introducing the ultra portable HP Mini netbook with America’s Largest and Most Reliable 3G Network
built-in. Loaded with an 80GB hard drive, webcam, and Windows® XP, it’s anything but small.
Plus, get a 15% faculty and staff discount.
On calling plans $39.99 or higher with a 1- or 2-yr. agreement.
HP® Mini netbook
NOW $
99
ONLY
199
$299.99 2-yr. price, less $100 mail-in
rebate debit card with 2-yr. activation
on a Mobile Broadband plan from
$39.99 monthly access. Activation fees,
taxes & other charges apply.*
Switch to America’s Largest and Most Reliable Wireless Network.
Call 1.888.VZW.4BIZ (899.4249)
Click verizonwireless.com/getdiscount
Visit any store
VERIZON WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS STORES Open 7 days a week.
Technicians available at select locations.
LAKE CITY 2705 W. U.S. Hwy. 90 386-961-0300
MANDARIN 10400 San Jose Blvd. 904-880-8282
ORANGE PARK 1911-1 Wells Rd. 904-215-9444
REGENCY 9344 Atlantic Blvd., Ste. 1 904-721-4970
SOUTHSIDE Avenues Mall 904-538-3850
ST. AUGUSTINE Ponce de Leon Mall 904-794-9628
BUSINESS CUSTOMERS
1-800-899-4249
Visit verizonwireless.com
to find a Club near you.
* Our Surcharges (incl. Fed. Univ. Svc. of 12.9% of interstate & int’l telecom charges (varies quarterly), 7¢ Regulatory & 92¢ Administrative/line/mo., & others by area) are not taxes (details: 1-888-684-1888); gov’t taxes & our surcharges could add
7% - 27% to your bill. Activation fee/line: $35.
IMPORTANT CONSUMER INFORMATION: Subject to Customer Agmt, Data Plan, credit approval & rebate form. Up to $175 early termination fee, up to $.10/MB after allowance. Mobile Broadband is available to more than 280 million people in the U.S. in 259 major metros. Offers &
coverage not available everywhere. Rebate debit card takes up to 6 wks. & exp. in 12 mos. Network details & coverage maps at verizonwireless.com. ©2009 Verizon Wireless.
NETS
Discourse
page 9
UNF security czars watch over campus, violate rights
Mike Tomassoni | SPINNAKER
W
elcome to the “Police State.”
The Spinnaker does not toss
such words around lightly, but
the growing concern of cameras on
campus and the intrusion into students’
private lives needs to be combated with
strong language and possibly non-violent protest.
UNF President John Delaney has
decreed that campus-wide cameras,
at least right now, are out of the question — and rightly so — but this has not
slowed the debate about strategically
placing cameras on campus.
During the summer, the Student
Union Advisory Board sought recommendations from UPD Chief John Dean
on priority locations for cameras at the
Student Union.
The board is tasked “to ensure that
the Student Union serves as an effective
community center for the University
of North Florida with a focus towards
building relations with the campus
community,” according to its bylaws.
How exactly does adding cameras to
the Student Union help foster a positive
relationship? Security, of course.
Considering UNF’s right of center
leaning, Benjamin Franklin’s words
concerning liberty should ring true:
“Those who would give up essential
liberty to purchase a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety.”
Regardless, our security czars
continue the slow march to completely
eradicate students’ Fourth Amendment
rights against illegal search and seizures, all the while ignoring the rights
guaranteed by the amendment which
promises security against warrantless
searches of our persons or our belongings.
Dean submitted a list of priorities for
camera placement to Justin Camputaro,
Student Union director and advisory
board chairman, in the Student Union
at places like the food court, the art
gallery, the game room, the plaza, the
Amphitheater and the entrance doors.
But why stop at the Student Union?
Why not add cameras to other highly
trafficked areas like the Green or the
plaza around the Gandhi statue? Why
not add cameras to locations with
higher crime rates? As unfortunate as
it may be, the new Osprey Fountains
has cameras, but what about the other
residence halls or the parking lots and
garages? Why not add cameras to other
high-dollar areas on campus, like the
expensive equipment in the computer
labs, Library or other equipment-intensive buildings?
Where does it end? Once one camera
has justification, all cameras can be
justified.
However rhetorical this argument
might seem to the proponent, what is
even more egregious is the lack of open
and honest debate around this issue.
The board is comprised of eight
students appointed by Student
Government President John Barnes
and five UNF staff members appointed
by Mauricio Gonzalez, vice president
of Student and International Affairs, of
which, only five voting members on the
board felt the issue important enough
to even show up at the June 17 meeting
when they approved the UPD Chief ’s
recommended priority list.
Board members who were too busy
to ensure students’ Fourth Amendment
rights were protected are as follows:
Randall Robinson, Oupa Seane, Betty
Garris, Barnes, Tom Blanchard,
Drew Grigg, Laurel Kendall, Kristina
Kvasnok and Mack Volk.
However, judging by the unanimous
vote by those members who did bother
to show up — John Timpe, Michael
Saathoff, Kyle Blount, Jessica Davis and
Tyler Young — even if the gaggle made
an appearance, they probably would
have approved the recommendations.
So only five of the 13 members even
bothered to show up for this important
vote yet these voices gave credence for
the need for cameras? By even hearing these recommendations, the board
implicitly stated that UNF students are
untrustworthy and need to be monitored.
(Editor’s note: Henceforth all UNF
students, faculty and visitors shall be
referred to as potential criminals.)
Fast forward to this past week’s
board meeting, when the board
unanimously approved placing two
surveillance devices in the new UNF
Art Gallery on the second floor of the
East Student Union building and three
cameras monitoring the Amphitheater
for potential criminals.
What is even more relevant to the
Spinnaker, the Art Gallery is located
directly across from our office. The only
dividing wall between our office and
the Art Gallery is a transparent glass
wall, and depending on where the fixed
cameras are placed, we run the risk of
compromising the identity of our confidential sources.
Our specific point of contention notwith-standing, this move is a boondoggle, a reprehensible waste of potential
criminals’ money and an invasion of
privacy to anyone who walks near these
surveillance devices.
Although these cameras will not be
monitored live, they will be kept for 30
days before being erased, which further
begs the question, what is the point? If
this isn’t going to actively stop a theft,
battery or assault in progress, what is
the point? If these grainy tapes that
will be visible during any preliminary
scouting operation are only there to
potentially catch a “criminal” at costs
ranging from $1,000 to $1,800 per camera, what is the point?
All 17,000 plus potential criminals on
campus should rejoice that UNF will be
on the lookout for their mischievous behavior, all the while using their money
to pay for such a courtesy. Thanks.
discourse
Page 10
Public discourse taking violent turn, conservative talkers to blame
T
Awarded first place for Best of Show in 2005
and second place for Best of Show in 2008 at
the National College Media Convention
by the Associated Collegiate Press.
Awarded second place for Best College Newspaper in
2007 Better College Newspaper Contest
by the Florida College Press Assocation.
Spinnaker Staff
Editor in Chief James Cannon
Layout Editor Dan Rosemund
Art Director Mike Tomassoni
Business Manager
Klajdi Stratoberdha
News Editor Rebecca McKinnon
Features Editor Beca Grimm
Sports Editor John Weidner
Graphic Designer Chad Smith
Copy Editor Ryan Thompson
Web Editor Ian Albahae
Senior Staffer Josh Fredrickson
Photo Editor Erik Tanner
Asst. Web Editor Peter Nguyen
Asst. News Editor
Kim Nelson
Asst. Features Editor April Schulhauser
Asst. Sports Editor Heather Furey
Advertising Manager Michael Kent
Asst. Ad Manager
Kristen Montalto
Ad Sales John Prince
Staff Writers Josh Gore
Angela Passafaro
Max Jaeger
Distributor Josh Gore
Adviser John Timpe
Printer Central Florida
Publishing
v
v
v
Student Union, Bldg. 58, E room 2209
1 UNF Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32224
Phone: 904.620.2727
Fax: 904.620.3924
www.unfspinnaker.com
he coarse and trivial complexion of public discourse in this
country is as destructive to domestic tranquility as it is distasteful to
the better angels of our nature.
There is nothing new about vicious rhetoric in American politics.
The trash-talking and mud-slinging
of the 21st century doesn’t even
come close to the bitter, ad hominem
attacks that abounded in the early
Republic.
Reference the presidential elections of 1800 and 1828 for the most
salient examples of this.
The character assassinations —
that sometimes resulted in actual
assassinations — of our country’s
infancy make today’s political
squabbles look cordial by comparison.
But recent events seem to suggest
that we may be inching closer to
the literal duels and armed insurrections of the past than one would
think proper — let alone possible —
for a highly developed democracy.
While there are certainly progressive pugilists in print and on the
airwaves who inveigh against conservatives with seething antipathy, I
would submit that the vast majority
of hateful invective is coming from
the Right side of the dial.
Bill Sparkman, a single father,
cancer survivor, teacher and parttime Census Bureau worker, was
found bound, gagged and hanged in
the woods of Eastern Kentucky last
week.
Sparkman was found naked with
the word “Fed” written on his chest
and his Census Bureau identification card taped to his neck.
Authorities have yet to rule the
Josh Fredrickson
Senior Staffer
incident a homicide, but all indications seem to point in that direction.
This comes on the heels of a campaign by conservative conspiracy
theorists to discredit the Census by
claiming that the Obama administration has nefarious plans for the use
of Census data.
Chief conspiracy-monger Rep.
Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., has
made wild and factually impaired
claims that Census data could be
used to set up internment camps.
Talk radio host Neal Boortz recently compared Census workers to
“looters” whose purpose in gathering information was “to help the
government steal from you.”
This is the environment of paranoia the right-wing noise machine
creates.
President Barack Obama receives
30 death threats per day, an increase
of 400 percent from the previous administration, according to a former
Secret Service agent.
Side-show clown Glenn Beck has
yet to call for Obama to be killed, but
he did joke about poisoning House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Hilarious.
Writing recently about Beck’s affect on the impressionable minds in
the population, Financial Times columnist Jurek Martin had this to say:
“I find that Mr. Beck, deliberately or
not, sometimes walks close to what
I would regard as a form of incitement to insurrection, no light
matter in a country with so many
susceptible people who happen to
possess guns.”
The last time I wrote in this space
I argued that the far-right with its
proclivities for paranoia, hackneyed
professions of patriotism and plain,
unvarnished hatred, has taken over
the Republican Party. It was an
admittedly incendiary and sardonic
diatribe.
It was not, however, a disproportionate response to the vitriol
displayed by the “double sufferers”
who carried disgusting placards
juxtaposing President Obama with
Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot.
One reader has pegged me a hypocrite for railing vociferously against
these actions and has accused me
of engaging in rhetoric of the same
kind I denounced. But there is a
marked difference between naked
hatred and righteous indignation.
It is my firm belief that when
individuals are willfully dishonest,
disingenuous or simply delusional,
they must be exposed, humiliated
and subjected to scorn and ridicule.
This is by no means the same
thing as threatening bodily harm
or tacitly advocating violence, as
the right-wing noise-makers have
achieved with surgical precision.
Incitement to violence whether
by implication or explicit declaration has no place in our political
discussions.
It would be of great benefit to our
nation if those in the conservative
media could converse on matters of
national import without throwing a
tantrum and calling for revolutionary bloodletting — before anyone
else gets hurt.
E-mail Josh Fredrickson at
[email protected].
What’s your favorite viral YouTube video?
“I’d have to say that clip, ‘Old Gregg,’ from the Mighty Boosh.”
- Kim Nelson, Assistant News Editor
Corrections:
The editorial cartoon regarding the fountain and
statue was not updated
from the previous week.
Photo Credits: Bevin
Campbell, Beca Grimm and
Michael Naughton were
not given photo a credit.
“The only YouTube videos I watch are when people bring mini-cams into
sporting events and tape fan-fights that break out.”
- Josh Gore, Staff Writer
“Kittens Inspired by Kittens.”
- Angela Passafaro, Staff Writer
“Either ‘Urban ninja,’ ‘Kittens Inspired by Kittens,’ or ‘Twizzlers is the Taste’
by Trale Lewous.”
- Erik Tanner, Photo Editor
discourse
P ro
C on
Suburban mothers birth ever-growing
worldwide population control issues
Save human life, educate people
The other week I was chatting with
that “cute” void and for the love of god
my 90-year-old grandmother about
use a contraceptive (or two) for the sex
baby making. She explicated the joys of part. There are enough of us for now!
motherhood and talked about carrying
I’m not suggesting the government
on “the Nelson flame,” genes that need
implement a One Child Policy (like in
to be replicated time and again, in her
China) or castrate anyone or force aboropinion.
tion or any other equally scary policy,
I introduced my opinion of populabut I do think governments worldwide
tion explosion to her
should make a
and my concerns
valiant handsabout ignorant “breedoff effort to
Kim Nelson
ers” within our world.
educate the
Asst. News Editor
She fired back by
public on the
talking about the surrepercussions of
real feeling of creatrapid population
ing something and of
growth and discourse that new baby
courage families
smell that competes with even the most from having more than one or two kids
expensive perfumes.
at the absolute most.
One word, Grandma — selfish!
I do think often about invoking an
Existing as a female in this crazy
intelligence or parental aptitude exam
dysfunctional world of ours, I recogfor hopeful parents, but then there
nize the world’s need to put the brakes
comes the impossible task of defining
on all of the breeding for a hot second.
intelligence and creating norms, etc.
I mean, I think I’d make a great
Joe Rogan, former “Fear Factor”
mother: I sympathize every time I
host, comedian and expert on life once
kill an ant, and I’m darn good in the
said on a radio talk show that we’re just
kitchen. But because others have excomplicated bacteria (much like mold
ploited their baby making rights to the
on a sandwich) aiming to become a ginth degree, kids composed of my DNA
ant collective organism fueled by those
don’t seem to be in my future. It just
clever biological tricks (like the cute
wouldn’t be very utilitarian of me.
baby thing) to keep our egos alive and
Population growth is a serious probour race perpetuated. I couldn’t agree
lem. World population is blossoming by more.
approximately 74 million people each
UNICEF came out with a 2008 stayear, according to the United Nations.
tistic that revealed that there are 132
If the current fertility rates remain as
million orphans worldwide, with 95
is, in 2050 the total world population
percent of all orphans being over the
would be 11 billion, which obviously
age of five. So here’s an idea if you just
won’t help clear up this whole climate
can’t shake that fallopian tube frenzy —
change issue we’re all so fixated on.
adopt!
What is interesting about our gen No your kid won’t have your cheekeration is that this is one of the first
bones, but look on the bright side. You
times in history where we’re aware of
can greatly increase an innocent child’s
the problems facing us. But sadly I still
quality of life, maintain that flat stomoverhear women my age talking about
ach and receive kudos from Mother
wanting to have three kids, an SUV and Nature.
highlights in their hair by their 30th
Yes, humans have the right to
year.
populate the world freely, but being
I realize that we are biologically
conscious of the magnitude and rate
wired to think babies are cute and that
in which we’re doing it is key. Give the
sex is downright enjoyable to encourobstetricians a break already and let
age us to reproduce in order to sustain
them go to Fiji, because they’ve been
our race. But people, I’ve got a solution: pulling some major overtime lately.
go rescue an adorable puppy to satisfy
E-mail Kim Nelson at
[email protected].
page 11
Decreasing the amount of
using many of these strategies for
people in the world will not solve
years.
anything, and allowing the gov Do humans not have the indiernment to tell families how many vidual right to populate the earth
children to have is ridiculous.
freely as every other species?
When Big Brother decides he
The best way to solve problems
is going to stick his head into
like destitution and overcrowdthe delivery room, and make you
ing is through developing smaller
decide which of
Third World
the twins you’re
countries.
going to keep,
Build
Josh Gore
there’s a big
factories
Staff Writer
problem with
and farms to
society.
put people to
For the famiwork. Make
lies who have
it easier for
more than their
workers to
allotment and decide they want
gain skills, and then outsource
to keep the children, they can be
him or her to another country to
taxed for the additional children
find work.
under the idea of population
Encourage global companies
control. Families that can’t afford
to invest in these areas. This is
these taxes must then look toward not considered westernizing the
abortion.
world, but merely attempting to
So what is the value of human
eliminate a problem America has
life?
never truly experienced —
Life deserves an outlet. It’s not
extreme destitution.
as simple as wildlife management. The World Bank President
Officials can control part of the
Robert Zoellick was quoted in the
gator population by the amount of Wall Street Journal saying, “The
hunting licenses they give out.
poorest countries may not be well
The debate over abortion is not
represented on the G-20, but we
necessarily cut down party lines.
cannot ignore the long-term costs
But President Barack Obama has
of the global downturn on their
said many times the way to fix the people’s health and education.”
problem was to stop unwanted
Low-income countries, as a
pregnancies.
group, are expected to face an
The only population control I
external financing gap of $59
can support is education. Inform
billion this year. With private
more and more people in America financing flows on the decline,
and throughout the world of the
these countries will become even
consequences an unwanted pregmore dependent on external aid,
nancy brings. Send contracepthe bank told WSJ.
tives to poverty-stricken neighbor- African countries like Eritrea
hoods in America and the world.
or Kenya who have GNPs that
There are important tough
wouldn’t amount to the value of
issues facing the U.S., but elimimy car, face hard times and need
nating a percent of the future
support.
workforce through instituting
Stopping the spread of human
population control will not solve
life will fix nothing, simply eduthe unemployment crisis Obama
cating the world is the only real
has recently said will continue to
solution.
trouble the U.S. through next year.
These ideas are not so far out
there for China, who has been
E-mail Josh Gore at
[email protected].
Letters to the Editor policy and how to contact the Spinnaker:
The Spinnaker welcomes all columns
and letters to the editor.
All student submissions must include
the author’s first and last names, major
and academic classification.
Faculty and guest submissions must
include department title or company
name.
All letters must be accompanied
with a contact number for verification
purposes. No anonymous submissions will be
published.
Submissions will be verified for authenticity before publication and they
may be edited for content, grammar,
word length and libel.
All printed submissions will ap-
pear online at unfspinnaker.com. The
Spinnaker will not honor requests to
remove online content, including
letters to the editor and columns.
Letters should not exceed 400 words
in length, and columns should be
approximately 500 words.
The ideas expressed in columns and
letters published in the Spinnaker do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of
Spinnaker staff or the university.
The deadline for columns is Friday
at noon. The deadline for letters is
Monday at noon.
Submit columns and letters
to the editor at
[email protected].
health care
Page 12
T
he debate over health care reform dominated
the public discourse across the country this summer as both supporters and opponents of reform
packed town hall meetings to express their opinions
on what has become an intensely divisive issue.
Polls indicate that Americans are just about evenly split on whether they support or oppose Democrats’ plans to regulate and restructure the nation’s
health insurance industry, according to analysis from
Pollster.com, a Web site that tracks poll results.
As autumn approaches, health reform proposals
are circulating through both chambers of Congress
and President Barack Obama is hitting the road in
an effort to win support for his signature domestic
policy initiative.
President Obama recently held a rally at the University of Maryland. During his remarks, the president
urged students to work for health care reform as they
had worked for his presidential campaign last fall.
President Obama’s push to overhaul the health
insurance industry has met stiff resistance from Republicans in Congress and conservative pundits in the
media who cite the cost of the proposals, which is
roughly $1 trillion over the next decade, according to
the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
The president faces opposition and uncertainty
“Not only is it the right thing to do to make sure that quality, affordable health care is available to everyone, it is the necessary
thing to do as skyrocketing health care costs are crushing Florida
families. We need to get costs under control. The current
system is unsustainable.”
from some in his own party as well, who cite the hefty
price tag of reform.
There is a general consensus about the need for
reform, but controversy about the way in which to
realize it.
In this section, the Spinnaker attempts to wade
through this complicated hot-button issue, giving
students the skinny on the facts, figures and voices
shaping the national debate — and what it means for
students like you.
“It’s the spending, stupid; it’s the deficit, dummy. We
cannot afford another massive, bureaucratic entitlement
program that increases the national debt.”
- Lenny Curry, Chairman of the Duval Country Republican Party
- Eric Jotkoff, Florida Democratic Party Communications Director
“Compulsory health insurance could require nearly 100 million Americans to
switch to a more expensive health plan and would therefore violate President Barack
Obama’s pledge to let people keep their current health insurance. Obama adviser Larry
Summers writes that mandates ‘are like public programs financed by benefit taxes,’ meaning that compulsory health insurance would also violate President Obama’s promise not to
increase taxes on the middle class. Under the House Democrats’ legislation, some middleincome earners would face marginal tax rates over 50 percent [before state taxes].“
- Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies for the Cato Institute, a not-for-profit non-partisan think-tank
dedicated to individual liberty, free markets and peace.
“This is a complex issue, what you do to one side [of the equation] affects the other [because]
young people are the largest stakeholders [in the health care reform debate]. We’re the ones
who are going to be paying [for reform]. Our health insurance is at stake.”
- Landon Gibbs, Executive Director SHOUTAmerica
“Although the exact details are still being worked out in
committee, I believe that in the end, we will agree on a
health care reform plan that will control rising costs and
ensure that all Americans have access to quality health care.”
- Corrine Brown, D-Fla.
“I think we all feel that people need to have health
insurance. We have seen the negative repercussions
and outcomes of students that do not have health
insurance. [Strictly] speaking as a health care
professional, not wading into [the] politics [of
health care].”
- Doreen Perez, Director of Student Health Services
“Let caution be the watchword. Health care reform is too
important to rush to a quick decision and should be well thought
out with all the facts before us so we can make the right decision.
I look forward to hearing from you, my constituents, as this
reform measure moves through the House and Senate.”
- Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla.
Legend: Red quotes are by Republicans, blue quotes are by Democrats and the black quotes are by non-partisans.
Key Health
• Employer Health Care Tax Credit:
An incentive mechanism designed to
encourage employers, usually small
employers, to offer health insurance
to their employees. The tax credit enables employers to deduct an amount,
usually a percentage of the contribution they make toward their employees’ premiums, from the federal taxes
they owe.
• Entitlement Program: Federal
programs, such as Medicare and
Medicaid, for which people who meet
eligibility criteria have a federal right
to benefits. Changes to eligibility
criteria and benefits require
legislation.
health care
Procedure:
The Senate Finance Committee is currently holding hearings on the “Baucus Bill” — named after
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the committee chairman.
The Senate Finance Committee is the last of the five
congressional committees that hold jurisdiction over
health care issues to consider an insurance reform
bill.
The three committees in the House of Representatives have merged their bills into one piece of
legislation: America’s Affordable Health Choices Act
H.R. 3200. The bill is awaiting a vote on the floor of
the House, the time of which is at the discretion of
the Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has approved the Affordable Health Choices Act S. 1679. After the Senate
Finance Committee approves its bill, the two committees will merge their bills, and then a floor vote
will be scheduled in the Senate.
Once the bills are scheduled for a floor vote
there will be debate, which will give
members the chance to voice support
Page 13
The two things you don’t want to
see made — sausage & legislation
or opposition to the separate pieces of legislation on
the floor of each respective chambers.
In the House, debate is limited to a finite time
period, allotted equally to each side of the aisle.
In the Senate, however, members are not bound
by any time constraints. Any senator could conceivably hold the Senate floor in perpetuity, so long
as he or she does not stop standing and speaking.
This process is called a filibuster. In order to break a
filibuster, a motion to vote on what is called cloture
must be presented for consideration. Cloture can
only be achieved when 60 members vote in favor,
thus ending debate and forcing a vote on the particular legislation.
The threat of filibuster is a prevalent feature of
Senate deliberation. So much so that virtually nothing can pass the upper chamber without achieving
the 60 vote threshold. The Democrats currently have
60 members in their caucus. But this does not automatically preclude a successful Republican filibuster
because there are at least a handful of Democratic
senators, including Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who
have expressed reservations about health care reform and have not committed to voting in favor
of cloture.
Reconciliation is another parliamentary mechanism available to the Democrats. Reconciliation
would circumvent the need to hold a cloture vote
and allow the Senate to hold a simple majority vote,
50 plus one, on health reform. Republicans have
been critical of this option, but the use of reconciliation is not unprecedented. Republicans used this
process to pass President George W. Bush’s tax cuts
a few years ago, and when Democrats voted for
President Bill Clinton’s budget in the early 90s.
Assuming both chambers pass a bill, the next step
would be ironing out the differences in each bill. In
order for the president to sign a bill into law, it must
pass both chambers in exactly the same form. This is
called a Conference Committee.
After the Conference Committee is complete,
the reformatted legislation is sent back to both
chambers for a final vote before being sent to the
president for his signature.
House HR 3200
Consumer options: Customers will be mandated to choose an
insurance plan. If not, a penalty of 2.5 percent of their adjusted
gross income above a certain level will be charged as a fine.
Cost: About $1.04 trillion over the next 10 years, according to
the Congressional Budget Office.
Taxes and Savings: $544 billion would come from health care
surcharges and taxes. For married couples, the surcharge will
be 1 percent of income between $350,000 and $500,000, 1.5
percent for income between $500,000 and $1 million and 5.4
percent above $1 million. The Democratic leadership also expects savings from reduced health care costs.
Medicaid: Expands coverage of Medicaid, a federal and state
program that provides health care for those who can’t afford it
and are below 133 percent of the nation’s poverty level.
Public Option: Consumers eligible for the exchange — generally
people without coverage — will be able to choose insurance
from the private sector or a government-run plan, subject to the
same standards and consumer protections as a private plan.
Senate Baucus Bill
Care Terms
• Pre-existing Condition Exclusions:
An illness or medical condition
diagnosed or treated within a
specified period of time prior to a
person becoming insured. Health
care providers can exclude benefits
for a defined period of time for the
treatment of medical conditions they
determine to have existed prior to
the beginning of coverage.
• Public Plan Option: A proposal to
create a new insurance plan administered and funded by federal or state
government that would be offered
along with private plans in a newly
created health insurance exchange.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation
Consumer options: Most consumers must
choose a plan unless they have no access
to affordable health care or if they would
incur “exceptional financial hardship.” The
minimum penalty for not carrying insurance
would be $750 per year.
Cost: About $615 billion over 10 years.
Taxes & Savings: The details have not been
disclosed as the bill is still under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee.
Similarities between both bills
Affordability: It would offer tax credits to lowand moderate-income earners. Tax credits would
decline with income and would end when income
hits 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or
$43,000 per individual, or $88,000 for a family
of four.
Insurance Reform: Companies can’t exclude coverage from pre-existing conditions, can’t cap lifetime
or annual benefits or charge higher rates because
of health status. Premiums can however, be adjusted for age, geography and family size.
Medicaid: It would expand Medicaid coverage to all individuals below 150 percent of
the nation’s poverty level.
Public Option: Is not currently in the legislation, but is still open to changes.
By: James Cannon & Josh Fredrickson. Graphics by: Peter Nguyen & Chad Smith. Layout: James Cannon & Chad Smith
YouTube steers away from cats, draws in large community
By Ryan Thompson
Copy Editor
In order to fully grasp what the explosive video-uploading Web site YouTube's
subculture is about, a quick run-down on
basic YouTube law is a must. The community and Web site's next generation of
filmmakers, musicians, comedians and
even make-up artists strive for viewer
counts and subscribers.
But how does one get big on
YouTube? Charles Trippy, USF graduate and Tampa resident who has over
200,000 subscribers on YouTube, started
on MySpace, he said. He needed a place
to house videos and received bandwidth
issues with MySpace. He finally stumbled upon YouTube in 2005.
After snagging YouTube celebrity,
these "vloggers" (video blogging, if
you will) rely on their viewers to buy
products they sell. Many users start
out on YouTube by watching funny or
inspirational videos by a more popular YouTuber. The only way a new user
can find another YouTuber lives in the
fact that the bigger user, featured on the
front page, attracted them to watch their
video. Some users, like ShaneDawsonTV
(Shane Dawson), use outlandish video titles to draw in a new audience, but other
users have to go through a process first.
The YouTube Partnership Program
allows users with large audiences to seek
ad revenue from their videos. Michael
Buckley (WHATTHEBUCKSHOW on
YouTube) said during a CNN interview
that it used to be hard to become a partner, but nowadays if you have a little over
1,000 subscribers, you are taken into consideration for partnership. A lot of current ad revenue-receiving users have older videos that are not eligible for Google
Ad Sense, but most of them are. The fact
that YouTube is a career through the
partnership program allures its top users. The freedom to be your own boss allows users to enjoy the experience.
“The highest perk is that you don’t
have to answer to anybody,” Trippy said.
Thanks to the ever-growing YouTube
community, larger YouTubers have
been able to turn YouTube into a career.
A prime example of this is through the
channel TheStation, which is actually
several popular YouTubers, such as
sxephil (Phil DeFranco), shaycarl,
Dawson and LisaNova (Lisa Donovan)
collaborating and making sketch-style
videos. Donovan heads the group with
her production company and most of
the comedy lies within her. Because of
YouTube, she has made several appearances on the late-night comedy show,
MADTv.
In-the-public YouTube success is not
rare at all. Buckley has a development
deal with HBO, and if you’ve been to
Hot Topic recently, you might notice an
estranged cartoon-sketch picture with
a title about it that reads "Fred." Fred,
played by Teen Choice Awards-winning
actor Lucas Cruikshank, topped the
YouTube Most Subscribed charts and
reigned as No. 1 for almost an entire year.
He made YouTube history in April when
he reached one million subscribers.
YouTube-grown musicians
While YouTube may be a fun place
for comedic relief and subscriber competition, it is also a place of artistic
expression. Around the world, users
upload original songs, covers and howtos on their favorite music, and others
watch. Artists such as pop singer Justin
Beiber (kidrahul on YouTube), acoustic
rock band Boyce Avenue (boyceavenue)
and ukulele-strumming Julia Nunes
(jaaaaaaa) started off on YouTube and
now see large tours and more success.
From the music side of YouTube
sprang DFTBA Records, an independent
record company that is co-owned by two
YouTubers — Alan Lastufka and Hank
Green (get this, they don’t live anywhere
near each other) — and solely features
YouTube artists. Collectively, DFTBA artists garner an audience of over 1.7 million viewers. Their latest release, Alex
Day's (nerimon on YouTube) CD “Parrot
Stories,” becomes available Oct. 1.
Turning cyber
real world
world
into
For YouTube users, gatherings such
as 789 — a gathering that took place
July 8 in New York City — or just casual
meetings with other users rise above all
other reasons for why YouTube is fun.
Gatherings are usually regional but
some are national like YouTube Live, an
event held in San Francisco Nov. 23, 2008,
that featured major musical artists such
as Katy Perry, Akon and will.i.am as well
as YouTube stars such as Buckley, Nunes
and Bo Burnham.
“[The gatherings] are pretty interesting," Trippy said. "[A gathering] allows [users] to get closer to people they
watch versus the fictional person on the
Internet that might not be real.”
Whether the YouTube community is
small or large is still up to debate, but it’s
becoming a larger community versus a
small one, Trippy said.
“There are two types of people
who use YouTube. There are those
who get chain e-mails to funny videos
and people who actually use subscriptions,” Trippy said.
Getting webcams rolling on
the tube
UNF freshman electronic media major Lizzie Russo is of the second type. She
signed up for YouTube a year and a half
ago after her friend posted a video by
charlieissocoollike (Charlie McDonnell)
on MySpace and said she “pretty much
just uncovered the whole underground
vlogging world.”
She then got a webcam shortly after.
Russo used to make vlogs under her
username lizzieradio, but now she performs original songs and covers of her
favorite songs.
Russo was watching a live show
of an “awesome vlogger” Myles Dyer
(Blade376) when she met her YouTube
friend Sid, she said. From this friendship,
Russo and Sid formed a collaboration
channel — a channel in which a different user posts a video on their assigned
day, a subgenre started by Green and his
brother, New York Times Bestselling author John Green — where she and he met
people from Canada, England, Ireland
and New Zealand, she said.
“We all became besties,” Russo said.
Last year, Russo and Sid finally met in
real life.
“It was sur-freaking-real,” she said.
“It feels like you have met them before
because you know them so well, but now
they are in 3-D. It is awesome, and I highly recommend it.”
Russo said her friends think it’s
kind of creepy that she talks to people
who she’s never even met before, even
though she said it’s “totally legit because you’re looking at their face!”
“[The best part of YouTube is] meeting the people, yo!” Russo said. “It’s
awesome, and I have made connections
around the world, so if I ever want to
run away to another country, I have
houses to crash at.”
E-mail Ryan Thompson at
[email protected].
Graphic by: Mike Tomassoni
expressions
Page 15
‘Savage Love’ creates
open forum for sex advice
Jim Breuer still a mystery
Self-righteous security prevent interview
Side-splitting responses leave no questions unanswered
Assistant Features Editor
“You do know your governor's gay, don't you?”
Dan Savage said.
Two-hundred-and-something listening students reacted, some shifting in their seats, some
nodding in agreement, most chuckling at the savage brashness of the question.
“I think most people in Florida are unaware or
in denial,” Savage said about Crist's homosexuality in a post-show interview in the Student Union
Ballroom. Adding, “As [Crist] becomes more
prominent, the secret will not be kept.”
Whether the audience came out to support the
columnist or to listen to comedic outlooks on sex,
they had opinions afterward.
"It wasn't funny, it was just truthful with an
air of hilarity," UNF senior elementary education
major Katie Meehan said.
A sex advice columnist for going on 18 years,
Savage makes frequent appearances on "Real
Time with Bill Maher" and has several published
books on love and sex. He said he is openly homosexual and Catholic.
"It was a breath of fresh air to hear from a
E-mail April Schulhauser at
[email protected].
Q: What are your thoughts on ex-gays?
A: I hope there’s a question in here about unicorns … If being ex-gay means you’re not having gay sex,
then I’ve been ex-gay the whole time I’ve been on this stage.
Q: Why are all the gay hot spots on the ghetto, project side of Jacksonville?
A: Zoning?
Erik tanner | spinnaker
Illustration | Spinnaker
By April Schulhauser
perspective different from the far Christian right
that is typically represented in so many campus
events," Tony Rossodivito, a UNF senior history
major, said.
Lessons about “Savage Love” were taught to
UNF Sept. 24, the last stop on his tour, during a Q
& A with Savage and students. Questions ranged
from gay marriage and Obama to finding your
soul mate, as Savage conveyed his so-called “big,
gay, butt-sex agenda.”
Answering a posed question about how to
find one's soul mate, Savage responded, “First of
all, tell yourself there is no such thing. There is
someone who you think is the one, and who you
treat as the one … Every relationship in your life
is going to fail — until one doesn't.”
After the first anal sex question popped up,
Savage mentioned he was impressed because his
audience at USF was too sheepish to bring the
topic up. He attributed USF avoiding the topic
and UNF only bringing it up once to the fact that
Floridians must already know everything about
anal sex from having a gay governor, he said.
Savage and Terry, his boyfriend of 15 years,
adopted a son. In an excerpt from his book “The
Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My
Family,” Savage opened up about the adoption
process with his child's homeless mother.
“You know what a broken heart looks like?
Like a sobbing teenager handing over a two-dayold infant she can't take care of to a couple she
hopes can.”
Savage pointed out unjust laws in Florida,
revealing that same-sex couples can foster a
child but they cannot provide the child security
through adoption. This law leaves many capable
homes childless and many parent-less children
left to wander from foster home to home.
Savage said his upcoming HBO pilot based on
his syndicated column “Savage Love” is currently
being edited. An airing date has not yet been set.
The enlightening comedic advice session was
sponsored by club PRIDE, a positive social network for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
and supportive heterosexual students, according
to its mission statement.
So where is our sexual culture trending within
the next 20 years? Simple.
“We are becoming more European and less
Puritan,” Savage said.
Breuer brews up barrels of chuckles.
As a couple hundred of you kids may have noticed, comedian Jim
Breuer paid a hilarious visit to UNF’s Amphitheater Sept. 23. He delivered
some of his classic “Half Baked”-style stoner humor mixed with some
more new-millennium jive. One of the most memorable moments must
of been the part when he was describing how sex should be so peaceful and beautiful, the two people getting it on should sound more like
whale calls during the process ... a combination of sounds he reiterated
throughout his stand-up set.
The Spinnaker planned on snagging an interview with the funnyman
himself but were denied backstage access, despite explicit press credentials. The security company employed during Breuer’s gig, CSC Security,
told two editors they needed “all-access” passes in order to gain entry
and pointed to the grassy field when asked where the press should go.
Sorry to the kids who expected the skinny on Jim Breuer and his opinion
of the Kanye West debacle — we were, too.
Advertisement
WANTING TO GET MORE OUT
OF LIFE Is sTRONG.
GETTING ThE MOsT OUT
OF LIFE Is ARMy sTRONG.
There’s strong. Then there’s Army strong.
The strength that comes from expert training in one
of over 150 different career fields—as well as money for
college. Find out how to get it at goarmy.com/strong.
Q: What secrets can you tell your partner?
A: Don’t always tell the truth in relationships. Faking it long enough turns you into a better person.
Some people don’t want to know everything. However, this isn’t a license for infidelity or putting your
partner at risk.
Q: How do I come out to my [extremely religious] family?
A: Have a place to go, have friends to support you. Come out to them in a letter or over the phone. Sic your
gay friend’s parents on them. Give them a year. If they don’t come around, have nothing to do with them.
QUALIFY FOR A CASH BONUS UP TO $40,000 AND
UP TO $80,000 FOR COLLEGE.
VISIT HIGHLAND SQUARE PLAZA OR
CALL 1-888-827-5301 TODAY TO LEARN MORE.
©2008. Paid for by the United States Army. All rights reserved.
expressions
page 16
Beer of the Month: SweetWater 420 Extra Pale Ale
Fruity beer towers over other Southeastern brews
By James Cannon
Editor in Chief
As I sat in a 100-year-old log and
red brick pub deep in the Appalachian
Mountains thousands of feet above sea
level staring at a diverse selection of
microbrews, domestics and imports, it
quickly became clear which would be
the first of the evening: SweetWater 420
Extra Pale Ale.
There were other microbrews from
the area that I was anxious to sample, but
what good would it have done the intrepid Osprey drinker to read a review about
something unavailable in their natural
habitat? So, I opted for the extra pale ale.
I've had several other varieties of the
Atlanta beer during some of my travels
through the Southeast like the IPA and
the Georgia Brown, but I was in the mood
for something light and crisp after a long
hike up the mountain.
When poured from a bottle, it produced a one-finger head that quickly dissipated into a light fluff. However, when
draft poured, it stayed at a consistent
minimal head. Regardless of the medium, it left a nice lacing throughout the
entire drink.
It was a slight more golden amber
than I am used to in my American pale
ales but it only added to the light and
sweet flavor of the beer.
The aroma was fairly strong at first
with a noticeable smell of hops but was
complimented by its airy and fresh nature. It quickly dissipated, much like the
head but was quick to return with a swirl
of the glass.
It had good structure with hints of citrus, blueberry and floral hops. A slight
grain taste as well as a stronger pale malt
taste was visible throughout. It was also
crisp and dry on the finish with a light
body and no after taste.
It's definitely easy to drink, as it is
light and has a pleasant and semi-fruity
taste and aroma.
The SweetWater Brewery, founded in
1997, has won several awards such as the
2002 Small Brewery of the Year award at
the Great American Beer Festival and
various others at the World Beer Cup.
SweetWater 420 Extra Pale Ale and
several other varieties can be found at
Total Wine & More at the St. Johns Town
Center for under $10.
E-mail James Cannon at
[email protected].
Horoscopes by The Spinnaker Sisterhood of the Celestial Skylines
Jan. 21 - Feb. 19:
Dec. 23 - Jan. 20:
Nov. 23 - Dec. 22:
Oct. 24 - Nov. 22:
You’ve been having difficulty distinguishing what’s a dream and what’s
real, Aquarius. This fuzzy notion
of reality could be considered to be
a horrible thing, but think about it.
What’s happening isn’t strange, it’s
enlightening. You can now define
your existence 24 hours a day, during
which you’re a student for half of the
day and a flying king or queen for the
remaining half.
Capricorn, your brain has been feeling like Jell-O.
Your neurotransmitters feel dull, you simply
cannot absorb, comprehend or, let alone, respond
intelligently. Do you need to go see the doc? No,
you just need to cease the craziness. Get the rest
you require, the vitamins you need and enough
mental stimulation to keep you sharp.
You have always taken pride in being a dependable human, but recently the tables have turned,
Sag. You may have been slipping a little. That
extra hour of unnecessary sleep that led you to
be late for work, and those two hours of Internet
browsing instead of studying that led to that
mediocre C- are not worth it! Keep you’re A-game
on — it’s what you’re all about.
Silly, silly Scorpio, why can’t you
silence the giggle-monster lately?
Unfortunately he is tending to strike
at the most inappropriate times: lectures, performances, serious relationship talks, when you see someone injure themselves, when your brother
told you your childhood pet just died.
Laughing is medicine for the heart
and soul, but dang! You don’t have to
be such a jerk. Get some tact.
Feb. 20 - March 20:
Sep. 24 - Oct. 23:
Have you been feeling supremely misunderstood lately, Aries? Not in the teenage
“no one understands me” way, but rather
in the “I’m too grown up to scream that
phrase at a piercing frequency to my folks
before scrambling upstairs to blast that
burnt copy of the Early November,” kind
of way. Solution: Try talking to your peers
calmly about your fears, they are surely
feeling the same way.
Even though the sun has been almost annoyingly shining, the air’s heat has been
gradually losing its bite and Halloween
is steadily approaching (we all know it’s
your favorite holiday), you still feel down
in the dumps, Libra. It’s most likely stemming from personal issues and the fact that
this stressful semester is not even remotely
close to ending. Remember, the cold is coming and that light-hearted mentality should
come back to you soon.
March. 21 - April. 20:
Aug. 22 - Sept. 23:
Virgo, this week you are overwhelmed with feelings of change.
Whether it be dying your hair, trying
out a new boyfriend or girlfriend,
finally trying to like sushi, actually
setting aside time to study or taking
an alternative route to class, this
is the time where you are prone to
desires to switch things up. This is
good. Nobody wants to be a bore at
such a young age.
So why even read these horoscopes
anyways, Pisces? Because deep down
you secretly wish that centaurs existed, that psychics were not scam
artists and that if the bottom of your
right foot were to itch, it’d mean that
you are going to take a trip soon.
Spend a little time reading about all
things mystical and scratch that itch
that keeps bringing you back to this
section of the paper.
July 23 - Aug. 21:
April 21 - May 21:
Suddenly Taurus, your skin is clearer.
Jeans are fitting better; your hair is
just behaving — what’s going on? You
may presume that now is the time to
romance that fellow or lady with you
looking so fly, but don’t you realize
that it’s a mistake? Instead, pick your
most unflattering day to pounce, that
way they’ll fall for you for who you
are, even at your worst — meaning
left-over makeup, party stench and
ridiculous hair.
May 22 - June 21:
Take it easy this week, Gemini. Grab your favorite blanket, glass of juice, oatmeal cookies and
the first four seasons of Entourage. You’ll end
up chock-full of antioxidants, whole grains and
quality entertainment instead of a headache,
hoarse voice and text messaging regrets. When
you wake up in the morning confused as to why
it’s 8 a.m. and you’re on the couch, know you’ll
snap out of it shortly.
June 22 - July 22:
You’ve been thinking about the future lately,
Cancer. You’re young, anxious and have slowly been becoming refined. You’re thinking, am
I really going to change that much more? Why
do my parents seem so lame and kosher, when
I have pictorial evidence of their coolness during their college days? It’s up to you to hold
on to your cool factor. So practice that kung-fu
grip, OK?
Ever think about reincarnation, Leo?
It’s strange, but the star alignment
has been yielding a certain thought
your way. You may be picking up
more trash lately on campus, or
calling your parents more? Perhaps
you cooked your roommate dinner
recently out of the goodness of your
heart? These acts of Karma-snatching may be an internal fear that
you may return to the earth as a rat
lungworm parasite, ick!
expressions
Page 17
‘Whip It’ cracks the over-used disturbed youth mold in indie teen movies
This film doesn’t conform to one-track stereotypesof your previous experiences
By John Weidner
Sports Editor
To some kids, teenage rebellion
consists of listening to alt-music,
staying out an hour past curfew
and falling in love with something
other than schoolwork. However,
for Ellen Page’s character, Bliss
Cavendar, in the new movie "Whip
It," her idea of rebellion consists of
sneaking out of the house weekly
to drive roughly 90 miles away
from home just to get her body and
emotions bruised by women twice
her age and size.
Bliss' mother, Brooke (Marcia
Gay Harden), is the power figure
of the family, and as a former teen
beauty queen, she tries to raise
her children in “a respectable
Christian household.” Papa Earl
(Daniel Stern) is a repairman of
sorts, who cowers behind his wife
when it comes to parenting and arguments. Bliss’ little sister, Shania,
slips quietly around turmoil by
winning the same huge pageant
trophies her mother did. On the
other hand, Page’s character is
caught hopelessly searching to establish an identity different from
her mother by doing things that
garner her mother’s disapproval
such as dying her hair blue. Bliss is
stuck in a small town in the middle
of other people’s dreams and happiness, without a way of escaping
to form a happy ending of her own.
As the movie unfolds, the main
characters are all abruptly forced
to deal with reality and instead of
making small adjustments, Bliss
and company seem to take on the
movie’s catch phrase of "be your
own hero." One night Bliss and
her friend make a Friday night
pilgrimage to Austin to catch some
roller derby. Bliss falls in love with
the sport and decides to try out for
an open spot on the team.
Her immense passion to get
bruised and dirty doing something
she loves is what drives the characters to take action and create
change in their lives.
Surprisingly, a majority of
the movie’s depth is provided by
the girls of The Hurl Scouts, the
team of supposed tattooed miscreants, from where she learns
some of her most important life
lessons. Once on the team, Bliss
gets a glimpse past the rockstar,
carefree mentality the league exudes and sees into the fun-loving
sisterhood it really is.
“At least here [in Jacksonville]
we’re not all about violence and
flash,” Sharon Bell, Media Contact
for the area’s local roller derby association, Jacksonville Rollergirls,
said. “We are all really friends and
just trying our best to promote
[the] sport in a positive way.”
Another key addition to the
cast is musical artist Landon
Pigg, who plays Bliss’ love interest Oliver, the lead singer of the
fictional band Turbo Fruits. Pigg
plays the role of a young up-andcoming musician and even contributes to the soundtrack. The
soundtrack was hand-picked by
Drew Barrymore, the film's director, and is a compilation of songs
she loves and that helped contribute to the direction of the movie.
With tracks from the Ramones,
Dolly Parton and The Go! Team,
the soundtrack is just as vast and
varied as one would expects Bliss’
CD collection to be.
“Choosing the songs for the
soundtrack was a whole sperate
pleasure in itself,” Barrymore
said in a conference call “A lot of
the songs are there because they
contributed to the direction of the
script, or were just on in the background and gave us a spark of inspiration.”
Just like its soundtrack, “Whip
It” is a collection of random characters, ideas and moments that
work in tandem to paint a bigger
picture. Unlike their predecessors,
Bliss and her supporting characters are brought together and
uplifted by their kinks and quirkiness and use their differences to
help each other understand more
about life and themselves.
E-mail John Weidner at
[email protected].
From their sadly out-of-print ’86 album “Boink!!,” low-fi dee-dee-deeing guitars add
legitimacy to lead singer (and brilliant, brilliant man) Paul Westerberg’s yelps out at
some astringent, urgent hollers whilst sipping some “cola.” The song feels as hard as
the Minneapolis miscreants lived … or maybe how hard it is to give up Djarum.
“Smokin’” by Boston
The intro sounds more like something you’d hear at a KISS show, what with the rollicking electric guitar and quick drums, but no one can accurately imitate the late
Brad Delp’s killer coif or vocal styling. Even though the chorus reiterates, “We’re
cooking tonight/ Just keep on tokin’,” er … marijuana is never explicitly mentioned,
so I just assume Delp is talking about nursing an American Spirit or something similar. Besides, the jammy breakdown (complete with organ!) and Delp’s denim jacketed whirlwind of rather charming suggestions shouted into the hazy sunset — that’s
what’s worth sticking around for.
“Nicotine and Gravy” by Beck
From Beck’s funkiest, most neon-ignited album, “Midnite Vultures,” this ditty is
filled with all sorts of nonsensical lyrics like, “I’ll feed you fruit that don’t exist,”
making perfect sense to dot the choruses with “Her left eye is lazy/ Nicotine and gravy.” There’s elaborately layered vocals, bizarre instruments and found noises (think:
arcade games and Zack Morris cell phones). This song is another example of the
brilliance falling out of Beck’s head that really makes people scratch their own when
they find out the cat is Scientologist. Freakish religious practices aside, smokers,
try finding the beat in this one and ashing your cancer stick to it. That’s a challenge.
Top Five Ballads to
Blow Cigarette Smoke to
Before I can seriously launch into this week’s Top Five, I must make sure it’s on the record that I am an almost 100 percent retired cigarette smoker. Unless a certain quality (or
quantity, rather) of liquor has passed my lips, I typically opt to nix the cig jive. I also want
to preface by saying I’m not (and the Spinnaker ain’t) condoning, promoting or thumbsupping suckin’ on nicotine by any means — so please keep that in mind. But if you do
partake in cigarette culture or can handle using your imagination, read on. Since flavored
cigarettes are being banned and all (see the story on pg. 5), James (big boss-man editor
in chief of this publication) and I figured it relevant to compile Top Five Ballads to Blow
Cigarette Smoke to — you know, just to help soften the blow to all you snifflin’ cloveheads.
Remember folks, you’ve always got Pall Mall filters. And for your lung-blackening delight,
there is:
“More Cigarettes” by the Replacements
Who better to know utterly self-destructive behavior than these kids? I mean, their
song “Beer for Breakfast” has become a full-fledged anthem for generations of co-eds.
“Chocolate Milk and Cigarettes” by Rufus Wainwright
Here’s a somewhat serious one. Baroque-pop mastermind Wainwright details a painful list of dangerous vices that he indulges in with his trusty keys to back him up.
Beautifully sung poetry like, “Take a lot of sentimental Valiums/ Can’t expect the
world to be your Raggedy Andy,” describes progressively more damaging indulgence
Band-Aids and their temporary fix (“Everything it seems I like’s a little bit stronger/
A little bit thicker, a little bit harmful for me”). He makes a damn good argument for
gorging on jelly beans, too.
“Pink Cigarette” by Mr. Bungle
Mike Patton … no, really — when does he sleep? Anyway, he’s in this totally nuts band,
too, and in this song (which fittingly follows a maniacal one titled “Goodbye Sober
Day”) on their 1999 album “California,” he croons a suicidal (isn’t that kind of what
smoking cigarettes is like?) tale of finding a Technicolor cig on the bed of a past lover
and sad, sad revelations. Careful not to have Fido around for the last 15 seconds or so
of the tune, though, when it erupts into a high-pitched tone that eventually silences it
into succumbing. The dreamy dives of ivory cloud-skimming tambourines will get you
reaching for your lighter and lipstick, regardless of your gender or weekend agenda.
Compiled by Beca Grimm.
expressions
Page 18
CLASSIFIEDS
Roommate needed (Prefer F) share condo in gated community. $600 per mo. Includes
all utilities, internet, washer/dryer, fitness center/pool. Close to UNF and FCSL.
The Reserve at Pointe Meadows off Gate Parkway. Now Available. Contact Heather
(386) 871-5667 or [email protected]
BARTENDERS WANTED!
$300/ Day Potential. No Experience Necessary. Training Available.
Age 18+OK. (800) 965-6520 EXT 222
Room for Rent
$420 monthly, on San Pablo. Top Floor. Washer/dryer, pool, fitness center.
Call 727-768-9599
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Thursday, Oct. 1
Caring Award Nominations, Bldg. 60, rm. 2103
Exhibit: Darwin Year 2009, Library
Celebration of Women in the Arts Film Festival
Coggin Alumni Networking Breakfast, 7:30 to 9 a.m., Starbucks
Four Squared Exhibition, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Art Gallery
Seasonal Flu Shot, 2 to 4 p.m., Bldg. 39A, rm. 2100
International Dinner, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Bldg. 58W, rm. 3703
Friday, Oct. 2
Exhibit: Transportation & Logistics Flagship, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Library
38th Annual Convocation Ceremony, 10 to 11:30 a.m., Fine Arts, Lazzara
Capital Campaign Kickoff, 6:30 to 10:30 p.m., Bldg. 58 and Arena
Intercollegiate Choral Festival, 7:30 p.m., JU
Saturday, Oct. 3
Admissions Open House, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Bldg. 45, rm. 1200 and Bldg. 14, rm. 1311C
Music Dept. Auditions, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Bldg. 45, rms. 1404, 1415, 1420 and 1200
UNF Open House, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Bldg. 45
Denim and Diamonds, 7 to 11:30 p.m., MOCA
Sunday, Oct. 4
Access Church Service, 10 to 11:45 a.m., Fine Arts Center, Lazzara
Robert Motherwell: Lost in Form, Found in Line, 12 to 4 p.m., MOCA
Family Literacy Festival, 12:30 to 4 p.m., Nature Trails
Monday, Oct. 5
Outstanding 2009-2010 Graduate/Undergraduate Teaching Award Nominations
Octubafest: Ensemble Rehersal, 5 p.m., Robinson Theater
Tuesday, Oct. 6
Art of Teaching, UNF Art & Design Faculty Showcase, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., MOCA
Free, anonymous HIV testing at LGBT, Bldg. 58E, rm. 1111
Take Back the Night, 7:15 to 9 p.m., Student Union Plaza
Wednesday, Oct. 7
Art Matters, Nancy Graves: Tension and Resonance, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., MOCA
Learn to Fly Seminar, 12 to 1 p.m., Bldg. 58W, rm. 3804
Quit Smoking Now!, 12 to 1 p.m., Bldg. 3, rm. 1201
Art Walk, 5 to 9 p.m., MOCA
Women Empowerment Group, 6 to 7:30 p.m., Bldg. 3, rm. 1201
“Milk” & Cookies Movie Night, 7 to 9:30 p.m., Bldg. 58, rm. 2704
sports
Page 19
Athletics department prepares to
deal with virus on case by case basis
By John Weidner
Sports Editor
[email protected].
illustration And Photo; Peter Nguyen, Erik Tanner
The H1N1 virus thas dealt major blows
to athletic programs, including Ole Miss
and Florida, but UNF’s teams are ready
and prepared to deal with the pandemic.
UNF has yet to feel any major impact
from swine flu and there have been zero
cases reported within the athletics department, UNF Head Athletic Trainer
Fred Burnett said. However, the university and athletics department are already
prepared to deal with cases if they begin
to appear among students and athletes.
“The only thing that we’ve really done
at this point is to educate our athletes and
staff on prevention and keeping themselves healthy,” Burnett said. “There’s
not much you can do right now except
don’t make stupid decisions like sharing
other people’s drink and to wash your
hands as much as possible.”
UNF Athletics, unlike other schools
across the country, has been less stringent about reinforcing health at games
than other schools around the country
— while schools such as Washington
State University and Flagler College have
provided hand sanitizer for their fans at
concession stands during their sporting
events. UNF has posted bulletins around
campus and taken several steps to inform
students on staying healthy, but the athletics department has not made many interventions of their own.
“We are going by the CDC [Centers
for Disease Control] guidelines like most
schools around the country,” Burnett
said. “The school is doing a lot to promote student awareness, but we have not
implemented any policies toward athletic
events.”
The centers released several guidelines on how schools and individuals
can prepare and prevent swine flu. The
University of Florida, Ole Miss University
and Flagler College all told the Spinnaker
that their main response to any questions
on swine flu was that they are following
the centers’ guidelines.
When the Spinnaker asked to speak
with to UNF Athletic Director Lee Moon
about the athletics program’s stance on
swine flu, all questions were referred to
Burnett.
“As of now we feel like we’ve done everything we can do to prepare,” Burnett
said. “Our biggest concern is keeping an
eye on the health of our athletes and helping them stay healthy.”
Although UNF’s athletes currently remain unaffected by the virus, college programs across the country are dealing with
handling athletes with flu symptoms.
Many prominent teams such as Florida
and Ole Miss have had several members
either miss games or take special safety
precautions, including star quarters Tim
Tebow and Jevon Snead. Florida’s Head
Football Coach Urban Meyer has told
several different media sources that the
swine flu, and what it could possibly do
to his team, scares him to death. Several
universities including the University of
Delaware and Western Oregon University
have gone to such extents as cancelling
games and events to protect the health of
everyone involved.
However, UNF’s policy is to not cancel
practice or games because of sick players
unless they are told to do so by the NCAA.
“Regardless of situations, we are going
to follow our policies and keep things running well, keeping a close eye on anyone
that is sick,” Burnett said. “We are still
going to keep playing games and practicing unless we don’t have enough players
to man a team.”
Officials from the Atlantic Sun
Conference’s schools have met to decide
protocols for moving forward, but said
no major changes have been imparted,
Burnett said. Although there are a few
schools in the conference with swine flu
cases, the only game day change so far is
a possible change in pre-game and postgame handshake procedures.
As for preventive measures for UNF
athletes, the athletics department is falling in line with the precautions set by
the university, Burnett said. If a player
is sick, they are immediately recommended to stay in their rooms to help themselves recover and to prevent the flu from
spreading. UNF even has certain dorm
rooms assigned as isolation rooms that
students and athletes could occupy to prevent the flu from spreading to roommates
as well.
“Generally as long as students who are
sick stay inside and don’t participate in
activity, they should be able to get over it
fairly quickly and be back to normal in a
few days,” Burnett said.
Page 20
InsidetheHuddle
John Weidner
Sports Editor
sports
Rebecca McKinnon
News Editor
Chad Smith
Graphic Designer
Beca Grimm
Features Editor
Question 1: Three weeks into the NFL season, a majority of front-runners have looked sloppy and several bad teams from last year
have played surprisingly well. Is the NFL always unpredictable?
There’s one thing about the NFL that is
almost always predictable: Your team
will lose in the end.
Just because a season is good or a player
is good doesn’t mean that player or team
is forever reliable. People are unpredictable in any atmosphere, so fans can’t trust
something 100 percent of the time.
Yes, I think there will be surprises, but
in the end I expect the Giants or Colts to
walk away with the trophy, while Favre
watches it on TV in crutches.
Isn’t life unpredictable? And isn’t
football life? My dad always told
me as long at it’s Green Bay, it is.
Question 2: Florida quarterback Tim Tebow was hospitalized with a concussion during the Sept. 27 game against Kentucky. Considering
that concussions take a long time to determine the extent of injury, how will Tebow’s injury affect the Gators in the long run?
Maybe people will finally realize that
Jesus II, also known as Superman, also
known as Tim Tebow, is really nothing
but a very human college quarterback.
Also, it will be a chance for the nation to
see his back-up, John Brantley, shine.
He’s Tebow! Of course if he’s crushed, fans
will be crushed! Since we’re not sure what
might happen, it’s hard to say how it will
affect the Gators now.
What would Tebow do? You’re setting a
pretty high standard to go undefeated.
Everyone is gunning for the Gators and
Superman himself. If the Gators are really
two-deep at every position, exploit that
weakness over the competition.
I’m not terribly sure. All I know is then
I’ll have to get my tattoo somehow
transformed from a traditional Tebow
branding to a butterfly — and that
sounds only painful.
Question 3: After only one event, sophomore Sean Dale from the UNF golf team was ranked as the best male college golfer in the
country. Do you think Dale and the rest of the UNF golf team have what it takes to be one of the best in the nation this year?
Imagine what Dale is capable of if he
is the No. 1 golfer in the country as a
sophomore. I believe having him at
UNF for the next three years will go far
in turning UNF golf into a dominating
program.
Obviously yes. No. 1 golfer in the nation?
We don’t publicize that sort of information for no reason.
First off, congrats to Sean Dale. If he can
continue this success, I think he will continue to raise his own notoriety and hopefully
consider going pro after college. I would
love to see him compete against the likes of
Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and Woods.
It depends. I have yet to see this Dale
joker’s Cha Cha Slide.
Question 4: The New York Yankees secured their 100th win of the season Sept. 28 after beating the Boston Red Sox 4-2. Does any other
MLB team have a chance to beat off the Yankees for the World Series?
As much as I hate the Yankees, I believe
that season belongs to them by a longshot.
I’ll beat ‘em. Give me a bat and some
boiled peanuts.
No, the Yankees have the best winning
percentage after the All-Star game. They
have also out-performed every team
offensively in the American League and
boast the best relief corps going into the
playoffs.
Beat off? Sure, anyone can do that.
Compiled by Heather Furey.
The Gore Report
Tiger stands out amongst crowd, so does Dale
Tiger Woods didn’t need to win the
final battle of the season to win the
war. Phil Mickelson won the playoff
match near Atlanta, but second place
was good enough for Woods to win
the FedEx Cup, based on a player
points system that starts at the beginning of the golf season.
The FedEx Cup brought Woods a
$10 million paycheck. He has now
won the cup twice in three years.
Last year, he was injured and didn’t
compete.
Woods managed to win the cup
without winning a single major this
year, and is continuing to earn his
place in history, tournament by tournament.
Years from now when the only
thing to remember Woods by is
through statistics, video clips and
statues put up on courses throughout
the country, sports journalists will
no longer ask who was the greatest
Josh Gore
Staff Writer
golfer that ever lived.
They will all gather at a clubhouse
restaurant, after a friendly 18, and
contemplate the gods of golf. And
they will name Tiger “Zeus.”
One young, well-educated, ambitious reporter will speak up. “But
what about Ben Hogan, Arnold
Palmer and Jack Nicholas? They
were good. Could Tiger have beat
them?”
And the seasoned journalist sitting in his company will proudly
smile, and nod his head at a portrait
of Woods hanging near them, “That’s
the greatest golfer that every lived,”
he will say.
He will say this because he
watched Tiger play tournament
after tournament through thick and
thin — family death or personal injury — and still be the one everyone
is chasing — the eagle-sinking fist
pumps and the Sunday afternoon
jacket-fittings.
For the first time in UNF history,
an Osprey golfer understands how it
feels to be ranked No. 1 and may be
able to be the same thing Tiger once
was, the best golfer in the NCAA.
Being ranked No. 1 by Jeff Sagarin
is a pretty amazing feat.
Last year, Sagarin was not too nice
to UNF’s struggling men’s basketball
program at one point ranking them
344 of 347.
UNF’s Sean Dale was homeschooled growing up in the
Jacksonville area. He has played in
numerous local tournaments and
leads the UNF golf team to No. 15 in
the country, according to Sagarin and
Golf Weekly rankings.
This is by far the best athletic
team on campus. Most of the other
team sports’ winning percentages have suffered throughout the
Division I transition.
Dale told the Spinnaker’s sports
editor he would like to turn professional one day.
Going to see our golf team, you
might find yourself watching a
major-champion in the making. So
before the hype of basketball begins,
go watch something the Gators can’t
watch — Dale.
Dale’s college career so far resembles that of Tiger’s while at Stanford.
We will have to wait to see how their
pro careers compare.
E-mail Josh Gore at
[email protected].
sports
Page 21
Game of The Week
Ospreys aim for first win versus Eagles
By Heather Furey
Assistant Sports Editor
After the Florida Gulf Coast
Eagles tromped the Ospreys 7-1 last
season, the UNF men’s soccer team
will take on the Eagles Oct. 2 at
Hodges Stadium in their first conference game of the year.
“Last year’s game against Gulf
Coast was kind of a bogey game
for us,” Head Coach Ray Bunch
said. “You have those days where
everything goes right or everything
goes wrong, and the game against
Florida Gulf Coast was one of
those days where everything went
wrong.”
An obstacle for the Ospreys in
leveling the goal tally is Eagles junior goalie Adam Glick, who had
four shut out games last season. At
six feet two inches tall, Glick even
played in a game with the largest
margin of victory in the history of
the Eagles’ soccer program.
The Eagles are one of the best
teams in the conference, Bunch
said. If you just look at their record,
you can see that they have a good
team. Though the record for UNF
so far doesn’t look as good because
a lot of its players are injured,
Bunch added that they will be in
good shape for conference play.
At the beginning of the teams’
match last season, UNF gave up
an own goal in the fourth minute
off a defender. The Eagles then answered with two goals in a row and
eventually ended the first half with
a score of 4-1.
“This time we hope to learn
from our stupid mistakes because
the conference games are what
count at the end of the season,”
Bunch said.
To give them even more support
for the upcoming rivalry match, the
Ospreys have had a good, strong
and boisterous support system in
the stands for the past few games,
he said.
“The fans are like our twelfth
man on the field,” Bunch said.
“They are the support we need and
will help us go into the conference
strong.”
Last year the Ospreys played
four games during the week of
their Florida Gulf Coast match.
This year they are not following the
same schedule, hopefully playing
out in their favor.
“The conference this year is
strange. Usually I can tell who will
make it to the top,” Bunch said. “I
can’t say who will make it to the top
or be at the bottom [this year].”
Men’s Soccer
Worst loss of last season to Florida
Gulf Coast: 7-1
Game Day Information
• Hodges Stadium @ UNF
Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m. vs. Florida Gulf
Coast University
Why To Watch?
• Swoop during the Osprey’s first Atlantic Sun
Conference goal of the season.
• Watch the team’s first ever A-Sun match that counts
toward postseason play.
Women’s Tennis
Raquel Castro leads UNF to highest ranked doubles team in school history
By Heather Furey
Assistant Sports Editor
Last
season,
Castro
and
Berkenbrock were the No. 1 team
for UNF with a record of 17-4. They
defeated Florida International’s
No. 30-ranked duo Maria Pazo and
Mariana Muci and the University
of Central Florida’s No. 59-ranked
Jenny Frisell and Elvira Serrot.
They are the only pair ranked
from the Atlantic Sun Conference
and are one of only eight teams
ranked in the Southeast region.
Both Castro and Berkenbrock
are extremely hardworking players
in a year-round sport, UNF women’s tennis Head Coach Rodrigo
Pubela said
“I’m proud of the way these
girls have played,” he said. “They
have put their hearts on the court
during practice and in the games.”
The Ospreys’ next matches take
place Oct. 9 to Oct. 11 at the UNF
Fall Invitational, and then the team
will travel to Atlanta Oct. 23 to 26
for the ITA Regional Tournament.
E-mail Heather Furey at
[email protected].
Harris Zeliff | Spinnaker
Andre Agassi, Roger Federer
and Anna Kournikova are all renowned tennis players who have
worked hard at making their
names known in the tennis world,
and Osprey Raquel Castro is making a name for herself on the UNF
tennis courts this season.
Alongside her doubles partner
sophomore Aline Berkenbrock,
Castro is ranked 47th in the NCAA
Division I women’s tennis preseason rankings posted by the
Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
This is the highest ranking a UNF
women’s tennis team or individual
has achieved since the move to
Division I.
“I’m proud to represent my
country. When people ask me where
I’m from, I’m excited to say that I’m
from the Dominican Republic,”
Castro said. “I practice really hard
and put my heart into it, and it’s
been paying off. We put everything
on the court.”
Castro has been playing tennis
since age 3 and competing since
age 8. As the youngest child, she inherited the tennis gene growing up
since her entire family plays tennis. Even her brother plays upstate,
she said.
Now as the only senior and
the oldest member on the UNF
women’s tennis team, Castro sees
herself as a role model to the other
members of the team.
“Sometimes they follow me and
learn from me, so I make sure I’m
a good example to the rest of the
team,” Castro said.
Following behind Castro, her
partner Berkenbrock called herself
a really hard worker. She has been
involved in all kinds of sports growing up, including volleyball, and
she fell into tennis. Berkenbrock
has been playing since she was 8
years old.
Now
both
Castro
and
Berkenbrock are reaching new
heights as they compete for UNF on
the Division I level, but both said a
big part of their success is being
supportive of each other and their
fellow teammates.
UNF senior Raquel Castro (right) and her doubles partner, Aline Berkenbrock, (left) are currently the No. 47 doubles team in womens college tennis.
FLIGHT SCHEDULE
WoMen’s Soccer
Volleyball
Men’s Soccer
Golf
Oct. 2
vs. Kennesaw State
@ UNF
Oct. 2
vs. Kennesaw State
@ Kennesaw, Ga.
Oct. 3-4
Gary Koch Intercollegiate
Tampa
Oct. 4
vs. Mercer
@ UNF
Oct. 3
vs. Mercer
@ Macon, Ga.
Oct. 2
vs. Florida Gulf Coast
@ UNF
Oct. 4
vs. Stetson
@ UNF
UNF women’s soccer team picked up
their first conference win of the season
Sept. 27 in a 4-1 win over USC Upstate
University.
Oct. 6
vs. Georgia Southern
@ Statesboro, Ga.
UNF men’s soccer team is winless
through seven games this season after
losing their last match against Florida
Atlantic 3-2 in overtime Sept. 27.
UNF sophomore Sean Dale was named
the nation’s top men’s college golfer
Sept. 24 by Sagarin’s Golf Weekly rankings. UNF was ranked 15th in Sagarin’s team rankings. UNF’s ranking is
the second highest in school history
behind a tenth place ranking at the
end of the 2000 season.
Page 22
sports
UNF ranks at top of Division 1
Erik Tanner | Spinnaker
UNF sophomore Sean Dale stares down the competition as the No. 1 male college golfer in the country.
Sean Dale returns to Jacksonville, leads
UNF as the number one golfer in the nation
Fifteenth place Ospreys earn best ranking
since tenth place finish at the end of 2000
By John Weidner
By John Weidner
Sports Editor
In high school, UNF sophomore Sean
Dale was named the No. 2 junior golfer in
the country. In the second week of his first
season, Dale was named the No. 1 male college golfer in the country.
Jeff Sagarin’s Golf Week rankings
named Dale the second best male college
golfer in the country Sept. 20 during their
first player rankings of the season. The
ratings, which are based off of computer
monitored statistics, are updated bi-weekly
throughout the season.
In the second rankings of the season
Sept. 24, Dale moved into the top spot in
the rankings, though he did not compete
in between the two rankings. UNF freshman Kevin Phelan also placed in the most
recent rankings as No. 122. Along with the
individual rankings, UNF moved as a team
from 19th to 15th during the Sept. 24 rankings.
Dale, a Jacksonville native, was originally recruited by UNF Head Coach Scott
Schroeder throughout his high school career, Schroeder said. However, Dale opted to
go further away from home to Ole Miss.
“I chose Ole Miss because I wanted to go
to a bigger school and get out on my own for
college,” Dale said.
Dale earned All-Freshman SEC honors
during his freshman year at Ole Miss and
finished third overall on a team who finished their 2009 season 28th in the nation
in the Sagarin ratings. However, in April
Dale decided to transfer back home to
Jacksonville to play for UNF.
“I just wanted to get back to Jacksonville
with my family,” Dale said. “I’ve known
Coach Schroeder for a while, and I was already friends with several of the guys on
the team. It’s a completely comfortable fit
for me.”
Dale has only participated in one
event this season with UNF, the Wolf Run
Intercollegiate, which he won first place
overall individually and broke the tournament record by 10 strokes. UNF finished
second as a team at the Wolf Run after placing 9th in 2008.
The success of the team in golf is dependant on the success of individuals,
Schroeder said. With strong leadership
from Dale and Phelan, UNF is looking to
have their most successful season since
2000, when UNF finished the season tenth
in the Sagarin rankings, Schroeder said.
“We’re going to be a sneaky team to
compete against this season,” Dale said. “I
think when we’re playing our best we are
capable of winning a national championship.”
His No. 2 golfer in the country ranking
in high school pushed Dale to reach No. 1,
he said. Now that he has reached that goal
as a sophomore, Dale plans on changing his
goals to make them even higher.
“Hopefully one day I’ll be able to turn
pro,” Dale said. “But for now, I’m just happy
to see all my hard work paying off.”
[email protected].
Sports Editor
The UNF golf team is five places from
obtaining the highest team ranking in the
Division I history of the program.
UNF’s golf team is the only athletic program at the school to win an NAIA title,
as well as the first and only team to win an
Atlantic Sun Conference title. This year the
team looks to take one step further in the effort to move UNF toward wining national
championships, UNF golf Head Coach Scott
Schroeder said.
“It’s important for us to remember that
just like in the NFL, a good start doesn’t always mean anything at the end of the season,” he said. “However, I think we would all
consider it a disappointing year if we didn’t
make the field of 30 at the NCAA Finals.”
The team has already shown improvement this year after moving from the 57th
place team ranking in the Sagarin Golf
Weekly standings at the end of the 2009 season to 15th in the second week of the season
this year. The team displayed this improvement in a 2nd place finish at the Wolf Run
Intercollegiate Sept. 16 after finishing ninth
in 2008. UNF’s highest Sagarin rating came
at the end of the 2000 season when the team
was ranked tenth in the country. Since then,
UNF has dropped somewhat in the ratings,
but this year’s team looks very similar to
the team from 2000, Schroeder, who played at
UNF from 1996 to 1999, said. “We’ve been getting noticeably better for
four or five years now, and because of that
we’ve been able to recruit better players,”
Schroeder said.
One of those better players is sophomore
Sean Dale, who the Sagarin ratings named as
the No. 1 male college golfer in the country
Sept. 24. Dale and freshman teammate Kevin
Phalean, who is ranked 127th in the Sagarin
ratings, are leading the program score-wise
right now, but Schroeder said things like that
can change easily.
“We’ve got several guys on this team that
can go out there and compete for the top spot
any day,” Schroeder said. “We have a few older guys who had a rough start but look really
strong and poised to break out at anytime.”
Although UNF plays in the less-renowned
Atlantic Sun Conference, the golf team will
have several opportunities to play some of
the top-ranked conferences. UNF’s schedule
looks similar to some of the schools in the
Southeastern Conference by playing Florida
five times, Florida State three times, LSU five
times and Ole Miss six times, Schroeder said.
In their conference, UNF’s hardest challenge will come from Eastern Tennessee
State University, although any team can win
on any given day, as shown by the volleyball
team’s surprise win at the 2009 ASun conference tournament, Schroeder said. ETSU and
UNF are very similar programs, with ETSU
being year in and year out one of the top 40
teams in the country, Schroeder said.
With enough talent to compete for a national championship, the golf team should
sneak on their competition, Dale said.
[email protected].
Wednesday, Septermber 30, 2009
sports
Page 23
UNF will host US rugby match against Jamaica
Hodges Stadium will continue tradition of hosting international rugby in November
By robert Moccio
Contributing Writer
UNF will host a full international rugby game Nov. 14 between the American
National Rugby League and the Jamaican
Rugby League Association in partnership with the Jacksonville Axemen.
The USA Tomahawks will square off
against the Jamaicans in the first game
of what some hope to become an annual
“Atlantic Cup” that looks to add additional nations in future years. Jacksonville was given approval to host
the game after the Axemen submitted
a proposal to both teams and the world
governing body for the sport, who all
agreed to give full sanctioning to the
event as an international game, according to the Axemen’s Web site.
“It is important that everyone in
Jacksonville understands the full meaning of this game,” Jacksonville Axeman
and the event’s coordinator Spinner
Howland said. “It is real international
competition that will see the best athletes from each country take the field to
do battle under their nation’s flag.”
The event is the most recent in a series of international rugby games held
at UNF the last several years, which featured the Russell Crowe-owned Sidney
Rabbitohs in 2008 and included appearances by Crowe and the Orange County
Choppers. UNF’s Hodges Stadium is also
home to the UNF Rugby Deadbirds and
the Jacksonville Axemen.
The Axemen believe that the city of
Jacksonville is the perfect place to hold
the “Atlantic Cup” for many reasons,
Howland said.
They see that there is a strong patriotism to the game of rugby in this region.
There is a strong following of Rugby
League supporters, the Axemen have
a growing and dedicated fan base from
the four years they’ve been in existence,
and they believe that will rub off on the
“Atlantic Cup.” UNF has been a great colleague of the sport and Jacksonville is
an attractive venue location for Jamaica
from its geographical location.
“With the match being hosted at
Hodges Stadium at UNF, all fans of rugby
league throughout the world, in America
and the Florida region can once again experience the city of Jacksonville and the
first-class event presentation developed
by Spinner Howland and the Jacksonville
Axemen,” David Niu, president of the
American National Rugby League, said.
E-mail Robert Moccio at
[email protected].
Want more national sports coverage?
The Spinnaker wants to know how you feel about having more national sports
content in your school newspaper. Let the Spinnaker know how you feel about
seeing more professional and college sports news from around the nation and
world by e-mailing us at [email protected]. Your input could help decide
what you see in future issues.
UNFSPINNAKER
.COM
Page 24
Advertisement

No. 09

Transcription

Similar documents

Senate Bill SB-96F-947 Transfer of Funds to Spinnaker for Technical

Senate Bill SB-02SB-1574 Allocates Money for Pick-a-Prof

Florida\Ponte Vedra Recorder\Pages\R6

No. 15 - UNF Spinnaker

The Spinnaker Vol. 21 No. 5 - UNF Digital Commons

Building 11 to be demolished, Green expansion

Awards - UNF Spinnaker

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA WEDNESDAY

No. 30 - UNF Spinnaker

UNF stacks up well with top colleges