Marketing department wins big

Some mail-in votes deniedSignatures a factorif votes are accepted

Round two for Ward 5 Forum offers another look at candidates

Students informed at rally

V O L . 7 7 , N O . 8 F R I D A Y , O C T . 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 P I T T S B U R G , C A

F.Y.I.Important Dates

Nov. 6 Election Day for national, state and local candi-dates and issues.

Nov. 12 Veteran’s Day, campus is closed.

Nov. 16Last day to with-draw from full-length semester classes.

Transfer information

LMCAS and ICC are jointly hosting a “Thirteen Ghosts” Haunted House Halloween Day. Based on the movie by the same name, the event will feature favorite ghosts. The Haunted House will be held in the old Counseling Area on Level 3 of the College Complex Oct.31, 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Admission is free and the event is open to members of the college community and to the public. Survivors will be granted with candy. LMCAS is the main club hosting the event and volunteers will be from clubs throughout campus

Haunted house at LMC

Photo by Irvin Trigueros

Ward 5 trustee candidates Daniel Borsuk, De’Shawn Woolridge and Greg Enholm participate in an LMC election forum Oct. 24.

The 22nd Annual East County Transfer Day and College Night is scheduled Monday, Oct 29. Transfer Day will be held on Level 3 in the College Complex from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. College Night will be held in the gymnasium from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Students can anticipate more than 50 college representatives.

The Classified Senate will host the third Annual Soup Cook Off on Tues-day, Nov 6. from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Election Day event is designed to raise money for student schol-arships. Individuals and departments who want to participate in the cook off should sign up by the Oct. 30 deadline. Donations are being accepted for a raffle prizes. A free bottle of water will be given to those who show proof of voting. . For more informa-tion contact Linda Manis-calco at 439-2181x3111.

Soup for scholarships

VOICE YOUR CHOICE 2012

Photo by Peter Costanza

De’Shawn Woolridge and Greg Enholm listen to an opponent speak.

Amy Chiang and Barbara Cella display awards.

Photo by Samuel Gonzalez

Gordon Miller (right) helps Diego Salazar fill out a voter registration form.

Photo courtesy of Barbara Cella

By KELLIE McCOWNStaff Writer

All 91 seats were covered with bright golden flyers and small crisp note cards in Room L109 inside of the Los Medanos College Library on Oct. 24. The three candidates, De’Shawn Woolridge, Daniel Bor-suk, and Greg Enholm sat at the front of the room under florescent lights and in front of an audience of chatty super-charged students.

The lines are drawn, the bat-tleground is set and the victory is your vote. The three men are running for the upcoming vacant seat on Ward 5 for the Contra Costa Community College District. They will be responsible for setting policies for the CCCCD, hiring

administration and faculty, and most importantly making important financial decisions on a potentially hopeless budget.

Honors Enrichment Ambassa-dor and seasoned debater Ashley Curry mediated the forum that was sponsored by the LMC Honors Club. Each candidate was given three minutes to respond to five prepared questions and four min-utes to respond to questions from the audience. All three were given opening and closing statements to try to sway students and faculty for their support on Nov. 6.

While the CCCCD is responsible for carrying out many different policies district wide, the hot button

See WARD, page 6

By SAMUEL GONZALEZStaff Writer

Contra Costa County’s younger voters have been most likely to have their mail-in votes rejected because of signatures that don’t match, according to county clerk Steve Weir’s June 6, Primary Election Report. Weir says that in Nov. 2010, younger voters comprised 15 percent of Vote-by-Mail voters, but comprised 50 percent of the signature rejections.

“This is actually a pretty new phenomenon. It really started appearing in 2010’s June election, but I didn’t catch it,” Weir said Oct. 18.

The number of rejected Vote-by-Mail ballots in Contra Costa County is small com-

pared to total mail-in votes that are counted. Of 135,004 mail-in votes cast in the June General Election, 1,716, or 1.27 percent, were rejected for arriving late, having no signature, or for no signature match.

That number may seem insignificant, but rejected absentee ballots have at times out-numbered the margin of decisive votes in close races. Weir says the County Elections Division began collecting data on rejected absentee ballots in 1996 after a California Senate race that was decided by 700 votes, and in which the county elections division had rejected over 3,200 mail-in ballots.

Since then, the elections See VOTE, page 6

By CHARLES POWELLStaff Writer

The proliferation of polit-ical propaganda leaves little doubt election day, Nov. 6, is just around the around the corner. The Los Medanos College Community was given a chance to make sure

it could participate in a voter registration drive called “Rock the Vote” — held at the Pitts-burg campus quad Oct. 18.

Attendees also had the opportunity to gather infor-mation on the upcoming ballot with booths set up to provide literature about candidates

running for office, local mea-sures — state propositions ranging from education to law enforcement to changes in how food is labeled — with people on hand to answer questions or to just discuss the issues.

See RALLY, page 6

By SEAN TONGSONStaff Writer

Los Medanos College was presented with eight Medallion Awards from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations District 6. These awards recognize outstanding achievement in print and online communi-cations and publications as well as media and campaign success stories at community and technical colleges in District 6, which serves two-year colleges in the southwest United States.

Awarded in levels of gold, silver and bronze, the NCMPR District 6 Medallion Awards are the only regional competition of its kind that

honors and rewards excellence exclusively among public relations and marketing profes-sionals at two-year colleges. Judged by peers from other community colleges, industry professionals and other journalism students, the awards were presented following a NC-MPR District Conference in Santa Barbara, California on Friday Sept. 28.

“The NCMPR District 6 Medallions rec-ognize excellence in community and junior college marketing,” said Amber Chiang, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for District 6.

“Winning a Medallion award shows that See WIN, page 6

Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” directed by Drama Professor Barbara Norris, will be presented next month by the Drama Department. The play premieres in the LMC Little Theatre at 8 p.m. Nov. 8 and will also be performed Nov. 9, 10, 12, 16, 17 and 19 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 14 at 11 a.m. Ticket cost $7 for students and $10 for general admission in the evening, and $5 for the matinee performance.

Drama flies over nest

Quotable

C o m p i l e d b y i r v i n T r i g u e r o s

How do you start breakfast every morning?

Cartoon by Chelsea Hamel

F R I D A Y , O C T . 2 6 , 2 0 1 2

“Life is so short. It’s like we’re already gone, really, in retrospect.”

— Heath Ledger

We welcome Letters to the Editor and Guest Columns. All members of the LMC community are encouraged to write to us. If interested in expressing your opinions on campus or world issues in the newspaper, bring submissions to room CC3-301 or mail them to Experience c/o Los Medanos College, 2700 E. Leland Road, Pittsburg, CA 94565. Letters and columns must be typed, signed and include both a day and evening phone number for verification. They may be edited for content, clarity, taste and length at the editor’s discretion.

Editorial

Dealing with life decisions

opinion policy

lEttEr to thE Editor

21st century nuclear family

De’Shawn feels for you

Fight against the Freshmen 15

“I either go to the cafeteria, or the Peet’s Coffee & Tea that’s in the library to have coffee.” — Roxanna Orozco

“I always have my protein shake and bagels every hectic morning.”

— Sarah Bagby

“I have a nice cup of tea and any bread I see. Either toast or cinnamon bread.” — Simone Franklin

“I have a bowl of cereal every morning. I take a water bottle with me too.”

— Victor Guillen

Voices

“I don’t. I just wake up at 8AM, drink coffee, and go to two classes till 11:30 am.”

— Daniel Javer

“I don’t eat breakfast, I’m more of a night eater myself.”

— Randy Yang

C h e c k o u t a n o t h e r s e t o f V o i c e s a t l m c e x p e r i e n c e . c o m

MadelineHenderson MAD MAX

Quela King GUEST COLUMN

Americans have the freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As elections near please consider what these freedoms mean to you and how they affect your loved ones.

To many American lesbian and gay couples, their freedom does not allow a devoted life with someone of the same sex. There are approx. 901,997 gay and lesbian couples living and loving in the U.S. In the most opportunistic country in the world, it’s illegal for same sex couples to marry in 42 of the 50 states. The states that allow it are Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachu-setts, Connecticut, New York, Washington, Washington D.C. and Iowa, a mere 20% of the country. People from numerous nations come here to seek freedom and opportunity, yet many States deny basic human rights, encourage discrimination and outcast ho-mosexual citizens.

As a human, no matter your sexual identification, you should have a right to celebrate your love and commit to your partner. Homosexual couples are entitled to receive the same benefits as heterosexual couples, especially in the U.S. Marriage is the union of two hearts as one. It ensures each partner is the entitled to share health benefits, receive inheritance and pensions, complete a unified tax return and are the legal representative for their spouse should they fall ill.

This right has been denied to homosexual couples they are forced to live with the fear of “What if’s?” What if her love was unconscious and ill, and her significant other’s insurance doesn’t cover her because they are not in a legal marriage recognized by local state law? Isn’t it fortunate that you are not her? What if you get into a car accident and your only option is to live as a human vegetable or pull the plug? The person who you stayed up all night discussing and sharing your future plans with will not be able to enforce those requests. The U.S is proud to be a federalist country in which we protect our citizens through the Constitution and guarantee their freedoms with the Bill of Rights. Yet, the direct opposite is our nation’s current status quo.

Gay marriage is protected by the U.S. Constitution’s commitments to liberty and equality for all. The U.S. Supreme Court declared in 1974’s Cleveland Board of Educa-tion v. LaFleur that the “freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life is one of the liberties protected by the Due Process Clause.” This law doesn’t include exemptions or state limitations. Denying marriage to a person because of their sexual preference is illegal and unconstitutional. As a proud nation of freedom, America can’t deny these rights to citizens based on sexual identity. A poll of the LMC was conducted to observe how many of 200 students surveyed were on the affirmative for gay and lesbian marriage, and out of that 200 many identified themselves as homosexual. As a result, the poll showed that 67 out of these 200, 33% stated they were either gay or lesbian, and 51.8% of the overall 200 students do in fact support same sex marriage, more than half of the students surveyed.

Heterosexuals and homosexuals are prev-alent in our community, college campuses to local groceries, facing the same daily struggles and triumphs. As Americans, homosexuals have endured the economic crisis. As Americans, homosexuals have suffered through natural disasters, 9/11 and Katrina and have witnessed the first African American president in office. As Americans, homosexuals pay their taxes and should be granted equal opportunities and all benefits of living in this great country, just as they share in the tribulations.

The point is all races, genders and sexual identities have the right to legally marry in all 50 states of the great nation.

Life is made up of nothing but decisions, but are we making the right decisions? Recently I had to make one of those serious decisions concerning a class. I like the class and the teacher but the work is very complicated — of course I am talking about math. We definitely don’t have a thing going on, but I have to take math because I need it in order to receive my AA certificate.

Staying in school when things are not going right is a big decision. I had wanted to drop school back in August due to a death in my family — my oldest daughter died the day before school started, so I was unable to start school the first week.

I was very depressed and did not want to continue my schooling. Four of my classes dropped because I was not there the first day, so in a way I wanted to say ‘forget school,’ but my family did not agree with my decision.

I am glad and grateful that I have a family concerned about my welfare, I enjoy going to school after 30 years and I still have three other classes that need my attention. But now I have another decision to make — what to do about my math class. Life is full of decisions like marriage, getting a job, having a baby and buying a home.

The person that you are planning to spend the rest of your life with — how much do you know about this person? Are you sure you’re ready to getting up in the middle of the night to feed a crying baby? To take care of a child until they are old enough to take care of themselves?

What kind of career will you choose and if you have the money to go to school to obtain this career? I remember in 2010 when I decided to return back to school to achieve what I started to do in my life 30 years ago at Laney College.

It was a hard decision to make because I am older now and have been through a lot in my life. I am happy that I did return back to school. My journalism teacher has been a big help in my life and the students I work with on the newspaper have helped me too. I enjoy writing for the school newspaper and watching the editors put it together.

Life can be what you want it to be and so can the decisions you make. Sometimes life’s decisions can be disappointing but you have to keep on going and make the best of it. I really don’t care if it takes me four years to achieve my decision to complete my education and receive my AA certificate or twelve; it will be something that will be satisfying to my soul.

The people of the United States will have to make a big decision on November 6 for who will be the next president of this country — with President Obama having a good chance of being the president of this country for another four years.

He brought our men and women home from Iraq and he also destroyed Bin Laden and his terrorist group. The decision lies once again with the people on who will be the next president of this country.

Some people feel President Obama has done a good job as this country first Afro-American president and I feel the same way.

DEAR EDITOR: College is a stressful and exciting environ-

ment, filled with homework, projects, sleepless nights, student body events and independence. Collectively, these all instigate new beginnings and connections that create a major transition and new identity for individuals.

However, at times students intertwine with everything else occurring in the college atmo-sphere and they often forget about personal well being. With various activities tugging and competing for students’ attention, it leaves little to no time for a busy student to exercise and incorporate healthy choices into his or her diet. Unfortunately, the combination of excessive consumption of unhealthy food and lack of exercise can equal an unwanted weight gain commonly known as “the freshman 15.” This usually occurs in the student’s first year of college, and sometimes students continue unhealthy eating patterns throughout their college years if no change is made.

Hey, if you feel like you meet that criteria look no further! Help is on the way.

Staying active in college creates a variety of opportunities for students that will likely continue into life post college. Students who engage in physical activity throughout college lower the risk for heart disease, stress, obesity and diabetes. If you are stuck and unsure on how to start, join a club (i.e. Mighty Mustangs), create a home workout routine (search YouTube for videos) or take a morning/night fitness class at the local gym. Find a workout buddy

if you want extra support, because people are more likely to exercise and stick to a régime if they know someone else is counting on them to pull through.

Dedication and motivation are very important when it comes to staying active. If you are not dedicated to exercising and not motivated to make a change, the process of losing weight/ toning up will lengthen in time. Make goals, plans and create a system that fits you best.

In addition to staying active, establishing a healthy lifestyle requires work, but it is worth it. Maintaining a healthy diet is extremely hard when quick and unhealthy choices exist in and around the college. Working hard to create a healthy atmosphere in a not-so-healthy setting can, at times, appear impossible since numer-ous people find it is easier to pick fast food up on the way home or to school. It remains up to you to make a difference — healthy eating increases longevity.

There is a common myth floating around that healthy food is tasteless or lacks the de-liciousness of a burger or French fries. This is untrue, there are over a million recipes that exist throughout the world that taste even better than the fatty food America has become accustomed to. The choice is up to you, because once you commit to a healthy lifestyle, the cravings for unhealthy food disappear.

As diligent students our goal is to work hard to achieve success. The change to a better you starts now!

— Alexis Nicholson

De’Shawn Woolridge embodies the timeless adage of a local boy made good. A former student of Los Medanos College, he understands the needs and hopes of community college students. His candidacy for Ward 5 of the Contra Costa Community College District represents the result that hard work and dedication brings. It’s a big responsibility and he’s a shining example of how you can utilize

your teachings here at LMC to reach your highest potential.Mr. Woolridge is not just a former student; he represented you as student president in

2008. He also served on the Shared Governance Council working with the Administration and Board of Trustees. Combining this experience together gives him the edge as the can-didate who can relate to the student body and will take our concerns into this new endeavor.

Whether it’s his plan to partner up with the local high schools to increase participation, or his plan to institute a digital textbook program, his main goal is to work for the students.

We need to forge partnerships with the local community to promote the importance of an education. With LMC being visible to the local high schools, he can help to maintain an environment where local talent can come flourish.

With the continual growth of the local communities, we need to attract the best talent to our community colleges. The projects involving the expansion of the Brentwood Campus will require the leadership at the highest level, and our school will benefit greatly from De’Shawn’s insight. The Brentwood and Oakley college community is growing at record levels and we can trust Woolridge to work closely with the district to accommodate the needs of the community.

As the cost of textbooks rise, coupled with the rise of tablets in the classroom, the digital textbook program will be a huge financial relief on students and parents struggling with in-creasing supplies costs in overall semester costs. The inevitable move towards digital textbooks can only help students. De’Shawn’s leadership will be critical in this important transition.

With the increasing budget cuts hitting the school, these bright and feasible ideas are impacts LMC students will feel right away. These are difficult times in this county, but de-spite the challenges the district faces, Woolridge is up to the task. We need someone who understands the art of working with less.

The candidate who wins this election will be responsible navigating budget cuts with increased costs, and an increased student population.

Having a candidate like Woolridge working with us and for us will ensure the future for LMC is secure and bright.

L O S M E D A N O S C O L L E G E E X P E R I E N C E

Perspectives 2

L O S M E D A N O S C O L L E G E

Experiencee x p e r i e n c e . l o s m e d a n o s .

MemberCalifornia Newspaper Publishers Association

“Were it left for me to decide whether we should have a government without news-papers, or newspapers with-out a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

— Thomas Jefferson

The LMC Experience is published Fridays by the journalism program. The newspaper serves as a lab-oratory for journalism classes and as a First Amend-ment forum for campus communication. Opinions expressed in the Experience are solely those of the students and do not represent the views of the college.

Editor-in-Chief ................... PETER COSTANZA Perspectives Editors ............. MARK FRANCIS

and IRVIN TRIGUEROS Campus Editors .................. KELLIE MCCOWN and TERESA DATAR

Features Editors ........ DEXTER DUNZWEILER and NICK CAMPBELL

Sports Editors .......................... CHRIS CHARDand LUKE JOHNSON

Photo Editor ....................... IRVIN TRIGUEROSAssistant Photo Editor ............ CHRIS CHARD

Web/Graphics Editor ................ JESUS CHICO

College competes at DVC

L O S M E D A N O S C O L L E G E E X P E R I E N C E

CampusQuotable

By IRVIN TRIGUEROSStaff Writer

LMC’s debate team compet-ed in the Collegiate Speech and Debate Tournament at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, bringing home two awards. LMC debaters Sean Callagan and Nyssa Noble ranked highly on the list of winners, finishing seventh place behind a San Jose State University team, and Noble herself placed ninth in Novice, behind St. Mary’s teams.

Debaters from as far as Santa Rosa Junior College came to compete in the tournament.

Under a parliamentar y schedule divided into six rounds, with one hour in front of a judge, debaters split into teams of two and were given topics involving the U.S. gov-ernment, the Fisher v. Univer-sity of Texas controversy, and more current issues.

Forensics Director Kasey Gardner describes his stu-dents as “warriors” for having the endurance and energy to last in a two-day tournament filled with passionate and fiery competitors.

Participating in such an intense debate was new for Denzel King, who shares his experience.

“When it comes to other schools and what not, it’s actually an eye-opener to us as a debate team,” said King who pointed out how intense the debates can be in each round. “Especially for Ashley and I because we know a lot of the people we compete with.”

To be a debater, students must invest a lot of time ded-icated to making themselves familiar with a variety of issues.

“It’s an amount of stress for them to get off work, and battle their other commitments and make sure they have time to debate, so they can do school and work and family, and compute at a high level,” said Gardner. “I admire them for that.”

With debates requiring a large amount of mental energy and diligence, how do busy students prepare themselves for verbal battles?

“We usually prepare by running briefs on topics that we think are coming up at the tournament, and we also have practice rounds,” explained Gardener.

Debate rounds were cri-tiqued based on the judge’s interpretation of the arguments made by both sides. Judge Marie Arcidiacono details what they look for in each team.

“The first thing that we do as judges is evaluate the debates in terms of the teams, which team won the argument—and there’s only gonna be one win-ner—and then, unfortunately, there’s the team that lost the argument,” said Arcidiacono. “The second thing that we do is evaluate all four of the students in the round in terms of their overall presentation… and we rank them as first speaker,

second speaker [and so forth] in the round.”

In one round, Callagan and Noble encountered a particu-larly difficult team.

“We tried our best to ignore the interruptions [the other student team members] were making during our speeches,” said Callagan. “Not that ques-tions during a debate speech aren’t allowed but there was a underlying tone of rudeness.”

Being a good sport was the best way of learning from the experience.

“Aside from all that we en-joyed the challenge of debating

them. They were a prepared team and we give them props for winning the debate [in that round],” he said.

Others were less fortunate and learned the hard way.

In the third round Friday concerning the Fisher contro-versy, student Evan Mullicane said he was called a racist for arguing that minorities are at an economic disadvantage for education.

“The topic that we took on was affirmative action, and with that topic it was obviously very racially charged, and so

F R I D A Y , O C T . 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 3“Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.”

— Hubert H. Humphrey

The flipside of LMC

Archives

LMC debate team gets ready for competition.

Awards for the great debaters

Student organizations promote at Club Day

Newswatch

DSPS looking for writersLMC DSPS is looking for volunteers to write, read and

tutor for their beneficiaries. For more information go to DSPS which has recently moved to CC-224.

Students interested in their eligibility for DSPS can be assessed in room 215 of the library. To schedule an appointment, or for further questions, contact Jennifer Garcia at 439-2181 ext. 3106.

Debate team hits the roadThe national winning Los Medanos College Debate

Team will be traveling to several California colleges to participate in forensic debates in Fall.

The debate tournaments are all open to the public, and students are encouraged to come support LMC debaters as they compete. For more information about the upcoming debate event, and the LMC Debate Team, contact Kasey Gardner at kgardner@losmedanos.edu.

Nov 3 from 7:45 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Nov 4 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Shenanigans to host BBQShenanigans will be hosting a BBQ day at the Student

Life Office Wednesday, Nov. 7 from noon to 2 p.m. They will be fundraising for the Good Shepherd foun-

dation which brings healthcare, education, and shelter to the people of Haiti. The theme of their event is LGBTQ and bringing tolerance, education and awareness for LMC.

Upon purchasing food items, attendees will receive a raffle ticket for the grand prize of two free tickets to the LMC Spring 2013 play.

University visits LMCSt. Mary’s college representative will be available at

the Transfer Center to meet with potential students on Thursday, Nov. 27 from 10am- 1pm.

Interested students may contact the Transfer Center to schedule an appointment ahead of time. Students are also welcome to walk-in on the day of the visit.

For more information on upcoming visits from other college representatives checkout the schedule online or at the Transfer Center located in the College Complex.

How to get news publishedIf you have an idea for a news or feature story, or would

like to annouce a campus event in the Experience, please send your information to editor in chief Peter Costanza, LMC Journalism, 2700 E Leland Road, Pittsburg, or email it to pcostanza25@gmail.com.

You can also drop it by in the Journalism Lab, Room CC3-301. Please make sure to give about two weeks lead time for items to be published.

— compiled from press releases and staff reports

Transfer Day, College NightLos Medanos College will host their LMC transfer day

on Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the quad of the College Complex building at the Pittsburg campus. 40 university reps will be available to answer questions about transfer opportunities, scholarships, and financial aid.

In addition to the LMC Transfer day, The East County College night will be held on Monday, Oct. 29 in the LMC gym from 6 to 8 p.m. Over 50 colleges and universities will be there with college information for students and members of the community.

Find out what you need to know about higher education from institutions like UC Davis, UC San Diego, CSU Chico and CSU Sacramento.

For more information call 439-2181 ext. 3422.

Archives

UC Merced visits LMC at the Fall 2011 annual East County College Night.

Photo by Chris Chard

Anali Ayala and Irma Galarza laugh during LMC’s Fall Club Day as they promote the Puente Club.

By KELLIE McCOWNStaff Writer

The tunes of Charlie Ray Jepson, Sam Quinn, and Party Rock filled the outdoor quad of College Complex Wednesday as the annual Los Medanos College Fall Club Day got underway.

Eighteen clubs gathered together during the cold mid-morning to promote themselves, their cause, and their con-tributions to LMC and the community.

The American Medical Student Asso-ciation is a new club on campus that has an international following in colleges and universities across the country. Aiming at pre-med, nursing, and dentistry majors, AMSA offers students who are entering the medical field support, while exposing them to what it is like working in the medical profession.

“I hope this brings more to the science department,” said AMSA Vice President Gary Fridland as he manned his table during Club Day. “One of our goals is to team up with other colleges and univer-sities and work together. We’ve already

gone to two medical conferences, and we hope to start doing volunteer work at local hospitals.”

Puente, one of LMC’s Veteran clubs, returned to the event to recruit new members. The club along with the pro-gram, addresses issues from academic achievement and community involvement among underrepresented students at LMC.

The Puente Program requires interest-ed students to take the LMC Placement Test, placing into English 90 or higher. Applicants must also meet with both Puente instructors and a counselor, and complete a student profile.

Club Historian Anali Ayala said that when the spot for Puente Club Historian came up, she felt that she was the best person for the job.

“Puente needs to be known,” said Ayala enthusiastically as she stood by the Puente table giving out pink cookies in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. “I felt I was the perfect person to record and take pictures for Puente.”

Being based on the Latin culture is

what drew Irma Galarza to join Puente.“I was interested in the Latin Culture

said Galarza,” I wanted to know more about it. Back then I didn’t care about my culture. Now, I know about it and I care more.”

While new clubs came out for the first time, and old clubs continued to spread their message, some clubs came together.

Anime Unlimited and Role Playing Game Club merged together to give students at LMC the opportunity to escape from the pressures of academic life.

From Magic, Dungeons and Dragons, to more traditional Japanese pop culture and video games, these two clubs meet together every Friday from 3 p.m. to 6.

“We provide a way to relax,” said Noe Iniguez who’s a member of both clubs,” A way to get out of your everyday stressful academic life. I’m also a part of Puente and Mesa, but I also wanted to have some fun.”

For a complete list of current chartered clubs at LMC, students can go to www.losmedanos.edu/studentservices/clubs.

Photo by Irvin Trigueros

Denzel King and Ashley Curry prepare their arguments during a live debate.

Photo by Irvin Trigueros

Professor David Zimny coaches students at debate.

See DEBATE, page 6

L O S M E D A N O S C O L L E G E E X P E R I E N C E

Features 4Quotable

F R I D A Y , O C T . 2 6 , 2 0 1 2

REVIEW

“It is better to be alone than in bad company.”

— George Washington

Choral gives a unique pleasure

Photo by Dexter Dunzweiler

The LMC Gospel Choir plays together for their performance at the Choral Experience Concert last tuesday in the recital hall.

Photo from WN

Members remain anonymous by hiding thier identity.

Big voices, stunning show

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By DEXTER DUNZWEILERStaff Writer

The Los Medanos College Music Department presented the Choral Experience Concert, which proved to be an excel-lent show that provided LMC

s t u d e n t s and spe -cial guests

a chance to showcase their talents. The concert featured the LMC College Chorus, Chamber Chorale and the Gospel Choir directed by Silvester Henderson, and a performance by Lawrence Beamen who was a finalist on the show “America’s Got Talent.” The audience was filled with more than one hundred people.

The night started with solo performances by LMC students who had varying levels of experience.

The third soloist, Cristopher Arthur, performed a song he composed himself, entitled “Once Again.” From his voice to the notes he plucked off the strings of his guitar the audience was left captivated.

The nine other soloists delivered solid performances as well, though some song selections were better known than others. One crowd pleaser was LMC student Christine Guadnier’s rendition of “Over the Rainbow.”

The Chamber Chorale, followed the soloists, boasted

a great collection of people whose voices merged beau-tifully during eight different tunes.

The Chorale’s energetic rendition of “Jamaican Market Place,” was it the most striking tune of the night for me, as the students’ love of singing shone through the melody.

The second to last song from the Chamber Chorale was “Fantasie Impromptu” performed by LMC student Timothy Bernardi, whose voice perfectly with the way he tickled the ivories. His

performance had a dreamlike quality with an intense flow that built up the tempo wonderfully.

All the songs were enthrall-ing to the point they left me speechless. Words alone can’t do the experience justice.

Special guest Lawerence Beamen came up to sing a style he called “Negro Soul.”

The sound of his voice was truly amazing — holding the audience and myself spell-bound to the point the rest of the world melted away. The depth of his baritone voice was bold yet gentle. It was

Taylor super swiftBy AISHLING DOHERTYStaff Writer

Have you ever bought a CD and from that moment you had it on replay over and over again? If so, then you’ll understand when I say that Taylor Swift’s new album Red is one that I haven’t stopped playing over and over again.

Taylor’s 4th album is by far one of my 2012 favorites.

Known as the country singer that fans love and know each lyric to every song. I am proud to say I’m one of them, and in this album she takes a new approach. She still sticks to her country roots, but also mixes in pop and rock ‘n’ roll.

The combination of all three genre’s has made a fabulous extended play.

A few of my favorite songs in the album are “22”, “Red”, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “The Lucky One.”

Producers on the album feature Jeff Bhasker, Scott Borchetta, Max Martin, Dan Huf f, Dan Wilson, Butch Walker, Nathan Chapman, Jacknife Lee, Shelback and Taylor Swift herself.

The price to buy Red is $14.99 on both iTunes and www.target.com.

I give Red five out of five stars. It really is the best.

‘Hactivist’ gives balance to the reputation of ANONBy DEXTER DUNZWEILERStaff Writer

“We Are Legion: The Story of the Hactivists,” a great documentary that shows the history of the group Anony-mous, was released into select cities Oct. 22.

The film explains how the group started as pranksters not hackers, but quickly evolved into something bigger.

Out of a website “4chan” the group is a collection of people who visit the “/b” board site, where anything goes.

The posts on “4chan” are automatically attributed to “anonymous.” The idea of came from a joke that all the posts came from one guy at a computer called anonymous. But because they are all from different people, the idea is that everyone is Anonymous.

The movie explains that not ever ything the group did is evil. For example, they conquered a white supremacist who was spreading nonsense on the air and web. Anonymous decided to flood his website and radio station, visiting his web page thousands of times overloading the server, costing the man fees and eventually destroying his radio station.

But the other side is also shown. For example, when Sony had to shut down the Play Station store for two

months, the attack was said to be Anonymous. The reasonfor the attack was Sony’s decision to take away the ability of Linux as a second operating system on Play Station 3.

And by stealing people’s credit card numbers and personal information, their purpose can be questioned.

But the film explains there is no group leader, no moral obligations besides one’s own ethics. The movie describes the members of the group on a scale — those willing to break the law for good. and those breaking the law little to no justification for the crime.

The theme is do what you feel is right and if you feel strongly about something

then your opinion is worth being heard.

Anonymous feels strongly that the Internet is a place for protesting. Their support is shown during the riots and overthrow of dictator MuBurak in Egypt. They sent care pack-ages to people giving them instructions on how to access the web when the Egyptian government decided to shut it down.

One person interviewed talks about how people should not fear their government but how government should fear its people.

The film gave me chills. It is hard not to feel the desire to be part of a group that grows from within. It is so cool.

crazy; in all honesty I have never heard a someone sing so masterfully in person. It was something you tend to only hear in recordings. The sound of it shakes you to your bones and resonates within you. In person it’s just — wow. His voice added a new depth to human potential.

Beamen’s command perfor-mance, although a highlight, was far from being the eve-ning’s only magical experience.

The LMC Gospel Choir performed next and provided a capstone on the night with

every song -- giving their voices in a strong and heartfelt tone.

The gospel music reminded me of church only it was richer and smoother than anything I had heard before. Their com-bined efforts definitely leave you feeling good and were so easy to appreciate. Their voices managed to join in harmony, singing in perfect counterpoint so a full range of beautiful sounds could be heard.

I enjoyed the song “Friend” with LMC student soloists Ash-ley Goines and Erica Pringle.

The song, although seem-

ingly simple, evidenced all of the practice and work that had gone into preparing the piece, so the quality of final product cannot be questioned. My favorite part of the Gospel Choir was the when guest saxophonist Angelo Luster joined in during the first and last song — it was perfection for me.

The entire night was one of those things that you just have to go experience for yourself and I would recommend these concerts to anyone — they are well worth attending.

Photo from Fan Pop

QuotableL O S M E D A N O S C O L L E G E E X P E R I E N C E

Sports F R I D A Y , O C T . 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 5“Champions keep playing until they get it right.”

— Billie Jean King

Stangs fall short to EaglesPhotos by Chris Chard

Wide receiver Terrance Polk (9) is tackled by a defender in Saturday’s loss to the Eagles. Polk pushed for some extra yards but was stopped short of the goal line.

Above, wide receiver Terrence Brooks stretches his arm out in an attempt to break the plane for a touchdown, but is called short. On the left, wide receiver Issac Harper tries to shake off a tackle after catching a pass from quarterback Devyn Parsons.

LMC slipped into an early rut against Mendocino, 56-34

Photo by Peter Costanza

LMC staff members gather on the softball field preparing for the bi-annual employee game. From left, Bob Kratochvil, Irene Sukhu, Kevin Horan. From right, Andrew Murphy, Bob Estrada and Anthony Puccio.

Staff rallies on diamond

By SEAN TONGSONStaff Writer

In a battle that was featured as a hotly contested con-test between the Mustangs’ high-powered offense and the Eagles’ strong defense, Los Medanos College faced off against Mendocino College Saturday, Oct. 20 in Ukiah. In spite of being armed with an explosive offense led by a fierce rushing attack, the 4-2 Mustangs were outmatched and outplayed by a hungry and determined 2-4 Eagles team, losing 56-34.

“It didn’t feel too good,” said Mustang wide receiver Terrance Polk immediately after the loss. “As a team, we didn’t execute on both sides of the ball like we were sup-posed to.”

The Mustangs found them-selves on the wrong side of a 21-0 deficit early in the first quarter, as Mendocino

quarterback Kyle Harmyk twice connected with wide receiver Aaron Dhuyvetter with two touchdown passes, the second of which was a 95-yard catch-and-run.

“That reminded me of all the big plays our of fense has scored in the past,” said Mendocino Head Coach Mike Mari. “I have been at Mendoci-no College since 2004, and we have had a ton of success. It was nice to see that play go.”

Down early 13-0, and already having trouble moving the ball, the Mustangs fumbled the ensuing kickoff, allowing good field position for the Ea-gles. Five plays later, Harmyk connected with receiver Ryan Brethower on a 14-yard swing pass to put the Eagles up 21-0 just eight minutes into the game. Polk said the muffed kickoff ended up being their costliest error of the day.

“I think the biggest mistake

we made was the fumble on that kick return. That kind of gave our opponent a big momentum shift,” he said.

The Mustangs were able to cut into the Eagles’ lead by the end of the first quarter, aided by a crucial 14-yard pass to Polk on fourth and 11, and another 30-yard pass to Polk, which set up Mustang quarterback Michael Behr’s two-yard touchdown run. After blocking an Eagles punt on their next set of downs, Behr connected with receiver Tyelor Mapp on a 34-yard TD. A two-point conversion by running back Anthony Jackson cut the lead to 21-14, necessitated after Mustangs kicker Ismael Martinez missed the extra point following Behr’s first TD of the game.

“I felt we started to pick up our tempo on offense and definitely got our confidence

By PETER COSTANZAStaff Writer

The warm muggy air of a fall afternoon provided the right conditions for the bi-annual faculty softball game on Oct. 19. A little over 20 players were divided up according to their favorite ball club—the Giants or the A’s—for the game that started just before 2:30 p.m.

Employees throughout the college, from the president’s office to buildings and grounds, played alongside each other, providing an opportunity to cover all bases of the LMC staff filled with fun and healthy competition. The winner of which gets to be crown “vic-

tory” until the next contest.“Bragging rights… we give

each other a lot of grief de-pending on who wins and who loses, and who makes good plays and who makes a lot of errors,” said Bob Estrada LMC bookstore manager.

Estrada, who was acting team captain for the LMC Giants elaborates on why he likes playing in this pick-up game, “It’s just a lot of fun, it’s a great way to blow off steam. It’s a great way to interact with coworkers in a different way.”

The game has been held for at least 14 years, recalls captain of the LMC A’s Elaine

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Ortiz computer and network service specialist. Ortiz is one of few who organizes the event to brings the staff together.

“It’s always a good time; it’s a beautiful day and it’s a close competition… it gives us something to talk about for a little while,” said Ortiz. “It’s a good team building event and we have a good time… I just think it’s a good event for the campus.”

The 7 innings went by with a flurry of big hits. Multiple homeruns from each team had the lead going back and forth ending in an LMC Giants win.

With the success of the real Giants this may undoubtedly cause for extra roasting for the LMC A’s fans in the com-ing weeks around campus. A notable homerun – the longest of the day – hit by Rashaad McAlpin sailed over both fences that outline the softball diamond and landed somewhere in a grove of eucalyptus trees.

President Bob Kratochvil took a few swings with the bat and played in left field for his first go around in the LMC staff softball game and walked away with a positive experience.

“It really created a lot of camaraderie… people really came together and had a lot of fun. And so it helped alleviate a little bit of angst, I think, about what’s going on and it was just nice getting together on a field other than the academic field,” said Kratochvil.

The next chance you will be able to see the staff take to the softball field is some time in the spring semester.

back,” said Polk. Whatever momentum the

Mustangs tried to build quickly evaporated in the second quar-ter, as the Eagles fired back with 14 unanswered points. Ryan Harmyk connected with dual 10-yard scoring strikes to Dhuyvetter and Brethower, leading to a 35-14 halftime lead for the Eagles.

“A big turning point of the game was when Mendocino scored with three seconds left right before halftime,” said Mustang Head Coach Chris Shipe. “Then they also got the ball to begin the second half, and went down and scored again.”

In the beginig of the third quarter, Mendocino received the kickoff and marched right down the field in four plays, with key contributions from Eagles running back Grego-ry Warren, Dhuyvetter and Jarrod Flowers, who caught Harmyk’s fifth touchdown of the day to increase the Eagles’ lead to 42-14.

LMC responded with a 42-yard drive, highlighted by running back Matt Smith’s 30-yard run and Behr’s 31-yard pass to Polk. Jackson’s four-yard run made the score 42-21, and there was still time for a Mustang comeback.

“LMC scores a lot of points, so we were concerned,” admit-ted Mari. “I never felt good about the outcome until the clock was at zero.”

After the team traded punts on there next possessions, Warren scored on a run from 13 yards out to make the score 49-21 in favor of Mendocino. The Mustang defense clamped down on the Eagles’ next two possessions, which allowed LMC to cut the lead to 49-28, when Behr connected with receiver Mapp at the start of the fourth quarter.

Any hope of a comeback was thwarted when Eagles running back Geno Poloni scored on a three yard run to up the score to 56-28, with only 7:58 left.

With the game essentially out of reach and now playing for pride, Mustang backup quarterback Devyn Parsons entered the game and strung together a series of completions and drove the Mustangs down deep into Eagles territory. Polk caught Parsons’ 15-yard touchdown pass to make the final score 56-34,

The Mustangs (4-3) will host the College of the Redwoods Corsairs (3-4) Oct. 27. kick off will be at 3 .pm. and expected to end around 5 p.m.

it was very easy to have some minor slip-ups in language,” said Mullicane, who added that he had to consider choosing his words carefully.

But the other team took advantage of his comments as racially condescending and essentially won the round.

Mullicane expressed dis-appointment, “I was just done with debating because we had just got done losing two rounds in the tournament so it wasn’t going very well at all. I did word some things very poorly, but we tried to rectify it later and correct ourselves but the other team just wasn’t having any of it.”

On Saturday, after the last two Parli Rounds, the Elimina-tion Rounds commenced and LMC’s debaters survived the elimination, but not the finals.

At the end of the event, the judges had announced Ashle Davenport and Nick Turney, debating in the affirmative side of St. Mary’s College of California, as the winners of the Novice Parli Debate with a score of 3-0, and Todd Guy and Josh Wilkerson of University

United Faculty President Jeffrey Michaels acted as the master of ceremonies and gave opportunities to individuals staffing booths to address the crowd.

Local candidates Daniel Borsuk and Greg Enholm, who are running for the Ward 5 spot on the Contra Costa Community College District Governing Board, took advan-tage of the forum to make a pitch for why they should be elected. De’Shawn Woolridge, another candidate for Ward 5, said at a debate, held Oct. 23 in the LMC Library that he would have liked to attended but was unable to get off work. (For more information on the candidates see the article by Kellie McCown on page 1 of this edition of the Experience.)

Michaels also opened the mic to anyone from the cam-pus community who wanted to make their voices heard.

LMC Student Ashley Goines gave an impassioned speech about why the passage of Proposition 30 is so vital for LMC students, saying that if it fails to pass students may very well have to say good-bye to the summer session.

Goines’s remarks were met with shouts of approval and applause. They also repre-sented an overarching theme regarding Prop. 30 being part of a last-ditch effort to stave off another round of cuts to an educational system already beleaguered by a continually narrowing funding base since the collapse of the housing market.

Debra van Eckhardt, stu-dent trustee for the Contra Costa Community College District (CCCCD), built on the momentum Goines created about Prop. 30 to underscore how Measure A could help improve the fiscal health of LMC and allow the college to better serve its students. She also touched on what the measure represents for the district’s colleges and educational centers in general. Eckhardt pointed out if both Measure A and Prop 30 pass the measure could allow the college to offer more classes, programs and lead to new hires, like a new counselor. If Measure A passes and Prop 30 fails then measure funds, generated by an $11 hike to the parcel tax, could help soften the blow.

“I want to make sure ev-eryone has classes. When resources get scarce that is when everyone panics,” said van Eckhardt. “You all have a say. You are all worth $11.”

The event, co-sponsored by the United Faculty (UF) and the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC), offered free hot dogs, which drew a consistently long line, many of those waiting clutching information from one booth or another.

Michaels said if Prop. 30 fails the district will lose the ability to serve 2,000 full-time equivalent students due to inability to fund as many course offerings.

“We need to get this mes-sage out anyway we can,” said Michaels.

He added that students need to be motivated to vote because if they don’t make their voices heard at the ballot box politicians won’t pay attention to their needs on Capitol Hill.

Van Eckhardt said the district could face 500 fewer course offerings with 100 plus of being lost at LMC.

The atmosphere was check-ered by a mix of dire predic-tions, belief in the ability to change things, and the sense of hope that propositions can be passed to stave off the worst.

“I want to make a change (and) see a change,” said Hall.

LMC President Bob Krato-chvil saw how the event could impact the future of the school and that of the country:

“I think it is a great event all about the political pro-cess. We just have to make sure people go out and vote on Nov. 6,” he said.

For non-par tisan infor-mation about the upcoming ballot go to m.smar tvoter.org, which can be narrowed down by entering your zip code.

division has worked to improve the success rate for mail-in voters.

“We put a flyer out, Weir said. “We already tell the voter your signatures gotta match, but we did a graphic and the number came down pretty significantly across the board, but there’s still a spike. That’s why were trying to get the message out that younger people need to pay attention to their signature as a security device.”

The percentage of rejected absentee votes has remained lower than the 3.88 percent recorded in 1996, but the disproportionate rejection of youth votes is among the latest of challenges faced by the county elections division.

“I mean, [the younger] generation. Less inclined to get involved, less inclined to register, less inclined to vote,” Weir said. “It just, kills me when were then rejecting the ballots after you’ve gone through all that trouble.”

Indeed, it does take some effort, and often some free food, to get those less-inclined to register to vote.

LMC’s Big Band played jazz tunes and Local Faculty Union President Jeffrey Michaels barbecued hot dogs in LMC’s quad on Oct. 18, as part of a districtwide voter registration/information drive.

“We’ve barbecued lunch for more than 1000 students, we’ve registered more than 300 students to vote.” Michaels said about the districtwide effort.

LMCAS offered free piz-za to potential voters in a registration drive on Oct. 12. Deborah Van Eckhardt, student trustee on the college district governing board, said that more than 100 students registered to vote that day and that many of them signed up for absentee ballots.

“We promoted absentee ballots, because their lives are so busy as students.” Eckhardt said. “Me and my husband have been doing absentee ballots for the last few years.”

Vote by mail use has in-creased steadily across the U.S. In California, 65% of voters cast mail-in ballots in June 2012, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts.

California’s election code requires that signatures on ballot return envelopes be matched with those from voter registration forms.

“We give the voter the greater benefit of reason.” Weir said. “We really try hard to include them.

In regard to mail in ballots, the code says that it “shall be liberally construed in favor of the voter.”

For example, If a voter uses initials instead of a first or middle name, or both, or leaves initials out, the ballot shall not be invalidated. If the handwriting is similar, the vote is counted.

Voters can check with the county elections division to see the signature on their voter registration form, or they can submit a new form to

Los Medanos College’s mar-keting department exhibits hard work, perseverance, creativity and innovation in community college marketing. The rewards are intangible.”

Competing with more than 200 entries received from colleges in NCMPR District 6, LMC was recognized for:

n Gold Medallion in the category of Banner or Out-door Media

n Gold Medallion in the category of Website

n Silver Medallion in the category of Poster

n Silver Medallion in the category of Banner or Out-door Media

n Silver Medallion in the category of Original Photo

n Silver Medallion in the category of Logo Design

n Bronze Medallion in the category of Brochure/Flyer

n Bronze Medallion in the category of Original PhotoThe awards were contributed by the Marketing and Media Design team, which includes Senior Web Administrator Eloine Chapman, Media Design Specialist John Schall and Director of Marketing and Media Design Barbara Cella. Cella spoke about the significance of winning these awards and what it means for the students of LMC.

“In the past several years, we have been awarded a total of one national award (a bronze or third place) and two regional awards (two silvers or second place),” said Cella. “This year, we won more awards than any other college in the competition. For us, this was amazing and extremely validating of the long hours we spend en-suring that we communicate well, with clear, concise, and inspiring content.”

Cella also goes into depth about the awards in which LMC received gold medals in, the LMC website, and the ‘Planning to Transfer’ graphic.

“Our website used to be a snarled mess—a beautiful mess, but a snarled one,” admitted Cella. “Eloine Chap-

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issues on the table were the upcoming increase in Cali-fornia sales tax Proposition 30, and whether or not the Brentwood Center should be moving to a 110- acre site verses the already approved 17 acre site.

“The Brentwood Center is a great for place students from the southern side, the Brentwood and Oakley area, to still get their education,” said Woolridge. “With things they way they are, not every student can travel here. The goal of higher education is affordable, accessible, and obtainable. “

Woolridge continued to say that he agreed with the already approved voter decision to move the Brentwood Center to a 17-acre site.

“Do I feel that LMC over-ex-tended itself with its plan? No, actually I don’t. I support the voter approved plan for the Brentwood Center. Right now I believe that LMC is doing what it can to put a good center out there for our students, and down the road we can look at options to move forward,” he said.

Borsuk and Enholm both agree that the Brentwood Center needs to be moved to a site that will allow itself to be flexible with future economic growth in the Brentwood and Oakley communities.

“You have to think about the future,” said Borsuk. “The economy will improve and we have to think about expanding in the Brentwood area because that’s where the growth is occurring. We have to think years ahead.”

While Borsuk’s main focus is the growth in Brentwood, Enholm believes that LMC needs to expand its Brentwood Center to meet the needs of the citizens of Antioch and Oakley with a 110-acre site on Laurel Rd.

“I have a major concern with what’s going on in education in the college district in the far Eastern County,” said Enholm in response to the new site. “It was clear to me when the

update their signature. There is a link on the county elec-tions division website where absentee voters can check the status of their ballots, but absentee voters whose ballots are rejected are not notified before the counting of the votes is done.

“We don’t call you up and say hey, we’ve rejected your ballot because a signature, because if it’s fraudulent were not going to give someone a second chance,” Weir said. “If it looks like its a signature thats close, but it’s changing, we send a new [registration] card out saying you want to capture a new signature, but if it’s not close at all were not letting the voter know.”

Weir offered a couple of reasons as to why some younger voter’s signatures don’t match.

“Im thinking that the young-er voters haven’t formalized [their signatures]. It may have come out of the registration we saw in the ‘08 election with great interest by younger folks. In two years their signa-ture has changed.” Weir said.

Weir also said that some of the signature rejections result from parents signing their kids ballots.

“They may be dong it with the best of intentions but its not legal,” Weir said. “That kind of has always gone on, but never to produce a spike like this,” Weir said, referring to the recent spike in rejected youth ballots.

So who at the elections di-vision has the job of matching signatures on mail in ballots?

“My staff and I hire tempo-raries to come back and do that and their supervised at all times by my professional staff,” Weir said.

Signatures are compared in the county elections division building in Martinez.

Two digitized signatures, one from the ballot envelope and the other from voter reg-istration forms, appear side by side on computer monitors.

“If someone challenges a signature it goes to a second level. If that is challenged it goes to a third level, because we want to see if we can include it,” Weir said. Some-times it’s all a mistake. We’ll capture that box off someone else’s affidavit, scanned the wrong one.”

The envelopes are scanned in a warehouse across the street from the central county elections offices.

“Now were using a com-puter software that looks at 27 points to prescreen the ballots and its including about 2/3, so were now down to looking at about 1/3 of the signatures and most of them are obviously good, but where the aberration is this age group.” Weir said.

Weir’s June 6, Primar y Election Report also tells of other challenges the elections division faces with mail-in ballots.

The county failed to meet the federal deadline for mailing ballots to UOCAVA (Uni-formed and Overseas Civilian Absentee Voter Act) voters.

of Nevada, Reno, winning the Open Parli Debate with a 3-0.

LMC debaters Callagan and Noble were happy with their own success.

“Nyssa and I were ver y excited to hear that we had made it to the elimination rounds,” said Callagan, on behalf of himself and Noble. “It was great that we were able to represent LMC, even if it was ninth place in Novice.”

For the future, the team is looking to earn higher rank-ings and, of course, eventually become number one in the competition.

Mullicane feels that he “needs to get more structured and more organized,” as he is new to college debating.

King describes the joy of arguing in debates.

“If anything, I just love doing it because that’s how it was at the tournament, being all confident, just engaging in the argument as [other debaters] were pushing us to the challeng-es and whatnot,” said King, whose debate par tner for the competition was Ashley Curr y.

Brentwood Center on Sand Creek Rd. was opened in 2001 that it was too small. I went out and talked to voters in April and when they found out that the district had a proposal for a 17 acre campus, particularly voters in Antioch and Oakley were appalled.”

Enholm went on to say that if he is elected to the chair, that he would take the resources for the 17-acre site, and apply them to a proposed 110-acre site.

“ I am strongly supporting the idea of having a 17 acre campus start, and taking the resources to Antioch and Oakley and applying them to a campus with the ability to grow to 110 acres.”

The second major issue, Proposition 30, left all three candidates in agreement that there would be a need for more funding if the proposition does not pass.

“I think that there will be a need to continue to press for support from the business community and non-profit organizations, “ said Borsuk. “ I think that there is going to be a need for someone to provide some leadership and avocations for state and fed-eral legislation so that down the road, more funding will be available for community colleges, and especially for LMC.”

While Woolridge, Borsuk, and Enholm all come from different backgrounds and have different visions for the future of the CCCCD and LMC, all have the students as the main focus as they race to fill the empty chair in Ward 5.

“Higher education is a defin-ing moment,” said Woolridge in his closing statements. “After Nov. 6, it’s going to go up or down. You guys are the important players. And at the end of the day, we answer to you.”

For students, faculty, and staf f interested for more information on Ward 5 and the candidates, visit www.smar tvoter.org. Na-tional and state elections w i l l b e h e l d T u e s d a y, Nov. 6.

man, our Senior Web Admin-istrator, and I spent two years researching and studying websites and upcoming trends in website development. High on our list was an emphasis on student success, including success stories and other in-spiring content. Many colleges hire outside firms for more than $100,000 to redo their sites, and we accomplished all of this work ourselves. We have been acknowledged by the LMC community and feel we succeeded in this lengthy, painstaking, but extremely gratifying project while being fiscally responsible in our effort.”

Cella deemed the gold medal winning ‘Planning to Transfer’ graphic and the sil-ver award winning ‘Be a Major Success’ graphic a fulfillment of a dream come true.

“We chose to design ban-ners highlighting and inspiring transfer success,” said Cella. “I came up with the concept and John Schall, our Media Design Specialist, pulled together a beautiful, creative design. Rosa Armendariz (Director of LMC’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions grant) was en-thusiastic and supportive of this concept and agreed to pay for the graphics, including painting, frames, banners and installation. Many LMC stu-dents and employees walk by these graphics every day, and find them uplifting, inspiring not only success but also pride in being a part of LMC.”

With more than 1,550 mem-bers from over 650 colleges across the United States, Canada, and other countries, the National Council for Mar-keting and Public Relations is the only organization of its kind that represents mar-keting and public relations professionals at community and technical colleges.

Along with community colleges in California, District 6 also includes community colleges in Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah, and Pacif-ic Islands, including the Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, Palau, the Mar-shall Islands, and Guam.