FEATURES

About a month away from retir-ing, Joe Harris realized a sad truth: the Shawnee Library System may not exist next year.

With � scal year 2010 coming to a close, Shawnee lacks almost half of pending state grant payments, making cuts in services inevitable and the future uncertain.

� e system supplies 32 counties in southern Illinois with an online book catalog, consulting services and system technicians. Its cata-log contains more than 2.5 million items and delivers books and other items to 77 public libraries and 113 school districts. � e system even supplies those services to SIUC.

But it may not be around

much longer.According to a report by Comp-

troller Dan Hynes, the Illinois State Library has 1,277 grant payments that must be issued before the end of the � scal year, making cuts in-evitable not only for Shawnee but for all of Illinois.

In recent board meeting, ex-ecutive director of the Shawnee Li-brary System � omas “Joe” Harris told his sta� services would have to be cut and consolidated, adding that they should begin looking for new employment right away.

“If we run just as we are now we will be out of money by Oct. 1 or Oct. 15… that’s the lights o� , the servers o� , no trucks running, ev-erybody gone,” Harris said. “We can’t allow that to happen.”

In the meantime, Harris said he’s looking for ways to maintain with the least amount of negative impact. He calls it “damage con-trol.”

David Carlson, dean of library a� airs at SIU, said on his end the issue is just another a� ecting the quality o� ered by Morris Library.

Last year, more than 1,000 journal subscriptions were cut, hours were shortened and now support from the Shawnee System is hanging in the balance, Carlson said.

“I come back to the Legislature; I’m not blaming them, but some-one needs to step up and pose a solution,” he said.

Harris said he has been talking with other library systems, such as Lewis and Clark and Alliance Li-brary Systems in hopes that they can begin to share a consulting sta� and possibly merge the sys-tems.

In the 80’s there were around 19 library systems and now there are only nine remaining, Harris said. He said soon there might only be � ve or six le� to serve the state.

“We realize that Shawnee may

not exist in a year, but in my 38 years I’ve never seen anything like this,” Harris said.

Harris said he’d probably be the last director Shawnee will ever have. He will retire at the end of June, leaving the budget crisis to interim director Ellen Popit.

“It’s a little like the oil slick in the gulf,” Carlson said. “You can see it happening, but you can’t stop it.”

� e Shawnee system plans to sell its 68-year-old building and six acres of land in hopes of di� using costs. Harris is awaiting appraisal � gures before taking that option to the board.

Christina Spakousky can be reached at editor@dailyegyptian.com. or

531-3311 ext. 259

Shawnee Library System prepares for big changes and even bigger cuts

Barney Barnhert, of Anna, sells freshly picked strawberries Tuesday along West Main Street across from Shnucks. “You should see them right after they are picked, a whole truck load of berries glistening in the sun — it’s beautiful,” said

Barnhert. The berries were grown at Blue Berry Hill Farm in Cobden and are being sold in multiple locations in the area. “I just love them; try one, they’re delicious,” said Barnhert.

DAN DWYER | DAILY EGYPTIAN

CHRISTINA SPAKOUSKYDaily Egyptian

I t’s a little like the oil slick in the gulf. You can see it happening, but you can’t stop it.

— David Carlson dean of SIU library affairs

SUMMER STRAWBERRIES FOR SALE

Daily Egyptian News Wednesday, May 26, 20102

About Us� e Daily Egyptian is published by the stu-

dents of Southern Illinois University Carbondale 50 weeks per year, with an average daily circulation of 20,000. Fall and spring semester editions run Mon-day through Friday. Summer editions run Tuesday through � ursday. All intersession editions will run on Wednesdays. Spring break and � anksgiving edi-tions are distributed on Mondays of the pertaining weeks. Free copies are distributed in the Carbondale, Murphysboro and Carterville communities. � e Daily Egyptian online publication can be found at www.dailyegyptian.com.

Publishing Information� e Daily Egyptian is published by the stu-

dents of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. O� ces are in the Communications Building, Room 1259, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL 62901. Bill Freivogel, � scal o� cer. Copyright Information

© 2010 Daily Egyptian. All rights reserved. All content is property of the Daily Egyptian and may not be reproduced or transmitted without consent. � e Daily Egyptian is a member of the Illinois College Press Association, Associated Col-legiate Press and College Media Advisers Inc.

Mission Statement� e Daily Egyptian, the student-run news-

paper of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is committed to being a trusted source of news, information, commentary and public discourse, while helping readers understand the issues a� ect-ing their lives.

Reaching Us Phone: (618) 536-3311

Fax: (618) 453-3248E-mail: editor@dailyegyptian.com

The Weather Channel® 5 day weather forecast for Carbondale, Ill.

Today

30% chance of precipitation

Thursday Friday Saturday

30% chance of precipitation

Sunday

10% chance of precipitation

85°65°

86°67°

82°62°

83°64°

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40% chance of precipitation

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WIRE REPORTS

Carbondale police arrested and charged Shane C. Hassler, 32, for retail felony the¥ May 22 at 5 p.m. Police responded to the call on the 1200 block of East Main St. Hassler is being held in the Jack-son County Jail.

Carbondale police arrested and charged Ronotta J. Hooks, 38, of Carbondale and Stacy Smith, 42, of Carbondale for retail fel-ony the¥ May 22 at 2:45 p.m on the 1200 block of East Main St. Hooks and Smith are being held in the Jackson County Jail.

SIUC police discovered a burglary in the engineering building May 18 at 11 a.m. Microphones valued at $3,400 have been reported missing and there are no suspects.

Daily EgyptianFeaturesWednesday, May 26, 2010 3

SIU’s Honors Program will be teaming up with high school counsel-ors to take student recruitment to an-other level by using a conventional, yet reputable, method — word of mouth.

Lori Merrill-Fink, director for the Honors Program, said this form of recruitment, although in the early stages, would allow Honor students and alumni to personalize the re-cruitment process by speaking di-rectly to high school counselors and prospective students.

“(As) opposed to sending out a brochure, to have student come back who are really passionate about their experience in the program and attend-ing SIU is great,” Merrill-Fink said. “� ey can talk about the classes they are taking, the research opportunities — even the friends that they’ve made.”

Merrill-Fink said she hopes high school counselors that haven’t been mentioning SIU as a possibility would begin talking about the university, particularly the Honors program. She said she will consider inviting high school counselors to campus to hear from students themselves.

Lori Koester, a guidance coun-selor at Carbondale Community High School, said she agrees with having a more personal recruit-ment process.

“Any communication between the University and our high school is appreciated,” she said.

Koester said most of the time high school students don’t always want to

hear what guidance counselors have to say. By having Honor alumni and students take the time to visit high schools, the number of locals that attend SIU would increase, Koester said.

“Personal experience is what sticks in a student’s mind,” she said. “Instead of getting hundreds of infor-mational brochures, being able to tell my students what I hear directly from SIU alumni would be more e� ective.”

Merrill-Fink said that high school students start receiving recruitment letters from universities as early as their sophomore and junior year, but Merrill-Fink believes hearing a stu-dent’s personal experience is more powerful than si� ing through stacks of mail.

Merrill-Fink was motivated to begin the new recruitment process a� er Lisa Furby, a SIU alumna who graduated in May with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an Honors degree, went back to Car-bondale Community High School to speak with guidance counselors about her SIU experience. Furby said she found herself at end of her high school career undecided on which university she would attend.

“� ere were several other schools I considered including University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,” she said. “Ultimately, I chose SIUC because it presented opportunities I would not be able to have had anywhere else.”

Laurie Bell, assistant director of the Honors Program, contacted Fur-by in 2007 when she was considering

SIU for its research program.“SIU gave her a lot of opportuni-

ties that I believe some of the local schools were not aware we had,” Bell said. “Lisa going back to her high school was a big information-build-ing process, letting everybody know of the great opportunities here.”

A� er being involved in SIU’s Research-Enriched Academic Chal-lenge, an undergraduate research program, Furby was already pre-

senting at Harvard Medical School as a sophomore. Furby was eventu-ally named as one of the 2009 USA Today All-USA College Academic Team Members, among 60 other students nationwide. Ferby will be attending Washington University in St. Louis School of Law in the fall.

Merrill-Fink will be sending out a newsletter to all honor alumni and current students asking if they are interested in going back to speak

to their high school counselors. She said as the director, it is her job is to promote the program, but believes it would be better coming from a stu-dent than from her.

“It is a unique and more direct way to connect with a student’s high school,” she said.

Lauren Leone can be reached at laurenleone@gmail.com or

536-3311 ext. 254

Honors Program’s recruitment process gets personalLAUREN LEONEDaily Egyptian

Lori Koester, center, a guidance counselor at Carbondale Community High School speaks with high school juniors Taylor Vaughn and Summer Eckert about their class options for the upcoming year. Lori Merrill-Fink, director of the SIUC Honors

program is working on a new process of student recruitment for the honors program. This new idea will allow high school guidance counselors like Koester to communicate more with previous and current students about the SIUC Honors program.

JESS VERMEULEN | DAILY EGYPTIAN

Daily Egyptian News Wednesday, May 26, 20104

Daily EgyptianClassifiedsWednesday, May 26, 2010 5

Daily Egyptian Classifieds Wednesday, May 26, 20106

Daily EgyptianNewsWednesday, May 26, 2010 7

The Department of Marine Resources harvest shrimp samples in the Mississippi Sound, Monday, May 24.

The agency is monitoring the size and quantity of shrimp to determine when the season will open.

JAMES EDWARD BATES | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Oil well ‘top kill’ plugreadied; agency rappedMATTHEW DALYAssociated Press

BP readied yet another attempt to slow the oil gushing into the Gulf on Tuesday as a government report alleged that drilling regulators have been so close to the industry they’ve been accepting gi� s from oil and gas companies and even negotiating to go work for them.

President Barack Obama prepared to head to the Gulf on Friday to review e� orts to halt the disastrous � ow.

Scientists said underwater video of the leak showed the plume growing signi� cantly darker, suggesting heavier, more-polluting oil is spewing out.

BP’s next e� ort to stop the gushing oil will, perhaps Wednesday, is to involve a procedure called a “top kill,” in which heavy mud and cement are to be shot into the well to plug it up. � e procedure has never been tried a mile beneath the sea, and company executives estimate its chances of success at 60 to 70 percent.

In Washington, the Obama

administration said it has been laboring to root out problems at the agency that regulates o� shore drilling.

In at least one case, according to a new report from the Interior Department’s acting inspector general, an inspector for the Minerals Management Service admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he might have been under the in� uence of the drug the next day at work.

� e report cites a variety of violations of federal regulations and ethics rules at the agency’s Louisiana o� ce. Previous inspector general investigations have focused on inappropriate behavior by the royalty-collection sta� in the agency’s Denver o� ce.

� e report adds to the climate of frustration and criticism facing the Obama administration in the monthlong oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, although it covers actions before the spill. Millions of gallons of oil are gushing into the Gulf, endangering wildlife and the livelihoods of � shermen, as scrutiny

intensi� es on a lax regulatory climate.� e report began as a routine

investigation, the acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, said in a cover letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, whose department includes the agency.

“Unfortunately, given the events of April 20 of this year, this report had become anything but routine, and I feel compelled to release it now,” she wrote.

Her biggest concern is the ease with which minerals agency employees move between industry and government, Kendall said. While no speci� cs were included in the report, “we discovered that the individuals involved in the fraternizing and gi� exchange — both government and industry — have o� en known one another since childhood,” Kendall said.

� eir relationships took precedence over their jobs, Kendall said.

� e report follows a 2008 report by then-Inspector General Earl Devaney that decried a “culture of ethical failure” and con� icts of interest at the minerals agency.

If momentum counts for anything going into this year’s MVC Tournament, the Salukis have it.

SIU (28-27, 10-10 MVC) has won 10 of its last 15, including a series victory earlier this month against � rst-round tourney opponent Evansville.

Sophomore � rst baseman Chris Serritella, who was named to the � rst team All-MVC team Monday, said momentum would help the team’s tournament play — but head coach Dan Callahan said he’s seen hot teams make early tournament exits before.

“I’ve seen both sides of it,” said Callahan, who is coaching his 12th SIU Tournament team. “I don’t think momentum or lack thereof is an indicator of success.”

SIU’s series against Evansville has them better prepared for the � rst round, Serritella said. � e Salukis opened the series with a 14-2 loss May 14, but rallied to take the last two from the Purple Aces.

Serritella said the exposure to Evansville’s pitching sta� — most notably senior right hander Keegan Davis, who pitched the 14-2 decision against SIU — would allow the Salukis to be more aggressive at the plate in

this week’s opening round.“(Evansville) is a good hitting ball

club,” Serritella said. “I think a� er that � rst game we knew how to throw to them, so hopefully if we just keep that trend up (the tournament) will be � ne.”

� e Salukis could have been a � rst or second seed team in the tournament but didn’t play up to their potential for most of the season, Serritella said.

“We showed signs of being a good ball club but didn’t really stick with it,” he said. “But we’re happy with where we’re at.”

Callahan said he would like to see all his players hit the ball e� ectively in the tournament.

“We can’t go into any of those games where we don’t score,” said senior catcher Tyler Bullock, who homered three times in the Salukis’ last two regular season games.

Bullock blasted a two-run homer, his 14th of the year, in the ninth inning at Missouri State Saturday to tie the season � nale at 5, but the Bears rallied for a 6-5 win in extras. � e loss snapped SIU’s � ve-game winning streak.

“� e loss is a little bit disheartening,” Callahan said. “But it is what it is. I still think we’re playing well going into the tournament.”

The results of Tuesday’s game between SIU and Evansville were not in at press time.

Nick Johnson can be reached atnjohnson@dailyegyptian.com

or 536-3311 ext. 263.

BASEBALL

Steve Nelson, right, also known as Lothar Helgisson shields a strike from David Johnson, also known as Zebi, Tuesday during dagorhir practice at Lenus Turley Park. Dagorhir is a sport of combat based on the type of battle during the medieval period. “It’s a lot of fun and I’ve found that I’m good at it,” said Nelson. “It’s more of a lifestyle than a hobby.” Nelson said he has been participating in the nationwide sport of dagorhir for eight years and encourages local community members to participate. JESS VERMUELENDAILY EGYPTIAN

DAY OF DAGORHIR

SIU looks to keep momentum in MVC TourneyNICK JOHNSONDaily Egyptian

Assistant basketball coach charged with DUI

Senior Michael Stalter fields a ground ball April 20 during a 13-1 Saluki loss to South East Missouri State at Abe Martin Field. The score of Tuesday’s

State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament game between the Salukis and the Purple Aces was not available at press time.

DAN DWYER | DAILY EGYPTIAN

� e Jackson County Sheri� ’s Department arrested SIUC assistant men’s basketball coach Marcus Belcher on suspicion of DUI and leaving the scene of an accident May 5, according to the Jackson County Clerk’s o� ce.

Belcher, 30, played two seasons with the Salukis before beginning his coaching career. As a Saluki, he scored 350 points in his two seasons and was the starting point guard on SIU’s 2002 Sweet 16 team.

Belcher coached at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Eastern Illinois University and the University of Evansville before returning to SIUC as an assistant coach at the beginning of the 2009 basketball season.