The Spectator

THE SPECTATORTHE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-EAU CLAIRE’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1923

VOL. 92, NO. 23 SPRING 2014Thursday, March 13

NEWS SPORTS CURRENTS OP / ED STUDENT LIFEPAGES 1-5 PAGES 7-9 PAGES 10-12 PAGES 14-15 PAGE 16

Charles Person, then a college freshman at Atlanta Morehouse College, was 18 when he boarded a Washing-ton D.C. bus with 13 other peo-ple on May 4, 1961.

Ten days later, the bus stopped in Birmingham, Ala., where Person, and 12 other freedom riders, were severely beaten while police officers did nothing.

More than 50 years lat-er, Person and Drue Lackey, a former Montgomery police officer, will meet for the first time thanks to UW-Eau Claire senior journalism major Ginna Roe.

“Last time I interviewed Charles Person, I asked him if he had ever received any sort of apology from any law en-forcement and he said no, he hadn’t,” Roe said. “He didn’t expect to, but it’s always been on his bucket list to sit down and have a conversation with law enforcement.”

The first time Roe went on the Civil Rights Pilgrimage

in January 2013, she met a man who knew some-one who had fingerprinted Rosa Parks. She later got to inter-view that i n d i v i d u a l

— Lackey. Af-ter talking to both men, Roe was able to set up a meet-ing between the two, which will take place this Saturday in Atlanta.

Associate professor of journalism Jan Larson helped Roe with fund-ing while fifth-year broadcast journalism student James Pfitzinger helped planned the forum. He also assisted with audio and video to document this historic event.

“It was because of my course that she was able to go on the pilgrimage in the first place,” Larson said. “I had a Civil Rights Pilgrimage course and it was because of that she was able to first meet Mr. Lackey. I’m their produc-er, I guess, for lack of a better word.”

Roe, Pfitzinger and Larson have spent the past few days down South preparing for the event this weekend.

“Thursday we actually will be sitting down with Mr. Lack-ey and Charles Person is com-ing down from Atlanta. So we are actually having a private meeting with them,” Pfitzing-er said. “Tuesday we met with Charles Person one-on-one and we got to know him a little bit more, such as his experience as a freedom rider and some of his later parts in life such as

when he was involved with the U.S. military.”

The forum is being held at the King Center-Freedom Hall in the Sweet Auburn communi-ty, east of downtown Atlanta.

Sweet Auburn is where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr was raised and did a lot of preach-ing during his lifetime.

Bringing two sides togetherJournalism students and professor to hold historic forum with two civil rights movement figureheads

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Do you think the Blugold men’s hockey team deserved a bid to the NCAA tournament?

Exclusively this week on spectatornews.comNEWS: UW-Eau Claire students present research at the state capitol building in Madison.

SPORTS: Managing Editor Nick Erickson hands out his college basketball postseason awards in his weekly column.

JAMES PFITZINGER / SubmittedMEETING HISTORY: Freedom rider Charles Person sits down with UW-Eau Claire students Ginna Roe and James Pfitzinger Tuesday in Atlanta.

Courtney Roszak STAFF WRITER

ROE

PFITZINGER

>> FORUM page 4

Senate voted to pledge money for flashlights, radi-os and other gear toward a river safety patrol program that hasn’t secured funds to operate, at its meeting Monday.

The program, called River Watch, is a proposed expansion of University Police’s Student Patrol, who report illegal or dangerous activity on weekends after dark, Sergeant Jay Dobson of the University Police said.

“Equipment expansion is one thing,” Dobson said. “We’re just hurrying up and waiting until we get the green light on funding and can start training people.”

Dobson said although patrollers could use new flashlights, radios and uniforms, police won’t spend that money until the university finds funds to support training and patrol staff wages.

UW-Eau Claire’s Student Affairs Office started planning the patrol in the fall. But so far, it hasn’t been able to find departments on campus to fund the program, he said.

Senate moved $600 from its $7,000 travel fund to pay for River Watch gear. So far this year it has only spent about $650 from its travel fund and expects to spend no more than $800 extra by the end of the se-mester, according to the bill passed Monday.

The Center for Alcohol Studies and Education will pitch in the other half of the $1,200 startup costs. CASE director Peggy O’Halloran did not return phone messages by press time.

Campus police cover campus property, anything outside of that is Eau Claire city police jurisdiction.

Senator Christian Paese said moving money from the travel account into programs like River Watch is a good use of Senate’s static funds.

“If (the River Watch) saves one person from an ac-cidental slip, it’s worth every penny,” he said.

Two Eau Claire students have died in the Chippe-wa river since 2011.

Taming water and bottling sunlightSenate pledges cash for river patrol

gear; solar panel vote next week

Nate Beck CHIEF COPY EDITOR

>> SENATE page 2

BITTERSWEET:Blugolds win confer-ence but still miss NCAA tournament

Page 8

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CORRECTION POLICY:While The Spectator continually strives for excellence and accuracy, we resign the fact that we will occasion-ally make errors. When these errors are made, The Spectator will take responsibility for correcting the error and will maintain a high level of transparency to be sure all parties are confident that the incorrect information does not spread.

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Thursday, March 13NEWS EDITORS: Emily Albrent and Katie Bast

A decline in high school graduates means universities and colleges across the country have to figure out what the future will look like. UW-Eau Claire is no exception, Interim Director of admissions Heather Kretz said.

In the fall of 2011, Eau Claire admitted 77 percent of applicants; but in 2003 Eau Claire ad-mitted 80 percent of applicants, according to the university Factbook compiled annually by the

office of Institutional Research. The spike in acceptance rates is not sacri-

ficing the type of student admitted to Eau Claire Kretz said. The change is due to the national trend of fewer high school graduates, she said.

“We aren’t seeing that big of a jump in our profile of students admitted, so our average ACT and class rank of the student that is coming here is typically the same,” Kretz said.

The university must accept more students, currently at an 80 percent rate, so enough say yes to Eau Claire to fill the freshmen class.

Projections for public high school graduation rates show the decline isn’t going to spike back up any time soon. Throughout the Midwest in 2007, 1,123,261 students graduated high school. By last spring, that number had declined by more than 46,000 students, according to docu-mentation from the task force.

The number of students applying to Eau Claire has been on a gradual decline since 2008 except for a spike in 2012.

Kretz said it is a concern for the university, but they are being proactive.

“We have been lucky to maintain the same quality of student that we are looking for,” Kretz said. “Some campuses’ profiles have dipped or they have had to decide to shrink their freshmen class, so that’s something that all campuses have to consider as state funds also decline and tuition dollars become more important.”

Chancellor James Schmidt called for the de-velopment of an Enrollment Management Task Force in January to tackle the problem.

Head of the committee, Alex Smith and also the math department chair, said the task force will establish a plan for under-represented stu-dents.

The findings of the Enrollment Task Force will provide a starting point for a new admin-istration position, Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Enrollment. The university posted the position and plans to fill it by July 1.

Senior Emy Marier, student task force mem-ber, said students remain top priority.

Courtney Kueppers COPY EDITOR

Go with the flowLess high school graduates force university to plan ahead

>> ADMISSIONS page 4GRAPHIC BY KATIE BAST/ The Spectator

David Rodgers, a sophomore died after fall-ing off the Haas footbridge into the Chippewa River last April. Ricky Gonzalez, an Eau Claire history major and Blugold wrestler, drowned in the river in 2011. Gonzales had a blood-al-cohol level of .19.

Dobson said one or two student patrollers typically walk areas near the river, check locks on campus buildings and report problems in parking lots on Thursday, Friday and Satur-day nights.

“We don’t have a crystal ball,” Dobson said. “Is it possible our contacts prevented a death? We don’t know that … Our student patrols have generated lots of contacts for us. They’ve been very effective.”

It’s a bird, it’s a plane

Look up at the south side of McIntyre Li-brary next spring and you might see solar pan-els jutting from the roof.

Senate introduced a bill Monday to spend about $160,000 in student fees to mount solar panels on the sunniest side of McIntyre.

Student Office of Sustainability director Emy Marier said it will take 69 years for ener-gy savings generated by the panels to equal the up-front cost of the project.

“Really it’s that piece of the symbolic na-

ture of the panels and pursuing sustainable de-velopment,” Marier said. “More so, this project focuses on the environmental … and cultural aspect of having the solar panels visible.”

A similar Senate-approved solar panel plan passed last spring, but fell through be-cause the project didn’t follow state-mandated procedures.

Senate planned to install a string of solar panels along the “skirt” and “ballasted” on the roof of McIntyre after a solar energy audit last year laid out spaces on campus that could sup-

port renewable energy generators, Marier said. State law requires Wisconsin State De-

partment of Administration’s Division of Fa-cilities Development, or DFD, approval before construction or additions to state-owned build-ings like McIntyre Library.

Mike Traynor, director of Facilities Man-agement on campus, said a state consultant squashed the plan to put panels on McIntyre’s ballasted, which means Senate won’t be able to install as many panels as it planned to last year.

He said energy generated by the panels will be pumped back into Eau Claire’s electric grid and will offset energy costs.

Senate has to hire a state architect, con-sultant and pay DFD management fees for the project to continue, which adds about $30,000 to the total cost of the project.

“Once Senate approves (the bill), we send it to the DFD and they’ll likely approve the proj-ect,” he said.

Traynor said if Senate passes the bill next week and the DFD signs off, the university could begin bidding on contractors by next win-ter, and construction could be completed some-time next spring.

“ Our student patrols have generat-ed lots of contacts for us. They’ve been very

effective. ”

JAY DOBSONSergeant

Beck can be reached at [email protected] or @NateBeck9.

SENATE/ If solar panel bill passed, university can start bidding on contractors

Jessie Tremmel: How did

you find your way to teaching?Nicole Jones: I actually

started teaching at a high school, back at Champlain Park in Min-nesota. They needed a teacher to teach sign language at the high school and I had done some com-munity teaching things, and they needed a teacher and I thought, “You know what, let me try it,” and I did and I really loved it. I

really, really love teaching sign language. I originally went to the University of Minnesota to be a veterinarian, and then changed my major into ASL, or Deaf Ed-ucation, if you will, so I had just sort of been looking for an actual teaching job and had done just community stuff, working with kids, being a camp counselor, mentoring deaf kids and work-ing with kids that way. I got the teaching job at the high school, was there for three years, then moved here and I have been here ever since.

JT: What brought you to Eau Claire?

NJ: We were moving to the area anyway, but at the time I had contacted the universities in the area, like Eau Claire, River Falls, Stout. Stout already had a teacher, Eau Claire here al-

ready had a teacher as well, but what happened was they had an overload, they had a bunch of freshman who wanted to take the class. They needed another instructor, so I was only teaching one course here when I first start-ed, and then I was teaching one course at River Falls, so I would drive back and forth. Then it ex-panded at River Falls, and I was teaching two. All of a sudden we realized there was such a need here, so then I got to be full-time. I had to drop River Falls. I am full-time plus here now, I teach six sections.

JT: So the ASL Program here has grown?

NJ: It has expanded. I think the more high schools offer it, the more colleges accept it, as well as offer it themselves. It is the third most used foreign language, En-

glish, Spanish, ASL, so there is such a need for it in every profes-sion. I think that that helps too, the students want it.

JT: If you weren’t teaching, what would you be doing?

NJ: Good question! I don’t know, probably something with-in the deaf community. I worked for an interpreter referral agency before, placing interpreters with companies that needed their ser-vices. Something I think related or working with deaf kids. I don’t know, it is wild to think, I can’t imagine not being a teacher now.

Shevaun Watson can greet each of her 15 freshman writing students by name.

That’s thanks in part to a newly restructured first-year composition class at UW-Eau Claire.

Watson is an English professor and the director of composition. She said she saw the hard work she has put in the last five years pay off this academic year. She worked with the English department chair and Blugold Commitment to create the new Blugold Sem-inar in Critical Reading and Writing to re-place an outdated course model.

“We have a cutting-edge writing program that is completely updated, is intellectu-ally more robust and rigorous and now it’s standardized,” Watson said. “Everyone was rowing a boat in a different direction, which doesn’t mean that what individual faculty members were doing in those courses wasn’t good, it’s that it wasn’t collectively adding up to something that was really recognizable and accessible.”

The Blugold Seminar in Reading and Writing won the Writing Program Certificate of Excellence from the national Conference on College Composition and Communication organization. Their March meeting will hon-or the new course.

Students coming in with no prior col-lege-level English credit will take either WRIT 114 or WRIT 116, equivalent to ENGL 110 or ENGL 112, under the new course ar-ray. The course array requires students who have Advanced Placement exam credits to take WRIT 118. Transfer students coming in with fewer than four college-level English credits take WRIT 120.

Students can submit a portfolio if they

think they have skills that better match a higher-level course.

While the course names are different, the content is the same in WRIT 114, WRIT 116, WRIT 118 and WRIT 120, Watson said. WRIT 114 and WRIT 116 are five-credit courses so classes can spend more time on coursework. The other two courses are fast-paced two credit classes.

Each section has a different theme, which reflects what the students will read and write about in the course, Watson said.

Sophomore Karissa Mueller took ENGL 110 last spring with Watson. The program

was in its pilot phase, so the university listed the class as ENGL 110, but taught it as Blu-gold Seminar.

“I think it’s a great idea for there to be a set English writing class for incoming students to take,” Mueller said. “I know it is often stressed in high school, but not ev-erybody comes from the same rigorous high school setting.”

Mueller said, as a broad field social stud-ies education major she plans to use the skills she learned in the Blugold Seminar

NEWS3Thursday, March 13

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

NOTABLE EVENTS HAPPENING BOTH ON AND OFF CAMPUS

THURSDAY, MARCH 13

FRIDAY, MARCH 14

SATURDAY, MARCH 15

SUNDAY, MARCH 16

MONDAY, MARCH 17

TUESDAY, MARCH 18

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19

• 7 p.m. — Owl Prowl, Beaver Creek Reserve• 8 p.m. — Artisan Evening Open Mic, The Plus

• 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. — 3rd Annual Irish Heritage Day, Chippewa Valley Museum

• 8 - 9 p.m. — Hobbs Observatory Astronomical Series, Hobbs Observatory

• 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. — Lunch Break Open Skate , Hobbs Ice Center

• 4 - 8 p.m. — St. Patty’s Irish Food, Houligans Steak & Seafood Pub

Have a fun and safe

spring break Blugolds!

• 4-7 p.m. — Ladies Night, Cottage Winery & Vineyard• 7 p.m. — A Conversation with Mike Manning, Schof-

ield Auditorium

• 7 p.m. — Hounds Before Lions Tape Release, Volume One Gallery

• 7 p.m. — Amp Quiz Trivia, Hilltop Center• 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. — The Foreigner, The Grand Theatre

• 7 p.m. — Ask a Scientist- Knot Theory, Acoustic Cafe• 8 p.m. — Ladies Night/ Karaoke Night, The Plus

NEWS EDITORS: Emily Albrent and Katie Bast

• 2:15 - 3:15 p.m. — St. Patty’s Day with The Shil-lelagh Lads, Acoustic Cafe

• 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. — Open Skating, Hobbs Ice Center

Blugold Seminar receives national recognition

Tremmel can be reached at [email protected] or @jessietremmel.

Jessie Tremmel STAFF WRITER

JESSIE TREMMEL / The Spectator HITTING THE BOOKS: Kidist Wessel brainstorms ideas for an upcoming research project.

To read the full interview go to spectatornews.com

Restructured first-year writing class crafted to be ‘cutting-edge’

Jessie Tremmel STAFF WRITER

>> SEMINAR page 4

Department: American Sign Language

Less than 30 percent of UW-Eau Claire students who stay from freshmen year until commencement graduate in four years, yet the institution as a whole has the third highest four-year gradua-tion rate in the UW System, ranking be-hind UW-Madison and UW-La Crosse.

Despite being in the top quarter of four-year graduation rates among other Wisconsin public universities, Director of Advising Debbie Gough said the 29.1 percent Eau Claire boasts could be even higher through effective planning with advisers.

“It could definitely be improved upon,” Gough said. “I would like to see every student sit down with an adviser and go through the degree audit line by line to make certain they understand ev-erything in it.”

Something different about Eau Claire as opposed to La Crosse, Madison and other schools is Eau Claire does not have a professional advising department like they do.

However, Gough doesn’t see that as a bad thing, and she said the uni-versity has never really looked into ob-taining a full-time advising department because she likes the fact that students can develop a professional relationship with the person who sees them in the classroom.

“Entirely professional advising sys-tem, I think, it leads to large advising loads per adviser, and it is also a discon-nect between the student and the major, and I think that’s important,” Gough said.

Senior Jy Corbett is one student who falls in the minority of students who will graduate in four years. After two years, the marketing major switched his advis-er to someone in the college of business, Abbie Windsor, and said he has become more comfortable going to her.

“She’s been super helpful,” Corbett said of Windsor. “Whether she has time or not, I know I can always walk in there and ask her a quick question or a few things, and she’s always pointed me in the right direction.”

However, Gough said there are plenty of challenges to increasing the institution’s four-year rate.

She said some of the Blugold Com-mitment money, a $900 charge on top of student tuition, is dedicated to fund advising in each of the colleges, where certain staff members would be devoted to focus more on student advising than others.

However, the last stage of staggered Blugold Commitment money was put on hold along with a tuition freeze passed in the state budget last summer.

Also, Gough said the university and students miscommunicate when balanc-ing the study abroad option and gradu-

ating on time.But the biggest concern students

have, she said, is not being able to get into classes they need, which pushes graduation back.

To avoid that, the university and students need to connect better, she said.

“If a class is closed, students real-ly need to be persistent,” Gough said. “They need to go to the chair of the de-partment, if necessary, even up the lad-der. A student should always be able to get the classes they need to graduate. And that has happened, and in almost all cases I know, is if you’re persistent enough, they’ll get you in the class.”

Corbett said while it is nice to have help from administrators within the system, it all boils down to the profile of the student and being able to take care of business. He said if you do that and

make sacrifices here and there, students should be able to finish when they want, no matter how busy they might be out-side the classroom.

“You just have to set apart a time of day to get your homework done,” Cor-bett said. “And when your friends go out to party, wherever they may be, doing fun stuff, you’ve just got to sit down and get your homework done.”

The bottom line, Gough said, is it should be up to the student when they want to graduate. If students want to stay longer, graduate in four years or earlier, there should be no external con-flicts holding them back as long as they prepare and communicate.

4NEWS EDITORS: Emily Albrent and Katie Bast Thursday, March 13

NEWS

stressed in high school, but not every-body comes from the same rigorous high school setting.”

Mueller said as a broad field social studies education major, she plans to use the skills she learned in the Blugold Seminar — such as us-ing citations of sources to find more sources and writing for your audience — in her other classes. Her history capstone requires Mueller to write an annotated bibliography, a skill she learned in the Blugold Seminar.

“With my major, it definitely ap-plied a lot,” Mueller said. “Because I do a lot of writing through my classes, or later on, being a teacher, I will have to write lesson plans and other things like that.”

Mueller said the Blugold Seminar introduces students to new skills and makes them evaluate learned skills.

Freshman actuarial science major Kateland Northcott is currently en-rolled in Watson’s WRIT 114.

“I relearned how to read,” North-cott said. “I learned how to take notes and certain things will stick out now, which is so helpful.”

Northcott said the Blugold Sem-inar has introduced her to a new way of writing, one that isn’t as rigid as what she learned in high school.

“Since demographics are changing, the university is changing, but student experience is always the number one concern,” Marier said.

Diversity growing

Eau Claire has been a tradition-

al-looking university for a long time, Marier said. She said she noticed Eau Claire is a difficult place to change quickly.

In 2013, 90 percent of Eau Claire students were white, the unversity’s Factbook reported. And two years be-fore that, 93 percent of Eau Claire stu-dents were white. Heather Kretz said she sees this increased diversity as a success.

“Our appli-cations have in-creased from mul-ticultural students and our acceptanc-es have increased, but we still aren’t where we want to be as a campus for multicultural stu-dents,” Kretz said.

Kretz said things are chang-ing nation-wide and will continue to, but the university is working hard to “be proactive and plan for those things that are coming down the pipeline.”

“I think there are some really key things happening on campus right now with an enrollment task force, a new chancellor who is interested in having this conversation and an associate vice chancellor of strategic enrollment,” Kretz said. “All of those things are fall-ing into place and all of that is to main-tain this great place.”

ADMISSIONS/ University task force to focus on recruiting more freshmen

ENGLISH/Use what is learned in other classes

GRAPHIC BY KARL ENGHOFER/ The Spectator

“ Since demograph-ics are changing, the university is chang-ing but student expe-rience is always the

number one concern.”EMY MARIER

SENIOR

Kueppers can be reached at [email protected] or @cmkueppers.

Tremmel can be reached at [email protected] or @jessietremmel.

Timely graduation rates possible Preparation and planning key to finishing in desired time

KRETZ

Nick Erickson MANAGING EDITOR

Erickson can be reached at [email protected] or @NickErickson8.

About 100 students from the uni-versity will go on the Civil Rights Pil-grimage to see the forum on Saturday.

For Roe, this is something she said she never dreamed would hap-pen. She said she is excited to see the two men meet and talk this weekend, and it has been an incredible opportu-nity for her.

“This all stemmed from a con-versation I had with a stranger in a Montgomery lunch diner,” Roe said. “I never thought it would come full-cir-cle like this and that we would get to talk to all these historical figures, let alone have them have the opportunity to talk to each other.”

Roszak can be reached at [email protected] or @CRoszak22.

FORUM/ Roe says this is something she never dreamed would happen

Check out the audio story at spectatornews.com

and then evolved into a disco space. Fanny Hill will continue to change and progress after theatre, Heyde said.

“Over the years, Fanny Hill hasn’t stood still. It has made sever-al operational changes to stay with what the customers are looking for nowadays,” Heyde said.

Sophomore nursing major Allie Miller went to Fanny Hill for the first time in December to see “A Christmas Carol.” She said she was very pleased with her experience.

“I thought it was a really nice place,” Miller said. “Small and quaint, but nice.”

Miller said the dinner was good and not over-priced and she would have liked to return to a show at some point.

“I think it’s sad, it was a fun part of the community that will be missing now,” Miller said.

Since Fanny Hill produced its own shows with paid actors and ac-

tresses, the shows had to run six to eight weeks just to cover the cost of building the set, Heyde said.

“There is just not enough sup-port to sustain an operation like that,” he said.

Hodgins said he was in charge of everything that happened on stage. He said he designed sets, directed 99 percent of the shows, acted in a lot of them and wrote nine of them. He said one of the most gratifying parts of his time at Fanny Hill was the night his first play opened.

Hodgins will begin looking for new work in theatre once he finish-es tying up loose ends at the theatre has called home for more than 30 years, he said.

“It’s been a great run,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but everything ends and this was the time so it’s time to move on.”

5Thursday, March 13

COMMUNITY NEWSNEWS EDITORS: Emily Albrent and Katie Bast

Fanny Hill takes its final bow


Kueppers can be reached at [email protected] or @cmkueppers.

Long-time dinner theatre closed for good; venue remains open as restaurant

After Elvis left the building, the curtain closed on the dinner theatre at Fanny Hill indefinitely.

On March 2, Elvis impersonator George Thomas was the final act to entertain crowds at Fanny Hill’s dinner theatre.

Fanny Hill owner Dennis Heyde said he would suspend dinner the-atre at Fanny Hill in 2009. After backlash, he changed his mind. But due to high losses, this time the de-cision must stick, he said.

“We have been supporting (it) because we believe the arts are needed in the Chippewa Valley, but in this economy we are just not able

to do it any longer,” Heyde said.Fanny Hill, which is located one

mile south of Eau Claire, has been in the entertainment business for almost 40 years. The venue’s live dinner theatre continued for more than 35 years.

Long-time theatre Director, Don Hodgins said if he would have had it his way, Fanny Hill would have closed the dinner theatre with one of their own shows produced in-house. Since the timing did not work out for that, he said he was glad it was Thomas playing The King.

Hodgins has been working at Fanny Hill since 1980 alongside his wife, Lois Hodgins, who handled group sales. He said the future with-out the dinner theatre won’t be the

same, but he said he is happy with the time he has had at the theatre.

“It’s going to be difficult. … This is going to be a major change for Fanny Hill and also for my wife and I,” Hodgins said.

While the dinner theatre is clos-ing, the venue remains open as a bed and breakfast and banquet hall, a shift Hodgins is not so sure about, he said.

“Fanny Hill has been so identi-fied with the dinner theater it is go-ing to be difficult for them to change the concept and to convince people that this place is totally different,” Hodgins said.

Fanny Hill had life before din-ner theatre. At its onset it was a beer bar targeting college students

COURTNEY KUEPPERS/ The Spectator THE FINAL CURTAIN: Located one mile south of Eau Claire, Fanny Hill was recently forced to close its doors on a 35-year dinner theatre tradition.

Online this week:

— E-Cig trend in Eau Claire gains traction

as a way to quit. — Read the Op/Ed

on page 15 for more on this trend.

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SPORTS7SPORTS EDITOR: Steve Fruehauf Thursday, March 13

At the beginning of every sports season, athletic teams across the world set one com-mon goal for themselves: to win a national championship. Only one team earns the right to call themselves a champion. That’s the beau-ty of sports.

In the NCAA, student-athletes who fall short of a national crown are able to find com-fort in individual honors awarded to them from their respective athletic conferences.

With the winter season coming to an end, the WIAC recognized a slew of Blugold athletes

for their outstanding athletic achievement. Head softball coach and assistant director of athletics Leslie Huntington said in years when teams fall short of their ultimate goal, all-conference and all-confer-ence honorable mention hon-ors are significant.

“There is a lot of merit to the all-conference honors stu-dent-athletes receive,” Hun-

tington said. “It speaks to the overall quality of an athletic program.”

The process of receiving all-conference hon-ors differs from sport to sport. In team sports, WIAC office officials and head coaches of each team decide which players receive all-confer-ence and honorable mention recognition.

Once the two groups make a decision, an all-conference first team is formed, followed

by a group of honorable mention athletes. De-pending on the sport, there could be as many as three all-conference teams.

In individual sports like swimming and diving and track and field, athletes compete at the WIAC conference meet in races and events for honors.

Regardless of the sport, receiving honors from the WIAC is an achievement Blugold athletes strive for. Paige Turner, a sophomore goalie on the women’s hockey team, earned an honorable mention on the All-WIAC team.

“I actually started crying,” Turner said. “It was truly a blessing and a great feeling.”

The tears of joy over-came her because she came back from hip sur-gery and before the season, it was unknown whether she would be able to start on time, she said.

Turner said she worked hard to return to the ice, and once she was back, her work ethic did not change. She lead

the WIAC in saves with 734. She said the fact her hard work was recognized is what makes her the most proud.

A consistent work ethic is a constant theme among all-conference student-athletes. The honor highlights the hard work, passion and love of the game they exhibited throughout their respective seasons.

“To be recognized by the WIAC as one of the better players in the conference is definite-ly something I take pride in, and it’s pretty humbling,” men’s basketball sophomore guard Adam Hjelter said.

Hjelter led the Blugolds in scoring with 15.5 points per game, and had the 15th best free throw percentage in the nation at 89.3

percent. He said it has taken him a lot of hard work to get to this point.

Like Turner, Hjelter battled an injury before the season, and he said his honor from the WIAC is a result of his drive to prove himself to his opponents on the court.

“Night in and night out you have to show up to games with consistent ef-fort,” Hjelter said. “I am not taking days off or anything for granted, and I think that is a big part of it.”

WIAC recognition comes with a set of ex-pectations. The community, coaches and team-mates set these expectations, Huntington said. Ultimately, the recognized athletes are held to a higher standard.

Hjelter said because of the honor, the way he carries himself and how he represents his program are magnified.

“It is a humbling honor, but at the same time it forces me to hold myself to a higher standard and to be accountable to my team-mates, coaches and the program,” Hjelter said.

Despite the fact being recognized by the WIAC is an individual honor, both Hjelter and Turner said their honors would not have been possible without the help of their teammates.

Huntington said earning WIAC recogni-tion brings on a leadership role because they are among the most talented athletes on their team.

“Individual awards go along with team suc-cess,” she said. “The more successful our teams can be, the better chance we have of getting our student-athletes individual honors.”

Ellis Williams STAFF WRITER

Now among the

UW-Eau Claire student-athletes have been recognized by WIAC

HUNTINGTON

TURNER

HJELTER“There is a lot of merit to the all-conference honors student-athletes receive. It speaks to the overall

quality of an athletic program.”

LESLIE HUNTINGTONassistant director of athletics

conference’s best

Williams can be reached at [email protected] or @BookofEllis.

Blugold men’s and women’s indoor track and field team notched only one first place finish at the UW-Stevens Point Last Chance Meet Saturday.

Junior Cody Prince took home the win in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.97 sec-onds, just squeezing past teammate Thurgood Dennis, who had a time of 49.03 seconds.

“It felt good, not that I was able to barely beat (Dennis), but that I ran a solid time be-cause I haven’t been running the best for most of this indoor season,” Prince said.

Dennis said watching his teammate and friend cross the finish line with a great time was awesome.

“To see him run up there, he wears this headband with his flow, it’s outstanding,” Den-nis said. “I can’t get over watching him run, he

looks so smooth.”Even though Prince’s

time was the only first-place finish, a lot of Blugolds took home second-place spots.

Junior Roger Steen took second in the shot put with a throw of 17.38 meters, and junior Carly Fehler snagged second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.86 seconds. Fehler said the highlight of the meet came from her

teammates.“Our women’s 4x4 qualified for nationals,

we were right on the bubble sitting at 15, and the top 12 go to nationals,” Fehler said. “They ended up almost breaking the school record, and now they’re sitting fourth for nationals.”

The 4x400-meter relay team was made up by juniors Brooke Patterson, Steph Rouse, Me-

gan Mulligan and sophomore Jessica Rupnow. They turned in a third-place finish with a sea-son-best time of 3:53:04.

The team left for nationals at 5 p.m. Wednesday and Fehler said they are prepar-ing for competition like they would any other week.

“Our training is light, we’re focused on making sure our bodies are fresh for this weekend,” Fehler said. The sprinter and jump-er also said at the end of the day, it’s about having fun.

“We’re going out to Nebraska, and it’s a business trip, but at the same time, our team is focused on remembering that we love doing this and we love being a team,” she said.

Today will consist of practice for the Blu-golds in preparation for competition at 10 a.m. Friday.

“The team is very excited to compete at nationals and everyone seems to be focused,” Prince said. “We just need to take care of business.”

Cori PicardSTAFF WRITER

Final meet turns second place finishesUW-Stevens Point’s Last Chance Meet good

precursor for national competition

SPORTSSPORTS EDITOR: Steve Fruehauf Thursday, March 13 8

Saturday night, UW-Eau Claire men’s hockey defeated rival UW-Superi-or 3-0 at Hobbs Ice Center to win their second straight WIAC championship.

The third-seed Blugolds hosted the championship game after defeating sec-ond-seed UW-Stevens Point in game two and the following mini game in the semi-finals.

The fourth-seed Yellowjackets de-feated first-seed UW-River Falls 2-0 to move on to the championship game.

From the beginning, this game fea-tured lots of hits and physical play.

Halfway through the first period, freshman forward Patrick Moore scored

seconds after missing an opportunity for an open net shot.

Senior forward Niko Kapetanovic made a pass from behind the net to get Moore the puck to put it away against Superior’s Dayn Belfour, the son of NHL Hall-of -Fame goalie Ed Belfour.

Sophomore defen-

seman Jeff Pauluk and Kapetanovic got the assists.

A few minutes later at 12:32, the Blugolds extended their lead as junior forward Ross Andersen and Moore went down the ice, making a 2-on-1 situation.

Andersen handled Moore’s pass and rocketed a shot over the goalie’s glove. Moore and Kapetanovic were credited with the assists.

The second period began and the Blugolds pushed the puck and extended their lead to 3-0.

At 8:41, Pauluk took a shot and missed. Junior forward Joe Krause re-covered and snuck a shot through Bel-four. Pauluk and senior defenseman Da-vid Donnellan assisted on the play.

Krause’s score marked the end of Blugold scoring for the day, but not even a first period bloody nose could stop Eau Claire’s goalie from blocking every shot Saturday.

Freshman Jay Deo had a career day as he blocked 42 shots on the way to the 3-0 victory, his fifth shutout of the year.

Head coach Matt Loen lived this experience last season, but still under-stands the importance of making it this far.

“Winning our conference was one of our goals set at the start of the season,”

Loen said. “We’re all proud to win the cham-pionship for the univer-sity.”

Despite the cham-pionship win and an updated overall record of 19-8-1, the NCAA selection committee did not include Eau Claire in this year’s bid distri-bution for the national championship.

Considering the defending nation-al champions just won their conference again, being left out of the national championship tournament left some Blu-golds feeling wronged.

“It’s unfair,” Thauwald said. “We had 19 wins and won our conference tourna-ment. We are ranked 7th in the nation and didn’t get a tournament bid … This doesn’t make sense to me.”

Whether it’s fair or unfair, the season is over.

It’s time for Loen and his staff to look at recruits and prepare for next season.

It’s time for the seniors to look back and appreciate their elite body of work over the last few years.

And it’s time for the underclassmen players to learn from this season, and get excited for the future.

“I think we have a really solid group of guys coming back,” Thauwald said. “With hard work and a few big recruits, we will have a shot at winning a national championship again.”

Austin MaiSTAFF WRITER

Despite winning conference title, UW-Eau Claire did not re-ceive berth into NCAA Division III championship

WIAC champions two years running

ELIZABETH JACKSON / The Spectator LOOKING FOR SPACE: Senior forward Mark Pustin carries the puck up the ice during the Blugolds’ 3-0 title victory over UW-Superior Saturday.LOEN

DEO

Mai can be reached at [email protected] or @austinisfresh.

Blugold National Qualifiers:

Thurgood DennisCody PrinceAdam Moline

Matt ScottWill LaJeunesse

Jimmy PaskeRoger Steen

Alex MessBrandon Zarnoth

Greg PetersonCarly Fehler

Megan MulliganMonica EmersonBrooke Patterson

Steph RouseJessica Rupnow

Kelsey Weigel

FEHLER

Picard can be reached at [email protected] or @CoriFPicard.

SPORTS9SPORTS EDITOR: Steve Fruehauf Thursday, March 13

Amanda FischerOutfielder/Catcher

Softball

JuniorWausau

Wausau WestHigh School

Getting to know Fischer:

Favorite vacation: Going to Prague to play softball for 10 days

Favorite restaurant in Eau Claire: Milwaukee Burger Company

Favorite sport (besides softball): Volleyball

Dream job: To work with wild animals or

marine animals

Favorite movie: “Up”

Fischer started all four games on the mound the weekend of Feb. 28-March 1, and led the team in hitting, with a .538 batting average and a .923 on-base percentage. She also helped the Blugolds defeat St. Norbert in extra innings, hitting a home run. This helped UW-Eau Claire

start the season out with a 3-1 record.

GRAPHIC BY KARL ENGHOFER / The Spectator

Young team still finds positives against two tough teams this weekend

Tennis drops two

The UW-Eau Claire men's ten-nis team fell in two competitions this weekend to end their four-match winning streak.

At the Racine Racquet and Fit-ness Club Friday, Eau Claire fell to Elmhurst College (Ill.) 7-2 and later lost their next match to Car-thage College 6-3 on Saturday.

“We had a lot of three-set matches this weekend,” senior cap-tain Joe Meier said. “But I think our team competed really well for being as young as we are.”

The only Blugolds to win both of their matches were Meier and other senior captain Ryan Vande Linde at No. 1 dou-bles. They won 9-8 against Elmhurst Friday, and Satur-day backed that up with an 8-4 victory against Carthage. The duo now is 8-2 on the season and have won eight matches in a row.

Head coach Tom Gillman said this weekend’s matches were against some qual-ity opponents, and the team should be happy about how they performed de-spite the results.

“This weekend was a growth weekend for us,” Gillman said. “We had some extremely tough match-es, and I believe we can walk away feeling confident and like we be-longed on the court with our oppo-nents.”

On Friday, sophomore Kyle Hoffmann and freshman Josh Chu-

ba took home an 8-6 victory over El-mhurst in doubles. Meanwhile Sat-urday, sophomore Nathan Tretsven and freshman Luke Zwiener beat their opponents from Carthage Col-lege in a close 9-8 doubles match.

However, the Blugolds struggled in singles play. Freshman Will Weyenberg was the lone Blugold to win a match in singles over the weekend, picking up a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 6 singles against Carthage. Wey-enberg has won six

straight matches and sits at 6-2 on the season for the Blugolds.

Vande Linde said he thinks his team performed well this weekend and were extremely close in many matches, but what brought the team down were the struggles in

individual play.“I think the big

thing that we can improve upon is our singles play,” Vande Linde said. “We have really come out and domi-nated most matches in doubles but have struggled individu-ally in our losses.”

The 14-man roster is comprised of nine freshmen, three sophomores and only two se-niors.

“People forget how young we re-ally are, but also

within that youth how successful we are,” Vande Linde said. “These freshmen and sophomores have such great attitudes, and mentally you can’t tell they are as young as they really are.”

The Blugolds now sit at 5-5 on the season after the pair of losses over the weekend and will compete in Hilton Head Island, S.C., during spring break, playing six oppo-nents March 16-20.

Trent TetzlaffSTAFF WRITER

matches in tough outing

GILLMAN

VANDE LINDE

“People forget how young we really are but

also within that youth how successful we are.”

RYAN VANDE LINDESenior captain

Tetzlaff can be reached at [email protected] or @ttetz5.

CURRENTS10CURRENTS EDITOR: Zack Katz Thursday, March 13

Guinness beer, kilts and loud music — it’s that time of year again. Whether you are Irish or not, celebra-tions are in order.

This Sunday, the Acoustic Cafe is hosting WHYS 96.3 FM 8th Annu-al St. Patrick’s Day Fundraiser. The afternoon-long celebration includes a parade, live Irish music, traditional Irish food and drink and a silent auc-tion.

Ben Johnson, a member of the board of directors at WHYS radio, said people come to the event rain or shine and they get to be outside while marching in a parade before going into the cafe to enjoy the Irish atmosphere.

“In our parade we have musicians, accordion players, drummers and peo-ple in kilts,” Johnson said. “We have babies in strollers, college students to the elderly who walk.”

The parade starts at noon in the radio station parking lot at 405 S. Farewell St. and ends at the Acoustic Cafe on 505 S. Barstow St. The two-and-a-half block march lasts about 20 minutes, hence the title Shortest Side-walk Parade.

The cafe played host to the event for all eight years, and the downtown business is honored to once again sup-port WHYS radio, a manager at the Acoustic Cafe, Cathy Tepaske said.

“WHYS is right down the road from us so us hosting seems like a nat-ural fit,” she said. “It is our privilege and pleasure to be able to host such

an event.”Once the marchers are inside

the cafe they are surrounded by tra-ditional Irish culture. Johnson said the booths are turned around to form a u-shape in order to create a pub like atmosphere. The menu includes unique Irish desserts and Guinness is available to anyone over 21.

Apart from the packed dance floors and dining rooms, there is an-other element to the celebration, which the people at WHYS are equally excited about. Lori Chilefone is the ar-tistic director on the board at WHYS and said she has gathered about 28 works of art for the silent auction.

Chilefone said the silent auction will feature regional artwork, which includes a few original paintings, sev-eral photographs, high quality prints made from originals and some pottery.

WHYS is a non-profit, communi-ty-funded station ran by volunteers. Johnson said the Shortest Sidewalk Parade was created because the sta-tion needed to come up with an event that would be fun and also be a fund-raiser.

Forty percent of the money gener-ated from each piece of art sold will benefit the artist, while 60 percent will go to WHYS radio. In addition to the regional artwork, Johnson said WHYS counts on item donations from other downtown businesses to be put into the silent auction.

“All of this is put on by local volun-teers, no one makes a dime,” Johnson said. “All the money earned at the pa-rade goes right back into the station.”

The money raised at the event accounts for 25 percent of the radio’s operating budget, Johnson said.

WHYS radio has been a part of the Eau Claire community for 10 years and they offer a variety of music ranging from children’s music to Lat-in, punk and reggae. They also offer comedy shows and news programs.

Chilefone said working to locate art for the silent auction is her way of giving back to WHYS radio. She said community radio is a valuable plat-form for people who live here, and she would love to see the station continue for another 10 or more years.

“I value community radio and I support WHYS radio because I care about it,” Chilefone said.

Acoustic Cafe employees have no-ticed WHYS has a very loyal listening group. Tepaske said the celebration is the perfect combination because there aren’t a lot of spring- time celebra-tions. St. Patrick’s day is an opportu-nity to get out and celebrate.

“It is a fun, family-friendly after-noon,” Tepaske said. “There is art all around to be shown, the Guinness is flowing and there is all sorts of Irish music.”

COURTNEY KUEPPERS / The Spectator FRESH AIR: Scenic Mount Simon is nestled in an area of Eau Claire that’s easy for stu-dents to overlook. For that reason, the park can be a nice escape from campus life.

Ellis WilliamsSTAFF WRITER

Ellis can be reached at [email protected] or @BookofEllis.

Searching for the pot of goldSt. Patrick’s Day parade to raise money for downtown radio station

SUBMITTED STRUTTING WITH CHARM: WHYS radio’s St. Patrick’s day parade, hosted by Acoustic Cafe, draws enthusiasts of Irish culture of all ages.

You can’t go very far in Eau Claire without going up a hill or over a bridge. On campus alone, we are accustomed to freezing walks over the bridge and hikes up the hill. One hill worth the trek is Mount Simon.

Squeezed in an old part of town by Dells Pond, a little off the beaten path, Mount Simon offers a vantage point sec-ond to none in Eau Claire.

In the summer, Mount Simon park offers a disc golf course, sand volleyball courts, swimming, baseball fields and of course cliff jumping but this time of year it’s just a nice opportunity for a scenic hike.

Sunday afternoon I made my first move up Mount Simon. The clear day offered me a view that made me want to exclaim, “I’m queen of the world!” OK, I might have done that.

Since the world is frozen and the trees are bare this time of year, it allows

you to see for what feels like miles and miles — a view that I’m guessing could be beat only by Mount Simon in the fall when the leaves are changing. I am defi-nitely putting visit Mount Simon during each season on my Eau Claire bucket list.

Sticking to the common theme in my life that I rarely wear the right footwear for any given occasion, I highly recom-mend shoes that have some traction if you head out to the park. It seems pretty obvious for a trek uphill in patted down snow that is melting, but somehow I managed to wear horrible footwear, good only for sliding downhill when returning to the bottom. Which turned out to be pretty entertaining anyway.

It’s not a hard climb meant to be exclusive for experienced hikers, so it’s worth checking out. At a leisurely pace it only takes about 10 minutes to reach the summit.

On a lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon Mount Simon was the perfect mini-ad-venture. It’s an opportunity to get out and do something cool without leaving Eau Claire.

As a firm believer that some time in the woods is good for you, it was refresh-ing to get away for a bit. At the top it’s you, nature and the assortment of empty beer cans left behind by other visitors.

As the season changes, and tem-peratures rise, I encourage you to grab some pals and head to this local hidden gem, whether it is for few minutes or for an afternoon of adventuring.

GRAPHIC BY KARL ENGHOFER/ The Spectator

Mount Simon

Courtney KueppersCOPY EDITOR

Kueppers can be reached at [email protected] or @CourtneyKueppers.


On Monday, Honey Maid launched a new commercial with a “This is Wholesome” tagline. The ad featured modern, real life couples — a gay cou-ple, an interracial couple and a straight couple with tattoos and a “rougher” look to them.

The families are holding hands, kissing babies, loving life and having fun. It is lighthearted and wholesome; just as making s’mores and eating Ted-dy Grahams is. (Unless you were one of the kids who bit the head of the teddy off first to be brutal.)

The modern advertising isn’t com-pletely new, but it was still a breath of fresh air. I want to applaud the societal (and advertising) shift that is openly accepting what the U.S. actually looks like.

An article on Advertising Age stated, “according to U.S. Census data from 2010, one in 10 -— or 5.4 million — opposite-sex couples are interracial, a 28 percent rise since 2000. Accord-ing to the data, the number of same-sex-couple households in the U.S. was 646,000, up 9 percent from 2000.”

Companies have been displaying single parents, interracial couples and modern families for the past few years, but I continuously hear ... not com-plaints but commentary about what it ‘means.’

Philadelphia Cream Cheese had released a commercial for a pasta sauce additive featuring a single moth-er and it was a topic for conversation.

A few weeks ago, Buzzfeed post-ed an article about updating stock photos of women and it was shared everywhere on social media. I found it beautiful to see women of all races, all body types, with babies on their hips or baseball bats in their hands featured in mainstream media advertising. They represented the society we actu-ally live in.

Sometimes I forget that I am swad-dled and snuggly in my UW-Eau Claire Gen-Y bubble. The rest of the world might not be as do-whatever-makes-you-happy as some of my peers and myself, but I think we can all agree that someday our actual society will be accurately represented in the media.

I appreciate any step forward. Cheers to anyone who is involved with the progress towards acceptance of all in this world we all share.

Martha Landry EDITOR IN CHIEF

Landry can be reached at [email protected] or @MarthaLandryy.

Smooth bass lines, impeccable drumming and spirited piano play set the tone Friday night for Quasi-mofo’s performance at the Acoustic Cafe.

The concert, open to the public, started off with a bluesy original song called Meatball Magic. And as the magic began, the group’s musi-cal identity started to show itself.

Quasimofo is an original jazz trio based out of Hudson, but don’t let the jazz title fool you. This group of musicians spent the evening playing many genres of music.

Quasimofo’s bluesy sound was natural, but the band played Latin, swing and even ballads.

At the forefront of the stage was the trio’s leader, Chris Ashwood on the electric piano.

Ashwood, a UW-Eau Claire alumnus, said he was happy to re-turn and play in Eau Claire.

“It’s always nice to come back, and the Acoustic usually has a nice crowd,” Ashwood said. “It’s not so easy to find a crowd to listen to an energetic jazz trio.”

Halfway through Meatball Mag-ic, Chris Ashwood was already up from his stool and bobbing his head while he slammed out a solo.

The music flowed well, and Ash-wood’s soulful solos entertained the crowd, but not without the help of bassist Joseph Kreye and drummer Paul Ashwood.

Yes, they could’ve dubbed this group the Ashwood Family Band

but it wouldn’t do.“We’ve joked about it but there’ll

be no name change,” Kreye said. “Our music matches our name well.”

Ashwood’s father, Paul and fel-low band member Kreye held down the rhythm all night, which was es-sential for soloing opportunities.

Blayne Powell, manager at the Acoustic Cafe, said that he had heard Quasimofo before and wanted them to play at his venue.

“Aren’t they great? Chris’s solos

just blow me away,” Powell said. “I think the band’s a great fit for the customers we have here.”

When he’s not ripping pia-no solos, Chris is the head pro-ducer at Legacy Productions in Hudson.

“I’m in the studio a lot for my job,” Chris said. “It’s nice to leave the city for gigs during the week-ends.”

Chris said the group enjoys the traveling that comes with gigging.

“Through traveling, our rela-tionship as a band has become clos-er,” Chris said. “We’re going to Min-neapolis for a gig at the Acadia Cafe next weekend.”

Shredding electric at Acoustic

SUBMITTED CHANNEL YOUR INNER DAVIS: Hudson-based jazz trio Quasimofo pack plenty of energy and piano solos in their live performances.

Mai can be reached at [email protected] or @Austinisfresh.

Jazz group Quasimofo welcomed by local cafe crowd on Friday nightAustin MaiSTAFF WRITER

Mainstream advertising embraces realistic society

GRAPHIC BY TYLER TRONSON


Concert goers shared sus-pense, romance and laughs at the Saturday night opening of the “The Foreigner.”

“The Foreigner” was held in The Grand Little Theatre. Exec-utive Director Ann Sessions said that 120 community members were in attendance at the Saturday showing. The space was crammed, but people were eager to watch the performance.

“The Foreigner” is a quirky story written by Larry Shue, an American playwright and actor. Shue’s story is of shy Englishman known as Charlie Baker. While on vacation Charlie unexpectedly finds his personality deep in the woods of Georgia, but not without some trouble.

Sessions said play members volunteer their time for two months to put on a great show. This of course couldn’t be done without the persistence of a director. Bob Carr, a founder of the theatre guild, who directed “The Foreigner”. Sessions said he sticks to the original script, as he’s supposed to.

“Bob ultimately focuses on the characters and their performance

which is what it’s all about.” Said Sessions.

Actors and actresses in the play come from all backgrounds said Sessions. Among the cast were a legal assistant, a librarian and even a professor. UW-Eau Claire chemistry professor Kurt Wiegel plays the lead character, Charlie. Wiegel’s role allowed for him to dip into a new field and learn a new language.

“I am exploring communication through gibberish. It’s not unlike raising children.” Wiegel said.

Jenna Quinn, one of the Eau Claire students, said community members roared with laughter at his newfound ability. Quinn said

she was surprised when she found out Wiegel was a professor; she as-sumed acting was his forte.

“When students see professors on stage it really speaks to what community theatre is, you get to see a completely different side of someone compared to their daily jobs,” Sessions said.

The Chippewa Valley Theatre Guild has been host to close to 200 plays since first opening in 1981. Classics like “Oklahoma” and new scripts such as “The Hobbit” have been crowd favorites. Sessions said different age groups attend depending on the story being told.

“It is usually a mix of different generations but I would love to see more students involved,” Sessions said. “For those on campus it’s al-most like walking to McPhee”

Doors open at 7:30 p.m. March 13-14 for performances of “The Foreigner” as well as at 1:30 p.m. March 16. Cost is $20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $8 for kids under 18 and only $10 for students.

Rebecca SloaneFREELANCER

Putting on a play the local way

“I am exploring communication

through gibberish. It’s not unlike

raising children.”Kurt Wiegel

Chemistry Professor, Actor

Community theatre group puts on production of Larry Shue’s “The Foreigner”

You might think having pizza-pat-terned carpet would be a little much for a pizza place, but Sammy’s Pizza makes it work.

The retro-style tables and colorful, vinyl chairs and hand-painted murals on the wall set the Eau Claire Sammy’s apart from the other locations.

The restaurant was started over 50 years ago by Sam Perrella in Hibbing, Minn., but the location at 2812 London Rd. has only been open for about six years, co-owner Tammy Jerulle said.

According to their website, Perrel-la developed an interest in pizza after hearing stories of the food his friends ate while serving in Italy during WWII. Af-ter spending some time in Chicago and tweaking family recipes, Perrella and his wife Louise opened the first location.

“We make most of it from scratch. The dough, we grind our own sausage, beef, kosher, shred most our veggies fresh. We roll it out, cut it to size, crimp it, sauce it and top it to order,” General Manager Adam Skillen said.

“I’ve heard we have the best pizza more times than I can count,” Skillen said.

Even though Sammy’s is a chain with 16 locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota, the London Road location is uniquely Eau Claire. No where else will you find “The Mouse Special,” a pizza topped with kosher salami and pepperoni, very well done and cut into small, square pieces. It was named in honor of Greg “Mouse” Bement, the original owner of The Mousetrap on Barstow Street.

Jerulle said the atmosphere is “friend-ly and family-oriented” and their clientele ranges from 20-something college stu-dents to people in their 60s and 70s. The place also has a lot of regulars.

Skillen said he knows a lot of the reg-ulars by name, making Sammy’s a more personal experience than most chain restaurants.

Their website describes the regulars as “an almost cult-like following.” If the other regulars are anything like my dad, who makes special trips from Madison to “see me” and get pizza and who salivates for days in anticipation, then cult-like isn’t too far off.

There’s something about Sammy’s that makes you feel like a regular even if you aren’t. I didn’t grow up near a Sam-my’s Pizza, but I feel like I was raised on it anyway.

The thin crust manages hold the sweet sauce, cheese and fresh toppings without cracking under the pressure.

Pizzas on the menu range from tra-ditional — pepperoni, sausage, Cana-dian bacon, peppers, onions, olives — to more specialized like chicken cordon bleu (topped with chicken, Canadian bacon and served with bleu cheese dressing) chicken alfredo and barbeque and buffalo chicken.

The restaurant serves more than just pizza, though I’ve never had anything else off the menu. I mean, if you’re going to go to Sammy’s, why wouldn’t you get pizza?

While the prices are a bit much for me to splurge on too often, sometimes I just really need a decent slice (or in Sammy’s Pizza’s case, square) of pizza. Sammy’s does offer a buy on get on half off special every Wednesday on pizza and wings that college kids should definitely be taking ad-vantage of.

While Skillen said he’s never been to any other location, each is individually owned, promising a unique experience at each.

SUBMITTED PUT IT ON THE PIZZA: Sammy’s Pizza on London Road is one of several locations. General Man-ager of the Eau Claire location Adam Skillen said each one is individually owned and personal.

Katie BastNEWS EDITOR

Bast can be reached at [email protected] or @Katie_Bast.

Sammy’s PizzaPizza chain made local and personal

OPINION / EDITORIAL14OP/ED EDITOR: Alex Zank Thursday, March 13

Governance on all levels

deserve scrutiny

Zank is a senior journalism and po-litical science double major and Op/Ed Editor of The Spectator. He can be reached at [email protected] or @AlexZank.

Alex Zank OP/ED EDITOR

Nearly everyone knows the name of the president. He is the man who got another stimulus package through shortly after his first term, pushed for (and got) a major healthcare bill and signed many executive orders dealing with issues Congress has not, includ-ing gun control and a minimum wage increase.

What I’m willing to bet is a sadly tiny number of people attending UW-Eau Claire know the name of the pres-ident of the Eau Claire City Council or even the president of our own Student Senate. This just doesn’t make sense.

If you think about it, isn’t it weird that we’d know more about the ongo-ings of government at the federal level but not the state or local governments that have a more direct impact on our daily lives?

I’m not about to argue what’s done on the federal level is no less import-ant. It still definitely affects us. But consider this: the federal government may spend weeks arguing an immigra-tion bill, and we do have a portion of the population in western Wisconsin with an immediate interest in the sub-ject because they could in some way be affected. The president could also be pushing an agenda of tax credits for businesses that invest in green energy, and we may have some businesses in Eau Claire benefit from these in some way.

But how about enforcing sidewalk shov-eling laws or funding the con-struction of new buildings that would effective-ly raise property taxes in an area? President Barack Obama would probably like us to clean our side-walks regularly, but he is not ever going to send out an enforcement team to ensure we’re doing so. This is what local governments do, along with so much more that impacts virtually every sin-gle person in the area.

With the spring elections ap-proaching in a few weeks, voters have some important choices to make.

There’s a contested race for the City Council presidency, and the two candi-dates — incumbent Kerry Kincaid and challenger Monica Lewis — have dras-tically different platforms.

We also will have a say of what we think about the Confluence Project at the polls. The university has a huge interest (as do we students, whether we know it or not) in its construction to improve the university’s competitive-ness and appeal, and with a spike in educational quality is also the lasting impact it would have on our degrees’ reputations.

Let’s not forget about Student Senate, either. Managing Editor Nick Erickson mentioned in his Op/Ed last week we’re paying $426 per student in segregated fees (we’re set to pay more next year), which Senate con-trols. These members are elected every spring semester with a mandate of nil. The voter turnout for these elections are dastardly low: 934 students voted in last spring’s election, while the year before boasted a turnout of about 470.

I covered Student Senate for two semesters, and the most frustration I had with the beat was talking to stu-dents who didn’t know what issues Senate was tackling, yet when they talked with me, most seemed to realize they had a vested interest in the gov-erning body.

So what happens when you have an entire body of elected officials gov-erns a population that pays such little attention to what the body is doing?

From my experi-ences, these offi-cials tend to get their mandates from other places rather than serve a population that largely ignores them.

I’ve seen this happen in sev-eral instances throughout my academic career here. I’ve wit-nessed Senate vote against pop-ular student opin-ion on the Blugold Commitment and overturn a previ-

ous campus-wide referendum.Of course, Senate largely does

good work. I’m not writing this column to deny that. I’m simply using these examples as a warning of what can happen when an electorate doesn’t pay

attention to a governing body.Going forward, I hope students

consider the importance of all levels of government. If we know what’s going on at the federal level, that’s great But if we take the time to be informed at the local level, we’d be even better off.

“... isn’t it weird that we know more about the ongoings of gov-ernment at the fed-

eral level but not the state or local govern-

ments that have a direct impact on our

daily lives?” SUBMITTED PHOTOS MEET THE CANDIDATES: Current Eau Claire City Council president Kerry Kin-caid, top, and challenger and freshman Councilwoman Monica Lewis are the two running to be the next president of City Council. Voters will cast their vote for City Council president on April 1 along with other topics, including a vote concerning the Confluence Project.

When I was 13 I watched Han-nah Montana and listened to Plain White T’s. I didn’t know what I planned to do with my life and that was okay with me. When Ben Novak was 13 he vowed to devote his life to resurrecting extinct animals.

At 16 I got my first car, a green 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix, which had a nice big dent in the front from when I hit the garage. When Novak was 16 he saw his first passenger pi-geon stuffed in the Science Museum of Minnesota. The bird has been ex-tinct since Sept. 1, 1914.

Now 27, Novak has spent the last decade visiting 339 stuffed pas-senger pigeon exhibits in museums across the country. Today he, along with multiple other scientists, is working to resurrect extinct ani-mals, including the passenger pi-geon.

If de-extinction is successful, the passenger pigeon would techni-cally be a form of mutation, not the original. The genes would be mixed with a close genetic relative, the band-tailed pigeon. The mixing of the two genes would form a “chime-ra” which means the bird would be a band-tailed pigeon on the outside, but passenger pigeon on the inside.

If everything goes according to plan, we could potentially see pas-senger pigeons flying around in 2060. Scientists first plan to keep the pigeons inside for several years. The birds will be under surveillance so scientists can study how the birds are affected by the environment and vice versa. Once they are released into the wild they can be tracked by a GPS chip.

The Mammoth Cometh, an ar-ticle by Nathaniel Rich and in the New York Times, cited many experts on the topic involved in the resurrec-tion, including Novak.

“People grow up with this idea that the nature they see is natural, but there’s been no real ‘natural’ el-ement to the earth the entire time humans have been around,” Novak said to Rich.

De-extinction can pose a threat to conservation biologists, the spec-ter of extinction has recently been one of the conservation movement’s most powerful arguments. Some view it as a major temporary incon-venience.

“We get asked these big ques-tions, but no one is asking people who work on elephants why they’re not working on giraffes, when gi-raffes need a lot more conservation work than elephants,” Novak said.

This is not the first time resur-rection of an extinct animal has oc-curred. More than ten years ago a team resurrected a burcardo, which is a subspecies of a mountain goat. The burcardos became extinct in 2000. The team successfully cloned the animal in 2003, but it did not live long. The animal struggled to breathe for several minutes before the burcardo choked to death.

This is where the topic of animal cruelty comes into play. Is it really worth it to bring back an extinct an-imal if animals are being inflicted with a great amount of pain to get there?

I won’t deny that it would be cool to see a Wooly Mammoth at the zoo, but it wouldn’t be so cool to see him knowing how much pain he or other mammoths may have had to go through to get there. I am all for saving the animals and de-extinct-ing those who have been extinct, but I draw the line when an animal is getting hurt.

It is no hidden secret Novak loves passenger pigeons and has tru-ly dedicated his life and work in the hopes of resurrecting animals since he was 13. It makes me really think maybe I should have done some-thing better at 13 than just listen to Plain White T’s, especially since the band basically fell off the pop culture spectrum after “Hey There Delilah.”

Courtney Roszak STAFF WRITER

Roszak is a freshman journalism major and Staff Writer for The Specta-tor. She can be reached at [email protected] or @CRoszak22.

Ethical uncertainty comes with animal de-extinction

Bringing back extinct animals has potential to lead to animal cruelty GRAPHIC BY KARL ENGHOFER/ The Spectator

OPINION / EDITORIAL15OP / ED EDITOR: Alex Zank Thursday, March 13

Sitting in a movie theater over win-ter break I was in shock. Not because of the featured flick, but because the guy sitting in front of me was smoking. There was no odor, just puffs of vapor leaving his electronic cigarette floating into the air.

I barely remember smoking being a norm in public. It has been seven years since my home state, Minnesota, banned smoking in public places, and even before that it was restricted.

I admit that I knew very little about e-cigarettes but if it was some-thing that was going to permitted in places like movie theaters I figured I ought to know a bit about them. What I found did very little to make me feel comfortable with these booming ciga-rette alternatives. There is very little reason to believe they are safe and I think we ought to learn from history before we repeat it.

Right now there is very little con-clusive research on the vapors that the e-cigarettes contain. Yet the industry is booming since e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco and can be purchased without proof of age. The number of teens and tweens using these prod-ucts doubled between 2011 and 2012 according to a study authored by the Center for Tobacco Research and Edu-cation released earlier this month.

The study states e-cigarettes are marketed the same way conventional cigarettes were marketed in the 1950s and 1960s, using television and radio ads. This type of marketing for conven-tional cigarettes has been banned for more than 40 years.

While it can be concluded that e-cigarettes are safer than normal cig-arettes since the nicotine isn’t burned, the long-term effects are unknown.

It all sounds a bit too familiar to me. When conven-tional cigarettes first became pop-ular there was very little known about the long-term effects. People smoked everywhere with very little con-cern. It wasn’t until

the 1960s that the Surgeon General’s report “Smoking and Health” was re-leased and strongly advised the coun-try against using cigarettes.

For our generation it seems obvi-ous: smoking poses serious concerns to our health. It seems inevitable to me that e-cigarettes are just too good to be true.

I think we have to learn from the first time around to advocate against these products early. Why wait until we know the long-term effects to ban them from public places and put re-strictions on who can buy them?

Just last week I was enjoying lunch in Davies when the guy at the next table took out his e-cigarette. It seems like a huge step backwards to me. We know how nicotine affects the body, so why bother?

The only positive I see with this product is for people who are trying to wean themselves off nicotine and the e-cigarette allows them to do that. But middle- and high-school-aged chil-dren? For them e-cigarettes are just a stepping-stone to more convention-al tobacco products, according to the study done by the Center for Tobacco Research and Education.

Currently in the Wisconsin legis-lature there is proposal to allow e-cig-arettes to be used indoors despite the smoking ban, which has been in effect since 2010.

Everyone has vices. It is human nature. I’m just saying that we ought to keep making progress instead of moving in reverse. All the restrictions placed on traditional cigarettes should also apply to e-cigarettes now, not when we know the long-term effects.

Smoking e-cigs in public places burns bystanders


Indoor smoking in common areas a step backward for public health, decency

Kueppers is a sophomore journalism and political science double major and Copy Editor of The Spectator. She can be reached at [email protected] or @cmkueppers.

KUEPPERS

“We have to learn from the first time around to advo-

cate against these products early. Why wait until we know the long-term effects

to ban them from public spaces?”

Film classics never get old. They reappear on our TV screens over and over. But when Hollywood de-cides to make new versions of these timeless movies, audiences fear the origi-nals will lose a part of their fame.

Despite negative reac-tions, movie remakes con-tinue to pop up in theaters around the nation. Five of the top 20 highest-gross-ing movies in the 2014 box office are remakes or spin-offs of old films.

Remakes are popu-lar in the movie business because they have value. They’re worth making be-cause they allow viewers to look back on fond memo-ries and to look forward to something new.

Recreations of old films give audiences a sense of nostalgia. Movie watchers can find meaning in them because they bring back storylines and scenes of the past.

In a 2011 interview,

film critic Roger Ebert said, “For some (audience members), they fear the new. They fear taking a chance … They remember a good movie experience and desire to repeat it.”

This was an element of the success with The “Sound of Music’s” live television special in No-vember. Millions of peo-ple tuned in to watch the beloved story come to life again. Because “The Sound of Music” is such a popular family musical, audiences knew what to expect with the key plot elements, and they wanted to see it again.

At the same time, new aspects of movie remakes give audiences the chance to experience something different.

The trailer of the up-coming remake of “Annie” reveals a modern twist on the original movie and a cast with black performers. “Annie” is one of many pop-ular movie remakes pend-ing release in 2014, accord-ing to the Internet Movie Database.

Modernization is an-

other positive aspect of remakes. New technology can give the movies of the past more special effects and enhanced visuals.

“The Great Gatsby,” remade in 2013, won two Academy Awards for best production design and best costume design. This mov-ie has been remade several times, but the newest ver-sion is a key example of the creativity and nuance mov-ie remakes can bring to old motion pictures.

Tim Burton’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is also a good illustration of technological innovations in film impacting remakes. With 30 years in between the two films, the 2005 movie brought a new magi-cal quality with animation and set design to the clas-sic plot.

I would be remiss to say all movie remakes are good. Some have gone wrong and some movies may be unnecessary to make again.

However, remakes of films can give new gener-ations of movie watchers

opportunities to see old movies in current forms as well. They can attract new audiences who haven’t seen the originals.

Keeping this in mind, it is important to remem-ber movie remakes are nothing new in Hollywood. They have been present in film soon after the begin-ning of cinema itself.

Yet directors keep making these movies be-cause our culture is fasci-nated with recycled ver-sions of films and sequels. American society doesn’t mind the familiar. The re-makes of 2014 are popular because this aspect of pop culture remains relevant.

If remakes no longer existed, audiences would miss an important aspect of the movie-watching ex-perience: seeing the old made new.

Giving movie remakes a chanceNew versions of classic cinema dominate the screen for good reason

Streich is a junior journal-ism major and Staff Writer of The Spectator. She can be reached at [email protected] or @RachelStreich17.

Rachel Streich STAFF WRITER

SUBMITTED THE JOY OF THE REMAKE: The “Sound of Music’s” recent live TV remake, with a bit of a modernized plot, allows audiences to enjoy a twist on a classic favorite.

STUDENT LIFE16STUDENT LIFE EDITOR: Alex Zank Thursday, March 13

SUBMITTED SHOWING YOUR PRIDE: Posing with film director Anna Albelo, third from left, PRIDE students Stephanie Gottschalk, Joshua Zmarzly, Neil Robmann, Austin Shimko and Dylan Vorass attended the Eau Queer Film Festival in October.

Alex Zank OP/ED EDITOR

UW-Eau Claire senior’s journey from uncertain freshman to stand-out leader taught him to celebrate his identity along the way

JORGENSON

A lot of people go through a stage of finding themselves in college. Se-nior Josh Zmarzly was no different.

“I’d say I was pretty shy and ner-vous coming here as a freshman,” he said.

As he got more involved in or-ganizations, Zmarzly started feeling comfortable in his own skin, and he was comfortable enough to proclaim something he said he’d been hiding for some time.

“I was very in the closet when I came to the university,” he said. “There were things here for the LGBT community that I didn’t even think of participating in or going to because I was so detached from this part of my identity and it wasn’t something I didn’t want to deal with.”

Then a friend of his convinced him to attend Spectrum meetings — the LGBTQ group that preceded PRIDE. He became more involved in the group, which helped him progress from a shy, closeted freshman to a self-actualized leader in the LGBT community.

“Having to take that leadership role, it obviously puts you out there in the public, and it’s something that has forced me to be more open about myself and to, in a way, be in a sense a public face for LGBT students.”

Since then, Zmarzly’s involve-ment and leadership have done noth-ing but grown. He has served (and still currently serving) as president of both PRIDE and German Club. This spring marked his fifth perfor-mance in UW-Eau Claire Players’ 24-Hour Project. And he has a full academic course load with a double major in German and history.

Josh Brown, a professor of Ger-man and women’s studies, had Zmar-zly in both a German translation class and a women’s studies class focusing on LGBT studies. He also knows Josh through his involvement in German Club.

The club’s biggest event is its participation in Eau Claire’s annu-

al folk fair. Brown said this event is important because it’s where the club does most of its fundraising.

“One of Josh’s strengths in Ger-man Club is organizing (for) the folk fair and making sure it does go on as smoothly as possible,” he said.

Senior Stephanie Gottschalk met Zmarzly when the two were freshmen. They had the same Ger-man class, but the thing that really brought them together “was one of those things where you just run into each other all the time,” she said.

“We were always eating in the caf at the same time. We just kind of sat down together and starting talking.”

Now she considers him her best friend. She’s involved with Zmarzly in German Club and PRIDE and said through his work with these organi-zations shows his nurturing quali-ties.

“That’s part of why he wants PRIDE to be successful,” she said. “He wants there to be this safe space on campus people can go and find what he and I found in the group, (a space) that helped us learn to be ourselves and comfortable with who we are.”

As far as providing that safe space on campus, Chris Jorgenson, director of the Women’s and LGBTQ Resource Center, has the unique ex-perience of the university at two very different eras of tolerance.

Before being hired on as director, he attended Eau Claire as a student from 1994-1999. “The experience of being gay on campus was incredibly different,” he said.

“I came out when I was 19 living in Towers South, and there was noth-ing on this campus, at least nothing visible that I could ever see, that not only just reached out to people like me, but celebrated what it means to be … who you are.”

On National Coming Out Day, Jorgenson said the walking bridge used to always be filled with chalk that said things like ‘Silly faggots, dicks are for chicks.’

When he returned to Eau Claire in 2008 after living a stint in Califor-

nia, he was surprised to see the cul-ture was more accepting of the LGBT community.

Jorgenson was hired on as direc-tor with an agenda to create events that “are unapologetic, highly visible, and will get backlash because of it.” “I wanted to create events that you couldn’t miss, you couldn’t avoid even if you wanted to,” he said.

Zmarzly and Jorgenson had echo-ing sentiments that events such as The Fire Ball and campus entities like PRIDE help create an environ-ment in which LGBT students are comfortable being.

“People come to this university with all sorts of lived experiences. It may be the first time they’ve been out publicly, it may be the place that they actually do come out, it may be the first time they figure out how they’re going to navigate what it means to

LGBTQ,” Jorgenson said.Zmarzly’s case is an example of

this, and Jorgenson said he’s seen this happen with many students fi-nally learning who they are as people.

“People can be incredibly differ-ent from the very first year they get here to the year they leave,” Jorgen-son said, adding comfort level devel-

ops that allows peo-ple to act in a way to honor, rather than hide, who they are.

Of course, there is still room for im-provement, Jorgen-son and Zmarzly both said.

“I’d like to see more finan-

cial support for programs on cam-pus that deal with LGBT students,” Zmarzly said.

The Eau Queer Film Festival, for example, has had a history of strug-gling for adequate funding, he said.

The financial support is continu-ing to grow. The Women’s and LGT-BQ Resource Center had one of the largest percentage funding increases from next year’s Organized Activities budget. It received a 72.7 percent in-crease.

After five years of personal and public development, Zmarzly said he wouldn’t trade his experience at Eau Claire for anything.

“I’m really happy about the time I’ve spent at UW-Eau Claire,” he said. “I’m really grateful for the opportuni-ties and experiences that have been provided to me on campus.

“I’m always going to look back at my experiences, especially working with the LGBT community on cam-pus, look back on them fondly. I just hope in my small way that I’ve tried to make things better.”

And Zmarzly would know a thing or two about change for the better.

Coming out, paving future at Eau Claire

Zank can be reached at [email protected] or @AlexZank.

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