Thursday, February 26, 2009
UATV News Broadcast. Instructor: Robyn Starling-Ledbetter
Newscast by:
Ana Aguayo
Millie Appleton
Katherine Beck
Evan Bently
Chelsey Cavin Pinalto
Katherine Keeter
Kristen Keith
Jamie Marks
Morgan Meredith
Sadler Morrison
Megan Osbourne
Jennifer Penate
David Rath
Andrew Reynolds
Zeke Ridout
Jehan Sheikh
Ashley Shelton
Rebecca Smithson
John Thomas
Jessica Torres
Yuta Watanabe
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Ice Storm Coverage by Students of News Reporting 1. Instructor Bret Schulte
Local Hotel Sales Get Boost From Ice Storm Victims
By Anthony Aldridge
As the ice storm of 2009 overtook Northwest Arkansas, many local businesses were disrupted for nearly a week, but there were some businesses that benefited from the inconvenience brought on by the storm. With the displacement of thousands of local residents and many out-of-town power companies staying in the area, many local hotels were able to make up for their lagging business brought on by the economic recession.
The recession has caused many of these hotels to do what they deem necessary in order to salvage their profits. They've had to lay-off workers, reassign high level personnel, and also limit their facility's energy consumption just to cut back on their costs. However, the recent ice storm has provided a bit of a boost economically and many are hopeful it will put them on a positive path for the rest of 2009.
One hotel, the Country Inn & Suites in Fayetteville, Ark., managed to benefit greatly, despite suffering a power outage during part of the storm. General Manager Matt Behrend, who has worked at the property for three years, said despite the winter months being the slowest sales period in the industry, prior to the ice storm, their sales numbers were "significantly less than this same period last year." Gehrend said the ice storm was definitely a boost to their sales and as of Feb. 13, their sales numbers had caught up to those of the same period of 2008. The hotel lost power on Jan. 27, yet went from 50 percent occupancy that night to being sold out later on that evening. Though they didn't regain power again until about 9 pm Thursday, the hotel was sold out for those three says and remained sold out until Feb. 12. Gehrend also said they offered a 25 percent reduction on nightly rates for displaced residents, and the hotel had contract rates with many electric company servicemen, many whom remained at the hotel until Feb. 12.
Another Fayetteville hotel, the Value Place, never lost power during the ice storm. Schondra Butler, an after hours safety attendant at the hotel, said the hotel had 25 residents prior to the storm, and then 99 on Jan. 27 and 116 on Jan. 28. The first week after the storm, most of the hotel guests were families, Butler said. The hotel did not offer discounted rates for the displaced residents, but they did offer nightly rates which is a change from the weekly rates that are normally only available, Butler said. The hotel is still full and power crews have most of the rooms now, Butler said. Prior to the ice storm, they were in a major cost-saving mode, which included closing the second and third floors to save energy, Butler said. They also were also allowing some employees to work at other hotels to make for the work hours that had been cut from the hotel, Butler said. Revenue-wise, the hotel has benefited greatly from the ice storm. "We have doubled our revenue this year, compared to the same time last year," Butler said, "With the exception of the Bikes, Blues and Barbecue festival, we've never been this busy."
Even the smaller hotels were helped by the displaced residents. Bob Patel, general manager of the Regency 7 Hotel in Fayetteville said his business was also slow before, but they too sold out on Jan. 27-29. However, with nightly rates ranging from $50-$60 per night, he felt there was no need to offer a rate discount for the victims.
The boost in business was not just seen in Fayetteville, though. The Aloft hotel in Rogers, Ark., also gained a lot of business from the ice storm victims. Front desk attendant Mary Gaiche said all 130 rooms in the hotel were sold on Jan. 27-28. Gaiche said the hotel did however offer an $89 discounted rate for displaced residents on Jan. 29-31, but the majority of the displaced residents remained in the hotel until Jan. 30, Gaiche said. The boost from the storm victims was just icing on the cake, Gaiche said. Despite only being open since June 2008, "business has been great,"Gaiche said. "We were the number 3 property in gross-sales in Northwest Arkansas for 2008, so the storm just helped us even more," Gaiche said.
Another Rogers-area hotel, the Embassy Suites, also saw a boost in business from the ice storm. They went from went from having 30 percent occupancy on Jan. 26 to being completely sold out the next morning. With the increase in business, the atmosphere inside the 400-room hotel went from being a normally quiet Tuesday afternoon to a much more rowdy atmosphere. Many of these guests were entire families, with small children as well, and many brought along their pets as well. Meanwhile, in the front office, it was also a very hectic scene. Guest services representative Jesse Bishop said they got literally hundreds of calls from residents wanting to book reservations from the already sold-out hotel. Bishop said instead of serving dinner in the restaurant, the hotel offered a discounted buffet-style dinner instead to accommodate the large families.
Greeks Get 'Iced'
By Bailey McBridge
Though students in the residence halls at the University of Arkansas did not have to worry about the power outages that resulted from the January ice storm, Greeks, and especially the residents of the Maple Street sorority houses, felt the cold.
Most Greek houses on Maple Street and Dickson Street were closed from when the power went out on Tuesday night through Friday. This included all eight sorority houses and six of the fraternity houses. The Alpha Gamma Rho House on Razorback Road and the Phi Gamma Delta House on Garland Ave. were also out of power.
When a house is closed, members are not supposed to enter and must move out and find another place to stay. Some Greeks, including members of Kappa Kappa Gamma and Alpha Omicron Pi, were not even able to get into their houses because with the electricity out, their coded lock systems did not work.
Adam Loos, a senior resident of the Phi Gamma Delta house, returned from a walk to assess damaged across campus on Tuesday to find the Fiji house doors locked and barred with the house’s new basketball goal posts and duct tape. Loos tried to call the house manager but was not able to reach anyone. While he was gone, housing had come to close their house and had used things in the Fiji yard to bar the door.
“Basically, I had to break into my own house just to get to my own stuff,” Loos said, “and now I’m going to J-Board for it-it's crazy that I pay so much to be in my fraternity and live in this house and they can just come lock me out of it without warning.”
Loos and a few other members of his fraternity are facing disciplinary action through the university’s judicial board for going back into their residence and staying there when the house was closed.
Members of Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Sigma and Alpha Phi Alpha were all relocated during the ice storm to Gladson-Ripley, a residence hall that is for overflow students and is currently not in use by the university.
“Basically, instead of letting us stay in our house which was warm enough and fine with all of us, they moved us to a building with two other fraternities of people we didn’t know, with no keys to keep people from coming in and taking our stuff when we weren’t there,” Loos said.
Fraternity members were not the only ones who faced forced displacement during the ice storm. The ladies of the eight sororities on campus were forced to find alternative places to stay when their houses lost power Tuesday morning.
“As soon as they announced we weren’t having school Wednesday I got in my car and went to Bentonville to stay with my uncle,” said Lacie Lee Coburn, a sophomore resident of the Pi Beta Phi house. “I stayed with guy friends the first night, but after that it just wasn’t worth it so I went to catch up with family.”
Many girls found refuge in the fraternity houses on campus with friends and boyfriends. Many of the fraternities were having parties anyway, according to Coburn, and many girls just brought all of their things with them.
“We used our time staying at the Lambda Chi house to go sledding and basically just chill,” said Codi Smith, a sophomore member of Kappa Delta sorority. “For me and my friends, there was really no other option or place for us to go except to go stay with the guys we knew that had power-a girl had to do what a girl had to do, and I was not about to sleep in my car.”
The cold and relocation were the least of some Greeks’ worries as they realized how much damage the storm actually caused.
Sophomore Tiffany Case woke up Tuesday morning to screams from a sister at the Kappa Delta house to find that a large tree from the Pi Beta Phi parking lot had fallen over the fence and crushed her car.
While out in the parking lot examining the damage to her own vehicle, Case watched as the transformer on the power pole above her blew, which caused a shower of sparks to light another tree in the parking lot on fire. Case called the fire department, and went back in the house to find the power was out.
“At first I kind of thought things were falling apart around me but I didn’t worry too much about it because I assumed they would just come fix it,” Case said. “I never imagined it would be five days later.”
Case’s boyfriend had to climb on top of the vehicle and throw the tree off so that they could assess the damage. Two weeks later, her Mercury Mountaineer is still sitting at Fayetteville Collision waiting to be repaired. She has not even received a quote for how much the total cost of repairs will be because so many cars were dropped off during the ice storm when the collision center did not have power that they are still struggling to catch up.
Depending on the house, some Greeks will have to pay for the damage to the vehicles themselves, and some will be able to go through their house's insurance to have the house pay for the damage.
Although Kappa Delta House Corporation covers residents’ vehicles in the parking, Case’s parents decided to claim the damage through their own insurance company to avoid the hassle of going through the house since the car was damaged by a tree from another house’s parking lot.
Because the houses affected by the power outages were not on the same power grid as the university, they did not maintain power when the university did. These houses had to wait along with the rest of Fayetteville to get their power back, and now continue to wait with the rest of the city to see what the ultimate impact of the storm will be.
Fayetteville’s Grocery Stores Hit Hard by Ice Storm
By Laura Prisock
Although many businesses in Fayetteville were impacted by the recent ice storm, local groceries lost more than most.
Much of Fayetteville shut down during the recent Ice Storms and many businesses suffered losses in sales and business opportunities, but local grocery stores that lost electricity also lost much of their product. According to Cody Bearden, manager of Harps on Garland, their store lost over $60,000 in product and approximately $200,000 in missed sales during the four day period the store was closed.
Ozark Natural Foods lost power for just two days, and is still calculating its losses. “Too many things went bad,” said Ozark manager David Williams. “There are regulations about if refrigerated items are above approximately 40 degrees for more than four hours, so we had to throw all those out.”
Some stores tried unsuccessfully to save their frozen and refrigerated items. According to an Assistant Manager at the Harps on Weddington, Kara Hossay, their store lost power on Tuesday and tried to seal in the refrigerated areas with plastic sheets and saran wrap to keep the product cold. When that didn’t work much of it was placed outside. The store tried to have a generator hooked up, but because of the wiring the electrician refused. A cooler truck was also brought in, but by then it was too late. “The eggs were the only thing to survive,” said Hossay. Their location sustained a $10,000 loss in dairy products alone.
The electric outage meant no refrigeration for grocery products, but also no security system for many of theses stores. Although none of the local groceries suffered break-ins, the Harps locations that lost power required their store managers and an assistant manager to be in the store at all times while the power was out. This required the managers to also sleep within the stores. According to Hossay, their store manager spent at least one night sleeping on the conveyor belt of register one before air mattresses were brought in.
Even though these stores suffered large losses and several store managers had to work overtime and even sleep in their stores, at least one store manager saw it as a moral booster. Bearden said, “Even though I worked 78 hours that week, we had a lot of people that stepped up and helped. In a disaster like this, I think it says a lot that people stuck together and pitched in to help.”
Ice brings noise to Bud Walton
By Harold McIlvain II
While darkness and uncertainty loomed outside Bud Walton Arena, one thing remained a constant throughout the chaos: Students care about the Razorbacks.
The ice storm that devastated the area left many students stuck on campus with little to do. But an opportunity to cheer on the Arkansas Razorback basketball team against Alabama presented itself when free tickets were given away to students.
It provided a chance for many students to see the team for the first time this season, whether it was in the front row or in the upper deck.
“I didn’t get student tickets this year,” UA student Cassie Orr said. “This was the only game I made it to since the tickets were free. There was no line when I got there, but all the lower level tickets were sold out by then.”
Students showed up in numbers, resulting in what many said was one of the best student represented crowds in recent memory.
Senior Matt Martin - who has sat front row in the student section for nearly every game since arriving on campus - said the atmosphere helped the team tremendously.
“That was one of the best student sections I have seen in four years,” Martin said. “But the overall attendance was down because of the ice storm. I think the players fed off the students.”
Martin said he was impressed with the emotion and passion the student section brought as a whole.
“Getting students there has never been the problem,” Martin said. “Getting students who will stand up and cheer and not act like they are too cool is another. None of the student athletes ever stand up, do the cheers or any of that.”
Martin said the first couple of rows are usually standing and everyone else is sitting until “something ridiculous happens on the court.”
But it didn’t happened on a night when external distractions loomed outside.
Junior Kevin Lundquist - who was without power that night - said the game definitely helped him cope with the situation.
“Going to the game did momentarily take my mind off of the problems with the lack of power,” Lundquist said. “It was nice because I was able to get the free ticket and watch a good game. Ultimately however, I was without power after the game was over. And I quickly remembered I still didn’t have power.”
Before the game, the University of Arkansas media relations department posted a message on the team’s Web site cautioning fans to stay safe while traveling to the event.
The message reminded finds to allow for additional time getting to the game because of the conditions.
Alternative routes were listed and additional busing was in service to help the public maneuver around the fallen debris and patches of ice. The Gardens - which is used frequently by many fans to get to Bud Walton Arena from parking areas - was not open for foot traffic because of the conditions of the side walks.
Junior Matt Watson, a sports writer for the Arkansas Traveler, said the free tickets allowed many who rarely go to games an opportunity to see the team.
“I think it was great because there were international students and people I had never seen at the games before getting a chance to see a free game,” Watson said. “This is the University of Arkansas. Students are paying to go here and no one wants to pay $120 to see all the games when they’re already paying tuition, fees and housing to go here.”
With the basketball team consisting of many inexperienced players, Watson said the crowd provided the lift the team needed to pick up its only conference win this season.
“I definitely think getting the crowd in the game helps these guys," Watson said. “They don’t run to the student section and sing ‘O Lord, it’s hard to be humble’ after a big win for no reason.”
Sophomore Charles Bailey said he went to the game because the game was free and activities were limited.
“It was really the only thing going on during ice week,” Bailey said. “The atmosphere was great considering where we were at in the season. Allowing the students to get in free definitely enabled our team to feel like they were not forgotten during the chaos. [The game] allowed many students to have something to be a apart of during the week.”
Receiving a much needed break, Bailey said proceeding with the game as scheduled allowed many students take a break from the clean up and worry of the week.
And the excitement from the student section didn’t go unnoticed by Arkansas basketball head coach John Pelphrey.
“It’s been a tough couple of days with the weather,” Pelphrey said to the media after the game. “I came in and saw nearly every seat in the student section filled. I really appreciate that, our fans are remarkable. From the first possession we had energy, effort - the look so to speak.”
But after the game Pelphrey felt compelled to thoroughly thank the students for their participation by writing a letter to the student newspaper.
Pelphrey said in the letter to the Arkansas Traveler that with the power outages and uncertain driving conditions, he knew basketball wasn’t the highest priority.
But he said he was pleased with the turnout to support the team.
“I was overwhelmed by the number of fans, students and non-students alike who made the effort to get to Bud Walton Arena,” Pelphrey said. “I was especially impressed with the number of students who came out.”
Pelphrey said the experience showed how fortunate and humbled he is to be the head coach at Arkansas.
“I love the passion of the fans and the students,” Pelphrey said. “You help us play better. You make it difficult for our opponents. You help us win. The coaches and student-athletes appreciate your support always, but especially so last week under what were definitely trying circumstances for many of you.”
Bud Walton Arena - which was named one of the toughest places to play for opposing teams by EA Sports - wasn’t unscathed by the storm that left many without power. Earlier in the day, the arena was being powered by a generator.
But that did not stop students from showing up and providing the only warmth felt as ice still blanketed the campus.
Ice Storm Heats Up Hotel Biz
By Lana Hazel
While most businesses have suffered from the recent ice storm, area hotels have flourished. Despite accusations of price gouging, most hotels offered discounts to people without power, construction workers and electricians, keeping hotels full for several days during what is normally a slow season.
The Hampton Inn of Fayetteville went from a steady 25 percent occupancy rate before the storm to completely full for four days, according to General Manager Noel Bowman. She said that was basically the trend for the whole industry. Lauren Bryant, a receptionist at the Holiday Inn Express, said she had seen a similar increase there even while the hotel was out of power Tuesday through Thursday.
With the sudden increase in business, the hotel industry has been accused of price gouging. Arkansas has a law that protects against price gouging for 30 days after a state of emergency is declared. The law, enacted in 1997, prohibits increasing prices more than 10 percent from what they were before the emergency.
That 10 percent would allow most hotels to legally increase their rates by around $10, but almost all local hotels reported giving discounts or keeping steady rates during the storm.
There have been three complaints filed at the Arkansas Attorney General's Office to initiate price gouging investigations in the area, said Gabe Holmstrom, a spokesman for the attorney general.
Holmstrom said the complaints are confidential and are being investigated, but when price gouging is discovered, the information is released. No cases have been released so far.
One of those complaints concerned the Comfort Inn in Fayetteville, said Raj Hundal, a receptionist at the hotel. Hundal said he welcomed the investigation, saying he had a paper record of rates for the last two years. "We were helping people, doing more than we had to do," he said.
Hundal explained that while the Comfort Inn kept its standard rates, the hotel did not add extra charges for additional people. Ordinarily, if more than one person stays in a single room or two in a double room, the hotel charges an additional $5 to $10. "We just ignored that policy," Hundal said. "To price gouge, we obviously would have charged."
Hundal said the main reason they chose not to lower rates was because they provided $25 space heaters for the rooms that lost heat. "We bought those out of our pocket," he said. "They could have had to pay for those."
Comfort Inn guest Roberta Jusola praised the hotel for excellent service. "The staff worked very hard to help people out in a very difficult position," she said. "I cannot thank this hotel enough."
The Holiday Inn Express lowered rates during the days they lost power because there was no heat in the hotel, Bryant said. They used generators for lights and heat on the first floor, but they ran out the first day. General Manager Tim Freeman said the hotel held its heat from the previous day well and most guests thought it was warmer than their houses were without power.
Next door, the Country Inn and Suites of Fayetteville was in a similar position. The hotel was already nearly full when the power went out, and most people decided to stay, according to the general manager, Matt Behrend. "Everyone hung out in the lobby," he said. "It was like camping."
One local family checked into the Country Inn and Suites when their home lost power, which they considered their first family vacation in four years. One member of the family, Don Alvarez, said, "Just sitting around and playing games brought us closer together."
Behrend said the hotel gave discounts to people without power and the crews that came in.
The discounted rate at the Cosmopolitan in the Historic District helped the hotel reach full occupancy even without power. The Cosmopolitan took $20 off the normal rate and provided extra blankets, according to a receptionist, Joe Covey. "The guests were mostly very patient, even though it was hard having a hotel full of people and no power," Covey said.
Some people already staying at hotels were stuck. Theresa Weaver was staying at the Holiday Inn Express on a business trip and was unable to leave when its power went out. With offices closed because of the storm, she had no reason to stay, she said. "I couldn't even switch hotels because my company had already paid for this one," Weaver said.
Pat Pond, a long-term guest at the Country Inn and Suites, also had nowhere to go. Her apartment complex flooded in the middle of January, and the Wedington Place Senior Apartments has been providing her and other residents a room at the hotel.
"Even if I had thought about leaving, I wouldn't have been able to," Pond said.
Pond said the hotel was noticeably colder Wednesday and Thursday with no power. She developed bronchitis and, after a trip to the hospital, said it may or may not have been from not having heat.
The Cosmopolitan is an exception for area hotels. While increased occupancy benefited most, the Cosmopolitan incurred damages and lost revenue overall. "There were damages to the boiler, and we had no hot water for a week and a half," Covey said, "meaning a lot of people chose not to stay." The insurance will cover replacing the boiler and the lost revenue, he said.
Covey said not having computers created a disaster. "We didn't know who was in the hotel necessarily or who had paid," he said. "When the computers came back on, they were running two days behind."
Whether they lost power or had heat and light the whole time, local hotels saw a sudden boost in business directly because of the ice storm. The increase allowed most hotels to increase overall revenue even at discounted rates, rather than legally raising rates by 10 percent or taking advantage of the situation by price gouging.
As the last few crews are expected to leave hotels this week and normal rates are restored across the bored, the storm's only remaining effects are the isolated price gouging investigations during the next few weeks.
By Anthony Aldridge
As the ice storm of 2009 overtook Northwest Arkansas, many local businesses were disrupted for nearly a week, but there were some businesses that benefited from the inconvenience brought on by the storm. With the displacement of thousands of local residents and many out-of-town power companies staying in the area, many local hotels were able to make up for their lagging business brought on by the economic recession.
The recession has caused many of these hotels to do what they deem necessary in order to salvage their profits. They've had to lay-off workers, reassign high level personnel, and also limit their facility's energy consumption just to cut back on their costs. However, the recent ice storm has provided a bit of a boost economically and many are hopeful it will put them on a positive path for the rest of 2009.
One hotel, the Country Inn & Suites in Fayetteville, Ark., managed to benefit greatly, despite suffering a power outage during part of the storm. General Manager Matt Behrend, who has worked at the property for three years, said despite the winter months being the slowest sales period in the industry, prior to the ice storm, their sales numbers were "significantly less than this same period last year." Gehrend said the ice storm was definitely a boost to their sales and as of Feb. 13, their sales numbers had caught up to those of the same period of 2008. The hotel lost power on Jan. 27, yet went from 50 percent occupancy that night to being sold out later on that evening. Though they didn't regain power again until about 9 pm Thursday, the hotel was sold out for those three says and remained sold out until Feb. 12. Gehrend also said they offered a 25 percent reduction on nightly rates for displaced residents, and the hotel had contract rates with many electric company servicemen, many whom remained at the hotel until Feb. 12.
Another Fayetteville hotel, the Value Place, never lost power during the ice storm. Schondra Butler, an after hours safety attendant at the hotel, said the hotel had 25 residents prior to the storm, and then 99 on Jan. 27 and 116 on Jan. 28. The first week after the storm, most of the hotel guests were families, Butler said. The hotel did not offer discounted rates for the displaced residents, but they did offer nightly rates which is a change from the weekly rates that are normally only available, Butler said. The hotel is still full and power crews have most of the rooms now, Butler said. Prior to the ice storm, they were in a major cost-saving mode, which included closing the second and third floors to save energy, Butler said. They also were also allowing some employees to work at other hotels to make for the work hours that had been cut from the hotel, Butler said. Revenue-wise, the hotel has benefited greatly from the ice storm. "We have doubled our revenue this year, compared to the same time last year," Butler said, "With the exception of the Bikes, Blues and Barbecue festival, we've never been this busy."
Even the smaller hotels were helped by the displaced residents. Bob Patel, general manager of the Regency 7 Hotel in Fayetteville said his business was also slow before, but they too sold out on Jan. 27-29. However, with nightly rates ranging from $50-$60 per night, he felt there was no need to offer a rate discount for the victims.
The boost in business was not just seen in Fayetteville, though. The Aloft hotel in Rogers, Ark., also gained a lot of business from the ice storm victims. Front desk attendant Mary Gaiche said all 130 rooms in the hotel were sold on Jan. 27-28. Gaiche said the hotel did however offer an $89 discounted rate for displaced residents on Jan. 29-31, but the majority of the displaced residents remained in the hotel until Jan. 30, Gaiche said. The boost from the storm victims was just icing on the cake, Gaiche said. Despite only being open since June 2008, "business has been great,"Gaiche said. "We were the number 3 property in gross-sales in Northwest Arkansas for 2008, so the storm just helped us even more," Gaiche said.
Another Rogers-area hotel, the Embassy Suites, also saw a boost in business from the ice storm. They went from went from having 30 percent occupancy on Jan. 26 to being completely sold out the next morning. With the increase in business, the atmosphere inside the 400-room hotel went from being a normally quiet Tuesday afternoon to a much more rowdy atmosphere. Many of these guests were entire families, with small children as well, and many brought along their pets as well. Meanwhile, in the front office, it was also a very hectic scene. Guest services representative Jesse Bishop said they got literally hundreds of calls from residents wanting to book reservations from the already sold-out hotel. Bishop said instead of serving dinner in the restaurant, the hotel offered a discounted buffet-style dinner instead to accommodate the large families.
Greeks Get 'Iced'
By Bailey McBridge
Though students in the residence halls at the University of Arkansas did not have to worry about the power outages that resulted from the January ice storm, Greeks, and especially the residents of the Maple Street sorority houses, felt the cold.
Most Greek houses on Maple Street and Dickson Street were closed from when the power went out on Tuesday night through Friday. This included all eight sorority houses and six of the fraternity houses. The Alpha Gamma Rho House on Razorback Road and the Phi Gamma Delta House on Garland Ave. were also out of power.
When a house is closed, members are not supposed to enter and must move out and find another place to stay. Some Greeks, including members of Kappa Kappa Gamma and Alpha Omicron Pi, were not even able to get into their houses because with the electricity out, their coded lock systems did not work.
Adam Loos, a senior resident of the Phi Gamma Delta house, returned from a walk to assess damaged across campus on Tuesday to find the Fiji house doors locked and barred with the house’s new basketball goal posts and duct tape. Loos tried to call the house manager but was not able to reach anyone. While he was gone, housing had come to close their house and had used things in the Fiji yard to bar the door.
“Basically, I had to break into my own house just to get to my own stuff,” Loos said, “and now I’m going to J-Board for it-it's crazy that I pay so much to be in my fraternity and live in this house and they can just come lock me out of it without warning.”
Loos and a few other members of his fraternity are facing disciplinary action through the university’s judicial board for going back into their residence and staying there when the house was closed.
Members of Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Sigma and Alpha Phi Alpha were all relocated during the ice storm to Gladson-Ripley, a residence hall that is for overflow students and is currently not in use by the university.
“Basically, instead of letting us stay in our house which was warm enough and fine with all of us, they moved us to a building with two other fraternities of people we didn’t know, with no keys to keep people from coming in and taking our stuff when we weren’t there,” Loos said.
Fraternity members were not the only ones who faced forced displacement during the ice storm. The ladies of the eight sororities on campus were forced to find alternative places to stay when their houses lost power Tuesday morning.
“As soon as they announced we weren’t having school Wednesday I got in my car and went to Bentonville to stay with my uncle,” said Lacie Lee Coburn, a sophomore resident of the Pi Beta Phi house. “I stayed with guy friends the first night, but after that it just wasn’t worth it so I went to catch up with family.”
Many girls found refuge in the fraternity houses on campus with friends and boyfriends. Many of the fraternities were having parties anyway, according to Coburn, and many girls just brought all of their things with them.
“We used our time staying at the Lambda Chi house to go sledding and basically just chill,” said Codi Smith, a sophomore member of Kappa Delta sorority. “For me and my friends, there was really no other option or place for us to go except to go stay with the guys we knew that had power-a girl had to do what a girl had to do, and I was not about to sleep in my car.”
The cold and relocation were the least of some Greeks’ worries as they realized how much damage the storm actually caused.
Sophomore Tiffany Case woke up Tuesday morning to screams from a sister at the Kappa Delta house to find that a large tree from the Pi Beta Phi parking lot had fallen over the fence and crushed her car.
While out in the parking lot examining the damage to her own vehicle, Case watched as the transformer on the power pole above her blew, which caused a shower of sparks to light another tree in the parking lot on fire. Case called the fire department, and went back in the house to find the power was out.
“At first I kind of thought things were falling apart around me but I didn’t worry too much about it because I assumed they would just come fix it,” Case said. “I never imagined it would be five days later.”
Case’s boyfriend had to climb on top of the vehicle and throw the tree off so that they could assess the damage. Two weeks later, her Mercury Mountaineer is still sitting at Fayetteville Collision waiting to be repaired. She has not even received a quote for how much the total cost of repairs will be because so many cars were dropped off during the ice storm when the collision center did not have power that they are still struggling to catch up.
Depending on the house, some Greeks will have to pay for the damage to the vehicles themselves, and some will be able to go through their house's insurance to have the house pay for the damage.
Although Kappa Delta House Corporation covers residents’ vehicles in the parking, Case’s parents decided to claim the damage through their own insurance company to avoid the hassle of going through the house since the car was damaged by a tree from another house’s parking lot.
Because the houses affected by the power outages were not on the same power grid as the university, they did not maintain power when the university did. These houses had to wait along with the rest of Fayetteville to get their power back, and now continue to wait with the rest of the city to see what the ultimate impact of the storm will be.
Fayetteville’s Grocery Stores Hit Hard by Ice Storm
By Laura Prisock
Although many businesses in Fayetteville were impacted by the recent ice storm, local groceries lost more than most.
Much of Fayetteville shut down during the recent Ice Storms and many businesses suffered losses in sales and business opportunities, but local grocery stores that lost electricity also lost much of their product. According to Cody Bearden, manager of Harps on Garland, their store lost over $60,000 in product and approximately $200,000 in missed sales during the four day period the store was closed.
Ozark Natural Foods lost power for just two days, and is still calculating its losses. “Too many things went bad,” said Ozark manager David Williams. “There are regulations about if refrigerated items are above approximately 40 degrees for more than four hours, so we had to throw all those out.”
Some stores tried unsuccessfully to save their frozen and refrigerated items. According to an Assistant Manager at the Harps on Weddington, Kara Hossay, their store lost power on Tuesday and tried to seal in the refrigerated areas with plastic sheets and saran wrap to keep the product cold. When that didn’t work much of it was placed outside. The store tried to have a generator hooked up, but because of the wiring the electrician refused. A cooler truck was also brought in, but by then it was too late. “The eggs were the only thing to survive,” said Hossay. Their location sustained a $10,000 loss in dairy products alone.
The electric outage meant no refrigeration for grocery products, but also no security system for many of theses stores. Although none of the local groceries suffered break-ins, the Harps locations that lost power required their store managers and an assistant manager to be in the store at all times while the power was out. This required the managers to also sleep within the stores. According to Hossay, their store manager spent at least one night sleeping on the conveyor belt of register one before air mattresses were brought in.
Even though these stores suffered large losses and several store managers had to work overtime and even sleep in their stores, at least one store manager saw it as a moral booster. Bearden said, “Even though I worked 78 hours that week, we had a lot of people that stepped up and helped. In a disaster like this, I think it says a lot that people stuck together and pitched in to help.”
Ice brings noise to Bud Walton
By Harold McIlvain II
While darkness and uncertainty loomed outside Bud Walton Arena, one thing remained a constant throughout the chaos: Students care about the Razorbacks.
The ice storm that devastated the area left many students stuck on campus with little to do. But an opportunity to cheer on the Arkansas Razorback basketball team against Alabama presented itself when free tickets were given away to students.
It provided a chance for many students to see the team for the first time this season, whether it was in the front row or in the upper deck.
“I didn’t get student tickets this year,” UA student Cassie Orr said. “This was the only game I made it to since the tickets were free. There was no line when I got there, but all the lower level tickets were sold out by then.”
Students showed up in numbers, resulting in what many said was one of the best student represented crowds in recent memory.
Senior Matt Martin - who has sat front row in the student section for nearly every game since arriving on campus - said the atmosphere helped the team tremendously.
“That was one of the best student sections I have seen in four years,” Martin said. “But the overall attendance was down because of the ice storm. I think the players fed off the students.”
Martin said he was impressed with the emotion and passion the student section brought as a whole.
“Getting students there has never been the problem,” Martin said. “Getting students who will stand up and cheer and not act like they are too cool is another. None of the student athletes ever stand up, do the cheers or any of that.”
Martin said the first couple of rows are usually standing and everyone else is sitting until “something ridiculous happens on the court.”
But it didn’t happened on a night when external distractions loomed outside.
Junior Kevin Lundquist - who was without power that night - said the game definitely helped him cope with the situation.
“Going to the game did momentarily take my mind off of the problems with the lack of power,” Lundquist said. “It was nice because I was able to get the free ticket and watch a good game. Ultimately however, I was without power after the game was over. And I quickly remembered I still didn’t have power.”
Before the game, the University of Arkansas media relations department posted a message on the team’s Web site cautioning fans to stay safe while traveling to the event.
The message reminded finds to allow for additional time getting to the game because of the conditions.
Alternative routes were listed and additional busing was in service to help the public maneuver around the fallen debris and patches of ice. The Gardens - which is used frequently by many fans to get to Bud Walton Arena from parking areas - was not open for foot traffic because of the conditions of the side walks.
Junior Matt Watson, a sports writer for the Arkansas Traveler, said the free tickets allowed many who rarely go to games an opportunity to see the team.
“I think it was great because there were international students and people I had never seen at the games before getting a chance to see a free game,” Watson said. “This is the University of Arkansas. Students are paying to go here and no one wants to pay $120 to see all the games when they’re already paying tuition, fees and housing to go here.”
With the basketball team consisting of many inexperienced players, Watson said the crowd provided the lift the team needed to pick up its only conference win this season.
“I definitely think getting the crowd in the game helps these guys," Watson said. “They don’t run to the student section and sing ‘O Lord, it’s hard to be humble’ after a big win for no reason.”
Sophomore Charles Bailey said he went to the game because the game was free and activities were limited.
“It was really the only thing going on during ice week,” Bailey said. “The atmosphere was great considering where we were at in the season. Allowing the students to get in free definitely enabled our team to feel like they were not forgotten during the chaos. [The game] allowed many students to have something to be a apart of during the week.”
Receiving a much needed break, Bailey said proceeding with the game as scheduled allowed many students take a break from the clean up and worry of the week.
And the excitement from the student section didn’t go unnoticed by Arkansas basketball head coach John Pelphrey.
“It’s been a tough couple of days with the weather,” Pelphrey said to the media after the game. “I came in and saw nearly every seat in the student section filled. I really appreciate that, our fans are remarkable. From the first possession we had energy, effort - the look so to speak.”
But after the game Pelphrey felt compelled to thoroughly thank the students for their participation by writing a letter to the student newspaper.
Pelphrey said in the letter to the Arkansas Traveler that with the power outages and uncertain driving conditions, he knew basketball wasn’t the highest priority.
But he said he was pleased with the turnout to support the team.
“I was overwhelmed by the number of fans, students and non-students alike who made the effort to get to Bud Walton Arena,” Pelphrey said. “I was especially impressed with the number of students who came out.”
Pelphrey said the experience showed how fortunate and humbled he is to be the head coach at Arkansas.
“I love the passion of the fans and the students,” Pelphrey said. “You help us play better. You make it difficult for our opponents. You help us win. The coaches and student-athletes appreciate your support always, but especially so last week under what were definitely trying circumstances for many of you.”
Bud Walton Arena - which was named one of the toughest places to play for opposing teams by EA Sports - wasn’t unscathed by the storm that left many without power. Earlier in the day, the arena was being powered by a generator.
But that did not stop students from showing up and providing the only warmth felt as ice still blanketed the campus.
Ice Storm Heats Up Hotel Biz
By Lana Hazel
While most businesses have suffered from the recent ice storm, area hotels have flourished. Despite accusations of price gouging, most hotels offered discounts to people without power, construction workers and electricians, keeping hotels full for several days during what is normally a slow season.
The Hampton Inn of Fayetteville went from a steady 25 percent occupancy rate before the storm to completely full for four days, according to General Manager Noel Bowman. She said that was basically the trend for the whole industry. Lauren Bryant, a receptionist at the Holiday Inn Express, said she had seen a similar increase there even while the hotel was out of power Tuesday through Thursday.
With the sudden increase in business, the hotel industry has been accused of price gouging. Arkansas has a law that protects against price gouging for 30 days after a state of emergency is declared. The law, enacted in 1997, prohibits increasing prices more than 10 percent from what they were before the emergency.
That 10 percent would allow most hotels to legally increase their rates by around $10, but almost all local hotels reported giving discounts or keeping steady rates during the storm.
There have been three complaints filed at the Arkansas Attorney General's Office to initiate price gouging investigations in the area, said Gabe Holmstrom, a spokesman for the attorney general.
Holmstrom said the complaints are confidential and are being investigated, but when price gouging is discovered, the information is released. No cases have been released so far.
One of those complaints concerned the Comfort Inn in Fayetteville, said Raj Hundal, a receptionist at the hotel. Hundal said he welcomed the investigation, saying he had a paper record of rates for the last two years. "We were helping people, doing more than we had to do," he said.
Hundal explained that while the Comfort Inn kept its standard rates, the hotel did not add extra charges for additional people. Ordinarily, if more than one person stays in a single room or two in a double room, the hotel charges an additional $5 to $10. "We just ignored that policy," Hundal said. "To price gouge, we obviously would have charged."
Hundal said the main reason they chose not to lower rates was because they provided $25 space heaters for the rooms that lost heat. "We bought those out of our pocket," he said. "They could have had to pay for those."
Comfort Inn guest Roberta Jusola praised the hotel for excellent service. "The staff worked very hard to help people out in a very difficult position," she said. "I cannot thank this hotel enough."
The Holiday Inn Express lowered rates during the days they lost power because there was no heat in the hotel, Bryant said. They used generators for lights and heat on the first floor, but they ran out the first day. General Manager Tim Freeman said the hotel held its heat from the previous day well and most guests thought it was warmer than their houses were without power.
Next door, the Country Inn and Suites of Fayetteville was in a similar position. The hotel was already nearly full when the power went out, and most people decided to stay, according to the general manager, Matt Behrend. "Everyone hung out in the lobby," he said. "It was like camping."
One local family checked into the Country Inn and Suites when their home lost power, which they considered their first family vacation in four years. One member of the family, Don Alvarez, said, "Just sitting around and playing games brought us closer together."
Behrend said the hotel gave discounts to people without power and the crews that came in.
The discounted rate at the Cosmopolitan in the Historic District helped the hotel reach full occupancy even without power. The Cosmopolitan took $20 off the normal rate and provided extra blankets, according to a receptionist, Joe Covey. "The guests were mostly very patient, even though it was hard having a hotel full of people and no power," Covey said.
Some people already staying at hotels were stuck. Theresa Weaver was staying at the Holiday Inn Express on a business trip and was unable to leave when its power went out. With offices closed because of the storm, she had no reason to stay, she said. "I couldn't even switch hotels because my company had already paid for this one," Weaver said.
Pat Pond, a long-term guest at the Country Inn and Suites, also had nowhere to go. Her apartment complex flooded in the middle of January, and the Wedington Place Senior Apartments has been providing her and other residents a room at the hotel.
"Even if I had thought about leaving, I wouldn't have been able to," Pond said.
Pond said the hotel was noticeably colder Wednesday and Thursday with no power. She developed bronchitis and, after a trip to the hospital, said it may or may not have been from not having heat.
The Cosmopolitan is an exception for area hotels. While increased occupancy benefited most, the Cosmopolitan incurred damages and lost revenue overall. "There were damages to the boiler, and we had no hot water for a week and a half," Covey said, "meaning a lot of people chose not to stay." The insurance will cover replacing the boiler and the lost revenue, he said.
Covey said not having computers created a disaster. "We didn't know who was in the hotel necessarily or who had paid," he said. "When the computers came back on, they were running two days behind."
Whether they lost power or had heat and light the whole time, local hotels saw a sudden boost in business directly because of the ice storm. The increase allowed most hotels to increase overall revenue even at discounted rates, rather than legally raising rates by 10 percent or taking advantage of the situation by price gouging.
As the last few crews are expected to leave hotels this week and normal rates are restored across the bored, the storm's only remaining effects are the isolated price gouging investigations during the next few weeks.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
'I Wish I Was There'
By Caroline Walton
More than one million are attending Barack Obama’s inauguration in the flesh, swarming around the Lincoln Memorial looking like ants on the television screen. But this crowd at its peak couldn’t break 50.
A small crowd is gathered around a T.V. in the University of Arkansas Union, and there is an excited tension in the air that gives the feeling of being at a sporting event or a concert, just waiting for the show to start. But this is bigger. Much bigger.
Among the small but loyal crowd in the Union is senior Jamaal Hollinshed, and he is staring intently at the television, leaning forward and tapping his foot excitedly.
“I never thought I’d see this. I just wish I was there,” he says.
As awesome as it would be to be able to say “I was there,” this crowd doesn’t seem deterred: there is a definite connection to what’s going on on the T.V. screen. When the crowd claps and cheers at the Lincoln Memorial, so does this crowd here. It’s an interactive experience, and even though this crowd may not be physically present at the inauguration, they are definitely there in spirit. Cameras flash and people pose with their neighbors wearing big smiles.
Hollinshed keeps excusing himself in the hustle and bustle of the inaugural activities, phone in hand. His parents are calling - they need help figuring out how to work the DVR to record the inauguration. He sits back down and smiles, saying, “They’re really excited.”
Family is important to Hollinshed. His father is a preacher and Arkansas Rehabilitation counselor from a family farm in Dumas, Arkansas, and his mother is a paralegal for Arkansas Legal Services from Arkadelphia, Arkansas. His family is large; he has three siblings and twins on the way, as well as a host of nieces and nephews.
“We have an extremely large family on both sides...it is safe to say I’m related to a good majority of both of those communities!” says Hollinshed.
When it comes to politics, his family weighs heavily on his mind, especially in terms of healthcare.
Hollinshed’s grandfather is a war veteran, so his grandparents have decent healthcare. But at 91 years old, his healthcare needs are becoming more vast than just standard checkups. A cancer survivor, he was left with substantial bills when some treatments weren’t covered by insurance.
Hollinshed says the democratic initiative that was passed by Congress a few months back for healthcare assistance to the uninsurable is a step in the right direction. But what bothers him is when hospital administrations turn people away because of things like inadequate or no insurance or expired Medicare and Medicaid.
“It makes me extremely mad, because I have seen people turned away first hand,” says Hollinshed.
He is hoping that Obama touches on this subject during his speech today.
Hollinshed’s family has been waiting a long time for this.
“I grew up listening to stories about Martin Luther King and what he did for our country. I feel like this is my Martin Luther King, if that makes sense,” he says.
On the T.V., the Clintons flash across the screen and we’re reminded of the primary race that at times seemed like it would tear the Democrat Party at the seams. Hollinshed said he’s been an Obama supporter from the start.
“As much respect as I have for the Clintons, and I have no doubt that Hillary could have done that job, Obama was always my man,” Hollinshed says.
People shuffle in and out of the Union, some staying for just a second, others planting themselves in a seat or joining the crowd standing around the television. A girl files in and sits next to Hollinshed, they are obviously friends.
“You skipping class for this?” she asks him.
“Oh yeah.” says Hollinshed.
The girl, fellow senior Jenaleigh Peterson, is just here for a few minutes. She has class soon, and she’s not skipping.
Although she comes from a very Republican family that was not very happy at the result of the election, Petersen doesn‘t seem too upset.
“I’m not very political.” she admits. But she also says she understands the importance of this event - how it touches and affects everyone. It doesn’t seem to matter if you’re at the Lincoln Memorial or in your living room or at a college campus - this is the country’s president. This moment belongs to everyone equally.
Looking at the two friends sitting side by side, one black and one white, just articulates this - both races are represented with one man. Hollinshed notes that people seem to forget sometimes that Obama is biracial. Petersen shrugs.
Back on the television, Obama is finally arriving. The crowd hushes and cranes their necks, over tall heads and hands holding up cameras. When Obama walks onto the stage, his eyes are focused and his lips are pressed together tightly as if he’s trying to suppress a smile.
“You know he’s trying not to smile - heck, I’d be smiling ear to ear,” Hollinshed says.
He laughs when a smile finally breaks on Obama’s face, a smile that bursts a tension in the room and lights up the president's face completely. There are yelps and cheers, cameras recording the screen and panning around the room to capture this moment. As Obama is announced president, the excitement only escalates. A woman on the front row dabs her eyes as tears of joy make their way down her face. Hollinshed just shakes his head and smiles, as if in disbelief.
And then the crowd departs, braving the cold January weather to face the day. But there is an afterglow of sorts: They just witnessed history.
More than one million are attending Barack Obama’s inauguration in the flesh, swarming around the Lincoln Memorial looking like ants on the television screen. But this crowd at its peak couldn’t break 50.
A small crowd is gathered around a T.V. in the University of Arkansas Union, and there is an excited tension in the air that gives the feeling of being at a sporting event or a concert, just waiting for the show to start. But this is bigger. Much bigger.
Among the small but loyal crowd in the Union is senior Jamaal Hollinshed, and he is staring intently at the television, leaning forward and tapping his foot excitedly.
“I never thought I’d see this. I just wish I was there,” he says.
As awesome as it would be to be able to say “I was there,” this crowd doesn’t seem deterred: there is a definite connection to what’s going on on the T.V. screen. When the crowd claps and cheers at the Lincoln Memorial, so does this crowd here. It’s an interactive experience, and even though this crowd may not be physically present at the inauguration, they are definitely there in spirit. Cameras flash and people pose with their neighbors wearing big smiles.
Hollinshed keeps excusing himself in the hustle and bustle of the inaugural activities, phone in hand. His parents are calling - they need help figuring out how to work the DVR to record the inauguration. He sits back down and smiles, saying, “They’re really excited.”
Family is important to Hollinshed. His father is a preacher and Arkansas Rehabilitation counselor from a family farm in Dumas, Arkansas, and his mother is a paralegal for Arkansas Legal Services from Arkadelphia, Arkansas. His family is large; he has three siblings and twins on the way, as well as a host of nieces and nephews.
“We have an extremely large family on both sides...it is safe to say I’m related to a good majority of both of those communities!” says Hollinshed.
When it comes to politics, his family weighs heavily on his mind, especially in terms of healthcare.
Hollinshed’s grandfather is a war veteran, so his grandparents have decent healthcare. But at 91 years old, his healthcare needs are becoming more vast than just standard checkups. A cancer survivor, he was left with substantial bills when some treatments weren’t covered by insurance.
Hollinshed says the democratic initiative that was passed by Congress a few months back for healthcare assistance to the uninsurable is a step in the right direction. But what bothers him is when hospital administrations turn people away because of things like inadequate or no insurance or expired Medicare and Medicaid.
“It makes me extremely mad, because I have seen people turned away first hand,” says Hollinshed.
He is hoping that Obama touches on this subject during his speech today.
Hollinshed’s family has been waiting a long time for this.
“I grew up listening to stories about Martin Luther King and what he did for our country. I feel like this is my Martin Luther King, if that makes sense,” he says.
On the T.V., the Clintons flash across the screen and we’re reminded of the primary race that at times seemed like it would tear the Democrat Party at the seams. Hollinshed said he’s been an Obama supporter from the start.
“As much respect as I have for the Clintons, and I have no doubt that Hillary could have done that job, Obama was always my man,” Hollinshed says.
People shuffle in and out of the Union, some staying for just a second, others planting themselves in a seat or joining the crowd standing around the television. A girl files in and sits next to Hollinshed, they are obviously friends.
“You skipping class for this?” she asks him.
“Oh yeah.” says Hollinshed.
The girl, fellow senior Jenaleigh Peterson, is just here for a few minutes. She has class soon, and she’s not skipping.
Although she comes from a very Republican family that was not very happy at the result of the election, Petersen doesn‘t seem too upset.
“I’m not very political.” she admits. But she also says she understands the importance of this event - how it touches and affects everyone. It doesn’t seem to matter if you’re at the Lincoln Memorial or in your living room or at a college campus - this is the country’s president. This moment belongs to everyone equally.
Looking at the two friends sitting side by side, one black and one white, just articulates this - both races are represented with one man. Hollinshed notes that people seem to forget sometimes that Obama is biracial. Petersen shrugs.
Back on the television, Obama is finally arriving. The crowd hushes and cranes their necks, over tall heads and hands holding up cameras. When Obama walks onto the stage, his eyes are focused and his lips are pressed together tightly as if he’s trying to suppress a smile.
“You know he’s trying not to smile - heck, I’d be smiling ear to ear,” Hollinshed says.
He laughs when a smile finally breaks on Obama’s face, a smile that bursts a tension in the room and lights up the president's face completely. There are yelps and cheers, cameras recording the screen and panning around the room to capture this moment. As Obama is announced president, the excitement only escalates. A woman on the front row dabs her eyes as tears of joy make their way down her face. Hollinshed just shakes his head and smiles, as if in disbelief.
And then the crowd departs, braving the cold January weather to face the day. But there is an afterglow of sorts: They just witnessed history.
Obama Presidency Resonates With UA Student
BY JEFF SISTRUNK
A sea of flag-waving Americans several football fields deep may have stood between Jazmin Berlanga and President Obama, but she still felt close to him as he delivered his address on Inauguration Day.
Berlanga and 43 other University of Arkansas students who traveled to Washington D.C. with the Center for Leadership and Community Engagement watched the ceremony packed like sardines among a crowd of a million on the National Mall.
“Everyone was really hyped and fired up,” said Berlanga, 20, a junior physics major at the UA. “Obama was by no means feeding people false hope.”
While Barack Hussein Obama’s inauguration as the United States’ first black president was a moving historical milestone in the minds of many Americans, its ramifications were undoubtedly most deeply felt by the nation’s racial minorities. Berlanga, whose family emigrated from Mexico in 1992, was no exception.
“Although I don’t have the same strong identification with Obama as African-Americans with a civil rights background, I still felt a sense of pride,” she said. “As a Hispanic who doesn’t get to see many positive Hispanic role models, it was encouraging to watch a minority be sworn in as president.”
Berlanga is no stranger to the everyday struggles that minorities- particularly blacks and Hispanics- still face in today’s progressive society. She was born in the border town of Tijuana, where she spent the first four years of her life. Berlanga recalled the huge city being divided along class lines.
Berlanga and her family lived in her grandmother's house, which was located in a neighborhood that wasn't equipped for indoor plumbing or electricity. Her mother and father worked numerous odd jobs during her early childhood. Berlanga particularly recalls her mother's stint as a secretary for a sign-painting company. Despite their exhaustive workweeks, however, Berlanga's parents often struggled financially.
Seeking better opportunities, Berlanga's mother took her family across the border into the United States, to the small north Arkansan town of Green Forest, situated in Carroll County between Harrison and Eureka Springs. Green Forest, whose population hovers under 3,000, is a rural town dominated by sprawling green pastureland and laden with unpleasantly fragrant stockyards and chicken houses. The economy is based around the local Tyson Foods hatchery and processing facilities, which employ 65 percent of Green Forest’s adult population.
Many members of the town’s prominent Hispanic contingent (which accounts for almost a third of the total population) shun higher education to work at the Tyson plant or in other blue-collar jobs such as sanitation and waiting tables, Berlanga said. This fact bothered her as she was growing up.
“Most Hispanics who had papers and proper documentation didn’t take advantage of their opportunities,” she said. “Their parents would clean toilets or work at Tyson 12+ hours a day, and it seemed like the kids didn’t appreciate that effort.”
Among the Hispanic community, Berlanga and her family experienced some harassment because of their undocumented status.
“My mom especially was humiliated at work by legal, ‘American’ Hispanics,” she said. “As a Mexican immigrant who hadn’t lived in the U.S. for long, she was like a new target. Her co-workers took advantage of her.”
At school, Berlanga excelled academically and surrounded herself with mostly white friends. “Not many Hispanics were interested in Honors or AP classes in high school,” she said.
Berlanga grew disheartened watching many female Hispanic students at Green Forest High School either get pregnant or drop out early to work and start families. She was also troubled by the widespread perception of Mexican immigrants as resistant to assimilation.
"When (Mexican immigrants) have been in the U.S. for so long, they’re assimilated for the most part; they’re basically American,” she said. "They have favorite football teams, love the same fast-food chains, and so on."
At Green Forest High School, Berlanga all but rewrote the record books for academic achievement. She was the first student in school history to score a 32 on the ACT and graduated ranked in the top 10 in a class of 60. In addition, she became only the second member of her family to graduate high school, behind her older brother.
Jazmin Berlanga came to the University of Arkansas in fall 2006 as an Honors College Fellow. She quickly joined the League of United Latin American Citizens and brought a new perspective and firsthand experience to serious discussions on race-related issues with her non-Hispanic friends.
“I believe other people’s views can shape your own, and Jazmin definitely did that,” said Alex Moore, a sophomore dual major in physics and philosophy at the UA. Moore, who grew up in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, said that his Southern Baptist upbringing gave him a limited view of immigration and similar topics.
“Alex and most of my white friends didn’t think a lot about immigration,” she said. “At first, they simply couldn’t understand the struggle of living as a minority.”
Moore admitted to being generally uninformed about the issue before he met Berlanga.
“With illegal immigration, I put too much stock into what was said on TV, about it tearing down American ideals and destroying the country,” he said.
Berlanga gravitated towards Obama during his run in the presidential primaries not just because of his heritage but also because of his stances on immigration and affirmative action.
Obama is a vocal supporter of a guest worker program, which would allow U.S. employers to sponsor alien workers without green cards for three years. He also voted in favor of the failed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.
“(Obama) has shown that he plans on being a friend to foreigners who come here to help their families back home,” Berlanga said. Obama’s views on affirmative action likewise gelled with Berlanga’s. He has supported properly structured initiatives at universities and in the workplace as a way to give opportunities to qualified minorities without snubbing white applicants.
“I don’t think (Obama) will favor minorities just to favor minorities,” Berlanga said. “What people don’t get about affirmative action is it doesn’t give college positions or jobs to people who don’t deserve them. It’s not so much, ‘let’s advance minorities,’ but rather ‘let’s fill in the gaps.’”
As an adamant Obama supporter, Berlanga was honored and ecstatic to be one of the 44 students selected by the Center for Leadership and Community Engagement to make the 1,200-mile trip to Washington D.C. to attend the inauguration. She said she loved every minute of the experience, from the bus driver hitting a deer in Virginia, to the visits to the Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian, to the star-studded celebrity benefit featuring Beyonce and Denzel Washington. But for Berlanga, none of those moments could match that climactic peak when the newly minted president delivered his first address to the nation.
“I’m excited that Americans are so willing to work with this administration,” she said. “I feel that a lot will be accomplished. But more than anything, I hope that Obama will inspire more people of color to step out there and refuse to accept the roles they’re expected to fill.”
A sea of flag-waving Americans several football fields deep may have stood between Jazmin Berlanga and President Obama, but she still felt close to him as he delivered his address on Inauguration Day.
Berlanga and 43 other University of Arkansas students who traveled to Washington D.C. with the Center for Leadership and Community Engagement watched the ceremony packed like sardines among a crowd of a million on the National Mall.
“Everyone was really hyped and fired up,” said Berlanga, 20, a junior physics major at the UA. “Obama was by no means feeding people false hope.”
While Barack Hussein Obama’s inauguration as the United States’ first black president was a moving historical milestone in the minds of many Americans, its ramifications were undoubtedly most deeply felt by the nation’s racial minorities. Berlanga, whose family emigrated from Mexico in 1992, was no exception.
“Although I don’t have the same strong identification with Obama as African-Americans with a civil rights background, I still felt a sense of pride,” she said. “As a Hispanic who doesn’t get to see many positive Hispanic role models, it was encouraging to watch a minority be sworn in as president.”
Berlanga is no stranger to the everyday struggles that minorities- particularly blacks and Hispanics- still face in today’s progressive society. She was born in the border town of Tijuana, where she spent the first four years of her life. Berlanga recalled the huge city being divided along class lines.
Berlanga and her family lived in her grandmother's house, which was located in a neighborhood that wasn't equipped for indoor plumbing or electricity. Her mother and father worked numerous odd jobs during her early childhood. Berlanga particularly recalls her mother's stint as a secretary for a sign-painting company. Despite their exhaustive workweeks, however, Berlanga's parents often struggled financially.
Seeking better opportunities, Berlanga's mother took her family across the border into the United States, to the small north Arkansan town of Green Forest, situated in Carroll County between Harrison and Eureka Springs. Green Forest, whose population hovers under 3,000, is a rural town dominated by sprawling green pastureland and laden with unpleasantly fragrant stockyards and chicken houses. The economy is based around the local Tyson Foods hatchery and processing facilities, which employ 65 percent of Green Forest’s adult population.
Many members of the town’s prominent Hispanic contingent (which accounts for almost a third of the total population) shun higher education to work at the Tyson plant or in other blue-collar jobs such as sanitation and waiting tables, Berlanga said. This fact bothered her as she was growing up.
“Most Hispanics who had papers and proper documentation didn’t take advantage of their opportunities,” she said. “Their parents would clean toilets or work at Tyson 12+ hours a day, and it seemed like the kids didn’t appreciate that effort.”
Among the Hispanic community, Berlanga and her family experienced some harassment because of their undocumented status.
“My mom especially was humiliated at work by legal, ‘American’ Hispanics,” she said. “As a Mexican immigrant who hadn’t lived in the U.S. for long, she was like a new target. Her co-workers took advantage of her.”
At school, Berlanga excelled academically and surrounded herself with mostly white friends. “Not many Hispanics were interested in Honors or AP classes in high school,” she said.
Berlanga grew disheartened watching many female Hispanic students at Green Forest High School either get pregnant or drop out early to work and start families. She was also troubled by the widespread perception of Mexican immigrants as resistant to assimilation.
"When (Mexican immigrants) have been in the U.S. for so long, they’re assimilated for the most part; they’re basically American,” she said. "They have favorite football teams, love the same fast-food chains, and so on."
At Green Forest High School, Berlanga all but rewrote the record books for academic achievement. She was the first student in school history to score a 32 on the ACT and graduated ranked in the top 10 in a class of 60. In addition, she became only the second member of her family to graduate high school, behind her older brother.
Jazmin Berlanga came to the University of Arkansas in fall 2006 as an Honors College Fellow. She quickly joined the League of United Latin American Citizens and brought a new perspective and firsthand experience to serious discussions on race-related issues with her non-Hispanic friends.
“I believe other people’s views can shape your own, and Jazmin definitely did that,” said Alex Moore, a sophomore dual major in physics and philosophy at the UA. Moore, who grew up in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, said that his Southern Baptist upbringing gave him a limited view of immigration and similar topics.
“Alex and most of my white friends didn’t think a lot about immigration,” she said. “At first, they simply couldn’t understand the struggle of living as a minority.”
Moore admitted to being generally uninformed about the issue before he met Berlanga.
“With illegal immigration, I put too much stock into what was said on TV, about it tearing down American ideals and destroying the country,” he said.
Berlanga gravitated towards Obama during his run in the presidential primaries not just because of his heritage but also because of his stances on immigration and affirmative action.
Obama is a vocal supporter of a guest worker program, which would allow U.S. employers to sponsor alien workers without green cards for three years. He also voted in favor of the failed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.
“(Obama) has shown that he plans on being a friend to foreigners who come here to help their families back home,” Berlanga said. Obama’s views on affirmative action likewise gelled with Berlanga’s. He has supported properly structured initiatives at universities and in the workplace as a way to give opportunities to qualified minorities without snubbing white applicants.
“I don’t think (Obama) will favor minorities just to favor minorities,” Berlanga said. “What people don’t get about affirmative action is it doesn’t give college positions or jobs to people who don’t deserve them. It’s not so much, ‘let’s advance minorities,’ but rather ‘let’s fill in the gaps.’”
As an adamant Obama supporter, Berlanga was honored and ecstatic to be one of the 44 students selected by the Center for Leadership and Community Engagement to make the 1,200-mile trip to Washington D.C. to attend the inauguration. She said she loved every minute of the experience, from the bus driver hitting a deer in Virginia, to the visits to the Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian, to the star-studded celebrity benefit featuring Beyonce and Denzel Washington. But for Berlanga, none of those moments could match that climactic peak when the newly minted president delivered his first address to the nation.
“I’m excited that Americans are so willing to work with this administration,” she said. “I feel that a lot will be accomplished. But more than anything, I hope that Obama will inspire more people of color to step out there and refuse to accept the roles they’re expected to fill.”
Monday, December 8, 2008
Razorback Yearbook 2007 by Leanna J. Payton
Student: Leanna J. Payton
Class: Multimedia News Reporting
Professor: Katherine Shurlds
Click here to see project.
Class: Multimedia News Reporting
Professor: Katherine Shurlds
Click here to see project.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Grounded (in)Sanity: A Profile of Kurt Voigt
By Tina Korbe
Advanced Feature Writing
Among those who followed Springdale High School football in 2005, Kurt Voigt might have been the least manic, which is odd, because Kurt Voigt also wrote the book about the 2005 Springdale High School football team.
Sure, Voigt obsessed about Springdale football. But that was only because his job demanded he do so. As the Prep Sports Editor for The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, Voigt was responsible for documenting what promised to be an unforgettable season, and that responsibility required a vast time commitment because, as another sports writer for The Morning News put it, “people wanted to read about the 2005 Springdale Bulldogs, so we covered the hell out of them.”
Voigt further obsessed when he sensed the season would shape up to be even more memorable than anticipated. But that was because he recognized the potential returns of an even greater time investment and decided to write a book to chronicle the Bulldogs’ route to the 2005 state championship.
Voigt ultimately devoted a year of his life to the Bulldogs. He arrived three hours early to almost every game, only to sit in the press box with a magazine. As early as 6 a.m. some mornings, he gathered with the team coaches to watch football tape in the absurdly luxurious field house. Weeknights, he joined the players in camaraderie-building bowling. For four hours a day, for six weeks straight, he even worked out with 6’7”, 291-lb. offensive tackle Bartley Webb.“When he covered that team, that team became his life,” said Nathan Allen, who works with Voigt as a sports writer at The Morning News. “It didn’t matter what conversation I had with Kurt that year, it always revolved around Springdale football.”
Voigt’s wife, Shannon, says she was essentially a single parent in 2005. “He was gone a lot, just writing the book,” she said. “He actually moved out while he was writing the bulk of it because he writes at night. It was stressful.”
Still, Voigt was not consumed with the Bulldogs as other Springdale residents were. The Bulldogs impressed Voigt, and he appreciated the prodigious athleticism of the team’s stars. But the Bulldogs addicted Springdale, and the town craved gossip about the team members’ personal lives. Voigt remained relatively neutral toward squabbles among the players, but the town aligned itself with this player or against that player.
“There were two kinds of people,” Allen said. “There were the people who liked Springdale players, and there were people who didn’t like Springdale players. I think there was a certain amount of arrogance that people took away from them.”
Splitting Springdale
To outsiders – and, in Springdale, even 10-year residents are sometimes still outsiders – the glorious success story of the 2005 Springdale Bulldogs disguised these town factions. For one year, Springdale didn’t seem to be divided between generations of jocks and generations of “bandies,” between “Good Ol’ Boys” and “transients,” between whites and Hispanics. A Bulldog was a Bulldog, and anyone could be a Bulldog. It seemed the team motto, “One Year, One Team, One Goal,” could have been amended, “One Year, One Town, One Goal.”
But beneath the bubble-lettered banners the SHS cheerleaders painted before every home football game, the divisions festered, and Voigt eventually found himself in the middle of them because of his book, “Year of the Dog.”
Outside of Springdale, “Year of the Dog” enjoyed a modest reception, at least initially. Customers who bought Springdale coach Gus Malzahn’s book about the team’s hurry-up, no-huddle offense purchased “Year of the Dog,” too – to read about the offense’s successful implementation in Springdale. University of Arkansas football fans who picked up copies of “Hogs! A History” also picked up copies of “Year of the Dog” – to read about future Razorbacks.
All two Amazon reviewers gave the book five stars. “Didn’t talk much about the games but chronicled the crazy world of H.S. recruiting,” wrote one. Another expressed considerable enthusiasm, calling the book a must-have for any college or high school football fan.
Within Springdale, though, the book created quite a stir. Voigt chose quarterback and Gatorade National Player of the Year Mitch Mustain to be the protagonist of his book and, in so doing, unconsciously allied himself with half the town and provoked the other half. Even today, the mere mention of Voigt’s book elicits vehement reactions among people who try to deny they have any interest in the story anymore. There are those who maintain “Year of the Dog” glorified Mustain at the expense of their sons or boyfriends or brothers. The book was supposed to be about the entire team, they say, but it ended up putting Mitch on a pedestal when he already had a big head. Others say Mustain was just a high school kid who happened to be enormously talented and who handled all the attention better than most.
Certainly, it was not Voigt’s intent to glorify Mustain. Nor was it his intent to render the quarterback the object of petty attacks. But he followed the story wherever it led him – even if that was straight into the middle of Springdale spats.
“When Kurt decided to do the book, it was basically going to be a book about the entire team,” Allen said. “Little did Kurt know that so many things were going to happen after the season with the recruiting, with Mustain going to Arkansas … His book took an entirely new turn.”
A Razorback Coach Sees Red
Not only did Voigt’s book irk Springdale residents, it also offended then-Razorback coach Houston Nutt – although not officially. “I don’t even know if Coach Nutt read the book,” Allen said, but he somehow came to know the book included a couple of Mustain’s offhand expressions of doubt in Nutt’s coaching ability.
Voigt says he predicted parts of his book would be difficult for Nutt to swallow – particularly those parts that detailed Mustain’s decision, in the middle of his senior season, to withdraw the commitment he made as a junior to play at Arkansas. But Voigt expected Nutt to be professional about the book’s contents. Instead, Voigt says, Nutt made it personal, and the relationship between Nutt and Mustain devolved. Even though Mustain eventually signed with the Razorbacks and started at quarterback as a freshman, and even though Nutt made an ostentatious statement to assure Razorback fans that he had no hard feelings toward Mustain, the star football player never felt comfortable playing for Nutt.
When Mustain transferred to the University of Southern California as a sophomore, some Razorback fans speculated that Nutt ran off Mitch Mustain. Eventually, Razorback fans ran off Houston Nutt. The fallout from this episode in Arkansas sports history – an episode Voigt describes as analogous to a bitter, messy divorce – remains, even though the figures most keenly involved are gone. But Kurt Voigt is still here.
The Future – Through the Prism of the Past
Surprisingly, Voigt says the entire affair had minimal impact on his own life. Occasionally, all the craziness did rattle him and, sometimes, his wife would come home in tears because of what was said about high school football at her office or on the radio. Writing the book even affected where his kids trick-or-treated on Halloween because they had to visit Mustain’s house. Overall, though, the controversy that surged through the sports pages and the chapters of his book barely bothered Voigt.
But, then, to keep in perspective what others blow out of proportion is characteristic of Voigt, who is as understated as Houston Nutt is exaggerated. For example, most Springdale gossips describe Mustain’s mother, Beck Campbell, as overzealous and controlling, but Voigt calls Campbell a regular mother and defends her involvement in her son’s life. Most Springdale fans praise Gus Malzahn’s devotion to football, but Voigt regrets sadly that Malzahn sometimes prioritizes football ahead of his family. Many men would recoil at the term “Mr. Mom,” but Voigt uses it proudly to identify himself, and revels in driving his kids to and from school, in reading to 7-year-old Will’s second-grade class, in combing 4-year-old Taylor’s hair.
Voigt’s family members and friends readily identify his balanced approach to life, and his instinctive understanding of what truly matters is apparent in conversation with him. Part of that balanced approach stems from his past: he was adopted; he never knew his biological parents; the only parents he did know divorced when he was very young; his father committed suicide when he was 21; his mother “has a lot of issues.” He learned through all of that to appreciate what blessings he has. Very few things worry Voigt; very few things frighten him. As long as he is at peace with the people he loves, he is able to let go of the rest, and maintain a sense of humor, too.“He’s the type of guy who knows when to have fun, but he also knows when to be serious,” Allen said.
Voigt makes time to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch NFL games with his guy friends. He makes time for once-a-week poker nights. For several summers, he played softball on the newspaper softball team, “The Bad News Beers” – a name that tickles Voigt even though, or maybe especially because, he came up with it. He is competitive, but not overly so. He wants to win, but he won’t strain so hard that he blows out his knee. (At least, not anymore – but that could be because eight knee surgeries are enough to slow anybody down.)
Voigt approached “Year of the Dog” the same way he does everything – with his head down and his feet grounded – so he is able to let go of what still riles Springdale residents and Razorback fans. Voigt fully expects those residents and fans to cling to hard feelings for years to come, but he’s unconcerned; he knows he did his job honestly, that nothing in his book is false. While others wait 20 years for the wounds to heal, Voigt plans to return to school to finish his journalism degree – not because he needs it, but because he wants to set a positive example for his son and daughter. In the meantime, he will continue to do what he enjoys and spend time with the people he loves. e didn’t go crazy about the Springdale Bulldogs in 2005, and he doesn’t plan to go crazy about them now.
Advanced Feature Writing
Among those who followed Springdale High School football in 2005, Kurt Voigt might have been the least manic, which is odd, because Kurt Voigt also wrote the book about the 2005 Springdale High School football team.
Sure, Voigt obsessed about Springdale football. But that was only because his job demanded he do so. As the Prep Sports Editor for The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, Voigt was responsible for documenting what promised to be an unforgettable season, and that responsibility required a vast time commitment because, as another sports writer for The Morning News put it, “people wanted to read about the 2005 Springdale Bulldogs, so we covered the hell out of them.”
Voigt further obsessed when he sensed the season would shape up to be even more memorable than anticipated. But that was because he recognized the potential returns of an even greater time investment and decided to write a book to chronicle the Bulldogs’ route to the 2005 state championship.
Voigt ultimately devoted a year of his life to the Bulldogs. He arrived three hours early to almost every game, only to sit in the press box with a magazine. As early as 6 a.m. some mornings, he gathered with the team coaches to watch football tape in the absurdly luxurious field house. Weeknights, he joined the players in camaraderie-building bowling. For four hours a day, for six weeks straight, he even worked out with 6’7”, 291-lb. offensive tackle Bartley Webb.“When he covered that team, that team became his life,” said Nathan Allen, who works with Voigt as a sports writer at The Morning News. “It didn’t matter what conversation I had with Kurt that year, it always revolved around Springdale football.”
Voigt’s wife, Shannon, says she was essentially a single parent in 2005. “He was gone a lot, just writing the book,” she said. “He actually moved out while he was writing the bulk of it because he writes at night. It was stressful.”
Still, Voigt was not consumed with the Bulldogs as other Springdale residents were. The Bulldogs impressed Voigt, and he appreciated the prodigious athleticism of the team’s stars. But the Bulldogs addicted Springdale, and the town craved gossip about the team members’ personal lives. Voigt remained relatively neutral toward squabbles among the players, but the town aligned itself with this player or against that player.
“There were two kinds of people,” Allen said. “There were the people who liked Springdale players, and there were people who didn’t like Springdale players. I think there was a certain amount of arrogance that people took away from them.”
Splitting Springdale
To outsiders – and, in Springdale, even 10-year residents are sometimes still outsiders – the glorious success story of the 2005 Springdale Bulldogs disguised these town factions. For one year, Springdale didn’t seem to be divided between generations of jocks and generations of “bandies,” between “Good Ol’ Boys” and “transients,” between whites and Hispanics. A Bulldog was a Bulldog, and anyone could be a Bulldog. It seemed the team motto, “One Year, One Team, One Goal,” could have been amended, “One Year, One Town, One Goal.”
But beneath the bubble-lettered banners the SHS cheerleaders painted before every home football game, the divisions festered, and Voigt eventually found himself in the middle of them because of his book, “Year of the Dog.”
Outside of Springdale, “Year of the Dog” enjoyed a modest reception, at least initially. Customers who bought Springdale coach Gus Malzahn’s book about the team’s hurry-up, no-huddle offense purchased “Year of the Dog,” too – to read about the offense’s successful implementation in Springdale. University of Arkansas football fans who picked up copies of “Hogs! A History” also picked up copies of “Year of the Dog” – to read about future Razorbacks.
All two Amazon reviewers gave the book five stars. “Didn’t talk much about the games but chronicled the crazy world of H.S. recruiting,” wrote one. Another expressed considerable enthusiasm, calling the book a must-have for any college or high school football fan.
Within Springdale, though, the book created quite a stir. Voigt chose quarterback and Gatorade National Player of the Year Mitch Mustain to be the protagonist of his book and, in so doing, unconsciously allied himself with half the town and provoked the other half. Even today, the mere mention of Voigt’s book elicits vehement reactions among people who try to deny they have any interest in the story anymore. There are those who maintain “Year of the Dog” glorified Mustain at the expense of their sons or boyfriends or brothers. The book was supposed to be about the entire team, they say, but it ended up putting Mitch on a pedestal when he already had a big head. Others say Mustain was just a high school kid who happened to be enormously talented and who handled all the attention better than most.
Certainly, it was not Voigt’s intent to glorify Mustain. Nor was it his intent to render the quarterback the object of petty attacks. But he followed the story wherever it led him – even if that was straight into the middle of Springdale spats.
“When Kurt decided to do the book, it was basically going to be a book about the entire team,” Allen said. “Little did Kurt know that so many things were going to happen after the season with the recruiting, with Mustain going to Arkansas … His book took an entirely new turn.”
A Razorback Coach Sees Red
Not only did Voigt’s book irk Springdale residents, it also offended then-Razorback coach Houston Nutt – although not officially. “I don’t even know if Coach Nutt read the book,” Allen said, but he somehow came to know the book included a couple of Mustain’s offhand expressions of doubt in Nutt’s coaching ability.
Voigt says he predicted parts of his book would be difficult for Nutt to swallow – particularly those parts that detailed Mustain’s decision, in the middle of his senior season, to withdraw the commitment he made as a junior to play at Arkansas. But Voigt expected Nutt to be professional about the book’s contents. Instead, Voigt says, Nutt made it personal, and the relationship between Nutt and Mustain devolved. Even though Mustain eventually signed with the Razorbacks and started at quarterback as a freshman, and even though Nutt made an ostentatious statement to assure Razorback fans that he had no hard feelings toward Mustain, the star football player never felt comfortable playing for Nutt.
When Mustain transferred to the University of Southern California as a sophomore, some Razorback fans speculated that Nutt ran off Mitch Mustain. Eventually, Razorback fans ran off Houston Nutt. The fallout from this episode in Arkansas sports history – an episode Voigt describes as analogous to a bitter, messy divorce – remains, even though the figures most keenly involved are gone. But Kurt Voigt is still here.
The Future – Through the Prism of the Past
Surprisingly, Voigt says the entire affair had minimal impact on his own life. Occasionally, all the craziness did rattle him and, sometimes, his wife would come home in tears because of what was said about high school football at her office or on the radio. Writing the book even affected where his kids trick-or-treated on Halloween because they had to visit Mustain’s house. Overall, though, the controversy that surged through the sports pages and the chapters of his book barely bothered Voigt.
But, then, to keep in perspective what others blow out of proportion is characteristic of Voigt, who is as understated as Houston Nutt is exaggerated. For example, most Springdale gossips describe Mustain’s mother, Beck Campbell, as overzealous and controlling, but Voigt calls Campbell a regular mother and defends her involvement in her son’s life. Most Springdale fans praise Gus Malzahn’s devotion to football, but Voigt regrets sadly that Malzahn sometimes prioritizes football ahead of his family. Many men would recoil at the term “Mr. Mom,” but Voigt uses it proudly to identify himself, and revels in driving his kids to and from school, in reading to 7-year-old Will’s second-grade class, in combing 4-year-old Taylor’s hair.
Voigt’s family members and friends readily identify his balanced approach to life, and his instinctive understanding of what truly matters is apparent in conversation with him. Part of that balanced approach stems from his past: he was adopted; he never knew his biological parents; the only parents he did know divorced when he was very young; his father committed suicide when he was 21; his mother “has a lot of issues.” He learned through all of that to appreciate what blessings he has. Very few things worry Voigt; very few things frighten him. As long as he is at peace with the people he loves, he is able to let go of the rest, and maintain a sense of humor, too.“He’s the type of guy who knows when to have fun, but he also knows when to be serious,” Allen said.
Voigt makes time to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch NFL games with his guy friends. He makes time for once-a-week poker nights. For several summers, he played softball on the newspaper softball team, “The Bad News Beers” – a name that tickles Voigt even though, or maybe especially because, he came up with it. He is competitive, but not overly so. He wants to win, but he won’t strain so hard that he blows out his knee. (At least, not anymore – but that could be because eight knee surgeries are enough to slow anybody down.)
Voigt approached “Year of the Dog” the same way he does everything – with his head down and his feet grounded – so he is able to let go of what still riles Springdale residents and Razorback fans. Voigt fully expects those residents and fans to cling to hard feelings for years to come, but he’s unconcerned; he knows he did his job honestly, that nothing in his book is false. While others wait 20 years for the wounds to heal, Voigt plans to return to school to finish his journalism degree – not because he needs it, but because he wants to set a positive example for his son and daughter. In the meantime, he will continue to do what he enjoys and spend time with the people he loves. e didn’t go crazy about the Springdale Bulldogs in 2005, and he doesn’t plan to go crazy about them now.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The Arkansas Traveler by Barton Pohlman
Student: Barton Pohlman
Class: Multimedia News Reporting
Professor: Katherine Shurlds
Click here to see project.
Class: Multimedia News Reporting
Professor: Katherine Shurlds
Click here to see project.
KXUA Student Radio by Matthew Watson
Student: Matthew Watson
Class: Multimedia News Reporting
Professor: Katherine Shurlds
Click here to see project.
Class: Multimedia News Reporting
Professor: Katherine Shurlds
Click here to see project.
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