Archive for News

Hundreds Walk for Multiple Sclerosis

Those wanting to find a cure for multiple sclerosis met Saturday morning to participate in the annual MS Walk.

The walk was began five years ago by Josh Carr and his brother when they wanted to get more involved in helping to find a cure for the disease.

“My mom has MS and we decided we need to take an active role in this. We started the walk at the University of Arkansas and then it has grown from there Now we’re expanding and here at Lake Fayetteville today,” Carr said.

Over two million people in the world are dealing with multiple sclerosis. It is a disease of the immune system of the central nervous system. Individuals are typically diagnosed between ages 20 and 40.

Though a way to treat MS has not yet been found, participants at Lake Fayetteville were hopeful. One of those is kindergarten teacher, Claire Ericson, who is one of the millions with multiple sclerosis.

“They’re doing a lot of research and a lot of research is needed because they don’t have a cure,” Ericson said. “So if we can everyone’s attention at least focused on that, at least for this special day it will help.”

The walk consisted of one, three or five mile goals. Many were walking for themselves. Friends, family and co-workers also walked in support for those they know that have had or have MS.

For more information about multiple sclerosis or how to get involved visit www.nationmssociety.org.

Hastings in Fayetteville is Closing

Hastings is located in Fiesta Square

Hastings is located in Fiesta Square

Hastings in the Fayetteville Square is going out of business due to lack of profit.
I talked to several students; all of them were suprised, and many were angry.
Kelsey Bryan said she prefers hard copies of DVD’s and books to their digital counterparts. She also mentioned that Hastings brings back memories of growing up in Fayetteville.
Despite good prices on movies, books, games, and music, Hastings has been out done by electronic mediums like Netflix, the iPad and Kindle for reading books, and iPods for music.
The store is closing in early June, and all merchadise must be sold.

-Danny Henkel, UATV News

Are We Safe?

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Safety in Public Places from Tucker Travis on Vimeo.

By Tucker Travis

After national bombings and threats to campus safety in the past week, it’s a scary thought that the target of an attack could be anywhere. Although public areas are difficult to completely protect, campus security professionals say that all it takes is a call.

“I would be unfair to say it’s easy to secure the University of Arkansas campus,” said Reggie Houser, Assistant Director for Logistics and Risk Management.

Spreading over three hundred acres and 200 buildings, the university’s public ground is vast and easily left vulnerable for an attack. An attack that could be similar to the one seen at the Boston marathon on April 15th. To some, that possibility is worrisome.

“What we have to do is get past that and stop ignoring things, and go ahead and have those things checked so be sure everyone is safe,” said Lt. Gary Crain, Public Information Officer at University of Arkansas police department.

Public places and even events, such as the red and white scrimmage game this past Saturday, are usually the target terror bombers choose. Especially since Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium holds more than 70 thousand people.

To help protect you and your surroundings it’s important to be aware of them. Reporting questionable activity is much better than ignoring it, such as an unattended backpack with no owner near.

“There are a lot of faces to providing safety to the U of A. It’s not just one department’s ability. It’s all of us working together,” said Lt. Crain.

Keeping a realistic idea of the threat of an attack is important, but not to dwell on it is key. “I just believe that people need to go about their business, be happy everyday that they’re at a great university and a great part of the country, but at the same time they need to be diligent,” said Houser.

There are many efforts put towards campus safety whether its by the police department or university housing. The U of A is only as safe as we make it.

Abortion Debate

Abortion.Debate from Mallory Jordan on Vimeo.

University Programs brought the state wide abortion debate to campus this past week. Mary Hallan-Fiorito and Katie Stack each debated their stance on the issue.

Fiorito said in her opening statement, “Those who are voiceless, those who are vulnerable, those who are dependent, are those people that deserve additional protection.”

Stack followed her with her own opening statement, “Legal obligations of this kind necessarily sacrifices one person’s rights in favor of anothers.”

Amy Fletcher is a student at the UofA and attended the debate in hopes of finding out more information on the topic.

“We can kind of be skewed as students, very much so, I wanted to see what the professionals had to say,” said Fletcher.

Fletcher finds with issues like abortion many form opinions without knowing all of the facts. The debate moderator gave his opinion on the issue by stating, “What’s important is being knowledgeable on the facts and making a decision.”

Many students came out to the debate, but a question was asked about what the UofA campus offers for women facing unwanted pregnancies.

Mary Alice Serafini, executive director of Pat Walker Health Center, said the clinic is prepared to give women the resources they need and is able to customize information for each patient.

“We have a list of agencies, offices, places that if we have an inquiry we can give them a phone number or an address,” Serafini said.

Serafini also mentioned that the clinic does not directly deal with abortion issues. They give women referrals to specialists in the area. The clinic does encourage students to ask questions about any health related issue they may have.

The debate allowed for students and members of the community to be involved in a discussion that isn’t always easy. Fletcher made the comment that she thinks it is very important for college students to be open to such discussions.

Fletcher said, “It’s really important that we have opinions now, and that we have the access to the information.”Photo Apr 23, 7 54 47 PM

Sorority Recruitment

<iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/64677989″ width=”500″ height=”281″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/64677989″>Sorority Recruitment</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user11405791″>Carley Gibson</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

Live Shot:

With the school year coming to an end, U of A greeks are trading in their study groups for recruitment practices. The Panhellenic houses are getting ready for the potential new member seeking to become apart of a greek organization.

This is a tune that Kappa Delta Recruitment chair Sadie Aronson has become very familiar with.

“Door songs are basically apart of my life now because we sing them at every practice , many times and so they are always stuck in my head! “

Sorority recruitment takes months of preparation. With most houses starting weekly practice in January, Aronson says it’s a necessity.

“Without these months of preparation recruitment would just be a mess for us and so these months are really valuable for us to learn everything and get everything right before rush week.”

It is in these weekly practices; girls cover when and how every single detail of rush will be carried out.

“ We practice the room set ups that we go into we also practice conversation workshops so we kinda learn what to talk to the PNM about and how to make them feel really comfortable when they come visit KD during recruitment.”

“ Being a potential new member I never realized how much work really went into it but now being on the other side for the first time I realized how much we have to practice and how much work you really have to put into it. “

During practices girls also review the rules Panhelenic sets for each house to follow in dealing with the potential new member, commonly referred to as a PNM.

“We have rules that have to do with like spacing we have to always make sure the PNM’s are in close contact with one another we cant isolate them to where they are just with a sorority member by themselves. “

Each house will have to put in a lot of time to prepare for the expected 180 new members, but it is time well spent according to House Mom MeMe

“I know when they finish, what they started, its going to be excellent”

 

University of Arkansas Campus Safety

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There are 122 emergency phones located in elevators and buildings and 131 including parking garages on the University of Arkansas campus . The average response time for cops if an emergency button is hit could be delayed with construction all around campus, blocking the usual detours for officials. The U of A recently enacted an enhanced 9-1-1 service, “Smart911″, that allows students and faculty to create a confidential profile online that can be used in emergency situations. If someone with the “Smart911″ service calls 9-1-1 from their phone, their information is immediately available to dispatchers to ensure safety.

Walker makes comeback with a new look

KW24

Kody Walker feature from Logan Wilson on Vimeo.

An Arkansas running back has been steadily working toward a comeback and the Razorbacks got good news when doctors cleared him to play in the final week of spring practices.

Kody Walker has been a member of the Arkansas football team for two seasons, but has only been able to play in five games because of two unrelated leg injuries. In 2011, Walker suffered a stress fracture in his shin and last year, he broke his leg on punt coverage against Louisiana-Monroe.

Walker started the 34-31 loss to the Warhawks at fullback in place of Kiero Small, who checked out of the hospital with a season-ending injury the day Walker checked in.

“Me and Kody, yeah we were rehabbing buddies,” Small said. “It’s a little bit easier to come out and work hard when you’re practicing every day, but man, Kody was coming in at 6:30 in the morning with Matt Summers, training and training and we knew we weren’t going to play. So, you saw a lot of work ethic out of Kody and we kind of pushed each other.

“Just to see him out there playing in the spring game was big for us.”

Walker wore number 40 in his first two seasons on the team and scored six touchdowns in that jersey, but he said superstition caused him to make a change.

“When I got up here, getting hurt two years in a row, I was thinking 40 was bad luck, so I had to ditch that number for something new and get my swagger back,” Walker said.

The Jefferson City, Mo. native decided to switch to No. 24, which he says is a better fit. Fellow running back Jonathan Williams said he is supportive of the number change as well.

“We joke about that a lot man,” Williams said. “That 40 wasn’t a good look for him, but that 24, he’s looking real nice in that.”

Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said it has been good to finally see Walker play and he thinks the 6-foot-2, 244-pound running back will bring a key component to the Razorbacks’ offense in the fall.

“He’s excited. I think he’s moving past his mindset of worrying and just playing football, Chaney said. “It was good to see him get out there and mix it up a little. He’s a big, heavy young man and he brings a load when he carries the ball. I’m glad to have him back in the offense as we try to continue to establish the mindset of physicality.”

Walker rushed for 40 yards on seven carries in the annual Red-White game. He received a medical redshirt after undergoing surgery for the stress fracture in 2011 and has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Wedington Corridor Approved

Author/Photographer: Ben Schmuck

After six months of planning that started with a week long set of meetings between officials and 88 Fayetteville citizens the city has finally gotten the O.K. to begin the revamp of the Wedington Corridor. The City Council unanimously approved the plan and has the city putting it to action.

Citizens should expect the construction of the area to begin shortly.

“Work on that project will likely break ground before the end of next year,” said Peter Nierengarten, the Fayetteville Director of Sustainability and Strategic Planning.

The draft of the Wedington Corridor can be viewed at the Fayetteville Public Library.

The draft of the Wedington Corridor can be viewed at the Fayetteville Public Library.

The project will improve the area around Wedington east of I-540 and will include adding a tree-lined median to Wedington as well as helping to complete the “North to South Greenway” by adding to the trail and connecting the Owl Creek Elementary School area and the Boys and Girls Club with the Bryce Davis Park area among other things.

“We’ve seen a tremendous amount of positive feed back associated with the plan,” said Nierengarten.

He added that while the original plan had a roundabout being installed on the east side of I-540, that part of the plan has not been approved by the Highway and Transportation Department.

“The last thing any of us want is to build a roundabout and then not have it function because it can’t handle the volume of vehicles that go through there,” he said.

Adopt a Pet

new_pet_adoption

According to the ASPCA, 5 to 7 million animals enter animal shelters every year. 60 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats go unadopted and must me euthanized.

Pet adoption is an easy process. Director of the Springdal Animal Shelter Courtney Kremer, told me you have to fill out an aplication. If you have a lardlord they will check with them to make sure you can have a pet, and they will check your referances.

After being approved you have to pay a small fee. This fee goes to the operation of the shelter. Then you can take your new furry friend home.

For more infomation on pet adoption visit petfinder.com.

Expired Elevator Service Tags

Elevators are used by students and faculty on campus daily. There are more 130 buildings that belong to the U of A and most have elevators. The majority of them also have expired service tags.

According to the Arkansas Department of Labor, elevators should be checked semi annually, and serviced at least once a year. But is it safe to be riding in an elevator if it hasn’t been serviced yet?

Riding in an elevator with expired service tags can be dangerous, but there is a small possibility of one actually breaking down while riding one since they are supported by several large cables.

Ricky Belk, Director of the Department of Labor, says that the building or institution is responsible for having safety inspections and services completed.

To have safety inspection or service done, the building or institution can request one from the Labor Department, or have one completed by a private company.

To contacted the Department of Labor for questions or concerns you can call 501-682-4538 or visit www.arkansas.gov.Screen shot 2013-04-16 at 11.11.22 PM