Page 8 - Truman State University

Index
8
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Ashley Jost/Index
Jason Haxton signs a book during his signing session Sept. 13 at Hastings. Haxton also drew a picture of the Dibbuk Box in each book, including small details of what was on and
inside the box, as well as a personalized message for each customer. About 40 books were signed and sold during the five hour event.
Local author hosts book signing
Jason Haxton, author of “The Dibbuk Box,” which
inspired the film “The Possession,” signed books for
fans at Hastings last week
BY ANDI WATKINS DAVIS
Assistant News Editor
[email protected]
Local author Jason Haxton
promoted his book “The Dibbuk
Box” during a book signing at
Hastings book and entertainment
store Thursday in Kirksville.
He said his agent, the Truman
State University Press, set up
the book signing to continue to
promote the book and the movie. About 40 copies of the book
were sold and signed during the
event.
Haxton’s book received national attention after “The Possession,” a horror movie based on
the story of the Dibbuk box, was
released throughout the country.
Haxton said the movie is about
a girl who buys a haunted box at
a garage sale and is based on his
own experiences with a real Dibbuk box, which are documented
in his book.
He said “The Possession” was
ranked number one in box offices
during its opening weekend and
earned top sales two weeks in a
row.
The story of the Dibbuk box
also was featured on SyFy network’s docudrama series “Para-
normal Witness,” Haxton said.
“[The book] really was a personal project and it turned into
all this,” Haxton said.
Haxton brought an exact replica of the Dibbuk box to the signing for customers to examine. He
said the replica isn’t haunted and
the real box has been buried in
Schuyler County.
Macon resident Brent Cross
said he attended the book signing to see Haxton before he saw
“The Possession” later that afternoon.
Downing resident Shelby Garrett said she had not seen the
movie or read the book at the
time of the signing, but is planning to go see it within the next
few weeks.
She said she was interested in
the story of the Dibbuk box because it is based on real haunting events and she has had her
own encounters. She said as a
child she had an experience with
a ghost in her late grandfather’s
house.
Haxton said there are plans to
produce a sequel to “The Possession,” also based on his experience with the Dibbuk box.
There will be a second book
signing 4-9 p.m., Oct. 4 at Hastings.
Ashley Jost/Index
Jason Haxton autographs Iris Mills’ book during the book signing event last Thursday at Hastings.
Haxton had a replica Dibbuk Box available for people to see what types of items were inside.
MDC hosts firearm
clinic for women
BY DAN ROMINE
Staff Reporter
Ashley Jost/Index
Above, Kirksville resident Shelley Beck practices shooting a .22
caliber rifle during the Department of Conservation’s firearm
clinic Monday afternoon at Sugar Creek Conservation Area. Below,
Kirksville resident Whitney Carter practices shooting her personal
hand gun during the same gun safety and skill clinic. More than 12
women attended the event and learned safety and shooting skills.
More than a dozen women
from Adair County attended a
women’s basic firearm training
session hosted by the Missouri
Department of Conservation
Monday afternoon.
The clinic was an opportunity for women interested in
firearms to learn about them in
a safe, controlled environment,
according to the MDC’s website.
The clinic was supervised by
several experienced conservation agents and occurred at the
Sugar Creek Conservation Area,
about four miles west of Kirksville. Sugar Creek has one of the
only free public shooting ranges
in the Kirksville area, Marsha
Jones, an Adair County conservation agent, said.
She said the MDC tries to
reach out to everyone, and they
found a niche for women who
wanted to learn basic firearms
training in a noncompetitive environment.
Many households in the
Kirksville area have weapons,
whether for hunting or for security, she said, and people living
in the homes should be aware of
what their weapons do and how
to use them safely.
The clinic offered training
with shotguns, rifles and handguns regarding basic gun safety
such as muzzle control, breathing techniques, stance and target
shooting.
The MDC provided all firearms and ammunition for the
clinic, free of charge.
The event was open to women older than 14, and those between 14 and 18 years old had to
be accompanied by
an adult.
“If we put it
out there [that
programs like this
are
happening],
some people might
take advantage of it,”
Captain Dan Hamlet, senior Military
Science instructor,
said. Hamlet is also one
of the advisors for Sharpshooters, a club created during 2010
for students interested in learning
about and using �irearms.
The MDC’s clinic this month,
as well as the Sharpshooters and
the ROTC program, show a significant rise in women interested in firearms throughout recent
years, Hamlet said.
Joe Visker, the other advisor
of Sharpshooters, said there are
about two-thirds more women
than men involved with Sharpshooters. Hamlet said ROTC has
about an equal amount of women as they do men.
This increase in interest correlates with the rising number
of women enlisted in the Army
throughout the past several decades, from 9.8 percent during 1983 to 15.5 percent during
2009, according to the U.S. Army’s website.
The MDC has other free shooting clinics similar to this one
throughout the year — usually
about one per month dependon interest, Jones
ing
said. She said
this
number could be
higher if more
people
were
aware of the clinics, but despite
MDC efforts, many
individuals
never
hear about them, she said.
During the past the MDC has
hosted classes about dove hunting. Jones said there are future
plans to teach a clinic about
hunting duck and quail.
For more information about
the classes available through the
MDC, check out their website at
http://mdc.mo.gov/events for
details about future events.
At least 17 million women own firearms across the U.S.
44 percent of adult women have access to firearms.
*according to gunowners.org
FAST FACTS
ABOUT WOMEN
AND GUNS