edg eon

the

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pleasant grove high school5406 mcknight road | texarkana, tx | 75503

check us out @ www.pgedgeonline.comNovember 4, 2011 | vol. 27 #2

Craytor’s Corner

Just ask us

It’s about time

In the running

When we saw photos of the snow falling in the Northeast on Halloween, we thought back to those snowmen we built last winter, those snowball fights on the football field, all those snow days. This year’s calendar has two bad weather days built in--April 6 and May 25. We won-dered if you were looking for-ward to another snowy winter.

It’s cold, and I hate cold weath-er. There’s not enough snow to ac-tually affect much anyway.”

-kristinacox, 11

-sarahhughes, 11

Yes, because the snow is fun. Last year we went to Avery’s and had a huge snowball fight.”“

80% said yes

“20% said no

Ask anyone what their least favorite part of Texarkana is, and you’ll be sure to hear a thing or two about construction.

And though we can’t promise that construction will cease to exists any time soon, we can safely say that the interstate construc-tion is scheduled to be done by the end of the month.

No more cones, no more road blocks, no more workers.

But every little bit helps. What do you think?

playingfirewith

As principal Bill Harp drove home from the varsity volleyball game in Atlan-ta last Tuesday in his Chevy Silverado, a cigarette leapt from the car speeding in front of him. Harp watched as the lit cig-arette landed on black highway asphalt.

As the small light dimmed, Harp let out a sigh of relief and continued to make his way home.

“This kind of stupidity is the real danger during this drought,” Harp said. “One cigarette could start a fire that might burn for hundreds of acres.”

Since the spring of 2010, east Texas has been in a state of extreme drought, but other than crunchy lawns and shrink-ing lakes, students have not yet felt the impact. But that may change as dry weather patterns continue.

“The drought will continue until at least next spring, and persist through the end of the year,” said Dave Hall, the Emergency Management Coordinator of Texarkana. “It could be even worse next year.”

Due to the dangerously dry condi-

tions, Bowie County has instituted a burn ban. This ban restricts the burning of trash, campfires, and all other outdoor fires. The ban was implemented in late August, and has been extended until Jan. 25 by the Bowie County Commissioner’s Court.

Homecoming traditions fell victim to the months-long burn ban in Septem-ber when the “Burning of the H” became “Lighting of the H.”

Outside the Performing Arts Center, dry and gusty winds swirled across the parking lot while inside, home-coming queen Allison Kirk walked across the stage, picked up the black extension cord and pushed in the plug, bringing the giant “H” behind her to light.

“We had talked about doing some-thing like this last year, but with the coun-ty-wide burn ban, we didn’t have much choice.” Harp said. The burn ban will have an impact on students once again as the holidays draw nearer.

Along with the banning of outdoor fires, county representatives have banned

the use and purchase of fireworks. “One firecracker can start a major

fire,” Hall said. “Traditionally people like to have fireworks over New Years, but it’s just too dangerous this year.”

But firecrackers aren’t the only thing to worry about. Weather fronts that bring high winds are a fac-tor that increase the danger of fires in the area.

“When winds are up, it just enhances the danger,” Hall said. “If a fire starts,

the wind will spread it very quickly.”Psychology and history teacher Tim

Baldwin saw the effect wind can have on a fire first hand just ten miles from his home outside of Linden.

“I remember the fire was on Labor Day because as I was going to town that afternoon, I noticed the smoke. The wind was out of control,” he said. “It [the fire] was close; I could see the smoke from my house.”

Drought sparks burn ban, dangerous conditions in area

sparking a fire Owens’ Family Fire

Amigo Juan’s

“ “

One cigarette could start a fire that might burn for hundreds of acres.

- principal Bill Harp

continued on page 3

Ashlyn Hurstreporter

Although they were unrelated to the drought, recent fires in the Pleasant Grove area have drawn attention to the fire danger.

Just days after moving into their new house, the Owens family was horrified to see that their house had fell victim to a fire.

“There’s a Wells Fargo fire relief fund where people can donate money to help my family.” Junior

Adam Owens said. “There’s also an banquet on Saturday at the Elks lodge on Jefferson, there will be food, bands, and games. We just bought a new house on Wednes-day night, we’ll be moving in this weekend.”

It was like any other day for Junior Erika Rodriguez, until she was called to the principal’s office in the middle of class.

She was heartbroken when she found out that the original Amigo Juan’s had caught fire.

Later that night, Erika went to see what damage was done, and left with an even heavier heart.

“I spent half my childhood in the restaurant,” Erika said, “and now it has burned to the ground.”

Ever have those days when you get home from school and just feel the need to watch a random online video that hold absolutely no importance to your life whatsoever?

Good news, the new pged-geonline blog ‘Craytor’s Corner’ will give you just that and more.

Use the Mircrosoft Tag App on your smartphone to be taken directly to the first episode.

It features interviews with Matthew Johnson and Kishon Daniels and some guy on a motorcycle.

Doesn’t that sound great? If you’re wondering, the answer is yes.

We know the Presidential elections are over a year away, but there’s no harm in being educated, plus a lot of you will be voting by then anyway.

People assume there’s only about four candidates because there’s only about a handful you really hear about, but in reality there’s actually twenty-four.

So if you do plan on voting you better read up on every sin-gle one of them, or you could just close your eyes and pick one, but be careful, you could end up electing someone who is going to be single-handedly responsible for the downfall of the nation.

No pressure.

gimme 5

thebottomlineevents, activities, and news briefly

nov/dec

18The Showstoppers will perform at the annual Christmas extravaganza at the Texarkana Fairgrounds, sponsored by the Junior League. After you watch the drill team, you can do some shopping.

Misteltoe Fair

STUCO and other groups will be wrapping gifts in Central Mall for Domestic Violence Prevention during the Christmas season to raise money for the Battered Women’s Shelter.

7 p.m. Downtown Texarkana.The band, Showstoppers, floats and Santa. What more could you ask for on a Monday night in December? Snow maybe?

The band will be marching in celebration of veterans in downtown Texarkana.

28

5

12

Gift Wrapping Project

Texarkana Christmas Parade

Veterans Day Parade

completed by Nathan Taylor, Jordan Hearn, Courtney Harris, Kyle Green

9

10

Band Christmas Concert

ACT Test

7 p.m. in the PAC.Get in the mood for the holidays with some traditional Christmas music. Much better than all the canned Christmas tunes you’ve heard in every store in town.

Texarkana College.One more chance to get those test scores up so you can avoid the last choice on your college preference list. Sign up by Nov. 18 (late fee required).

22Give the Pilgrims their due and then get ready to hit the stores for “Black Friday,” the biggest shopping day of the year.

Thanksgiving Holidays

4849 Texas Blvd. • Texarkana

page2

Debate team tops divisionThe debate team brought home two trophies from a tournament in North Lamar last Saturday. The varsity C-X team of Brett Eakin and Adam Northam placed fourth, and the team of Trinity Bragg and Andrew Converse placed second in the Novice Policy Debate.

Band takes top ratingsThe PG Hawk Nation Band competed at the Champion-ship at the Rock marching contest on Saturday, Oct.29 at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. After preliminary competi-tion, the PG band swept the class C awards by winning the High Visual Award, High Music, High General Effect, High Percussion, High Drum Major and High Color Guard Awards. The band was the Best In Class Award winner. In finals competition and was award-ed the Outstanding Color Guard of the Contest trophy and Outstanding Visual of the Contest trophy. After finals competition the band placed third overall.

Student of the MonthJunior John Altenbaumer was recognized for the month of October. John is part of Ad-vanced Theater and is Grover for all athletic and school events.

andagain

timetime

Arizona doesn’t observe it. Most don’t know why it exists. All students really care about is that elusive extra hour of sleep.

Students and faculty all have different opinions on time change and the reasoning behind it, but whether it is because of school schedules or giving people the illusion of more time, it was Benjamin Franklin who made the annual time change possible. Originally, it was to make better use of our daylight, but now, it is the convenient extra hour of sleep that every student dreams of.

“I really like daylight savings time in the fall because I know I get an extra hour to sleep, get ready, and have free time.” said sophomore Peyton Trippe.

With busy schedules, early mornings, and the occasional all-nighter, the recommended

eight hours of sleep never seem to come to stu-dents at Pleasant Grove, but with the fall time change, students get the extra hour they want.

“You get that amazing feeling in the morn-ing when you are waking up and you look at the clock, but then you realize you get to sleep another hour because you didn’t set your alarm.” said senior Josh Smith.

Although students love fall time change, as soon as spring rolls around, they find their beloved extra hour gone.

“I hate the “spring forward” part because my mom always forgets and we’re late to church.” said Peyton.

Although not all the states observe it, and it’s different all across the world, to Pleasant Grove students the priority is to change their alarms to get their uninterrupted night.

Daylight Savings

Time ends this weekend,

clocks ‘fall back’

It’s the curtain call of the show, and 185 students will be crammed onto a 56 by 31 foot stage.

How Debby Sutton and Greg Schwartz plan on doing this, they’re not exactly sure.

“There has never been a show this big,” Schwartz said. “It will be a large undertaking.”

That’s probably an understate-ment. With over a third of the school involved, the third annual theater musical will be a musical variety show.

“Each class is taking the best song from many well known musicals and combining them to-gether to become a new tradition,” Schwartz said.

The idea between the show is a high school reunion where the former classmates return to their school and reminisce about the musicals they performed when they were students there. The cast will be doing songs from musicals such as “Footloose,” “Hair,” “Young Frankenstein”

and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” They are writing their own dialogue between the musical numbers.

“The main goal of what we are trying to do is incorporate the tal-ents of many different people and not just one group,” senior Jarrod Myers said.

The musical performances are scheduled for Dec. 8-11 in the Performing Arts Center..

Crowding the stageMusical to involve all theater students in variety-type show

Student Council members are teaming up with the Boy Scouts for their annual Scouting for Food project. The Student Council members and Boy Scouts will collect canned foods for four area agen-cies to help with food needs.

Scouting for Food will be held on Nov. 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Texarkana Boy Scouts will collect the canned food and bring the donations to the Boy Scout offices on Linwood Drive.

“STUCO members will help sort canned food and pack it to deliver to local agencies like Harvest Tex-arkana and the Friendship Center that serve meals to the homeless and provide food to the hungry,” sponsor Curt Langford said. “We’ll also help cook lunch for all the Boy Scouts and the workers there.”

Langford said other students who were inter-ested in helping out are welcome.

“It’s great to see the food go to a good cause,” said senior Kayla Kempson, who participated in last year’s Scouting for Food event. “It’s nice to see people helping out the less fortunate.”

Do the time.Really? It’s only November, and you already

have five absences? Good thing Saturday School is scheduled for this month.

The first Saturday School session will be held Saturday, Nov. 12 from 8 a.m. to noon in the Lecture Hall. The cost is $5 an hour. Students who have make up hours must attend or could be in danger of losing credit for their courses.

Test first. Then serve.If you’re looking for choices beyond college,

the military may be an option. However, you need to take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitute Battery) before you try to enlist. The test will be given Nov. 14 at PG. Sign up in the counselor’s office. It’s a required test for students who are interested in joining any branch of the military.

Can you help?STUCO to assist Scouts in food drive

2812 Richmond RoadRichmond Park CenterTexarkana, TX

Making Life EZR 4 U!

Five Pleasant Grove Locations

2802 Richmond Road670 N. Kings Hwy.6424 Richmond Road5602 Summerhill Road5121 Summerhill Road

Proudly supporting

Hawk Nation

YourPleasant Grove

jewelers

The band took their performance “Into the Unknown” with a Star Trek themed show this season. The band received all First Division

Ratings at the UIL District Marching Contest and finished the season sweeping awards at the War Memorial Marching Contest in

Little Rock. Congratulations on a terrific marching season!

Band!

-sponsored by the Band Boosters

page3Playing With Fire

Tickled Pink

continued from page 1That fire, the Bear Creek wildfire, burned

close to 50,000 acres and damaged more than 200 structures. Not contained, the fire continued to burn for days until it was finally suppressed with the help of Cass County fire departments, helicopters and planes.

“I wasn’t worried about the fire reaching my house,” Baldwin said. “But if it had crossed Highway 55, I might have been.”

A fire in DeKalb on Oct. 7 got a little close for senior Matt Howell’s family. The Howells’ own 621 acres with a house and barn in DeKalb.

“The fire was 20 yards at the most from our property,” Matt said. “The wind was blowing hard and embers were blowing across the road. Before the fire even got to the road, the fire fighters and Forestry Service were soaking the ground. There were helicopters taking water out of our stock pond to drop on the fire.”

Matt said his parents got the call from rela-tives in the area and drove to DeKalb.

“Some relatives saw the smoke as far as 15 miles away and we went up there to spray the trees, and to get ready to move stuff out of the house,” he said. “Luckily it never got there.”

The Forestry Service and firefighters, includ-ing volunteer fire fighters, worked long hours to extinguish the fire.

“I was thankful for all the volunteers,” Matt said. “You never realize how much work they put in. Some man I was talking to had been fighting the fire for nine hours and had to go to work at St. Michaels after that. And he had already fought the fires at Bear Creek the week before.”

Preventing wildfires is one of the area’s top priorities, but it isn’t the only problem created by this drought. Without the right amount of water, trees and other vegetation have begun to weaken and die.

These weak trees are one of the biggest con-cerns for students and teachers alike. One storm or strong gust of wind could send a tree crashing through homes or collapsing on power lines.

“If we have an active storm season, the num-ber of trees lost will be the highest since the 1950’s,” Hall said.

For hunters, this will be another problem. This extreme loss of trees will also affect the hunting season, hunting leases and grounds. As a tree dies, so will the essential food it produces for wildlife.

“The acorn crop will be low this year be-cause of the drought,” said Harp, who is an avid hunter. “A shortage in the crop will effect the population of many of the animals who eat acorns.”

The east Texas area is currently three feet below normal rainfall, and although lake levels, river flow and rainfall continue to drop, Texar-kana water sources have not yet reached a crisis level. Water rationing has been discussed be-tween Texarkana Emergency Management and the National Weather Service (NWS) in Shreve-port, but has not been put into action.

“It hasn’t gotten that bad yet,” Hall said. “If the drought continues, we may have to place re-strictions on car washing and outdoor watering.”

With all the dangers and risks the drought creates, there are very few solutions to keeping safe despite the drought.

“There’s not a lot we can do,” Hall said. “We monitor it and stay in daily contact with the Na-tional Weather Service, but if you have a big fire and have to use a lot of water, the drought situation becomes worse. With fire danger and drought, if you’re surrounded by a lot of trees or woods, you can be in serious danger.”

Pride in MotionCongratulations

Pink Glove Dance.Outside pep rally.

See You at the Pole.Volleyball playoffs.

April Madness.Best friends.

Snow days.Spring Show.Spring break.

Prom.

Check us out on FACEBOOK:PG Band Boosters

Why would you want to miss any of this?

Buy a yearbook now. Only $42.See a staffer in room 603.

Pink Glove video finishes fifth nationwide, St. Michaels team pleased with result

After pulling on pink gloves and per-fecting a dance routine, Pleasant Grove students put their mark on a video proj-ect for breast cancer awareness that fin-ished fifth place in a nationwide voting campaign.

The Pink Glove Dance was part of a project sponsored by Medline, a medical glove manufacturer. The company asked health care workers and others to create group dance videos and submit them for an online contest. St. Michael’s Hospi-tal took up the challenge and created a video with their hospital staff and also included local schools.

The local video won fifth place in the nationwide voting, out of 139 entries and garnering almost 19,000 votes.

“We were very pleased with the re-sults,” said a spokesperson for St. Mi-chael’s. “It all started when we were searching the internet for different ways to raise money for Breast Cancer Aware-

ness. We found the video contest, called the organization in charge, and got the information and rules for the contest.”

Immediately after committing to the contest, Saint Micheal’s began calling he local high schools which included Pleas-ant Grove, Liberty Eylau, Arkansas, and Texas High.

Along with the cheerleaders, drill team director, Tiffany Beck, and the-ater teacher, Debbie Sutton and Greg Schwartz, put their ideas together to cre-ate a pep rally that could be included as part of the video.

“All of the cheerleaders and drill team learned the dance that Mrs. Beck cho-reographed, and helped teach the rest of the school the dance, with the help of the Journalism Department,” sophomore Tiffani Smith said.

The winning video was from Lexing-ton Medical Center in West Columbia, South Carolina.

-nthigpenphotoShowstoppers and Chearleaders join together to lead the crowd in the Pink Glove dance to “Firework”.

Students line the hall to get all of the students and staff in the spirit for the Pink Glove Pep Rally. -nthigpenphoto

“It’s removing the suppliers and the punishment may make an

impression on teens especially but of course, it’s not going to really

have a huge impact.”

Naveed HaqueKenzie FloydNathan Taylor

Josh Whitt Editors

Avery BorrellCollin Craytor

Natalie ThigpenPeyton TrippeLandon YoungPhotographers

Hayley AllenKyle Green

Ashlyn HurstMark Northam

Joel WebbCurtis Zachry

Reporters

Natalie IrwinMichaela JamesKendall LindseyErika RodriguezElizabeth Stark

Contributors

Charla HarrisAdviser

William HarpPrincipal

“I don’t think it will really make that much of a difference. I hope

it does, though.”

face to faceDo you think the big drug bust will help solve the drug problem in Texarkana?

“With big drugs, I think it will help, but with the smaller stuff, stuff that teenagers use, I don’t think it will make a difference.”

“I believe that it will probably help prevent some of the problem, but I don’t think the use of drugs will ever completely cease.”

Twitter catches on, no longer the

‘dumbest thing ever’

kylegreen,reporter

navedhaque, online editor

I sat in class on a normal ninth grade day minding my own business until I heard someone use a strange word. It made me laugh.

“Twitter,” I said. “What is Twitter?” As the kid explained to me what it

was I started laughing at him, telling him it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard. I mean honestly, what high school kid wants to get on a website and let everyone else know what they are doing every five seconds? Not this guy.

So I blew him off like any other sensible person would have done.

About the same time my tenth grade year, things really started to change. I was hearing this strange word much more often. Most of my friends who had hated it in the past were starting the conversion process. They began talking about how the website was changing, the new features and who had an account.

Although I still thought that it was the dumbest idea in the world, for a second I thought there might be some-thing to this whole Twitter thing.

Later that night I went home and watched TV with my mom like any cool kid does. And as I began flipping through the channels, my mom let out a scream, “AMERICAN IDOL!!”

“Spare me,” I thought, but after be-

ing forced to change the channel back to the worst singing show on television, I watched a terrible performance by one of the contestants.

The performance ended, and I was just about to be on my way to go play some Xbox until I heard the words, “Twitter” and “tweet.”

Ryan Seacrest was in some hip lounge with plasma screens every-where. What was on the screens? Twitter. The contestants were sitting in the lounge talking on their iPhones to all of the obnoxious American Idol fans on Twitter. I guess there really was something to this Twitter thing, but I was definitely not taking part in it.

Fast forward to a year later. I had just moved from Fort Worth to Texarkana, Texas. So moving from a somewhat big city to a little place like Texar-kana made me start thinking. Certain thoughts crossed my mind like, “Well, I have never moved to a small town so do these people know what technology is? If so, do they use the same technol-ogy I use? Do they even know what Twitter is?”

The first day of school answered all of these questions. Yes, they knew what technology was. Yes, they used computers and iPhones. And yes, they definitely knew what Twitter was. As I walked around school all I heard

was, “Dude, I’m up to 300 follow-ers!” “Man did you read my awesome tweet last night?!” “Who is this weirdo following me on Twitter? Oh well, a follower is a follower!” I had never heard so many conversations about Twitter in my life. These people were infatuated. It was time to put an end to this madness and see what was so fantastic about this website. It was time to make a Twitter account.

It has been about a month since I created my Twitter account. I have 72 followers to the number and that number is increasing fast. I only follow people who follow me, unless you count my favorite celebrities like Daniel Tosh and my soon-to-be wife Rachel McAdams. I don’t tweet very often, but when I do I try to tweet something profound or funny that will get a lot of comments.

To be honest I still prefer Facebook over Twitter, but I find that to be slowly but surely changing. Although I will never be in love with Twitter like some other people, I can admit that it is a very cool and unique social network. It allows a typical high school student to get a occasional laugh while expressing his mind to fellow friends or fans. You can follow me on Twitter @kylegreen44.

I’m a convert.

From the Arab world to here at home, the political revolution has touched American soil once again.

Taking its roots in New York City on September 17, 2011 with Oc-cupy Wall Street, which was primarily directed against social and economic inequality.

Taking some inspiration from the Arab Spring movement, such as Cairo’s Tahrir Square protests, and the Spanish Indignants.

The Occupy Movement spread to 2,355 towns and cities worldwide and growing. Starting at New York the movement spread to Dallas, Austin, to even international locations such as Madrid, Spain.

Even here in Texarkana, there’s been

a growing of the occupy movement. A meeting to take place on October 24th.

Much of the activists have used web technologies and social media like IRC, Facebook, Twitter, and MeetUp to coordinate the events.

President Barack Obama spoke in support of the movement, though also asked protesters not to “demonize” finance workers, and Prime Minister of India, Manohan Singh, described the protests as “a warning for all those who are in charge of processes of gover-nance.”

But can the movement cause real economic change in the United States? Probably not until and unless it grows even larger, but it has caused a couple of minor changes already -- and one

of those could lead to much bigger changes down the road.

The first change is that it is starting to scare the big banks on Wall Street. At about the same time that the Oc-cupy Wall Street movement started, one of the biggest banks (Bank of America) announced they would stop charging their depositors a $5 a month fee for using their debit cards (accessing their own money). Several other of the giant Wall Street banks indicated they would do the same.

The Occupy movement is not an attack on government, as some may believe, but it is a call to get corpora-tions out of the government and the people back in control. I am the 99%.

You Can Call Me A Convert

Occupy Wall Street Coming To A City Near You

Drug Problem At Pleasant Grove Obvious, Solution Needed

phone: (903) 832-8005 . fax (903) 832-5381

-elliotflint, 9

- summerbaker,10

- coltonwatson, 11

- marissastrebeck, 11

Editorial policyEdge is produced by the

newspaper students in the publications department of Pleasant Grove High School and are responsible for its production and content. The newspaper serves as an open forum for student expression and the discussion of issues of concern to students.

Unsigned editorials represent the opinions of the student staffers and do not necessarily reflect those of the administration. Signed columns and reviews reflect the opinion of the author only.

Edge encourages and accepts letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and will be edited to eliminate obscenity and inappropriate content. Letters may be submitted to the editor in room 603.

Edge is a member of the Interscholastic League Press Conference, National Scholastic Press Association and Columbia Scholastic Press Association.

epleasant grove high school5406 mcknight rd . texarkana, tx . 75503

ged

staff editorial

It’s not just cigarettes anymore.Drugs. Let’s be honest. You hear about them, you

talk about them, and occasionally, you probably see their effects on your fellow classmates too.

Teenagers say drug problems have gotten worse, and parents express feelings that drug-free schools are now becoming an unrealistic goal.

High schools have become an important hub to the drug trade, and put simply, teenagers are easy customers.

But what our generation is doing isn’t the only problem here–it’s the things that past generations aren’t.

Everyone wants to stop the apparent drug prob-lem, but nobody is making any real efforts. A major drug sweep in the city brought in over 60 dealers and others associated with the drug trade. That’s a big step for the city, but we bet that’s just the tip of a much bigger business.

At school, one drug dog sweeping the campus ev-ery couple of months is hardly enough to keep people from bringing drugs to school. And faculty members catching one student with drugs while handfuls of others sitting on the sidelines who are just as guilty is just as ineffective.

Let’s not beat around the bush, Pleasant Grove has a drug issue, no matter how you look at it. The only question now is how do we stop it?

To completely stop this problem, it’s going to re-quire major action by the administration and faculty alike.

We aren’t asking for a witch hunt, but just some reasonable precautions to make the school a safer, drug-free place. Pay attention not just to students who are obviously using. Find out where those drugs are coming from. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. And look beyond the school doors. The bigger prob-lem is out there.

Earlier this month, a major federal drug bust nabbed 66 people in Texarkana on 190 drug and firearms charges. According to the indictment, dozens of people were trying to sell crack cocaine and meth close to schools, housing projects and a playground. Federal attorneys hope it’s a step in making the streets of Texarkana safer and stopping the drug trafficking issues in this area.

page4

page5

ashlynhurst, reporter

Head to Head

- gregschwartz

- stevensmith, 10

- craytorphoto

What do you think Occupy Wall Street is about?

If you made a poster for the Lady Hawk volleyball playoff game, what would it say?

Do you think there should be a limit on the amount of homework students have every night?

Black or Gold?

“They are occupying Wall Street. That’s it.”

“1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. Break some-one’s clavical!”

“Yes, I feel like high school should be formative, not filled with pointless rival.”

Gold. Its rich and uplifting.

“It’s probably about the mid-dle Americans taking Wall Street back from the upper class and big corporations.”

“After the last game, I would make a huge poster that said,

Block Party.”

“To a point. I don’t think teach-ers should give an unreasonable amount, especially when other teachers are giving homework too.”

“Gold. It stands out and is a proud color.”

“From what I’ve read, I think it is protesting the way the economy is being run and the handling of the government by our representatives.”

“Spike ‘em in the face!”“In a sense. From a teacher’s

stand point we have to give you a lot of work to make sure you know what we have to teach you.”

“Black. It’s not flashy, and deep down I believe I’m a rebel.”

Black is... blech.

I pull my polka-dotted comforter over me, and stare at the ceiling overhead, contemplating the busy day ahead. As my heavy eyelids close, a tingle runs down my spine. Frozen with fright, I cau-tiously wiggle my toes. Relief washes over me. I can move them, I’m not paralyzed.

Ten years ago, my uncle was your every-day thirty-year-old. He drove to his management job every morning. And every evening, he threw a football with his four-year-old son, ate dinner with his wife and went to bed, only to repeat the same routine the next morning. But one cold winter day, everything changed.

It was two days before Christmas. My father and uncle were chopping firewood for my grand-parents in the woods surrounding their private cabin. Having chopped wood all day, my uncle began feel “under the weather.” That night, he planned to return to his home in Houston, but made a detour to Tyler to spend the night at his wife’s parent’s house.

Sleeping in the guest room, my uncle awoke Christmas Eve with a tingly sensation in his legs.

Convinced he pinched a nerve sleeping in an un-familiar bed, my uncle tried to walk off the “pins and needles” feeling. As he tried to get out of bed, he fell to the ground below.

Shocked, he tried to stand, but despite his per-sistence, he lay helpless on the ground. Unsure of what to do, my aunt quickly called 9-1-1. Sirens blazing, an ambulance rushed my uncle to the nearest hospital. The same hospital he would later learn news that would forever change him.

The next day, after meticulous testing, doctors discovered my uncle had contracted spinal men-ingitis, the infection of the spinal cord. Extremely rare, this infection would permanently paralyze him.

For two months, he lay in the ICU, still hope-ful of the day when he could walk the golf course or wrestle with his son. But that day would never come.

Today, my uncle is still wheelchair bound. I can’t remember a time when my uncle wasn’t zipping around the house in his “scooter”. He has never let his disability stop him. From driving to reaching

the those “out-of-reach” cabinets, my uncle does it all. Despite the daily struggles he faces, he keeps a positive attitude and continues to fight.

I know spinal meningitis isn’t contagious or ge-netic, but imagining having to go through some-thing so devastating gives me chills. It must take a lot of strength to wake up every morning and struggle with the simplest tasks. To know how to walk and to wake up one day unable to. To watch his son play football, unable to join him on the field.

I am amazed every time I see my uncle. His emotional strength is constant and an inspiration. His example gives me courage, and if I am ever put in such a situation, I hope I withstand it with the same fortitude.

Whether its your little sister in three years or your uncle today, it could happen to anyone. This silent killer can bring many downsides, but can provide new light for a life half-lived. And give you a pretty good parking space.

Waking Up to A Nightmare

We’re just two friends with a lot in common. We like some of the same things-- like Target, boots, Adele, Chick-Fil-A and Lady Hawk volley-ball, but we don’t agree on everything. In fact, we have some very strong opinions. In this ongoing column (sometimes we’ll be online at www.pgedgeonline.com), we’ll throw out some of our opinions on school life, trends, favorite movies, current events, school gossip (gasp), and any-thing else we can come up with.

Erika: This weekend I tried to go see “Paranormal Activity 3” at Cinemark, but they wouldn’t let me in because it was rated “R.” They don’t usually ask for my ID and I thought that since an older friend was buying my ticket, they wouldn’t care. But noooo, we had to change plans and see “In Time.”

Natalie: I hadn’t seen any of the “Paranormal” movies until Satur-day. I kept closing my eyes because I didn’t know what to expect. After a while it just got too scary and once I closed my eyes, I didn’t open them again. Erika: I had already seen the first two, so I was disappointed when I couldn’t watch the third. I was prepared for sudden jumps, unexpected noises and things to pop up on the screen. I probably won’t give up and somehow get into the theatre to watch it.

Natalie: Yeah, but at least you were able to sleep that night!

Erika: The World Series. Natalie: On my gosh, I was so upset that we let St. Louis come back.

After those extra innings, my nails were almost completely gone. I put off my homework and came to school unprepared on Friday and when the Rangers lost that night, I thought, “awesome.” Nobody expected it and Facebook was blowing up with a play by play. Either people were getting mad at the players or sending marriage proposals to their favor-ite players. Erika: I was definitely jealous of the people in the stands. I’ve gone to at least one game a year since seventh grade and I know just how intense they can get! My family and I got so into the game that Nicho-las, my baby brother, put on red and blue and a mini Texas Rangers helmet. He was ready to step up to bat. Natalie: Next year you are taking me to a game right? Erika: Oh yeah! We will be the loudest ones in the stands cheering on the Rangers, maybe we will even catch a foul ball! Make sure to bring a glove and start working on that hand-eye coordination.

The Best Friend’s Blog

Uncle’s illness helps student realize the important things in life

natalieirwin and erikarodriguez, reporters

-hunterpruitt, 11

A mother shares her experience with loss and the fight to find a cure

where the end of cancer begins

October is cancer awareness month, with lots of emphasis on breast cancer. But there are other cancers out there, and many of them affect children and adolescents, including Pleas-ant Grove graduate Megan Mauldin, who is fighting bone cancer, and Maggie Cobb. Last month, students and teachers at Pleasant Grove Intermediate dedicated a gazebo in Maggie’s memory. Kenzie Floyd sat down for an interview with Maggie’s mom, Kristi Cobb. Kristi gradu-ated from PG in 1989, and her father, Roger Hailey, was principal at PGHS for 2 years. Kristi still subs on all three campuses.

remembering Maggie

Kristi Cobb will never forget the morning Maggie walked into her bathroom and announced, “Some-times I see two of daddy.

Kristi remembers that she was putting on makeup and fixing her hair, but she stopped dead in her tracks and looked at her third grade daughter. Her husband Mike is at his sink, helping their son, Jack-son, get dressed for school.

The room freezes with silence.All three of them look at Maggie.Just a vision problem, the parents think – Kristi

even says that – and they all go back to what they were doing. Maggie just needs a vision test.

And Kristi proceeds with the hectic morning routine— making sure her three kids are dressed, fed, and ready for school, dropping Maggie off at Pleasant Grove Elementary, kissing her as she gets out of the car and telling her that she’ll see her in a few hours.

It’s field day, and Kristi and Mike are going to the school after lunch to watch Maggie and her friends play games and enjoy the new summer weather.

But while the children at field day jump in the bounce houses, throw water balloons, and have three-leg races, all Kristi can think about is what Maggie said to her that morning. No one in their family ever had problems seeing. No one even wore glasses. What’s going on with their daughter?

Kristi begins to inves-tigate, goes up to friends, acquaintances, even strang-ers—anyone she sees wear-ing glasses—and asks them when they started having vision problems and what they did about it.

And Kristi can’t help but worry, worry something worse than just a vision problem is wrong.

***

Four days later, May 19, 2009.

After a day of MRIs, Kristi and Mike sit in an exam room at Collom & Carney and wait for pedia-trician Clark Green.

He enters the room, sits down.The rest is a blur—but Kristi remembers the

words she never imagined she’d have to hear. “Six to twelve months left to live.”Dr. Green says Maggie has only six to twelve

months. Says she has DIPG.Four days ago it was only a vision problem.Questions start reeling through Kristi’s head.How had they seen the first sign only four days

ago? How could this be happening to Maggie? To Kristi and Mike? To the twins, Georgia and Jackson?

And what were they doing to do next?What could be done? ***

Kristi and Mike learn about the cancer.Learn DIPG stands for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine

Glioma.Learn it’s the most common type of brain cancer,

a cancer usually diagnosed in children ages 5 to 10.Learn it’s a tumor located in the middle of the

brain stem, a tumor that affects all body functions.Children lose control of everything, and for a

child Maggie’s age, there’s almost nothing that can be done so she can continue living a normal life.

Learn it can’t be surgically removed because of where it’s located in the brain.

Learn the median overall survival is approximately nine months.

Learn these statistics make it one of the most devastating pediatric cancers.

At first, they’re both “horrified.”But then, their mission begins -- to

get Maggie back to health. ***

They try everything. The day after the diagnosis, they

travel to Arkansas Children’s Hospi-tal in Little Rock.

Maggie gets more MRIs. They talk to the hospital’s head oncologist about further treatment.

But the doctors there don’t have much hope for Maggie.

So the Cobbs travel to St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee – they’ve heard the hospital has clinical trials open for children with DIPG.

But every doctor they go to just says there’s no hope.

Kristi remembers, “When Maggie was diagnosed with cancer, it was like getting the death sentence.”

But Kristi and Mike don’t stop there. They aren’t going to give up.

They leave Maggie’s younger siblings Georgia and Jackson with their grandmother in Texarkana, while Mike, Kristi and Maggie continue to fight the cancer.

They fly across the country at least 25 times.To NIH, The National Institutes for Health, for

clinical trials.To St. Jude’s for chemo and radiation, more times

then they can count.And through it all, they manage to come home

most weekends. ***

Thirteen months of battling pass. Thirteen months of fighting with everything Mike and Kristi and Maggie have.

The doctors do all they can, but it’s not enough.Maggie passes away in her own bed on Thursday,

June 24, 2010. ***

But the battle’s not over for Kristi and Mike.“People think that just because Maggie’s gone

from this Earth, that it’s all over,” Kristi says. “But it’ll never be over.”

Not only have they lost their daughter. The Cobb’s family identity is switched -- a happy, loving family is now a sad family changed by tragedy.

“People would just be trying to help or make me feel better, but when they did things like come up to me in the grocery store and hug me or ask how everything was going, it made everything worse,” Kristi said. “I may not have been thinking of the fact that my daughter died at the time, but when they did things like that, it made all my emotions boil over.”

It’s been over one year since Maggie died, and things are still hard, but getting a lot better for the Cobbs.

“You just think, how do we pick up the pieces and live a happy life without her?” Kristi says. “The whole experience is like a nightmare you can’t wake up from. There are still horrible things I can’t even talk about. I’m still in denial, I just can’t believe it had to happen to my family.”

Kristi and her family members’ lives are changed completely. Kristi is constantly on the computer

reading about DIPG and keeping up with the new-est research.

“Words cannot explain the horrific nature of the disease. After you go through it, you don’t want anyone else to have to experience the same thing,” Kristi says. “I, like so many others, want a cure.”

Since Maggie’s death, Kristi’s worked to get the word out about the disease and has spent hours researching it and talking about the need for a cure. Even though there’ve been no major discov-eries about DIPG in over 35 years, Kristi says she thinks scientists and doctors are headed in the right direction. Leukemia used to have no cure, and now there’s an 80% survival rate. As with breast cancer, it‘s gotten better over time.

“Just because it seems like a huge obstacle doesn’t mean we shouldn’t accept the challenge of finding a cure,” Kristi said. “I’m never going to give up. If I gave up I would let my Maggie and all the other kids affected by DIPG down. I can’t do that. If there is a cure found in my lifetime, it will somewhat recon-cile all that my family went through with Maggie’s cancer.”

The Cobbs now have a totally new perspective on life.

“If you see the cancer happen, especially to someone who you love so much, it makes you realize how lucky you are to be healthy,” Kristi says. “Just because cancer hasn’t affected you doesn’t mean it never will. I used to look at the St. Jude’s posters and in the back of my mind I would think, ‘I’m so thankful that’s not me...’ But look at where I am now.”

Kristi says she’d like to believe everything hap-pens for a reason, but she just can’t.

“Some of the things people would say to us would be, ‘We really hope that Maggie makes it-- if it’s God’s will.’ My husband would get furious,” she says. “We would think, ‘Why would it be God’s will to take our child?’”

Here’s what Kristi does believe – what you give is what you get back. Now she realizes that instead of having material things that are important to her, she would much rather have the people she loves.

“No one wants to think about death. No one wants to consider all of the bad things that can happen to one another, but everyone should,” Kristi says. “Life is very short. Everyone is going to die of something, and once people recognize that their goals become a lot clearer and every day one may wake up with a different purpose. Our time on Earth is very valuable and shouldn’t be wasted.”

-thigpenphoto -borrellphoto

-submittedphoto

Kenzie Floydnews editor

A mother shares her experience with loss and the fight to find a cure

where the end of cancer begins

a whole month of pink1. Senior Kevin Harris waits for the walk to start

at Race For The Cure.

2. Super Fans Kevin Harris, Timothy Buchanan, and Hunter Swanson sport their pink H.N.O.D. shirts for the first game of October.

3. Football players Jacob Hamilton and Tyler Wellborn support breast cancer awareness by wearing pink tape.

4. Before the game starts, Showstopper Emily Stouffer uses her pink poms for victory lines.

5. At the pink glove pep rally, cheerleaders come together to make a breast cancer ribbon with survivors dancing behind them.

6. The flags of hope were seen flying high on Oc-tober 15 when Keyettes, cheerleaders, and other students woke up early to participate in Race For The Cure.

1.

5.

2.

3.

4.

6.

45%of students

have had someone they

know and love die of cancer.

75%of students

have a family mem-ber that has been

affected by cancer.

82%of students

know and love someone that has

had cancer.

breaking it down

-60 students surveyed

reading about DIPG and keeping up with the new-est research.

“Words cannot explain the horrific nature of the disease. After you go through it, you don’t want anyone else to have to experience the same thing,” Kristi says. “I, like so many others, want a cure.”

Since Maggie’s death, Kristi’s worked to get the word out about the disease and has spent hours researching it and talking about the need for a cure. Even though there’ve been no major discov-eries about DIPG in over 35 years, Kristi says she thinks scientists and doctors are headed in the right direction. Leukemia used to have no cure, and now there’s an 80% survival rate. As with breast cancer, it‘s gotten better over time.

“Just because it seems like a huge obstacle doesn’t mean we shouldn’t accept the challenge of finding a cure,” Kristi said. “I’m never going to give up. If I gave up I would let my Maggie and all the other kids affected by DIPG down. I can’t do that. If there is a cure found in my lifetime, it will somewhat recon-cile all that my family went through with Maggie’s cancer.”

The Cobbs now have a totally new perspective on life.

“If you see the cancer happen, especially to someone who you love so much, it makes you realize how lucky you are to be healthy,” Kristi says. “Just because cancer hasn’t affected you doesn’t mean it never will. I used to look at the St. Jude’s posters and in the back of my mind I would think, ‘I’m so thankful that’s not me...’ But look at where I am now.”

Kristi says she’d like to believe everything hap-pens for a reason, but she just can’t.

“Some of the things people would say to us would be, ‘We really hope that Maggie makes it-- if it’s God’s will.’ My husband would get furious,” she says. “We would think, ‘Why would it be God’s will to take our child?’”

Here’s what Kristi does believe – what you give is what you get back. Now she realizes that instead of having material things that are important to her, she would much rather have the people she loves.

“No one wants to think about death. No one wants to consider all of the bad things that can happen to one another, but everyone should,” Kristi says. “Life is very short. Everyone is going to die of something, and once people recognize that their goals become a lot clearer and every day one may wake up with a different purpose. Our time on Earth is very valuable and shouldn’t be wasted.”

-thigpenphoto -borrellphoto

-borrellphoto

-borrellphoto

-thigpenphoto

-youngphoto

-submittedphoto

page8

edge knows bestStaff picks-- what we think is on the cutting edge.

Top Gear.Cars. It is all Top Gear is about, and it’s all it needs to be about. However, the hosts Adam Ferrera, Rutledge Wood and Tan-ner Foust make every-thing more fun for those who don’t just want a ton of gear-head facts about the fastest cars or toughest trucks. The hosts have a weekly challenge to see who the best at...Well.. Whatever the challenge is. One week Tanner may be drifting a bus, the next Adam may be jumping an old Cadillac Coupe DeV-ille. The show also has a weekly segment called “Big Star, Small Car” where a celebrity races around Top Gears’ pri-vate test track to see how their lap time compares to other star’s.

Where: The History ChannelShowtime: Sunday 10pmRating: 4.9 out of 5Staffer: Collin Craytor

The Help.For all you bookworms out there, “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett is some-thing everyone should read. Set in Mississippi in the early 1960’s, the book tells about the relationship between black maids and their bosses from alternating viewpoints. These viewpoints include those of Abileen, who is raising her 17th child as a maid, Minny, who can’t hold a job for long because of her smart mouth and short temper, and Miss Skeeter, who has just gotten home from college with ambi-tion and a degree but to her mother’s lament, no husband. These three women will surprisingly come together and write a book about all the secrets of “The Help.”

Available: Any BookstoreCost: $18.99Staffer: Kenzie Floyd

Temple Run.Sliding, jumping, and run-ning from monsters? Yeah, all of those things are in the new hit game on the iPhone, Temple Run. You find your character stranded in a Temple full of monsters and you must escape. As you try to escape the temple you will find tree limbs and spike walls that will slow you down, which in turn makes the monsters that much closer to eating you. Along with the tree limbs and spike walls are power-ups that will get you a higher score and a longer distance. But here is the kick, the game never ends. So Temple Run is a great game to play and compare high scores with your friends!

Available: on iPhone onlyCost: FreeStaffer: Kyle Green

Paper Tounges.The Paper Tongues is a unique band that mix all kinds of music like rock, funk, rap and soul to bring you a new contemporary kind of Christian music that will soon become the worship style of this generation. Wether you like Christian music or not, it’s still good music. The Paper Tongue were officially born in 2007 on the streets of North Carolina, and all seven band members have a unique story. With great testimonies, unique music, and lots of instruments, Paper Tongues is a band that is becoming more and more popular by the day.

Available: iTunesCost: $7.99 for albumAlbum: Paper TonguesStaffer: Kyle Green

Paint.Looking for a new Youtube sensation to follow? Or another way to avoid your homework? “Paint” is here. A native Texan, Jon Cozart, is a musically inclined college student who spends his free time writing quirky parodies and songs. A talented singer/ songwriter, Cozart believes in quality-- not quantity. Although he has only a few videos, they are guaran-teed to keep you laughing for days. His most popular video, “Harry Potter in 99 Seconds,” is a must-see for Harry Potter nerds and movie watchers alike. Cozart auditioned for the popular television series “Glee” and made into the top 29 before being eliminated. His witty lyrics and entertaining expressions will have you subscribing in a heartbeat.

Available: Whenever you’re in need of laughter Cost: FreeStaffer: Ashlyn Hurst

television: reading: apps: music: videos:

Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad is the story of a man taking back control of his life. Lead actor Bryan Cranston said, “Breaking Bad means when someone has taken a turn off the path of the straight and narrow, when they’ve gone wrong.” When Walter White, an over-qualified high school chemistry teacher, finds out he was diagnosed with stage 3A lung cancer, he reacts by taking his life back. Instead of reaching out to others for help, he finds control emotionally and financially through manufacturing and selling methamphetamine.Note that the stakes of producing, distribut-ing and using the drug are significantly higher, bring forth more shock-ing drama. I highly advise this show, because it grows its characters mentally as well as emotionally, while remaining electrifying in it’s escapade.

Channel: AMCStaffer: Naveed Haque

It’s not New York or San Franciso, but Poetry Reading came to Texarka-na via Mrs. Sharon Womack’s Inde-pendent Studies class. The class spent six weeks learning about the ‘60s, and afterwards Mrs. Womack took a field to Donut Cafe for a poetry slam.

“Our class has been all about tak-ing field trips and we had been beg-ging Mrs. Womack for a chance to take us to a coffee shop since the first day,” sophomore Natalie Irwin said. “We finally wore her down and she came up with a way to tie the ‘60s into donuts and coffee.”

The class read their poems in Do-nut Cafe while enjoying a cup of cof-fee and some donuts. Each student wrote one poem and also a duet poem with another student.

•”Danny, King of the Basement,” Nov. 15

•George Jones, the country music star, in concert Nov. 26

•Miracle on 34th Street, presented by TexRep, Dec. 9

•Texarkana Symphony Orchestra, a Chrismas concert, Dec. 18

Contact the Perot Theater box office for ticket information.

Entertainment, Donut Cafe Style

At the Perot Theater:

Top: Evan Young and Tyler Goldsmith. Bottom: Kai-ley Carr and Alex Miller

Students slam poetry over donuts and coffee

John Altenbaumer

with

21questions

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

14

16

17

18

19

20

What do you do when you put the lime in the coconut?I turn on the Mariachi music and start dancing.

Define “Basorexia”It’s when the subwoofers in your car are too small.

If you could have one exotic animal what would it be?A whale shark.

Where or do you plan to go to col-lege?Anywhere that gives me a scholarship... Or Cambridge.

Behind the Hawk

15I couldn’t really do anything else, so Grover seemed like a logical choice.

Why did you want to be Grover?

If you could star in one movie what would it be?“Starship Troopers”, because I’ve always wanted to shoot a laser gun at giant bugs.

What do you want to be when you grow up?I choose not to grow up, but if I became an adult I would choose to pursue veteri-nary medicine and or become a monk.

Do you have a job right now?I’m the executive janitorial secratarial macho box lifter at the Silver Spoon.

Do you play any instruments?I play an Irish pennywhistle, six string guitar, and the African djaembe drum.

Have you ever been in a car wreck?One winter afternoon I turned too fast and hydro-planed into the mailbox right in front of my car. I also gave the McDonalds drive-thru wall a new paint job.

What’s your favorite song?“Down Under” by Men At Work.

Do you believe in Ligers?No, but once the little boy from “The Grudge” ran across the street on all fours when I was driving home one night.

What is your favorite child-hood toy?A chuckie doll.

When do you think the stock market is going to crash?I think the stock market will crash when people stop consuming beef.

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie-pop?I usually swallow them whole so I honestly have no idea. Not quite the Toostie Pop Owl’s method, but...

How many marshmellows can you fit in your mouth at one time?I wouldn’t know because I usually just lick them and stick them in peoples hair.

Red bull or Monster?Energy drinks? I’m on perscription stimulant for ADD I don’t need any more energy.

If you could monopolize one company, what would it be?Apple, because then I could control everything that goes on computers.

21

next issue:

with Allison Kirk

21questions

12Where do you want to live after college?I want to live in Scotland, because plaid makes my eyes pop, and I’ve heard those man skirts are pretty com-fortable.

When you hear the words, “Epic Fail,” what comes to mind?I think of a cow jumping over a barbed wire fence, ut-ter destruction.

Why do you think people dress up on Hallow-een?Well I went trick-or-treating on Grandparents Day a couple of years ago and people gave me dirty looks so halloween is your best bet.

13

Junior John Altenbaumer has more than one priority. He’s been commited to the theater program for three years now, and has just recently taken on the role of Grover our mascot. He does all this while still balancing his classes at the same time.

Band?Feet aren’t straight.Soccer?He can’t aim a soccer ball

for a million dollars.Football?They don’t make helmets

big enough.Showstoppers?He could kick just fine,

but kicking himself in the face was his speciality.

Junior John Altenbaumer knew that the only logical choice now was to see how he looked in an huge, feath-er-covered hawk suit.

It was a perfect fit.“I’ve actually said I

wanted to be Grover since freshman year, but no-one thought I would actually do it.” John said. “But when I got a phone call from one of the cheerleaders, I seized the opportunity.”

In reality, he was actually the second choice, but he gladly took the position.

Besides, who could look as good as him in a giant bird suit? Nobody.

“I love being Grover be-cause when you’re in the mascot suit, people like it when you act stupid.” John said.

And acting stupid just happens to be his forte, making people laugh just comes naturally.

“I really enjoy making people laugh,” John said. “But I don’t think I would want to make a career out of this.”

And who could blame him?

You can’t exactly live a full life or support a family when your job requires you to run around dressed up like a bird with a disturb-ingly large head.

But either way, he’s doing a great job for the time be-ing.

John finally gets to live out his fantasy.

-onlinephoto

-onlinephoto

-trippephoto

Grover pulls a stunt and represents Hawk Nation at a football game.

The score was St. Louis four Texas three, many baseball fans would look at those num-bers as the final score of a close game. For sophomore Adam Northam and his family the game wasn’t even half over, the runs listed were only for the fourth inning.

“I actually ended up going to the wrong game,” Adam said. “St. Louis got up early and help the lead for the rest of the game.”

While Adam was at a game with over 20 runs scored, sophomore Hannah Stephens was on hand to watch the Rangers shutout the Cardinals.

“I was at game four on Sunday,” Hannah said. “It was really fun because we had St. Louis fans on one side of us, and Texas fans on the other.”

With seats in different parts of the stadium, students were ensured a different experience.

“I was sitting a couple of rows behind a man who had... ‘lost’ his self control and was yelling

things like, ‘Hey (Albert) Pujols, you’re fat!’” Adam said. “It became really fun after the first base umpire blew the double play call. Every-one in our section, including me, yelled at him for the rest of the game.”

As the fans at game three yelled at the um-pire, fans at game four got the chance to yell for the Rangers.

“We had a unique atmosphere because of the fan split in our section,” Hannah said. “All of the Ranger fans were really into it, while the St. Louis fans were forced out pretty early.”

While they might not remember the final scores of the game they attended, the atmo-sphere of the games will never be forgotten.

“The crowd seemed to be much more involved than they were during the regular sea-son, it actually surprised me,” Hannah said.

Compared to regular season games, the Rangers ballpark was like nothing seen there before. The fans were so involved that one student compared the crowd to that of another sport.

“I’ve been to tons of collage football games, the most intense being the Texas vs. Oklahoma game,” Adam said. “The crowd in Arlington ballpark was definitely as interested in the game and much harder to quiet down.”

The Rangers enter the offseason in second place. Adam, Hannah, and Rangers fans everywhere hope all the pieces are in place for a World Series title in 2012.

on th

e edg

e

Years on varsity football: I moved up to varsity freshman year for playoffs, but I’ve been a starter for three years.How do you think the team is doing?I don’t think we are too bad, we just have some mess-ups. We have been practicing harder since the season starting and have gotten better.What’s your best memory of football so far?Sophomore year when we beat Argyle. They were 12-0 and supposed to win state but we played really good and beat them.What are your plans for sports after high school? I want to play Division 1 college football somewhere. After that I want to coach either football or baseball, it doesn’t matter. I just want to help the kids.

Q&A withLucas Wacha

Face time

Josh Hamilton. Well... He is really the only one I know.”

- lexizachry, freshman“

Which professional baseball player would you like to meet?

David Freese. He has been hurt a lot this season but always plays through his injuries.”“

- jessegorse, sophomore

Different year, same result.

page10

The Rangers did it again. They made it to the World Series for the second year and lost. The Rangers threw away this year’s series to the St. Louis Cardinals four games to three.

50 students surveyed

Texas Rangers -8%New York Yankees - 8%San Francisco Giants - 68%Philadelphia Phillies - 5%Other - 11%

Were you rooting for the Rangers this season?

Yes - 76% No - 24%

Can you name the team that won the World Series last year?

Coach Kendrick Smith had high expectations for the Hawk cross country team during their district meet on Oct. 26. However, Smith wasn’t quite satisfied as both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams finished third place during the meet.

“We finished third for both teams. On the girls side we were expect-ing either to get second or third, but we weren’t able to edge out Liberty Eylau. And for the boys side we were favored to win district, but we came in third,” Smith said. “It was disappointing but we have another chance this weekend.”

Another downside to the meet was the fact that sophomore Jorge Ro-

driguez couldn’t compete and the replacement, junior Katelyn Miller was injured while she was running.

“Katelyn came into the meet with a nagging hip injury. We had her warm up a lot before the meet to see how it was, and she said it was OK,” Smith said. “But it got a lot worse during the meet. It is my fault, I should have been more aggressive and made her sit this one out.”

Although the Hawks had some disappointing moments in the district meet, there were some upsides as well. Freshman Michala Terrell fin-ished third overall and there were four boys who qualified for region-als, which means there we four boys in the top ten.

Smith isn’t dwelling on the district meet, however. He is focused on regionals which will be Nov. 5 at Vandergrip Park in Arlington, Texas. The girls will run at 10:25 a.m and the boys will run at 10:50 a.m. And like always, Smith is setting his goals high.

“We have the defending state champions in our region so it will be very tough. We want to be a top three team,” Smith said. “But even being a top ten team is a tall order. But like always, anything can hap-pen.”

When the Lady Hawk Volleyball team headed to Hughes Springs to play Mount Vernon a right to playoffs wasn’t the only, or even the main thing on the line. It was a 15-year tradition that made Pleasant Grove known for its excellence in volleyball, and no one wanted to be a part of “that team” that ended it all.

“Volleyball is a big deal at Pleasant Grove,” junior Katie Brolo said. “We’ve gone to playoffs for fifteen years and we didn’t want to break the tradition.”

With six talented seniors and plenty of younger members to back

them up the team had a good chance; They would all have to be willing to step up. A week before the tiebreaker game, coach Kevin Davis called a team meeting to address the importance of this single game.

“We’ve beat Mount Vernon before,” junior Avery Borrell said. “We knew it was possible. We had a team meeting a few days before the game to get everyone working hard and we had good practices every-day.”

Saturday afternoon’s five game series was more intense than anyone would have liked, but the Lady Hawks managed to pull through, win-ning the last game 17-15. They credit some of their drive to fans who supported them during the games and distracted the other team.

“We had a lot of students at the game,’ junior Kendall Lindsey said. “I’m pretty sure we had a lot to do with the score of the third game. It got really close, but we made a lot of noise and you could tell the other team was shaken up.”

The Lady Hawks haven’t stopped since then. They also won their first playoff game against Henderson on Tuesday. Two weeks ago they were having team meetings and worrying about playoffs, now they’re prepar-ing for the second round.

-craytorphotoSenior Abby Pickett takes charge against Henderson to help her teamates to victory

Hawks At the World Series

The Sweet Sixteenth

Elizabeth Starkreporter

Lady Hawks advance to second round of playoffs after Bi-District win over Henderson

A few Hawks managed front row seats at a game of the 2011 World Series featuring the Texas Rangers versus the St. Louis Cardinals

Mark Northamreporter

Pack a lunch, We’re Going To ArlingtonThe boys’ and girls’ cross country teams advance to regionals saturday after placing third in district

Kyle Greenreporter

Have a smart-phone with “Mi-crosoft Tag”?Use it to see some of what your friends saw at the 2011 World Series.

Junior Ladarius Reid might not have a lot of evi-dence to prove it but that doesn’t stop him from promis-ing an undefeated state championship team.

“We have some great guard and post players and we have really good depth coming off the bench,” Reid said. “We can shoot and coach Brewer has really helped us work hard and stay focused. These are just a few of the reasons we are going to win state.”

Coach Billy Brewer has been helping his athletes improve a lot.

“Coach Brewer is a great coach, he always makes sure we aren’t slacking and that we give 110% in prac-tice,” junior Dustin Thomas said. “With how hard the team has been working my expectations are that we can

go undefeated in District and make it to state, where we will win.”

No matter how much talent the team has on offense coach Brewer knows they will go no where if they don’t work hard and play defense.

‘‘With the team we have this year I think if we play defense we can win our district,” coach Brewer said. “We are a really talented offense, but the team needs to work on their defense and just focus on pressuring teams every game this season.”

The Hawks are focused and ready to have a season like no other. There first game is here against Trinity starting at 6 p.m.

History teacher turned coach Tony Kirk watches from the sidelines as he helps instruct the JV basketball team duri-ing practice.

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Junior Cason Cordray

Varsity Football

Record: 2-7 Upcoming game: North LamarBest game: Mt. Vernon. “We beat them 47-0 and really just controlled every part of the game. That was our offense’s best game and we were just on that game,” junior Cason Cordray said.Returning next season: The Hawks are going to return 9 starters on offense and 8 starters on defense next season.

Upcoming games:Varsity Football11/04- @ North Lamar

Ontheradar

Junior Katie Brolo

Varsity Volleyball

Head coach: Jenny Coon 2011 finish: 10-10.Upcoming game: Kaufman. “We have notes on them from another team. If we play like we did against Henderson we should win.” Senior Sara Kate Martindale.The Seniors: “The team has six se-niors so hopefully all the experience we have had in the last four years can help the team in the playoffs,” senior Kayla Kempson said.

Cross CountryHead coach: Kendrick SmithUpcoming tourney: The regional tournament for the Hawks will be this Saturday in Arlington.Returning runners: Sophomores Matt Day, Jorge Rodriguez, Jordan Hearn, Elaina Thompson, juniors Anna Ashby, Claire Rikel and seniors Colm Donohoe, Darius Scott and Luke Mcguire.What it will take to win: “It’s going to take willingness, guts and courage.” Coach Smith said.

Freshman Chase Denson

History teacher Tony Kirk never played basketball in college, or high school for that matter.

He’s never coached basketball, either, unless you count that one season of Pleasant Grove Youth As-sociation basketball.

However, just because he doesn’t have a lot of first hand experience doesn’t mean Kirk doesn’t know about basketball. In fact, you could call him somewhat of a sports nut.

“I do watch a lot of sports, I kind of have to, it’s my job,” said Kirk, who is the co-host of a sports talk show on 105.5 FM every night from 5-6. “I do follow the NBA, the clos-est of all major professional sports. However, I don’t really think my knowledge of the NBA will help me a whole lot with coaching because I have yet to see a NBA player who is going to be on my team this season.”

Despite this lack of experience, Kirk is now the freshman basketball coach, but he will acknowledge that he may not be the most qualified person for the job.

“Desperate times call for desper-ate measures, and the freshmen needed a coach so I decided I would give it a shot,” Kirk said. “The school also had no money, so I think they were just excited that they found someone.”

Kirk is taking over for coach Justin Watson, inheriting a team who won the district tournament in eighth grade.

“We should be pretty good,” Kirk said. “In fact if they don’t

win district, then I think it will be more me and my coaching then the team’s fault.”

According to junior Dustin Thomas, he realizes that Kirk can really help the freshmen team, but if nothing else he can provide some humor when needed.

“Coach Kirk is really smart, and he seems to always know what he is talking about,” Dustin said. “He is really funny, too, and knows how to make the team laugh at the right time. Coach Kirk is also very good at getting the team to focus when we get off track in practice.”

Practice for the freshmen will be-gin October 26 and their first game is November 29 against Carthage High School.

Kirk has already began to pre-pare himself for any situation he might find himself in this upcoming season.

“If I ever disagree with a call the referee makes then I am probably going up to that official and saying ‘I do not disagree with that call, sir’,” Kirk said. “I don’t think I am going to have to yell very much, I’m not really a yelling type of person.”

After all his years as an avid sports fan it will be interesting to see how Kirk uses his knowledge and his natural laid back attitude to coach this young team

‘‘I would like to have a coaching style similar to Dick Vitale’s,” Kirk said. “He uses a lot of humor and is able to have a lot of passion but also keep his emotions in check.”

Call Him Mr. Coach

Varsity Volleyball11/05- Kaufman @ Springhill

History and Government teacher Tony Kirk may not be the most experienced coach, but his knowl-edge of basketball will help as he coaches the boys’ freshman basketball team for the first time.

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1. 40 time: I could break 6 seconds in my fourty yard dash.

2. Most points scored in a basketball game: My all time high is 18 points.

3. Advice you will give to your team: Shoot. Shoot every time you have an open shot.

things you need to know about Coach Kirk

Curtis Zachryreporter

Brewing a TeamWith a new coach, the varsity basketball team is hoping to be a real threat in district

Tag this with your smart phone to see our interview with coach Billy Brewer.

4. Favorite basketball team: The Dallas mavericks.

5. Favorite basketball coach: Gary Blair, the women’s basket-ball coach at Texas A&M.

6. Vertical jump: If you laid two pieces of notebook paper on the ground I think that would be about the same.

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GET CRUNK, GET CRUNK!

From pink out to black out, pep rallies had a little twist added to them this year.

Word got out this summer that there would only be pep rallies for home games. Some people were furious and others didn’t really care, but all knew that it would be a lot different.

A new tradition was created when the Homecoming pep rally was held outside. There was the pink pep rally of October where everyone participated in the dance that was predicted to fail, the annual reverse pep rally with the cheerleaders vs. Sidestep-pers rivalry, the black out pep rally when the drill team looked like the dancing dead, and let’s not forget the not-so-traditional senior pep rally.

PEP RALLIES OF 2011

TOP 10 MOMENTS“Being a cheerleader during the reverse pep rally was a blast. It was especially funny to watch Blake Jordan do the splits.”-Senior Grant Harrison.

“Watching the showstoppers do their black-out dance. I didn’t expect them to take off the skeleton mask and have the neon face paint-- it was sick.” -Junior Alan Oubre

“When Greg Elliot started dancing before we ran out onto the field during the outdoor pep rally.” -Football player Nick Cockerell

“The reverse cheerleaders were hilarious. Colton Watson was so funny, he got into the dance and was shaking his stuff.” -Sophomore Michael Fischer

“When the seniors wouldn’t do the class yell. They were really mad and it was good to see them stand up for themselves.” -Junior Jessica Shipp

“The pink-out pep rally was the best. It was great to see how happy and grateful the breast cancer survivors were when the women came out and started dancing.” -Junior Katy Beth Irwin

“Getting to perform in the blackout pep rally. It was so much better than last year, it was actually dark.” -Colorguard member Destiny McDaniel

“Beating the seniors in the class yell.” -Freshman Cody Henry

“Seeing my friends being picked for home-coming court.” - Sophomore Erika Rodriguez

“Doing the pink glove dance and seeing everyone join in to be a part of it.” - Drill Team Captain Megan Hammett

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