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Volume 94
Issue 6
Next Publication:
Monday February 11, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
PINE LOG The
The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University
43
WEDNESDAY
H
Page 6
Jacks remain
No. 1 in
Southland
By Doug Struck
Special to The Washington Post
The massive blizzard that
whipped New England this week-end
with hurricane-force winds
and crushing snow tested the
readiness of authorities to deal
with the increasing frequency
of severe and record-breaking
weather.
State officials in Massachusetts
took the rare step of ordering cars
off the streets in advance of the
storm, while in Long Island, N.Y.
hundreds of commuters were sur-prised
and stranded by the bliz-zard,
which dumped two to three
feet of snow on the region.
The storm claimed at least four
lives and added to the march of
extreme weather events in the
past year that includes Hurricane
Sandy, a deep drought, the hot-test
U.S. year on record and wide-spread
wildfires in the West.
Authorities in Boston said an
11-year-old boy died from carbon-monoxide
poisoning when he and
his father warmed up from snow
shoveling by huddling inside a
car whose exhaust was blocked
by snow. In New York's Columbia
County, a man plowing on a trac-tor
died when he ran off the road.
A pedestrian in Poughkeepsie,
N.Y., died after he was struck while
walking along a snowy roadside,
and a Connecticut man collapsed
and died while shoveling snow, ac-cording
to news reports.
The storm rumbled up the East
Coast along the path of most of
New England's famed nor'easters.
It lashed seafront towns, sent
surges of water onto streets at high
tide, and departed with tons of
precious beachfront property.
But the combination of lucky
timing — the storm arrived on
a Friday — and advance warn-ing
gave residents plenty of time
to hunker down and get off the
roadways. That limited the prob-lems
and should allow a straight-forward
cleanup. Authorities
praised Massachusetts Gov. Deval
Patrick's decision to order cars
off the streets Friday, clearing the
roads for emergency crews.
"I'm happy to report the city,
so far, has weathered the storm
well," Boston Mayor Thomas
Menino said at noon Saturday.
New England's largest city was
dead center on the storm's path
but escaped major power outages
and flooding.
Towns north and south of Boston
fared worse. Waves chopped away
the foundations of beachfront
homes in Massachusetts com-munities
of Sandwich, Hull and
Scituate. Most of those homes
were vacated by residents wary
of the churning sea before a mid-morning
high tide sent salty water
racing through streets.
Power companies reported that
600,000 customers had lost power
by Saturday morning. Utility
crews remained poised inside mo-tels,
their bucket trucks parked,
until the howling wind quieted to
a whisper and the power workers
could safely reach lines encased in
ice and snow.
Governors in all the New
England states declared states of
emergency, opened up shelters,
and shut down airports and pub-lic
transport.
The storm rivaled the his-toric
grip of the Blizzard of '78,
a 36-hour whiteout that New
Englanders cite as a high-water
mark of grim winters. This year's
storm plowed up the Atlantic
coast and embraced Boston with
sweeping arcs of snow and wind
that reached into Vermont, New
Hampshire and southern Maine
on Friday night.
When it passed, it had de-livered
almost 25 inches at
Boston's official measuring station
at Logan International Airport, 2
1/2 inches short of a record. But
other towns in Massachusetts and
New Hampshire reported snow to-tals
of as high as 34 inches. Milford,
Conn., recorded 38 inches.
Regardless of its place in the
record books, the blizzard is likely
to add to the discussion about the
increasing frequency of unusual
weather events globally, ranging
from floods in Pakistan that sent
20 million people fleeing to the
stunning melt-off of nearly half
the Arctic ice cap, events consis-tent
with climate change.
New York City, still recover-ing
from Sandy's staggering blow,
"dodged a bullet," Mayor Michael
Bloomberg said Saturday morn-ing.
"I think it's fair to say that we
were very lucky. We certainly
avoided the worst of it, and our
thoughts go out to the people
of Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Vermont, Maine," the mayor said.
"If we can do anything to help
them, we certainly will. . . . When
we were in trouble, the country
came to our aid, and we want to
make sure we do the same."
By Katelynn Wiggins
Staff Writer
Two women in ROTC have made the decision
to sign a contract this academic year. Freshmen
Kaitlyn Sabol, a nursing major, and Lori Reeves, a bi-ology
major, both appreciate the camaraderie ROTC
offers. They signed their contracts on Dec. 12.
“My dad was a Marine and he inspired me to
want to be a part of something bigger,” Reeves
said. Balancing multi-day PT (physical training)
with school is a challenge Reeves has had to face.
Eventually, she hopes to be a civil affairs officer.
“I think the challenging part will be earning trust
and respect from the males,” Reeves said of her fu-ture
as an officer in the US Army.
“We are all like one unit to me,” Sabol said. “It’s
pretty cool when you see eight guys turning around
and running with one guy who is passing the fin-ish
line.” She said that she does not feel disadvan-taged
being a woman, and appreciates being treated
equally.
ROTC has contracted over a dozen cadets this ac-ademic
year. In order to sign a contract, cadets must
complete a handful of basic requirements. They
must have at least a 2.0 GPA, pass an Army Physical
Fitness Test and pass a Department of Defense
medical physical.
“Signing a contract does not mean (cadets) are
in the army,” Kyle Locke, enrollment advisor and
recruiting operations officer for SFA’s military sci-ence
department, said. “(Cadets) will not start their
military obligation until they graduate.” The con-tract
is basically like a promissory note, telling the
department that you will stick with this and finish it.
When a cadet signs their contract they also take
a modified oath showing their intent to join the
military upon graduation. It is not the oath of office;
cadets will take that oath when they commission
into the US Army.
“We are not doing the basic training,” Locke said.
“(Cadets) are still college students. At any point they
can say ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’” Anyone
can participate in ROTC during their freshman and
sophomore years. However, cadets must sign a con-tract
to continue with the program after that, Locke
explained.
There is more expected from contracted cadets
than from non-contracted cadets “because they
have shown us they want to continue” Locke said.
Cadets showing they have the drive to finish are ex-pected
to step up, show up to every event and be on
time and in the correct uniform, Locke explained.
“Without looking at any hard numbers, to me it
seems that we have more females at least interested
in the program,” Locke said. “When I was a cadet
here in the mid 2000’s there were not nearly as many.
About 25 percent of cadets are female.” Locke gradu-ated
from SFA in 2007 and was in ROTC. He served
in the Texas Army National Guard for 11 years as a
military police officer and has worked at SFA since
2010.
Cadet Lori Reeves takes her oath after contracting with ROTC. Cadet Kaitlyn Sabol takes her oath after contracting with ROTC.
SFA students Sabol and
Reeves sign ROTC contracts
Snowstorm, page 2
SFA Gardens will host a rainwater harvesting workshop from
9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Feb. 16, in the Agriculture Building,
Room 118.
David Parish, technical assistant from Texas Agrilife
Extension, will discuss the benefits of collecting rainwater,
potential yields and different collection systems. Each partici-pant
will construct and take home a completed rain barrel for
home use.
“The recent drought in Texas has left homeowners looking
for alternatives for garden irrigation,” said Elyce Rodewald, ed-ucation
coordinator for SFA Gardens. “Through this workshop,
participants can beat the heat and be prepared for another
sunny summer in East Texas.”
The cost is $50 for SFA Gardens members and $60 for non-members.
All supplies will be provided. Participants must pre-register
by Thursday, Feb. 14. Make your reservations by con-tacting
Rodewald at (936) 468-1832 or erodewald@sfasu.edu.
David Parish to
teach benefits of
collecting rainwater
Fatal snowstorm wipes out Northeast with
record-breaking weather this past weekend
Conference