Huntsville, TexasVol 116— Issue 1 Thursday, August 26, 2010

Rockin’ Johnson Coliseum

INDEXViewpoints................page 2

Campus................page 3

Sports....................page 5

SPO

RT

S

Special..................page 4

By Shanay LemonsContributing Reporters

Graphics by Jared Wolf | The Houstonian

Detour on CampusStudents return to fall semester construction

— See BANDS, page 6

By Thomas MerkaEntertainment Editor

Sammypalooza Nine bands serenade screaming fans at Sam Houston State University

SEE page 5

Sports reporter Lotis Butchko weighs in on the new head coach of the Bearkat football team.

UpdatesNew President:

The former Vice President for Finance and Operations, Dana Gibson, Ph.D. is the university’s new and first female president.

— See Tuesday’s issue to learn more about Gibson.

GaertnerHonored:

The board of regents of the Texas State University System announced the naming of the university’s new Performing Arts Center in honor of President James Gaertner and his wife Nancy. Gaertner officially retires Aug. 31. He was hired in 2001 as the 12th president in the university’s 131-year history.

Convenience Fee:

Visa credit cards will no longer be accepted for student accounts-receivable payments—for tuition payments and fees such as parking tickets. A 2.75 percent convenience fee will be charged to those who pay by Master Card or American Express. Options for making payments without a convenience fee being assessed include online via ACH (e-check), or through the Bursars Office via paper check, cash, money order, or pin debit card. Credit card transactions will no longer be accepted at the Bursar Office but must be done online. The decision to begin charging a convenience fee was largely budgetary, as the burden of the merchant service fees has topped $800,000 annually in recent years,according to Gibson.

FEAT

UR

E

Entertainment editor Thomas Merka and country artist Jack Ingram talk about making music and chasing dreams.

SEE page 7

Growing pains

As classes begin for the fall 2010 semester, incoming and returning students are welcomed with brand new facilities including a new performing arts center, dining hall, and residence hall.

Along with the many eating establishments that Paw Print and South Paw offers, students will have a greater variety of dining choices. The dining hall will be located across from the Student Health Center, which costs $7.25 million and an opening date to be announced, according to the university’s website.

As the number of students attending Sam continues to increase, the need for more on-campus housing is necessary.

“We have seen over the past years, there’s not enough housing for students,” said Dana Grant, assistant directors for business and operations. The $18 million co-ed dorm is set to open for the fall 2011, open to all classifications, and will be the location of Residence Life.

Fine Arts major will have a lot to look forward to with the completion of the new Performance Arts building. The building, which cost $38.5 million, has more than 90,000 square feet of total space, including an 800-seat concert hall, 150- seat dance theater, according to the university’s website.

Two parking lots, which include 265 spaces, were permanently removed this spring to make way for the new dining and residence halls.

One lot, located behind the Belvin-Buchanan and King Halls, contained 61 parking spaces.

The other, located across from the Stu-dent Health Center, contained 204 spac-es. Students have been redirected to the Bowers Stadium for parking but that lot is under construction as well.

“Several resident students, especially over at Sorority Hill, have decided to

purchase parking garage contracts,” Da-vid Kapulko, assistant director of parking and transportation said. “Parking garage contracts are $300 for the fall and spring semesters, and $75 for summer I and II sessions.”

Currently, there are 7,573 spaces for all the students, faculty and staff. To combat the problem of inadequate parking for a growing campus, the university added 129 spaces to stadium parking.

For the future, the university plans on providing three additional parking ga-rages.

The construction has not caused many problems for some commuters.

“There isn’t truly a shortage of spac-

es,” Nick Cheek, senior, said. “It’s just that they’re all located near the football stadium and nobody wants to walk all that way.

“When I can, I try to walk all over cam-pus to avoid the chaos that is parking, but even when I can’t my persistence usually finds me a spot,” He said.

At the moment there is only one park-ing garage that contains 255 unreserved parking spaces, making 4,627 total park-ing spaces for commuter and residential students. After construction is complete on all the new structured parking space, expected sometime before 2020, there will be between 9,000 and 10,000 park-ing spaces for students, faculty, and staff.

— See CAMPUS, page 3

By Kolby Flowers and Stephen GreenContributing Reporters

What do Bearkats and Lifehouse have in common? Sam-mypalooza! More than 3,300 people battled heat, rain and hu-midity to gather at Johnson Coliseum Tuesday afternoon and experience the eight hour music festival.

The event included free food from local vendors and perfor-mances by nine different bands on three separate stages, creat-ing a melting pot of music to please everyone in the crowd.

“We did a lot of surveys before hand to poll and see what groups people did want to bring,” Angie Taylor, associate di-rector for the department of student activities, said. “We had some indie pop, rock mixed with classic, kind of alternative rock and then country; we wanted to bring that too. And then

of course Chalie Boy with the rap. I think we had a pretty good mixture.”

The music mix included well-known headliners such as Story of the Year, Jack Ingram and Lifehouse, making Sam-mypalooza what some are calling one of the biggest events to ever hit Sam Houston.

But an event this large comes at a hefty price. The budget for Sammypalooza exceeded $130,000 making it difficult to guarantee future events of this magnitude.

“I think based on the success of it we would love to have the event again,” Taylor said. “The main thing is to get the funding to do it every year.”

One way the financial aspect may be handled in the future is charging students for the tickets. Taylor said that a lot of feedback from students supports this idea and that it would open doors to bring in more well-known artists in the future.

One student willing to pay for another Sammypalooza is SHSU Freshman Paisley Timm.

“I wouldn’t pay tons of money because no one has much money in college, but definitely something,” Timm said. “It was really fun. It was a good way to spend the last day before class.”

With the amount of positive feedback from the spectators, vendors, and artists, Taylor deemed Sammypalooza a big suc-cess for the university.

“We didn’t hear one negative complaint which is awe-some,” Taylor said. “Everybody involved said it was pretty much a flawless event and were really excited that an event of this caliber was coming back to Sam Houston.”

— See future issues for the grand opening of the new Performing Arts Center.

— See Tuesday’s issue to learn more about the fee.

Parking Space totals by lot designation

2,589 Commuter2,038 Resident1,203 Remote

9,51 Faculty/Staff505 Garage

*223 handicapped287 Other

(Hotel, museum, university vehicles)

Spaces total: 7,537

Current enrollment: 16,148

UNIVERSITY FACE LIFT. The current changes on campus gives a glimpse into a much larger “2010 Master Plan” which will demolish small houses such as King Hall and the Lowman Student Center. Additional housing, several new college buildings, and three structured parking garages will be constructed under the new plan.

Sammypalooza........page 6

Entertainment........page 7

Special..................page 8

Paws Up, Paws DownIn this section of the opinions page, we take a look at some various news stories around campus and give the parties involved either a “paws up” for a good job, or a “paws down” for a not so good job.

“Paws UP” to Student Activities and Recreational Sports for rocking out Johnson Coliseum to present the first Sammypalooza music festival.

“Paws DOWN” to Visa convenience fees and vending machine inflation. What is up with that?

“Paws UP” to the first female president of the university, Dana Gibson, Ph.D.

“Paws DOWN” to the end of an era. This university will always remember the legacy of James F. Gaertner, Ph.D.

I live less than a mile away from the Walls Unit here in Huntsville, where Peter Anthony Cantu was executed last Tuesday. Why I had failed to hear about this story prior to Tuesday escapes me, still, considering the crime that Cantu committed happened right behind my old high school and the victims were students there. I can’t say that I remember hearing anyone tell about it during my two years at Waltrip High School in Houston, but over the past week I’ve learned the details of this horrific incident. I’ll spare you the gory ones, but in short, Cantu was a troubled 18 year-old gang leader who had lost his way long before that fateful night when he ordered prospective members to rape and brutally murder Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16.

I’d be hard pressed to say that society is not better off without Cantu’s existence. But as a spectator standing outside the actual walls of the execution, I was struck by the somewhat historical injustice that was happening at the moment. How could a man, or even a violent

gang leader who put a hit out on two innocent girls be considered wronged by the death penalty? Well the answer is simple. When I detached my emotions from the stories I was told at the prison unit, I began to think about not only the maldistribution of the death penalty, but the reasons why we will never get this right.

Most of us could go back and forth about the

death penalty forever, but at the end of the day, this is a subject that we most focus on with our minds and not our hearts. Problem is, when someone is fed heart-wrenching evidence and information about these cases, vengeance becomes more important than justice. I believe that speaks to the core of what the death penalty really is.

In a situation like this, where Cantu had a disturbing past and was obviously guilty of the crime, the death penalty is

enforced to avenge what happened to the victims. Since the defendant is presumably such a cruel and harsh criminal, it is not as big of a concern as to whether or not they are being treated fairly or just. Don’t take my word for it though. From 1989 to 2009, 138 people were exonerated from death row with the innocence of only 17 of them being found by DNA, which

leads me to believe that just as many could have been wrongfully put to death. But I can’t blame the judge, the jury, or the lawmakers. This law is enforced strictly based off the human nature mindset of getting someone back. Understandable. It’s just that when we put our hearts and our emotions into law, we’re bound to overlook things and make mistakes. As humans and flawed humans at that, we are not equipped to make decisions about when and how someone should die.

We never will be, but will we ever know that?

Of course I’ve had this discussion on Facebook and I got the same questions some of you may be wondering now. “What would you do if someone raped and brutally murdered your daughter?” I’d be pissed beyond levels that I can comprehend right now, because my little girl is three months old and I get squeamish with every tear she cries. But I had questions in return and I’ll pose them to you as well. What would you do if the government executed your innocent loved one? Even better, what would you do if the government executed your guilty loved one, but not someone else’s who committed a similar crime? Even if I supported the death penalty, which I obviously do not, these are questions I would be forced to think about. Is this justice or vengeance and am I thinking critically enough to distinguish the two?

Page 2 The Houstonian Thursday, August 26, 2010

AdvertisingDeadlines

AdvertisingDeadlines

The individual opinions on the Viewpoints page are not necessarily affiliated with the view of The Housto-nian or SHSU. The Houstonian is published semi-week-ly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is a news publication of Sam Houston State University, a member of the Texas State University system, and is produced by students. It is self-supporting and welcomes all advertisers. Those interested in placing ads or classifieds should call (936) 294-4864. The Houstonian is a member of the Associ-ated Press.

SECTION EDITORS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The HoustonianEditorial

Jessica Priest..................................................................Associate EditorBrandon Scott..............................................................Viewpoints EditorMike Silva...........................................................................Sports EditorThomas Merka........................................................Entertainment EditorJared Wolf.......................................................................Graphic Designer

Meagan Ellsworth...............................................................936-294-1505

FACULTY ADVISORRobin Johnson.....................................................................936-294-1499

STAFF

Lotis Butchko.................................................................Sports ReporterJohn Rudolph.......................................................................PhotographerJessica Gomez......................................................................PhotographerErin Peterson.......................................................................Copy Editor

AdvertisingBUSINESS MANAGERBrittany Hampton...........................................................936-294-1500

STAFFBranden Price.....................................................Advertising Manager Kyle Thomas...........................................................Account ExecutiveChelsea Boyd..........................................................Account Executive

Tuesday’s Issue............... Friday at 2:00 p.m.Thursday’s Issue........... Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.

Brandon Scott is the View-points Editor for The Hous-tonian. He is a Junior Print Journalism major.

Brandon Scott shares his thoughts on maldistribution and wrongful execution

Justice or Vengeance?

“... This is a subject that we most focus on with our minds and not our hearts.”

VIEWPOINTS

To this day, I still remember where I was when I first heard about the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. I was a senior in high school and, like most mornings, was headed to the speech and debate room between classes. It had been a normal day up until that point, but in a matter of minutes, the course of our lives and our country would forever be changed.

In the midst of the controversy following the attack that day, I recall what my economics teacher told our class. He said that the worst thing we could do is let this attack change us. The point of terrorism is to cause fear, to disrupt your daily life, to try to make you let go of the values you hold dear. If we reacted vengefully, demanding an eye for an eye, than they would have changed us; they would have won.

Today, we as Americans are once again challenged as to how much we truly believe in the freedoms we trumpet. This challenge comes in the form of current plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque a few blocks

from Ground Zero.The opposition from

the far right has been both extreme and understandable. Many feel that allowing the construction of a Muslim place of worship so close to the site where 3,000 Americans lost their lives is disrespectful. They argue that the area around Ground Zero should be considered sacred ground.

A recent photographic

exhibition by Daryl Lang shows fast food restaurants, a pub, and a gentlemen’s club all in closer proximity to Ground Zero than the proposed community center. Not to mention the various street merchants selling stolen and knockoff merchandise. Additionally, the building they plan to renovate for the center was formerly a Burlington Coat factory. While I’m always a fan of a good suit, I’m fairly certain that shirts and ties have not achieved

deification. So much for sacred ground.

We cannot blame an entire religion, centuries old with over a billion members, for the actions of a few. Doing so would be the same as assuming all Christians hate the military because Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church have made a practice of protesting military funerals. If we’re going to

prevent the construction of the community center, we should also ban all churches and other Christian ministries from military bases and the area surrounding them. It’s the same situation, except they’re brown and wear turbans.

These Muslims are not the same extremists who blew up the buildings. They advocate for women’s rights and favor peaceful relations with others through discourse and discussion. In fact, calling the center Cordoba

House is in reference to Cordoba, Spain, where Christians, Jews, and Muslims have and continue to live side by side without problems.

In this country, we have long recognized that freedom means nothing if it doesn’t apply to everyone. I believe we are still a country that holds these truths to be self evident that all men, regardless of who they pray to, are considered equal.

We do nothing to honor the memories of those lost on 9/11 by opposing the construction of Cordoba House. If we let the attack change us to a people intolerant of others who differ from us, then what have we done to their memories?

Let them build Cordoba House. While it may not be the easiest route, it is the right thing to do. Or, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Adam Key is a recurring columnist for The Houstonian. He is the coach of the Speech and Debate Team.

Adam Key gives his take on the public outrage over the mosque being built on ground zero

Don’t Stop Believing

“ In this country... freedom means nothing if it doesn’t apply to every-one.”

Dear Sam Houston Students, Staff and Faculty and Alumni:

The Houstonian would not survive were it not for the continued involvement and dedication of the SHSU student body. We welcome all column submissions and letters to the editor. If at any time you feel the need to express an opinion, please do not hesitate to email your thoughts or drop by our office in the Dan Rather, room 210 in the communications building. We look forward to hearing from you and thank you as always for your continued support of the Houstonian.

Brandon ScottViewpoints Editorbks007@shsu.edu

Letter to the Student Body

HOUSTONIAN TIPS FOR FRESHMEN• Obey all traffic laws when riding around town. You’ll probably be

pulled over anyway. Not kidding about that.• Don’t ask upperclassmen to buy you alcohol. Some of them want

to graduate with the cleanest record possible. • Don’t join the first organization that reaches out to you, just for

the sake of joining. Remember, the purpose of this experience is to learn how to think.

• Always be prepared for unpredictable weather. The weather is not your friend.

• Have fun kids. But not too much fun. You could be a freshman next year.

Help wanted

Sam Houston State Uni-versity professors and ad-ministrators formally wel-comed the freshmen class of 2014 into the Bearkat family on Saturday at the Fifth-An-nual New Student Convoca-tion, which was held in John-son Coliseum. Faculty wore academic regalia to symbol-ize their accomplishments and lectured students on how to be successful in college.

The unofficial theme of the evening was to encour-age students to get involved and find things to do outside of the dorm.

This year’s key speaker was SHSU history profes-sor Caroline Crimm, Ph.D. She addressed the students as she would in her own class, pacing about the stage as opposed to speaking from behind the podium. She stressed the importance of maintaining self-confidence and self-discipline, which she said can often waver in students as the years prog-ress. Crimm also discussed how the jobs and relation-ships she had in college shaped who she is today.

“With self-confidence and self-discipline, you will be here for four years, and I will help you graduate,” Crimm said.

University president James Gaertner, Ph.D., and incoming university presi-dent Dana Gibson, Ph.D., also offered encouraging words and realistic advice to the new Bearkats. Gaertner encouraged students to work hard and use common sense.

“Go to class!” he said.He also urged freshmen to

get involved in organizations on campus and to take advan-tage of the mentorships pro-vided by professors.

“We like our students, and they are the best students in the United States,” he said.

Many speakers gave words

from their experiences at the university. Ryan Bridges, current student body presi-dent, issued a challenge to the freshmen.

“Get involved in one of the more than 200 organiza-tions on campus. Your per-

sonal college experience is what you make it,” Bridges said.

Attendees received an of-ficial SHSU 2010 Convoca-tion lapel pin, which symbol-ized the start of their college career. Freshmen were urged

to wear their new pins with pride.

Wally Barnes, Ph.D., SHSU Reading Center di-rector, left students with this advice: “spread [your] wings and fly, not crash and burn.”

C

A

M

P

U

S

Thursday, August 26, 2010 The Houstonian, Page 3

Contributing Reporter

By Janise Richardson

Greetings class of 2014

Approximately 781 students packed into the LSC Ballroom on Monday for Career Service’s first on-campus job fair of the fall 2010 semester. A record high, Career Services’ event coordinator Paige Loft attributes the fair’s success to its earlier date.

“In the past, we’ve done the job fair before the school year started, and employers gave us the feedback that they had already hired the people that they needed and did not want to attend, so this year we tried it earlier to get more employers to come out for the students, and they did,” Loft said.

The most successful job fair that Career Ser-vices hosts is a tie between the Career Expo, which is set to take place on Sept. 22 this year, and the Teacher Job Fair, sched-uled

for Oct. 13. “At our Teacher Job Fair, we will have 164

school districts there, so - you can imagine - it will bring a large crowd,” Loft said.

The Criminal Justice Career Fair is also popular and typically boasts an attendance of more than 600 students, Loft said. Overall, there will be nine job fairs during this fall semester.

Students were informed about this event via a mass e-mail, and Loft says that every employer at the fair utilized their face-to-face encounter with students to screen applicants for interviews and hire. Some of the organizations present included International Programs, the Health and Kinesiol-ogy Center, Public Safety Services and the De-partment of Foreign Languages - to name a few.

Contrary to popular belief, Loft says finding a job on campus or in the Huntsville community

does not have to be so competitive.“There is actually a lot out there,” Loft said,

attributing the success of many students’ job hunts to a Career Services’ tool entitled “Jobs4Kats”, which is a website that electronically lists job openings posted by employers in the SHSU and Huntsville community.

According to Loft, one benefit of the web site is its ability to eliminate the need to hike around campus seeking employment.

“[At Jobs4Kats], students can go to one central location, look one time and all the jobs would be there,” Loft said.

Last month, there were 15,504 students and 1,341 alumni

active

on the web site. Now, one of the goals of Career services is to increase the number of on-campus organizations and Huntsville employers enrolled in the service, which has been dismal due to the task not being mandatory.

“We are the students’ public face for employ-ment,” Loft said. “(With Jobs4Kats), we are trying to make it so that all students have a chance to apply. We’re trying to give everyone an equal op-portunity.”

For more information on Career Services, visit its web site at www.shsu.edu/careerservices. To register for Jobs4Kats, visit http://www.shsu.edu/~ccp_www/j4k.html.

Associate News EditorBy Jessica Priest

“I love it…it’s fresh and new,” said Michelle Ritter, junior and theater major.

“It brings all the arts to-gether,” said Randall Carpen-ter sophomore and musical theater major.

At only one week into the school year, there is already a growing excitement for the upcoming performances in-cluding “Nine,” running Oct. 6-9 and “Hamlet,” running

Nov. 17-20.“I just hope they’ll come

by and enjoy the space,” said Dana Nicolay. In all its com-pletion, the students of Sam are able to come together to enjoy great music and enter-tainment, with the prospect of wonderful housing ameni-ties and dining in the not so distant future.

From CAMPUS page 1

Jessica Gomez | The Houstonian

WORDS OF WISDOM. Key speaker and SHSU history professor, Caroline Crimm, Ph.D., lectured attendees about what it means to be a successful college student at the Fifth-Annual New Student Convocation in the Johnson Colesium on Saturday, Aug. 21.

John Rudolph | The Houstonian

For more information on Career Services, please visit their web site at www.shsu.edu/careerservices. To register for Jobs4Kats, please visit http://www.shsu.edu/~ccp_www/j4k.html.

Got news tips? Want to contribute to the Houstonian? Please contact Associate News Editor Jessica Priest at jpriest@houstonianonline.com.

Student Government AssociationThe next general meeting will take place Tuesday, Aug. 31, at 6 p.m. in Low-

man Student Center Room 320. For directions, call its office at 936-294-1938.

Huntsville City CouncilThere is a special session schedule for Thursday, Aug. 25, at 5 p.m. City Hall

is located at 1212 Ave. M in Huntsville. For more information, contact Lee Woodward, city secretary, via e-mail at lwoodward@huntsvilletx.gov.

COMICSPage 4 The Houstonian Thursday, August 26, 2010

What’s your excuse?There are many reasons why people choose to drink, but there is NO EXCUSE for drinking irresponsibly.

Join the SHSU Alcohol and Drug Abuse Initiative for its 5th Annual Alcohol and Drug Summit, a one-day event filled with a series of educational sessions designed to teach participants about the consequences associated with alcohol and drug use.

For more information, or for a registration form, call Rosanne Keathley, ADAI coordinator, at 936-294-1171 or visit http://www.shsu.edu/adai.

A Member of The Texas State University System

• Registration is FREE

• Free lunch and giveaways for all participants

ADAI “No Excuses” Alcohol and Drug SummitFriday, Sept. 10, 2010, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

in the Lowman Student Center

• Open to the Bearkat and Huntsville communities

• Door Prizes include an iPod Touch

Comics courtesy of comics.com

DID YOU KNOW?

Become a fan of The Houstonian

on facebook

Follow us on twitter @HoustonianSHSU

SHSU now has a quidditch team. The first informational meeting is set for Thursday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. The location is to be determined. Follow them on twitter @SHSUQuid-ditch and bring your brooms!

Have you gotten your parking permit yet? You better! As of Wednesday, Aug. 25, all students will be required to have a permit in order to park on campus. You can get yours at the University Police Department, which is located at 2424 Sam Houston Ave. in the Sam South Complex.

You can now rent textbooks from the University Book-store.

SHSU athletes have the highest GPAs in the Southland Conference.

While Huntsville may be home to many prisons, SHSU is one of the top 10 safest colleges in America, according to thedailybeast.com

The director of ‘Dazed and Confused’, Richard Linklater, is an alumnus of SHSU. The movie is based off of his ex-periences at Huntsville High School.

SPORTSTuesday, August 26, 2010 The Houstonian, Page 5

Friday, August 6th thru Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Show your College ID and receive 10% off Offer good 8/6 thru 9/2/10 on in store purchases only.

F id A t 6th th Th d S t b 2 d 2010

Come to Sears for all yourBack to Campus Needs

VISIT US ONLINE AT:SearsHometownStores.com

Join us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/searshometownstoresand follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/searshts

for special offers every Friday.

everydaylow price

5900Eureka® Maxima upright bagless vacuum#36761

11999SALE

SAVE $35Kenmore® 3.3-cu. ft. compact refrigerator #93382

everyday low price

5900Kenmore black 22.25-in. 0.7-cu. ft. counter top microwave oven #69079

2999SALE

SAVE $30Bionaire®

oscillating 2-speed power fan #90043

While Quantities Last

18999SALE

SAVE $10Sylvania® 19-in. class LCD HDTV #71209

everyday low price

1999Craftsman Evolv™ 23-pc. homeowner tool set #10028While Quantities Last

PUB:TX012 JA#008C027

AVAILABLE AT THIS STORE LOCATION ONLY

HUNTSVILLE168 COL. ETHEREDGE BLVD., HUNTSVILLE, TX 77340

936-295-8121

Willie Fritz: the man with the plan

Eastern Michigan, Louisiana-Lafayette, Marist and Prairie View A&M join Sam Houston in serving up the first action of the 2010 volleyball season when the Bearkats play host to the annual Comfort Suites SHSU Invitational at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum Friday and Saturday. The Bearkats will be out to defend their tournament championship from 2009. Sam Houston rolled up four victories in last year’s event, defeating Southern Utah, Texas-Pan American, Delaware State and Louisiana-Lafayette for the title. The action for 2010 starts Friday when the Eastern Michigan Eagles take on the Prairie View Panthers at 9:30 a.m. The Marist Red Foxes meet the Ragin’ Cajuns from Louisiana at 11:30 a.m.

Sam Houston State plays its first match of the event at 2 p.m., facing Prairie View. Eastern Michigan and the Ragin’ Cajuns battle at 4:30 p.m. The Bearkats wrap up Friday’s action with a 7 p.m. match versus Marist. Saturday’s schedule calls for Prairie View vs. Marist at 9 a.m., Eastern Michigan against host Sam Houston

at 11:30 a.m., the Ragin’ Cajuns against the Panthers at 2 p.m., Eastern Michigan vs. Marist at 4:30 p.m. and SHSU against Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m.

Sam Houston returns three starters and eight letter winners from its 20-14 squad that finished as runners-up in the Southland Conference West Division last year.

Preseason All-Southland performers outside hitter Carli Kolbe and libero Kaylee Hawkins lead the Kats.

“We have a younger group this season with no seniors,” SHSU head coach Brenda Gray said. “But there’s an enthusiams that comes with young players that is invigorating. We’re anxious to get out on the floor and see what they can do.”

The Ragin’ Cajuns from Louisiana, runners-up in last year’s tournament at Sam Houston, return five starters from their 2009 squad that went 9-24 and placed sixth in the Sun Belt West Division.

Marist produced an 18-13 record last year, placing fourth in the MAAC. Eastern Michigan compiled a 5-28 record last season while Prairie View reached the semi-finals of the Southwestern Athletic Conference post-season tournament.

By Paul RidingsSports Information

By Lotis ButchkoSports Reporter

Kats volleyball team set for 2010 season

REPEAT PERFORMANCE. The SHSU volleyball team looks to leave on another bright note in this year’s Comfort Suites Invitational.

File Photo | The Houstonian

The August sun beats down on the eighty plus football players in Bowers Stadium. Head Coach Willie Fritz stands in the middle of the players calmly explaining the expectations of the coming year. His raspy voice sounds like a man who has smoked three packs a day for two decades.

Fritz is small in stature, no bigger built than an accountant or banker. His hair turning more salt than pepper will surely grey this upcoming year as he takes the reigns of the Sam Houston State Bearkats football team for the first time, a team that is the youngest in the Southland Conference.

“We got a good group of young men,” said Fritz. “We had 48 men who were here in spring and 42 that are brand new, so it’s almost like starting over again. They’re still learning me, and 48 guys know about me a little bit because they were here for 15 practices this spring and 42 who are just getting to know me.”

Age will certainly be the weakest aspect for the Bearkats, after losing 32 lettermen last year. The Kats will have a roster dominated by sophomore and freshmen players. Among those players lost were wide receiver Jason Madkins, wide receiver Chris Lucas, running back James Aston and quarterback Blake Joseph.

However youth isn’t all the way around. Quarterback Brian Randolph has bided his time to play, and for the first time to start a season this is his team. Randolph has played behind former Walter Payton finalist Rhett Bomar and lost last years starting job to Blake Joseph after battling all summer for the starting job.

“We are coming together, we have a lot of freshmen coming in. They are meshing well with the veteran guys but we are coming together, we are still a work in progress,” Randolph said. “We are going to put some finishing touches on before Baylor and we will

be fine.”Fritz’s new system will also

be something to be picked up on the offensive side. Last year the team was guided on a pass-heavy offense by coordinator James Fergusson. Fritz has the fortune of having several very good running backs this year, a prize that Randolph is very happy about.

“We are deep at running back this year,” said Randolph. “We have three or four guys who could start on any team in the [Southland Conference]”

On the offensive side of the ball the Kats return five starters, with three on the offensive line. This helped the Kats in recruiting last year and gives way for an exciting fight for positions on the team but against Baylor, a Football

Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team, it could cost the team.

Baylor has a big defensive line and will be Sam Houston’s test with their stout running game.

Sam Houston State’s defense is under it’s second year of Defensive Coordinator Scott Stoker. Stoker, who started with the team last year after coming over from Northwestern State, is still a blitzing guru. The defense returns four starters as well, three in the secondary with Randy Stewart coming back off a knee injury to make the core four secondary stronger than it was last year.

“We are still a work in progress. I think we have one senior starting on the whole defense. We are a year older,

and these guys have been in the system for a year now,” Stoker said. “We need to find some depth in the D-line and solidify that, but we are further along this time then we were last year.”

Fritz has quickly reeled in a great recruiting class, as well as landing two big transfers this summer. Among those transfers is Tyrik Rollison, a former Auburn quarterback, who attended Sulpher Springs high school in Sulpher Springs, Texas. In high school, Rollison passed for 4,728 yards and 51 touchdowns, and rushed for 1,094 yards.

While this year may be hard on the Kats, the team has bought in to Fritz’s system and that can only lead to something good.

File Photo | The HoustonianTHE NEW LOOK BEARKATS. The Sam Houston State football team is full of youth and new faces, but under new Head Coach Willie Fritz, all have one common goal: to win.

The Sam Houston State 2010 Football ScheduleSep. 4, 6pm SHSU at Baylor

Sep. 18, 1pm SHSU at Western Illinois

Sep. 25, 6pm Gardner Webb at SHSU

Oct. 2, 6pm SHSU at Lamar

Oct. 9, 4pm SHSU at Nicholls

Oct. 16, 2pm Southeastern La. at SHSU

Oct. 23, 2pm SHSU vs. Stephen F. Austin at Reliant Stadium

Oct. 30, 6pm SHSU at Northwestern State

Nov. 6, 2pm McNeese State at SHSU

Nov. 13, 3pm SHSU at Central Arkansas

Nov. 20, 2pm Texas State at SHSU

SAMMYPALOOZAPage 6 The Houstonian Thursday,August 26, 2010

The lights are flashing, the drums are pounding and the fans are scream-ing as he jumps off stage and rushes to the gate that is holding the crowd back. Award winning country music sensa-tion Jack Ingram rocked Johnson Coliseum Tues-day night at SHSU’s Sam-mypalooza music festival.

Although a big country star, Ingram is no stranger to the Huntsville area. He grew up just 45 minutes away in the Woodlands and later relocated to Dal-las where he attended SMU and began his career.

“I just started writ-ing songs and learning a bunch of songs on the gui-tar and went to a few open mike nights right around campus,” Ingram said. “I got a gig at this club there called Adair’s Saloon on a Tuesday night. They paid me with free beer and a hamburger the first night. I thought that was fantas-tic and so I came back the following Tuesday, brought more friends, and before you know it, a couple of months into it I was mak-ing money playing music.”

Ingram draws from his life, the lives of others and the world around him for inspiration which he puts

into his music. The genre was never a question. Coun-try just comes naturally.

“It was never really any other kind of music for me,” Ingram said. “It was always about story telling. And then when I started writing songs it just came out in my style of country music.”

Ingram’s style of coun-try music has transformed into successful career. In 2008 he won the Academy of Country Music award for “Best New Male Vocalist” and in 2005 his song “Wher-ever You Are” hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

“It was a dream come true,” Ingram said. “It’s a song about doing what-ever you have to do to get to where you’re supposed to be. You know I really connected with that song and I think other people do too. There’s always something out on the ho-rizon that we’re trying to get to, especially when it comes to a relationship.”

Reaching for the hori-zon is also a theme in an-other song by Ingram. In “Big Dreams & High Hopes” he gives his best advice in the form of a coun-try ballad with a simple but meaningful message.

“Follow your dreams,” In-gram said. “Get out there, whatever it is. It doesn’t matter how stupid it might sound. It may seem really far off, it may seem crazy and way out of reach, but that song is saying, ‘Well it’s not.’ Just start going after it.”

When asked if he had

achieved his own “big dreams and high hopes,” Ingram paused before offering this insight.

“Music’s kind of an oa-sis,” he said. “It’s something that I’m always searching for and trying to find and it seems to be always just out of reach. And that’s fine, that’s what it’s all about. Reach-ing for it.”

According to Ingram, the difficul-ties faced when “reach-ing for it” may be the result of one’s own expectations.

“The struggles come from how high you set your own goals,” he said. “Its tough reaching to the top of the ladder or

top of the mountain. And how hard your struggles are, I guess, depends on how high you set your goals. Patience has always been a struggle for me.”

Despite the struggles, Ingram remains posi-tive and retains the pas-sion that drove him to a career in music.

“I love what I do,” he said. “I want to go further. I want to be better. I want to write better songs. I want to sell more records. That all just comes with the territory.”

Ingram is currently

working on a new album, which he said will be fin-ished sometime this fall and released in the spring.

“I’m doing demos and starting the initial process of figuring out which songs I really want to record and put on a record,” he said.

With a new record on the way, country fans are

sure to hear more from In-gram as he continues his search for his musical oasis.

“I feel like I’ve come

a long way from where I started for sure,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m satisfied, but I’m enjoying it. I love what I do and I want to do it for a long, long time.”

Thursday, August 26, 2010 The Houstonian, Page 7ENTERTAINMENT

Students returning to Sam Houston State University this fall will be welcomed by new artwork in the recently constructed Social Science and Humanities Building. The new work is also being celebrated by some lucky Chandler, Arizona elemen-tary school students, who had the opportunity to par-ticipate in the early stag-es of the work’s creation.

Arizona artist Bruce Mari-on was commissioned by the Texas university to create the over-sized paintings that fill the two largest public spaces in the building. Marion was selected out of hundreds of applicants in response to a nationwide call for art.

Before he started painting, Marion and his wife Lee used the large-scale canvases in an art presentation at a neigh-borhood elementary school. Over 300 children at Han-cock Elementary in Chandler, Arizona got to learn “hands on” about public artworks. Under Marion’s instruction, they painted on the canvas-es, helping create a colorful base for the piece that would then become “Confluence”.

The pieces now hang in the two entrance atria, bring-ing color, texture and mean-ingful inspiration to stu-dents roaming the hallways.

“These works of art re-flect my belief that the pur-suit of Humanities and the Social Sciences requires a duality of character and of purpose,” Marion said. “One must be both a dream-er and a pragmatist to find success in their realm.”

The artwork for the two-story atrium was painted on eight 30 by 174 inch canvases. As installed, the

finished paintings, entitled “Confluence,” occupy two facing walls, each holding four staggered-height panels.

The pieces in the three-story atrium were painted on 11 triangular canvases, which were assembled into eight different art pieces. The pieces range in size from 49 by 78 inches to 111 by 250 inches and are play-fully hung throughout the stairwell-crossed space.

John de Castro, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, spoke at the dedication ceremony for the artwork held in April.

Mr. de Castro found Marion’s explanations of the symbol-ism of the works and their relation to the college so meaningful, he had portions of the written proposal repro-duced on large brass plaques, to hang next to the artwork.

As Sam Houston greets its 16,000 students this fall, the newly hung paintings will color the lives of the uni-versity attendants like they did the elementary students just a few short months ago.

Additional work of Mari-on’s can be seen at the Dean Day Gallery located at 2639 Colquitt Street, Houston, TX.

By Selena LarsonBruce Marion Studios

Arizona Elementary Students Help Create Art for SHSU

“CONFLUENCE”. SHSU students will enjoy new art hanging in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences building.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Marion Studios

Searching for the oasisBy Thomas MerkaEntertainment Editor

“Music’s kind of an oasis. It’s something that I’m always searching for and trying to find and it seems to be always just out of

reach.”

Jack Ingram discusses making music and chasing dreams.

Jessica Gomez | The Houstonian

GOING AFTER IT. Jack Ingram performs in front of as many as 3,300 screaming Bearkats at Sammypalooza held at Johnson Coliseum on Tuesday.

Be sure to check out the new houstonianonline.com!

Jessica Gomez | The Houstonian