The Oklahoma Daily

Executive cites sacrifi ce, honesty as keys to success

RICKY MARANON

Th e Oklahoma Daily

While speaking with an executive from Oprah Winfrey’s media corporation Friday, mass communication students were encouraged to take risks, do what they love and “go all in” to succeed in the professional arena.

Erik Logan, Executive Vice President of Harpo, Inc., shared his biography and career tips with students in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He told them his story of growing up in Oklahoma, his previous jobs and the road to attaining his current position.

Logan started his career in 1985 working at an Oklahoma City country radio station as Chuck the Duck and Cody the Coyote.

“I aspired to be the best, and at one point, I wanted to be Mickey Mouse,” he said.

Eventually, Logan confronted his boss about being on the radio, and by his senior year of high school in 1989, was on the radio from 7 p.m. to midnight.

“I made the sacrifices and went all in,” he said. “I didn’t go to prom, and I worked on the holidays.”

Logan would study and write papers during songs and commercial breaks.

It was while he was on air, that he changed his name from Erik Toppenberg to Erik Logan, which is the surname from his uncle who was also previously in broadcast.

He encouraged students, like his employees, to believe honesty is the best policy.

“For every 10 minutes there is in a meeting, I spend an hour preparing for it,” he said. “I tell my employees, ‘Believe every word I tell you until I lie to you one time, and after I lie to you once, you don’t ever have to believe me again.’”

He also shared with students about how he criss-crossed the U.S., turning dying country music stations into top pro-ducers in the industry until larger corporations began to hire him for executive positions.

While he was working for XM Satellite Radio, Winfrey of-fered him a position with the company.

After turning her down, she upped her offer and Logan accepted.

Logan said he doesn’t believe luck got him to where he is today as much as preparation, opportunity and help from a higher power.

Courtney Corbeille, public relations junior, enjoyed Logan’s visit and said she could relate.

“He is very inspiring,” she said. “I’m a junior in college, and I’m looking for internships. He was a junior in high school, and was already starting his career.”

Chief Harpo exec shares journey of success

Friends, family raising funds to help pay for medical bills

RENEÉ SELANDERS

Th e Oklahoma Daily

While snowboarding during spring break, Logan Liles took a fall that changed his life and is recovering with help from friends and family.

Liles, University College freshman, sus-tained a spinal injury in Durango, Colo., that left him unable to move his legs, hands, fin-gers and wrists. He has been recovering in Denver since March 16, the day of his fall. There is a high chance Liles will fully recover from his injury, and he is currently undergo-ing physical and speech therapy.

Although he is more than 700 miles from OU, he has never been without the support of his Sooner family. From a friend’s com-pany on his medical flight to Craig Hospital in Denver to weekend visits from one of his Phi Delta Theta fraternity brothers, Liles has the company, support and prayers from a network of friends, who are working to raise awareness and collect donations to support Liles and his family.

“He would do anything for you ... I know that he would do the same,” fraternity broth-er Kyle Brown said.

His friends are doing as much as they can because they know Liles would return the favor, he said.

Brown, finance junior, drove to Denver with Liles’ fraternity big brother March 19

after he heard about the injury. He made an-other visit earlier this month and plans to go back to Denver later this month.

Brown and Liles became friends through Phi Delta Theta and church activities. He said Liles’ contagious personality and con-tinuously positive attitude are what move his friends to garner all the support they can for Liles and his family.

“Logan is just one of the best people that I know,” Brown said. “He loves life, loves ev-erything about it, loves people.”

The bonds of the Phi Delta Theta broth-erhood increasingly are visible as fraternity members work with Liles’ friends and fam-ily to solidify fund-raising plans that include hosting a coffee social event and selling LiveStrong bracelets and T-shirts. Brown

said the fraternity has already collected more than $1,000 to help Liles’ family pay for medical bills.

Laura Gassaway, University College fresh-man, was with Liles when he fell. She flew with him to Denver on March 16 and has been working with Phi Delta Theta since, helping raise awareness on campus for Liles’ situation through a Web site with updates on his progress.

“The little stuff that we can do here is going to make a huge impact in the future for him and his family,” Gassaway said. “And I know that Logan, if put in our position, would be doing the same exact thing, if not more, be-cause he’s just so giving and so loving.”

Gassaway met Liles through their Houston church before coming to OU. Liles has sup-ported her when she needed encourage-ment and she views this as her opportunity to pay him back, she said.

Gassaway’s roommate, University College freshman Alex Eppler, also has been instru-mental in organizing fund-raising events. Eppler said she hopes to lighten the load by helping with the financial aspect of Liles’ rehabilitation.

“We can all understand that, especially with the economy the way it is and how intense medical bills can be,” Eppler said. “That was just kind of my inspiration, just knowing that is a burden and just wanting to take that burden off of them, I mean that is such a blessing.”

Gassaway said the fraternity has been an

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The baseball team won two of three games this weekend against the Red Raiders of Texas Tech. Find out how on PAGE 6.

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Oklahoma City’s Dia-mond Ballroom. Read about an evening with

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Logan Liles (left), University College freshman, shown in a Denver hospital with fraternity brother Kyle Brown, is recovering from a spinal injury he received while snowboarding.

CASSIE LITTLE/THE DAILY

Erik Logan, Executive Vice President of Harpo, Inc., speaks to students about his experience in the media market Friday in Gaylord Hall.

ELI HULL/THE DAILY

Redshirt freshman defensive end David King (90) drags down redshirt freshman running back Jermie Calhoun (23) at the Red-White game Saturday afternoon at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Calhoun led all rushers with 19 attempts. See the full story in SPORTS, PAGE 5.

To see more photos from Saturday’s Red-White scrimmage, go to OUDAILY.COM

IT’S FOOTBALL TIME IN OKLAHOMA

ANYTIME AT

To raise awareness of sexual assault, the Women’s Outreach Center will turn the South Oval into a massive clothes-line by displaying T-shirts decorated with students’ personal stories.

The clothesline project was created in Massachusetts in 1990 and more than 500 projects have been held inter-nationally since then. OU’s participa-tion is part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, said center coordinator Kathy Moxley.

T-shirts decorated with words and pictures by students will be displayed on the South Oval until Friday as a tes-timony about the violence that goes on against women, said Madeline Ambrose, center intern and event organizer.

It’s estimated that one in four women will be sexually assaulted by the end of their college careers, and OU students are no exception, said Ambrose, women and gender studies junior. She said dec-orating T-shirts should be a therapeutic and safe outlet for victims of sexual assault to tell their stories.

Ambrose said this month’s events are an attempt to make those on OU’s cam-pus aware of what kind of sexual assault might be happening around them.

Lauren Stalford/The Daily

T-SHIRTS GIVE TESTIMONY ON SEXUAL ASSAULT

RECOVERY CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

incredible source of encouragement for Liles and his family.

“I think a lot of people view greek houses as partying and having fun, but through this I’ve seen that Logan hasn’t been making surface relationships, it’s not like a surface brotherhood,” she said. “These guys really do care about him as a brother and as a friend, and they would go to the end of the earth for

each other.”Liles hopes to use his experience to in-

spire others to have a more positive outlook on life, a true testament of his positive nature, Gassaway said.

“His spirits are so high and he’s just so ex-cited to see what’s going to come next,” she said. “Never once through this entire time have I ever seen him down about it or upset that this happened ... he’s just so excited to see how this is going to change other peo-ple’s lives and how this is going to help other people with things. He’s just really positive.”

Liles’ family has relocated to Denver until their son is discharged from the rehabilita-tion center and he might be back for the fall

2009 semester, Gassaway said.E-mail Brown at [email protected] to learn

about more contribution efforts for Liles.

2 Monday, April 13, 2009

Eight families lose homes in Midwest City, Oakwood East subdivision

MEREDITH SIMONS

Th e Oklahoma Daily

Firefighters and families across Oklahoma were relieved to wake up to rain on Easter Sunday.

The dreary weather marked the end of days of dry, windy weather that helped spread devastating wildfires across the state Thursday and Friday.

Midwest City firefighter John Herndon said Friday he was grateful that winds had died down from the 62-mile-per-hour gusts of Thursday night and Friday morning.

“But what we’re really looking forward to is the rain,” Herndon said.

The weekend rain was a relief, but it came too late for dozens of families whose homes were in the paths of wildfires that burned more than 100,000 acres in Oklahoma and Texas.

The fire that started in Midwest City Thursday afternoon scorched about 2,000 acres in Midwest City and Choctaw.

Getting the fire under control required some help from the wind, which quieted around 2 a.m. Friday, and the efforts of 215 firefighters from 20 central Oklahoma fire departments, according to fire marshal Jerry Lojka.

But the joint effort wasn’t enough to save many homes destroyed by embers from a fire that began in a grassy field and were blown into a wooded area and then into a neigh-borhood. There, they skipped from house to house, blackening yards and engulfing some homes in flames.

Eight families lost their homes in the Oakwood East subdivision of Midwest City, about a mile east of where the fire is believed to have begun.

Valerie Waxenfeller was at home with her children Thursday afternoon in Oakwood East. She was keeping an eye on the TV hop-ing for more information about the smoke

she could see in the air, when a volunteer firefighter came to her house and shouted that her neighbor’s yard was on fire. She put her son, daughter and dog in her car and fled.

“My front yard was full of flames when we pulled out of the driveway,” she said.

Waxenfeller saw news footage of her neighborhood on TV Thursday night but said she still wasn’t prepared for what she saw when she returned to her home Friday.

Friends and family joined her Friday af-ternoon, sorting through the blackened con-tents of her home with rakes, but didn’t find much worth salvaging.

There was one special item, however, that did survive the flames. A quick-thinking neighbor and firefighter saved Waxenfeller’s husband’s prized 1956 Ford truck, a bright yellow hot rod that has been in the family since 1984.

Jack Waxenfeller, Valerie’s father-in-law, said a neighbor who knew about the truck told a firefighter who was vainly shooting water at the already-blazing house that they could save a priceless item inside. The pair broke into the garage and pushed the truck into the driveway. With the house a lost cause, the firefighter trained his hose on the truck, to keep the flames at bay. On Friday afternoon, the truck sat gleaming in the driveway in front of the burned house, un-damaged except for a little soot and a slightly melted taillight.

“I was tickled for my son,” Jack Waxenfeller said. “To me, it’s just stuff. People are impor-tant and stuff is stuff, but I knew he would be tickled pink that his truck was safe.”

Matt Waxenfeller, Jack’s son and Valerie’s husband, is in the Navy and stationed in the Middle East. He’s on his way back to Oklahoma to be with his family and assess the damage to his house.

“The Navy has been really great,” Valerie

Waxenfeller said. “They have really quickly gotten my husband on a plane, and he’s on his way back.”

Across the street from the Waxenfeller’s, Nathan Christmon was surrounded by friends and family helping him put the wet, sooty contents of his home into boxes.

Christmon and his son were turned away from Oakwood East when they tried to re-turn home Thursday evening. The neighbor-hood had been evacuated, so they parked on a hill and watched the fire and smoke in the woods near their house.

“I could see the smoke, but I didn’t know it was my house on fire,” Christmon said.

On Friday morning, he returned to find that he’ll be able to take very little away from the house. Christmon, who is an accountant by day but said his “passion and hobby” is photography, lost two computers and a hard drive full of photos, as well as a lifetime’s worth of momentos.

“The things that you can’t replace, that’s what hurts,” he said.

Two streets away from Christmon’s house, Robert Tanksley surveyed the shell of

his burned-out home Friday, holding a con-tainer of chili delivered by the Red Cross and remarking on little miracles.

“My daughter came up to me earlier and said, ‘Look! I found Jesus!’” Tanksley said.

One of the few items that made it through the fire was a box of Christmas decorations that had been stored in the attic. His daugh-ter found it on the floor of what used to be the garage. A nativity set inside the box had been protected from the flames and emerged a little sooty but otherwise intact.

Tanksley is philosophical about the loss of the house that he and his wife carefully chose 10 years ago.

“We looked so hard when we were picking this house, and this was the perfect one,” he said. “But I’ve been through a lot of things in my life. I’ve learned to take life as stages. This is another stage.”

Tanksley, who is close to retirement, isn’t worried about the future.

“I’m not going to be homeless. I’ve got a good job and good insurance,” Tanksley said with a smile. “I don’t have a marriage certifi-cate, but I’m still married.”

Oklahomans devastated by wildfi re destruction

RecoveryContinues from page 1

JIM BECKEL/THE OKLAHOMAN, VIA AP

Paul Norwood watches as his neighbor’s home is destroyed by wildfires in Midwest City Thursday. Although the home, which belongs to Matt and Valerie Waxenfeller, was destroyed, neighbors and firefighters managed to save the Waxenfeller’s 1956 Ford truck, which has been in the family for 25 years.

OUDAILY.COM

See video of the wildfi re’s aftermath online.

3 Monday, April 13, 2009

Public relations, advertising students gain professional experience through agency

CLARK FOY

Th e Oklahoma Daily

Collaborating with clients on real projects, working in a new Mac computer lab and lounging on top quality furnishings are a few things the new wing of Gaylord Hall will offer advertising and public relations students upon completion this summer.

Gaylord’s second phase will house a stu-dent-led public relations and advertising agency, one of few in the country.

The agency will begin training students this summer with a three-hour class. After the summer, those who have completed the class will assume leadership roles for the fall semester.

“The advertising/PR agency was Dean Joe Foote’s vision to continue providing the best, most innovative education possible for Gaylord College students,” advertising pro-fessor David Tarpenning said in an e-mail. “He has made a tremendous commitment of time, space and resources to the StratComm students; they, in turn, must match that com-mitment with a commitment of their own — to work hard, learn much and go into the business world at the top of their class.”

About 15 students have been hired so far, said Tarpenning, and 14 more public rela-tions students and eight more advertising students will be hired in the fall. The applica-tion process, however, has already come to

an end, as the agency already has a back-list of more than 25 students to be hired during spring 2010.

“I think experience with the agency makes us infinitely more marketable to employers than those who can’t work for a student-ran ad agency,” said Andrew Jones, advertising senior and director of pro-duction for the ad agency.

The real world experience is the main draw toward the agency. Jones and Tarpenning both said employers would rather hire a potential employee with experience in a student-run ad agency over a potential em-ployee who just had internship experience.

“That way, they know you did more than just bring people coffee all day,” Jones said. “With the ad agency, they know that we work with real clients and produce real ads.”

Jones and other students will have the op-portunity to gain this experience with clients of all kinds, including profit and non-profit, big and small, companies from Oklahoma City or even companies from different states, he said.

“I know with ad it is really hard to get a job without experience,” said Rose Russo, adver-tising senior and future head of the agency media department. “We really will be work-ing with real clients and will get experience in time management, deadlines and team and group work.”

The agency itself will be a place unlike any other on campus, Tarpenning said. The sec-ond floor of Gaylord is accessible now and can be observed by students.

The whole agency is built around a center space where a computer lab will be set up

with computers available for those within the agency. There will also be a laptop bar, sev-eral small team meeting rooms with white boards and fogged glass windows that can be written on with dry-erase markers, and a big-ger meeting room with projection screens on two walls and a white board on one wall.

The agency is decked out for good reason, Tarpenning said, and prospective students should understand the serious time commit-ment involved.

After the class this summer, students

working in the agency will be required to at-tend team meetings for two hours on Friday mornings and will have to log five hours mini-mum of work in the agency per week.

“I plan on working a lot more than five hours,” Russo said. “Whatever people put into it is what they will get.”

The agency is aiming to turn a profit, hope-fully by the second year, said Tarpenning. The profit that is generated would go toward scholarships for those students working with-in the agency.

New in-house agency off ers head start for Gaylord students

LILLY CHAPA/THE DAILY

The new addition to Gaylord Hall contains an advertising and public relations firm, which will open in June. This area contains multiple idea rooms, a large conference room and lots of space for students to work on projects by themselves or with others.

SOONER SENIOR SAMPLER: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GRADUATING INTO THE WORST ECONOMIC RECESSION IN RECENT DECADES?

“I’m pretty lost right now. I don’t know what to do — go to law school or go straight into the career fi eld.”

STEVE SMITH, POLITICAL SCIENCE

“I’m extremely terrifi ed because you don’t even know what kind of job you’re going to get, much less if you will even get a job.”

MEGAN NOGGLE, ZOOLOGY

“I plan on avoiding it and just going to grad school. My words of advice: Float for as long as possible.”

JON GOODELL, LETTERS

“It’s not good at all. I’m actually going to try and fi nd a job for a year and then go to graduate school if that does not work out.”

WILLIAM FREEMAN, EAST ASIAN

STUDIES

“I know that it’s hard for people now, but I know the medical fi eld is still strong and hope it will always be strong.”

LYDIA LE, MICROBIOLOGY

“It’s tough trying to fi nd a job, but I’m just going to keep my head up and keep searching.”

ANDREW HOANG, ENERGY

MANAGEMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

— Clark Foy/The Daily

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Sen-ior-itis: A disease contracted by college seniors (fourth and fifth year.) Symptoms generally occur the semes-ter leading into graduation and include a lack of concentration, boredom, pro-crastination and being easily distracted by otherwise mundane activities. Highly contagious.

I am a victim of senioritis.I contracted it pretty

early in the semester. During the first day of classes after Christmas, I found myself stunned as to why I woke up early to pick up a syl-labus, listen to a profes-sor’s short biography, possibly be threatened by talk of high work-loads and then excused after 20 minutes.

I could have been doing other things, I said to myself. I could have been sleeping, reading the police reports in The Daily, or maybe try-ing to pick the lock on my roommate’s door with a paper clip. Each seemed like a possible better use of my time.

I noticed the disease pretty early. I ad-mitted I suffered from it in a first day class survey.

I even said senioritis was “treatable” like a cold. Colds are much easier to con-quer. They come and go. Senioritis stays with you. It stayed with me. It spread.

Leading up to spring break, I was feel-ing it pretty intensely. Numerous nights I skipped planned study time to play intra-mural softball.

Chewing seeds and watching out-of-shape guys lumber around the bases was again a better use of my time. This was me time. School could wait.

I found I was not alone. By the time you’re a senior, you pretty much know what is important and what professors say is important. Quizzes, tests and pa-pers count. Be sure to comb the syllabus carefully, however, and read the fine print.

Social schedules are built around ex-ploiting the syllabus. Test percentages and paper length positively correlate to exactly how much fun you can have. Seniors tend to not only exploit the syl-labus, they downright disregard it.

Quiz, tomorrow? Will my employer ever see this? Is it going to further me in life?

The answers to these questions are predetermined and dictate a pretty in-stantaneous response: “Sure I can go to the Mont!”

Lately, I find my professors to be grow-ing increasingly frustrated with us slack-ing seniors. We, they say, are supposed to be the leaders of the university. Set the example for the next class. Show them the way to work, right up until the end.

But there’s a problem. The senior class before us never did that. They slacked, wondered aloud the importance of the material. Bad precedent was set. We sheep merely followed.

People say this epidemic has been around for generations. You become complacent, you see too many of the angles. In other words, you know how to play the game. Ironically, instead of tak-ing advantage of the game, we let it lull us into a catatonic state of upside-down priorities.

We are like a seasoned boxer who for-gets how to fight in the last round of his last fight. One punch won’t hurt me, he says. Neither will one more. Then you get knocked out.

In this last month of school, senioritis strikes harder than ever.

You start missing class because some cruel roommate just gave you a double-or-nothing bet on a video game you lost for dinner. You play more softball. Karma catches up briefly when you get rocked in the nose with a ball by the third-base-man and you think to yourself that never would have happened if you would have just stayed home and studied.

But you would not have had the fun. And that is the potent ingredient of senioritis.

It is more fun to deny responsibility than to accept it. It is more fun to maxi-mize the last months of social freedom than constrain them with routine. The rest of your life is going to be put on a schedule filled with deadlines, discipline and early-morning cardio.

And for this reason, you delay your search for the cure and let the disease run its course.

Matt Felty is a public administration senior.

Ray Martin, opinion editor

[email protected] • phone: 325-7630 • fax: 325-6051

COMMENTS OF THE DAY »In response to Friday’s Our View about Student Affair com-manding UOSA not to disclose documents.

YOU CAN COMMENT AT

OUDAILY.COM

“UOSA needs to open its records to students, especially the media, now. If UOSA ever wants to appear like it is actu-ally doing something for our students, it needs to deal less with silly rules and start open-ing up. If it would release the records, it might show that UOSA is trying to provide use-

ful services to the university, rather then just wasting our time. With Obama providing all new levels governmental transparency, its time for OU to do the same!

- DONTALK2YOURSELF

4 Monday, April 13, 2009

Meredith Simons Editor-in-ChiefNijim Dabbour Managing EditorJamie Hughes Assistant Managing EditorMack Burke Night EditorRay Martin Opinion EditorZach Butler Photo Editor

Dane Beavers Senior Online EditorWhitney Bryen Multimedia EditorSteven Jones Sports EditorLuke Atkinson Life & Arts EditorJudy Gibbs Robinson Editorial AdviserR.T. Conwell Advertising Manager

The Oklahoma Daily is a public forum and OU’s independent student voice.The opinion page is produced by a staff of columnists and cartoonists who are independent of The Daily’s news staff. Letters to the editor are welcomed. Letters should concentrate on issues, not personalities, and should be fewer than 250 words, typed and signed. Letters may be cut to fit. Students must list their major and classification. OU staff and faculty must list their title. All letters must include a daytime phone number. Submit letters to [email protected] or in person Sunday through Thursday in 160 Copeland Hall.

Guest columns are encouraged. They can be submitted to the opinion editor via e-mail at [email protected]. Comments left on OUDaily.com may be reprinted on the opinion page.’Our View’ is the opinion of majority of the members of The Oklahoma Daily’s editorial board.Editorial Board members are The Daily’s editorial staff. The board meets Sunday through Thursday in 160 Copeland Hall. Columnists’ and cartoonists’ work is representative of their own opinions, not those of the members of The Daily’s Editorial Board.160 Copeland Hall, 860 Van Vleet Oval

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Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins delivered a lecture on the illusion of intentional purpose in nature on March 6 at McCasland Field House.

Earlier that week, Rep. Todd Thomsen, R-Ada, authored two resolutions apropos of Dawkins’ lecture.

These resolutions opposed Dawkins’ invitation to speak be-cause of his “intolerance for cul-tural diversity and diversity of thinking,” and condemned the University of Oklahoma for engag-ing in “one-sided indoctrination” in service of the “unproven and unpopular” theory of evolution.

After this failed to prevent Dawkins from s p e a k i n g , t h e O k l a h o m a L e g i s l a t u r e launched an in-vestigation, de-manding that OU hand over copies of all e-mails and other commu-nications relat-ing to the event, identify all enti-ties who had provided funding for the event and present a complete itemization of costs related to the talk, down to the printing of the one-page posters that had been taped up around campus.

What is the Legislature expect-ing to find? There’s been nothing to suggest financial malfeasance occurred during the coordination of the lecture.

In fact, Dawkins waived his usual speaking fee and, while at OU, spontaneously decided to donate $5,000 to Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education.

However, even if OU had paid Dawkins thousands of dollars of state funds, it would not have been improper.

The only actions here that sug-gest impropriety are those of the Oklahoma Legislature.

There is no reason to suspect il-legal actions behind the Dawkins lecture.

The Legislature does not suspect illegal actions behind the Dawkins lecture. What the Legislature hopes to do is intimidate OU’s ad-ministrators out of hosting similar events in the future.

Thankfully, however, this pseu-do-McCarthyite “investigation” seems to have failed as miserably as Thomsen’s prior resolutions.

OU President David Boren has barely acknowledged the Legislature’s histrionics, much less indicated that he intends to alter OU’s policies on the basis of them.

Those OU faculty who have spo-ken on the Legislature’s actions have done so with concern and annoyance.

Even Dawkins took a few min-utes out of his lecture to poke fun at Thomsen’s resolutions.

But the ineffectuality of these ef-forts should not distract from the fact that they are dishonest, bully-ing attempts to scare OU students and faculty out of exercising their right to free speech.

Thomsen objected to Dawkins’ presence at OU because Dawkins’ “published statements on the the-ory of evolution and opinion about those who do not believe in the theory are contrary and offensive to the views and opinions of most citizens of Oklahoma.”

What would the solution to this be, I wonder?

If OU is not to promote views that oppose those of most Oklahomans, perhaps we should set up polling booths around the state so that we know how to revise our textbooks.

Does the Oklahoman public support evolution or creation? Geosyncline theory or plate tec-tonics? Ptolemaic or Copernican cosmology? I can’t wait to see the results!

Or perhaps Thomsen should just take up residence at OU so that he can vet every single thing that goes into our curriculum.

Thomsen’s assessment of evolu-tion as “unproven and unpopular”

is borderline insane.Evolution by natural selection is

accepted by all but an infinitesimal fringe of biologists, and is as well-substantiated as, say, Copernican cosmology.

I’d rather not burn up the rest of this column reiterating the proof of the theory of evolution’s verac-ity and widespread acceptance, but interested readers might check out my previous column, “Fundamentalist doctrine does not belong in schools,” or, more to the point, a biology textbook.

Thomsen also objected to Dawkins being allowed to speak because “his presence at OU was not about science,” but “to promote an atheistic agenda.”

Dawkins’ lecture was on the subject of biology, not theology. Posters advertising the talk didn’t even announce Dawkins as the au-thor of “The God Delusion.”

The only people to broach the subject of Dawkins’ atheism were

audience members during the Q&A session and Todd Thomsen himself.

Again, one wonders what Thomsen would propose as a solu-tion. Should atheists be forbidden to speak at OU, even on topics un-related to their atheism?

If Thomsen disagrees with some of Dawkins’ assertions, he should argue against them in a way that helps enrich public discourse. After all, as a state representative, he has the ability to communi-cate his arguments to millions of Oklahomans.

I wish my own soapbox were so high!

Instead, Thomsen has tried to bully those who disagree with him into silence. In doing so, he displays the frailty of his own convictions.

Again and again, fundamentalist state representatives like Thomsen, Rebecca Hamilton (who helped spearhead the “investigation” of the Dawkins lecture) and Anita Bryant clone Sally Kern have shown that, in Oklahoma, politicians can en-gage in displays of mind-bending ignorance and suffer no ill effects so long as they pay lip service to Christianity.

It was right and appropriate for OU to invite world-renowned bi-ologist and science writer Richard Dawkins to speak.

It was wrong and stupid of Thomsen et al to try to interfere. Boren is better qualified to run OU than Thomsen.

Zac Smith is an English junior.

Legislature’s anti-Dawkins measures assault free speech

ZACSMITH

MATTFELTY

JAMES CORNWELL/ THE DAILY

Richard Dawkins, author of the God Delusion, speaks in the McCasland Field House on March 6.

STAFF CARTOON -

STAFF COLUMN

STAFF COLUMNOUR VIEW

In the age of Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and Failblog, we thought it had become common knowledge that anything said in public is fair game for recording and potential rebroadcasting.

Which is why we were surprised when an OU speaker and employee attempted to prevent a student from recording at a public event Friday.

A Daily video reporter who was cover-ing a lecture by Erik Logan, a vice president for Harpo, the company owned by Oprah Winfrey, was asked to give up his tape after the lecture.

Two women approached the reporter and demanded he give them his tape – insisting that the public speech contained informa-tion that could not be broadcast for everyone to see. Begrudgingly, he succumbed to their pressure.

The women, one of whom was a Gaylord

College staff member, had no right to com-mand he cough up his material. He was record-ing at a public event. There had been no prior instructions prohibiting cameras.

And you know who should be at least as upset about this as we were? You. The stu-dents.

It’s your right to have access to information about public speeches and forums. And it’s important for you to know the details of those rights so you too can fight to prevent censor-ship in the future.

Fortunately, this situation was resolved when the Gaylord deans intervened, and the tape was returned.

People have a right to know what is said in public forums. We’re glad the leaders of the journalism college recognize this, and we hope other campus departments will remem-ber it nest time they’re tempted to keep infor-mation to themselves.

Seniors, let senioritis run its courseHelp preserve right to public info

The new North Korean fl ag

Matt Reed - broadcast and electronic media senior

Steven Jones, sports editor

[email protected] • phone: 325-7630 • fax: 325-6051

Monday, April 13, 2009 5

Starters play limited minutes; young players get experience

CLAIRE BRANDON

Th e Oklahoma Daily

The right arm of Heisman Trophy win-ner Sam Bradford must have been tired after Saturday’s Red-White spring game — not from throwing passes, but from signing autographs.

After completing 11 of 13 passes for 97 yards in three series, Bradford handed the ball over to the backup quarterbacks to throw in front of the 28,592 in attendance at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

“Obviously you’d want to play a little bit more,” said Bradford, a redshirt sophomore. “But they’re trying to get the young guys some work, and I can understand that.”

A n d a l t h o u g h Bradford will re-turn this fall as OU’s prominent star, the defense stole the show Saturday, 63-36.

“I think [the de-fense] did pretty good,” sophomore linebacker Travis Lewis said. “There were a lot of players fly-ing around and [offense] only scored twice. Pretty good day.”

Along with Bradford, junior defensive tackle Gerald McCoy and junior defensive back Dominique Franks stayed on the side-line for more than 30 minutes to sign auto-graphs for fans.

“I love our fans,” McCoy said. “I think they’re only going to get better. We have a lot of good guys coming back they can’t wait to see on the field. I can’t wait to get back in here, this stadium, this field with people to play in front of.”

Franks intercepted two passes, one of which he returned 42 yards for a touchdown. Senior linebacker J.R. Bryant scored the sec-ond defensive touchdown of the day.

“Dom’s really come along great,” head coach Bob Stoops said. “He’s a guy that has a great feel and a knack in the secondary and I

thought he played really well.”The defense tallied six sacks, including

three by defensive end sophomore Frank Alexander and two by junior defensive end Jeremy Beal.

“Those guys up front are really good de-fensively,” Stoops said.

Even though sophomore safety Desmond Jackson’s statistics rounded out to one tackle on the day, his coverage on the field was one of the best surprises for the head coach.

“Desmond Jackson played so well,” Stoops said. “He played as well as anybody out there and that was exciting to see.”

Jackson, who was playing out of posi-tion at cornerback due to player injuries, also impressed defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

Jackson was on top of his game and really competed well, Venables said. He comment-ed on Jackson’s quick instincts and athleti-cism and ultimately his ability to contribute as a safety and in nickelback situations.

Venables praised Lewis’ leadership on the field.

“ Ve r y s p e c i a l players understand their weaknesses, are their own worst c r i t i c a n d t h e y come to work every day,” Venables said. “Those are your

best players and Travis has those qualities. He’s not about him. He doesn’t have an ego. He lets me coach him hard. He’s saying ‘I’m not any good,’ and that’s the humility he shows.”

Lewis, who had four tackles Saturday, nevertheless critiqued his own play by say-ing he needs to be a better leader.

“We have big expectations for this team and I have big expectations for myself,” Lewis said. “I just want to come out there and, not only make myself better, but make the players around me better. That’s my big-gest goal.”

Supposedly a good defense is a good of-fense, but it’s up to the unit to prove that this fall.

“We just got to play like us,” McCoy said. “We’ve got to play Sooner football. We got to be selfish, can’t give up nothing. Just got to be ready to go.”

AARON COLEN

Th e Oklahoma Daily

It was a tale of two teams over the weekend, as the No. 13 OU softball team split a two-game series with the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence, Kan.

The Sooners dominated Kansas in Friday’s game, winning 8-0 in six innings, but lost 4-2 on Saturday.

OU is now 31-13 overall and 8-4 in Big 12 play.

Everything was working for OU in the first game. Senior pitcher D.J. Mathis started and got the win for the Sooners, pitching five shut-out innings while only allowing one hit.

F r e s h m a n p i t c h e r Kirsten Allen pitched the sixth inning, giving up no hits and striking out one batter.

OU’s offense played well, despite getting no hits from the team’s big three of junior second base-man Amber Flores, senior first baseman Samantha Ricketts and junior catcher Lindsey Vandever, scoring five runs in the first inning alone, with the other three coming later in the sixth inning.

Freshman catcher Katie Norris had a big game, going two for four with three RBIs. Freshman shortstop Karolyne Long continued her recent hit streak, as she was 1-3 with two RBIs.

Freshman right fielder Evan Sallis also had an

RBI, and the other two of the Sooners’ runs were un-earned. Kansas had two er-rors in the game.

OU did not look like the same team on Saturday in its loss. Mathis started again but only lasted two innings on the mound. She gave up all four runs on six hits be-fore being taken out of the game in favor of freshman pitcher Allee Allen. Allen did not allow a hit or a run and struck out six.

Mathis picked up both decisions, a win and a loss in the series, and is now 10-4 this year.

The Sooners had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the seventh

inning but were unable to score in the inning.

Ricketts hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, tying the OU career home run record and giving the Sooners their first run of the game.

OU’s second run came in the fifth when sophomore Krystle Huey scored on a hit by sophomore Haley Anderson. Both Huey and Anderson went 2-3 on the day.

O U r e t u r n s h o m e Wednesday evening, host-ing Oklahoma State in the first game of the Bedlam Series. First pitch from the OU Softball Complex is slated for 7 p.m.

SOFTBALL

DEFENSE LOOKS PROMISING, WINSRED-WHITE GAME

FOOTBALL

JAMES CORNWELL/ THE DAILY

Redshirt freshman running back Jermie Calhoun (23) makes his way through the defense during the Red-White Game Saturday at the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Calhoun finished the day with 19 yards on 19 attempts.

RED-WHITE GAME

DEFENSIVE LINE SHINES IN GAME

While the defensive line was wreaking havoc up front, the Sooners’ secondary was ben-efitting from rushed quarter-backs and errant passes during Saturday’s Red-White Spring Football Game.

Following a three-intercep-tion performance in the 2008 spring game and a four-inter-ception regular season, junior defensive back Dominique Franks stepped up and took control of the scrimmage as he interfered with many passes and intercepted two. Neither of his interceptions came against returning quarterback Sam Bradford.

Franks’ fi rst interception dur-

ing the fi rst quarter off redshirt freshman quarterback Landry Jones was returned 42 yards for a touchdown.

“[Franks] has really come along great,” head coach Bob Stoops said. “He’s a guy that has a great feel and knack in the secondary.”

Franks recorded two tackles, half a sack and a second inter-ception late in the contest.

Stoops said he was also impressed with the play of f reshman defens ive back Desmond Jackson.

“ I thought one o f the best surprises out there was Desmond Jackson,” Stoops said. “He played as well as any-body out there today, and that was exciting to see.”

Jackson had one tackle and defl ected three passes.

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables said Jackson has been impressive throughout spring practice.

“He really competed for the ball today and really showed up well in the run game,” Venables said. “He’s a guy who’s defi-nitely in the mix at safety and situations.”

D e s p i t e p l a y i n g w e l l , the defense can learn from Saturday’s game that it still has work to do before becoming a dominant force in September.

“We did a lot of great things, but at the same time we did a lot of negative,” Franks said. “For us now it’s just [to] go back to the film and correct whatever we did and hopefully we’ll be able to move forward.”

—Jono Greco/The Daily

OUDAILY.COM

For more photos from the Red-White Spring Game go online.

SLIDESHOW

Sooners split two-game series with Kansas Jayhawks

AMY FROST/THE DAILY

Senior first baseman Samantha Ricketts makes a play at first base during a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks Wednesday at the OU Softball Complex.

Go online for a track and field slideshow

and weekend wrap up.OUDAILY.COM

SPORTS BRIEFS »

So far, the OU baseball team has breezed through its first 36 games, posting a 28-8 record. But the Sooners are rolling into a pivotal stretch where they must continue to win every se-ries they play.

Here are some reasons why it’s all the more important in the upcoming stretch:

1. The conference is on the line — After the Sooners host TCU in their mid-week contest Tuesday night, they travel to Austin for a rivalry series with Texas.

This year, it has profound implications. OU, at 8-4 in the Big 12, sits only half of a game ahead of the Longhorns, who are tied with Baylor at 9-6 in the conference, heading into a crucial series.

The winner will likely have a share of the conference lead, if not outright possession of first place. And for the Sooners, they play Baylor as their next Big 12 opponent immediately following the Longhorns.

If OU could take a pair of series victories against Texas and Baylor, it would be in good shape, having defeated each of the other current top four teams in the Big 12.

2. OU is playing for a home regional — The Sooners, with their 28-8 record, including a 17-2 mark at home, are vying for one of the 16 regional spots when the 2009 NCAA Baseball Regional brackets are released in about a month and a half.

In last week’s Baseball America poll, OU sat just outside the Top 10 in the 11th slot, one behind Miami.

And should the Sooners continue to roll through confer-ence play, they might be working their way towards a na-tional top eight seed, which could guarantee them a Super

Regional, should they win a regional they host.3. Winning keeps the momentum — Baseball is a quick

season. Here we are already halfway through it, which makes it all the more important to keep the course because one bad game can turn into several bad games and kill a good stretch. In college baseball, momentum is a huge thing.

Right now, despite the Sooners’ 5-1 Saturday loss in their series finale against Texas Tech, they have momentum.

Between the third inning of the finale against Missouri and the third inning of the final game against Tech, OU posted 36 straight innings of shutout baseball. The Sooners should be feeling good about themselves right now.

But this makes it all the more important for the Sooners to continue winning as they head into the middle portion of April with some major opponents lurking in the near future.

Joey Helmer, journalism senior.

JON GRECO

Th e Oklahoma Daily

Despite allowing just five runs in three games, the No. 11 baseball team could not complete a series sweep against Texas Tech Saturday, dropping the finale 5-1.

The Sooners (28-8, 8-4) took the series opener 6-0 and won the series Saturday 4-0 in game one of a double-header before Texas Tech (16-22, 7-8) avoided the sweep.

Saturday’s loss was OU’s second loss at L. Dale Mitchell Park this season – the first coming in a 11-9 game against Nebraska on March 29 – and marked the fourth road vic-tory for the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech prevented the Sooners’ first sweep in a Big 12 series.

Texas Tech ended OU’s 36-inning shut-out streak in the third inning when the Red Raiders scored with a RBI-sacrifice fly and a throwing error by sophomore pitcher Antwonie Hubbard (1-2) scored a second run.

Texas Tech sophomore pitcher Chad Bettis (4-0) allowed four hits and struck out nine on 153 pitches.

The Red Raiders added three insurance runs in the ninth inning on a two-run double by junior right fielder Taylor Ashby who later scored on an error by junior shortstop Bryant Hernandez.

The Sooners added a run of their own in

the bottom half of the ninth to avoid their first shutout loss of the season, but could not mount a comeback as Bettis struck out freshman right fielder Chris Ellison for the final out.

Freshman third baseman Gar rett Buechele’s 0-2 day snapped his 15-game hit-ting streak. During his streak he hit .466 with four doubles, four homers and 16 RBIs.

“That was one of our goals, to win every series,” senior second baseman Matt Harughty said. “It’s a little disappointing that we couldn’t finish.”

All three parts of the Sooners’ game - de-fense, pitching and hitting - were working in Friday’s series opener. Junior pitcher Andrew Doyle (4-2) gave up six hits while striking out four in eight shutout innings. OU scored one in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth and one in the fifth. Buechele went 4-4 Friday night, a career high, with four sin-gles while driving in two runs.

“I saw [the ball] pretty well [tonight],” Buechele said. “The second at-bat I got a slash-call and I kind of bled it in there. It was kind of lucky, but I’ll take it.”

Game two’s shutout was OU’s third con-secutive as it downed Texas Tech with a pair of two-run innings. The Sooners have re-corded three straight shutouts seven times in the program’s history; the last occurring in 1985.

Junior pitcher Stephen Porlier (1-0) made

his first start for the Sooners after missing the entire 2008 season with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. He was almost flawless in his longest outing of the season as he threw five scoreless innings while striking out five Red Raiders. Porlier was perfect through 3 1/3 innings before surrendering his first of two hits in the fourth.

“Today there was no pain,” Porlier said. “I had all three pitches working for me.”

OU head coach Sunny Golloway said

Porlier’s outing on Saturday can be credited to experience.

“He’s not as firm as he has been or as firm as he’s going to be, but he mixed three pitch-es really well and he let experience take over,” Golloway said.

The Sooners complete their homestand at 7 p.m. Tuesday against the No. 19 Texas Christian Horned Frogs. OU defeated TCU 8-7 March 17 in Fort Worth in its only other meeting of the season.

Tech prevents sweep, wins 5-1

STAFF COLUMN

BASEBALL

Series wins even more important in coming weeks for Sooners

AMY FROST / THE DAILY

Redshirt freshman third baseman Garrett Buechele bats for the Sooners during the first game of a doubleheader against Nebraska March 29. The Sooners went 2-1 against Texas Tech during their weekend series.

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Luke Atkinson, L&A editor

[email protected] • phone: 325-5189 • fax: 325-6051

EDITOR’S NOTE: Kyle Lynch, lead singer and guitarist for Somerset West, spoke with The Daily’s Joshua Boydston Saturday. For more information and a chance to listen to Somerset West, visit myspace.com/somersetwest.

Oklahoma City band Somerset West took some time Saturday to show Oklahomans what hard rock is all about.

While evoking a sound reminis-cent of Brand New and Taking Back Sunday, Somerset West crafts pow-erful, melodic songs with their own unique twist. Where the band truly shines is on the stage; they flood each venue with passion, sweat, churning riffs and roaring vocals. Judging from the stellar title track and “The Great Mistake,” their new album, “Lucerne,” looks to be the well-earned result of one of the hardest working bands in the metro area.

SO WHY DID YOU GUYS DECIDE TO PURSUE A MUSICAL CAREER?Kyle Lynch: Well, we just all love music,

plain and simple. It’s a passion and an outlet.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR THE BAND SO FAR?Lynch: Funding is definitely the biggest issue. Recording and touring are far from cheap. It takes a toll on the pocket book, but it is definitely worth it in the long run.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN THE DEFINING MOMENT OF THE BAND?Lynch: Probably meeting our good friend Andy Loper. He gave us a chance and some really good advice.

WHAT BANDS AND MUSICIANS INFLUENCE YOUR MUSIC?Lynch: Most recently: Brand New, As Cities Burn, Thrice, Sparta. Of course each of the other guys would have a different list as well. I think it creates a

nice, diverse sound.

IF YOU COULD CREATE YOUR IDEAL TOUR LINEUP TO PLAY WITH, WHO WOULD IT BE?Lynch: I would have to go with At The Drive-In, The Get Up Kids and Brand New.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST INTERESTING MOMENT YOU'VE FACED ON TOUR?Lynch: There have been some crazy things, but finding a place to sleep al-ways seems to become the biggest chal-lenge. It is always interesting!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG TO PERFORM AND WHY?Lynch: Probably “Lucerne.” It’s a fun song to play, and it means a lot to me personally.

-Joshua Boydston is a psychology freshman.

RICKY MARANON

Th e Oklahoma Daily

Fresh from a new haircut and just a week and a half from the release of his new album “Free,” Gavin DeGraw rocked the stage at the Diamond Ballroom Saturday night with his mix of rock and the blues.

Opening with the song “Dancing Shoes” from his new album, DeGraw once again proved his reputation of being an indepen-dent rock artist is stronger than ever, in a time where hip-hop and rap seem to over shadow other genres, with his moving mix of guitar, piano and vocals.

His band performed solos on bass guitar and drums, and DeGraw also sang his adap-tations of Bob Marley.

Rounding out the evening was an encore performance with him singing his major hit, “I Don’t Want To Be” while dancing atop his piano.

Before taking to the stage, he sat down for

an interview to talk about life and the new album.

DeGraw said his inspiration for writing “Free” came from his bar, The National Underground, which he and his brother Joey opened together in New York City.

“We wanted a place that is very low key, like a living room, where we can be opinion-ated about music,” he said. “Being around other musicians and hearing their opinions is what really helped me tap into the true meaning of freedom. I was reminded why I began to play music.”

It was then, DeGraw began to think about his next album.

“I wanted to make the album we all want to make,” he said. “I wanted something at the grassroots level. I wanted to make a musician’s album by maintaining intimacy while keeping it small. Being free is making more with less.”

DeGraw said he enjoys people taking his music to deeper levels than just listening to

the words. “Music is the way that I can say the things

that are on my mind, and I am flattered that others are associating with something they may hear in a line or two,” he said. “It gives me a sense of pride that my music can bring people together. It is my mission to unite everyone and feel like we can accomplish something.”

He is even humbled when it comes to being called famous.

“I’m not a tabloid musician,” he said. “If I’m famous, then that is because people are listening to my music and know me through my songs, and if they are listening and en-joying my music then that makes me even more proud.”

DeGraw attributes much of his feelings towards fame and money to his family.

“My parents laid it all on the line for me and the rest of my family,” he said. “I learned from them that there are things more valu-able than money.”

When he is not touring or at his bar, DeGraw is giving his time to charity organizations.

Before coming to Oklahoma City, he played for patients at a children’s hos-pital in Dallas for the Musicians On Call organization.

“It’s very rewarding,” he said. “Sometimes when I play, I’ll get so into it that I’ll forget to eat.”

He also teamed up with the NBA and actor Tom Cavanaugh to pass out mosquito nets to help stop malaria in Uganda with the Nothing But Nets organization.

DeGraw is also pursuing an interest in acting, and would also like to try skydiving.

He also wanted to leave some advice for OU students.

“Whatever job you are thinking about doing, make sure you have a passion for it,” he said.

DeGraw’s new album “Free” is now avail-able in stores and on iTunes.

PHOTO PROVIDED

Local rock band Somerset West held a release party Saturday for their newest album, Lucerne.

Somerset West delivers diverse soundBAND Q&A

DEGRAW DISHES ON FAME, ‘FREE’

« WHAT’S ON TV?

Looking for something to watch this week? Check out ‘What to Watch’ on OUDaily.com for a list of shows.

OUDAILY.COM

Gavin DeGraw sings his hits Saturday at the Diamond Ballroom in Oklahoma City. DeGraw, a rock and blues musician from South Fallsurg, NY, is on tour and promoting his latest album, “Free.”The music on the album is inspired by events that occured in his New York City bar, The National Underground. Before going on tour, DeGraw volunteered for charity organizations and visited children’s hospitals to play his music.

ELIZABETH NALEWAJK/ THE DAILY

OUDAILY.COM

Check out a slideshow from the concert online.

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NO PETS, References Required.Contact: 329-1933 or 550-7069

Clean 3 bdrm, 1 bath near campus, big yard, fi replace, basement, $800/mo. 447-8313.

JUNE RENTAL850 S Flood - $475+bills. 212 S Flood - $600+bills. Smoke-free, no pets, 1 year

lease, security dep. 360-3850

TOWNHOUSES UNFURNISHED

Taylor Ridge Townhomes2 Bdrm, 2.5 Bath, Fully Renovated

Townhomes near OU!Pets Welcome! • Call for current rates

and Move-in Specials!!!Taylor Ridge Townhomes

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ROOMS FURNISHED

NEAR OU, privacy, $250, bills paid in-cludes cable, neat, clean, parking. Prefer male student. Call 329-0143.

Employment

HELP WANTED

Housing RentalsJ Housing RentalsJ

APTS. UNFURNISHED HOUSES UNFURNISHED

Housing RentalsJ

8 Monday, April 13, 2009

Previous Answers

3 4 2 59 3 2 8

7 1 8 92 5 4 9

8 7 2 56 9 4 3

5 6 8 19 1 3 7

4 7 2 5Instructions:Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

Previous Solution

Monday- Very EasyTuesday-EasyWednesday- EasyThursday- MediumFriday - Hard

5 9 1 8 4 3 6 7 27 2 3 1 6 9 5 4 84 8 6 5 2 7 9 3 19 5 4 3 1 8 2 6 78 6 7 9 5 2 4 1 33 1 2 4 7 6 8 9 52 4 8 6 3 1 7 5 91 7 5 2 9 4 3 8 66 3 9 7 8 5 1 2 4

Universal Crossword

“TWO ABREAST” by Jill Carney

ACROSS 1 Kind of

pudding 5 Where

students go at night

9 Bat shaper 14 Cover a gift 15 Philhar-

monic instrument

16 It’s enough to make you cry

17 “God’s Little ___”

18 Abbreviated moments

19 Fairy-tale tyrants

20 Pair who took vows

23 “In an ___ world …”

24 Accelerator particles

25 Sports network

28 Place for quiet, at times

29 Be beholden to

31 ___ Paulo, Brazil

33 Tic-tac-toe winner

34 Cowgirl Dale 36 Protective

covering 38 Quiet

business associate?

42 Part of a play

43 Evidence of cooking

44 Herd word 45 Afternoon

drink, for

many 48 Part of the

great seal of the U.S.

49 It’s pressed for cash

52 First name in mysteries

54 Jazzy Fitzgerald

56 Cartoon dog

58 Certain look-alike

61 Garden gastropod

63 At the apex 64 Key partner 65 Camping

digs 66 Hardly

genteel 67 Sal the

mule’s canal 68 Out 69 Earned a

citation 70 “I guess so”DOWN 1 Mystic

masters 2 Air hockey

setting 3 Attic 4 “Don

Giovanni,” for one

5 Aspirin label datum

6 Following orders

7 “Fidelio” jailer

8 Pions, e.g. 9 Aerial

maneuver 10 It may be

acute or obtuse

11 Tedious

12 Weekly weeder?

13 Two from Connecticut?

21 “What a great gift!”

22 “Surfin’ ___” (1963 Beach Boys hit)

26 Below C level?

27 Neither counterpart

30 Pallid 32 Kind of

cookie 34 Wallach, for

one 35 Hot springs

facility 37 Genetic

messenger letters

38 Surgery souvenir

39 Pisa residents

40 Certain three-digit number

41 Man in a colorful mnemonic

42 Lincoln’s nickname

46 Velvet end? 47 Promising

places 49 On the job 50 Nixon

daughter 51 Organ

grinder’s aide

53 Corrects copy

55 Illuminated 57 One of

several popes

59 Apart from this

60 Did a Little bit?

61 NASCAR advertiser

62 Theater funding gp.

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

Edited by Timothy E. Parker April 13, 2009

© 2009 Universal Press Syndicatewww.upuzzles.com

MOMBASA, Kenya — U.S. Navy snipers opened fire and killed three pirates holding an American captain at gunpoint, delivering the skipper unharmed and ending a five-day high-seas hostage drama on Easter Sunday.

Capt. Richard Phillips was in “imminent danger” of being killed before snipers shot the pirates in an operation autho-rized by President Barack Obama, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.

He said the pirates were armed with AK-47s and small-caliber pistols and were pointing the rifles at the captain when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge gave the order to open fire.

Gortney, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the White House had given “very clear guid-ance and authority” to take action if Phillips’ life was in danger.

Phillips’ crew, who said they had escaped after he offered himself as a hostage, erupted in cheers aboard their ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya. Some waved an American flag and fired flares in celebration.

Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was not hurt in several minutes of gunfire and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet said he was resting comfortably on a U.S. warship after receiving a medi-cal exam.

“I’m just the byline. The real heroes are the Navy, the Seals, those who have brought me home,” Phillips said by phone to Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart, the company head told reporters. A photo released by the Navy showed Phillips unharmed and shaking hands with the com-manding officer of the Bainbridge

Obama said Phillips had courage that was “a model for all Americans” and he was pleased about the rescue, adding that the United States needs help from other countries to deal with the threat of piracy and to hold pirates accountable.

The Defense Department twice asked Obama for permis-sion to use military force to rescue Phillips, most recently late Friday evening, U.S. officials said. On Saturday morning, Obama signed off on the Pentagon’s request, as he had a day earlier, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of ano-nymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The Navy said Phillips was freed at 7:19 p.m. local time. He was taken aboard the Norfolk, Virginia-based Bainbridge and then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for the medical exam, 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen said.

Gortney said Richard Phillips was found to be in good health and suffered no apparent injuries despite being “tied up inside the lifeboat” over much of the ordeal. The USS Boxer was in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia, Christensen said.

U.S. officials said a fourth pirate had surrendered and was in military custody. FBI spokesman John Miller said that would change as the situation became “more of a criminal issue than a military issue.”

A spokeswoman for the Phillips family, Alison McColl, said Phillips and his wife, Andrea, spoke by phone shortly after he was freed.

“I think you can all imagine their joy and what a happy moment that was for them,” McColl said outside of the Phillips home in Underhill. “They’re all just so happy and relieved. Andrea wanted me to tell the nation that all of your

prayers and good wishes have paid off because Capt. Phillips is safe.”

When Phillips’ crew heard the news aboard their ship in the port of Mombasa, they placed an American flag over the rail. Crew fired two bright red flares into the sky from the ship.

“We made it!” said crewman ATM Reza, pumping his fist in the air.

“He managed to be in a 120-degree oven for days, it’s amaz-ing,” said another of about a dozen crew members who came out to talk to reporters. He said the crew found out the cap-tain was released because one of the sailors had been talking to his wife on the phone.

As the pirates shot in the air, Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crew members said.

Phillips was then held hostage in an enclosed lifeboat that was closely watched by U.S. warships and a helicopter in an increasingly tense standoff.

Firefi ght frees US sea captain

SAYYID AZIM / AP PHOTO

Crew members of the ship Maersk Alabama celebrate Sunday after their captain was released at the Mombasa port in Kenya. Guarded by Navy Seals, the crew of the American ship reached a Kenyan port Saturday evening without their captain, who was still being held hostage by Somali pirates in a lifeboat hundreds of miles from shore. Even as the Maersk Alabama pulled into port, the crew of an Italian-flagged tugboat was being held by pirates who seized it in a new attack.

CAMPUS NOTESTODAY

WOMEN’S OUTREACH

CENTER

The Women’s Outreach Center will present the Clothesline Project at 10 a.m. on the South Oval.

TUESDAY

CHRISTIANS ON CAMPUS

Christians on Campus will host a Bible study at noon in the student union.

OU LIBRARIES

OU Librarians will host Research Rescue at 8 p.m. in Couch Center.

POLICE REPORTS

POLICE REPORTSNames are compiled by the

Norman Police Department and

OUPD. The reports serve as a

record of arrests and citations,

not convictions. Those listed

are innocent until proven guilty.

DOMESTIC ABUSEDewayne Daniels, 21,

1201 Erie Ave., Saturday

Bobbi Lynn Ross, 26, 1203

Rebecca Lane, Friday

Travis Edward Stuermer, 31,

1203 Rebecca Lane, Friday

PUBLIC INTOXICATIONWilburn Johnell Edwards, 25,

1430 W. Lindsey St., Saturday

Thomas Joe Harjo, 36, East

State Highway 9, Saturday

Lance Wayne Steen, 29,

901 N. Porter Ave., Friday

Shawn Dee Toolate, 31, 1300

E. Lindsey St., Saturday

Rowdy Duane Marcum, 22,

1201 E. Lindsey St., Friday

Sean Connell Rader, 22,

1201 E. Lindsey St., Friday,

also outraging public

decency and interference

with offi cial process

Mark Oliver Blaker, 50, 2543

W. Main St., Wednesday

DISTURBING THE PEACEBraden Rawdon McCaleb,

19, 800 W. Lindsey St.,

Thursday, also unlawful use

of a chauffeur’s license

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCERichard Micheal Ferree, 55,

West Main Street, Friday

Christopher Allen Macias, 26,

1300 E. Lindsey St., Saturday

Craig Alan Poafpybitty,

19, 13800 East State

Highway 9, Saturday

Mason Reed Womack, 25,

East Duffy Street, Saturday

Brittany Nicole Smith, 18,

Oakhurst Avenue, Friday, also

possession of a controlled

dangerous substance and

possession of marijuana

Daniel Blake Stone, 19,

Oak Tree Avenue, Friday

Eric Lee Henderson, 36, East

State Highway 9, Thursday

Matthew Alan Overland,

28, West Robinson

Street, Wednesday

AGGRAVATED DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCEZack Sawyer Smith, 22, 2600

Cypress Ave., Saturday

Michael Joseph Olivera, 25,

East Lindsey Street, Friday

PETTY LARCENYKaye Francis Martin, 60,

3499 W. Main St., Saturday

Caryn Deere, 35, 3499 W.

Main St., Wednesday

Alyxndria Lea Drewery, 20,

3499 W. Main St., Wednesday

Rowdi Paige Lynch, 20, 3499

W. Main St., Wednesday

OUTRAGING PUBLIC DECENCYBrendan Max Ramos, 22,

700 Asp Ave., Saturday

MUNICIPAL WARRANTJamie L. Thompson, 26, 201

Chalmette Drive, Saturday

COUNTY WARRANTBenjamin Cole Broudy, 27,

500 E. Alameda St., Friday

POSSESSION OF WEAPONSGilbert Carl Gibson, 18, 1520

Central Parkway, Thursday

AGE MISREPRESENTATIONKaitlyn Cain Hadaway, 20,

747 Asp Ave., Friday

POSSESSION OF ALCOHOLChristopher M. Johnston,

20, 1131 Elm Ave., Thursday,

also unlawful possession

of a chauffeur’s license

POSSESSION OF FAKE IDLauren Taylor Schlueter,

20, 747 Asp Ave., Friday

ASSAULT AND BATTERYMark Anthony Hall, 23, 1948

Fillmore Ave., Wednesday

Richard Dewayne Hall, 28,

1910 Fillmore Ave., Wednesday

Save a Life.Call the Hotline at

325-5000to report hazing,

illegal or unsafe drinking.All calls are anonymous.

The University of Oklahoma is an Equal Opportunity Institution.

LONGEST Happy Hour

in Norman!

POOL TOURNEY TONIGHT!

4 P.M. - 12 A.M.

•Bud•Bud Light

$100 DRAFTS•Coors Light•AmberBock

Whiskey Sour -

Corona -

$200 sm$300 lg$300

Specials

Monday, April 13, 2009

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- When performing a complicated task, don’t use any new procedures or unfamiliar tools without totally schooling yourself on how to do the job. If you’re unprepared, you could make a costly mistake.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- You will defeat yourself and your purposes if you are unduly possessive of the one you love. The harder you grasp someone, the more that person will try to pull away. No one likes to be restrained.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- When in the presence of family members or outsiders, make it a point to keep your differences with your mate to yourself. Wait to air things out in private.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- If something is bugging you or if someone says something disturbing, it is better to keep your feelings to yourself. Caus-tic comments will merely invite retaliation or angry feelings.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Your most critical area could have to do with your fi nancial dealings. It will eventually bring you remorse or a pain in the wallet if you waste your hard-earned money on nonsensical spending.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Sometimes we can bluff our way through circumstances where we could lose big. Unless you have an ace in the hole, don’t raise the stakes thinking it will scare off the opposition. You’ll lose.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- Adopting a negative attitude will put a lid on anything good that might happen for you. If you tend to be antagonistic, you will attract situations and people who will meet your challenges with hostility.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Unless you’re careful about the handling of money, chances are you will end up wasting funds earmarked for essentials. You can have a good time without robbing Peter to pay Paul.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- That lucky star you were born under won’t help you when it comes to taking chances. If you have to choose between logic and recklessness, rely only on common sense.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You could be your own worst enemy by making that which should be easy into something tedious and diffi cult. Being thwarted by obstacles of your own making is just plain stupid.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- A well-intentioned friend who is enamored of a deal where the value could be greatly exagger-ated may try to sell you on the idea as well. Play it safe, and get a second opinion.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- It’s diffi cult to make a wise decision under pressure, so don’t let anyone place you in a position where your back is up against a wall. Refuse to agree to anything until you are free to think.

HOROSCOPE By Bernice Bede Osol

Copyright 2008, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.

Monday, April 13, 2009 9

OU STUDENTSYOU ARE INVITED!

International Political Analyst and Best-Selling Author“How Should the New President Reshape America’s Foreign Policy”

5 p.m.

TODAYSandy Bell Gallery, Mary and Howard Lester Wing

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art

Please respond by calling the Office of Special Events at 325-3784.

For accommodations on the basis of disability, call the Office of Special Events at (405) 325-3784.

Informal Discussion

Fareed Zakaria

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.

International political analyst Fareed Zakaria is the author of The Post-American World, a New York Times best-seller about the “rise of the rest” — the growth of China, India, Brazil and many other countries — and what it means for the future. He is the editor of Newsweek International, overseeing all of Newsweek’s editions abroad, and is the host of Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN Worldwide. His award-winning cover stories and columns reach more than 25 million readers each week.

10 Monday, April 13, 2009