The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 173, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 22, 2007 Page: 1 of 12
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TARLETON STATE UNIVERSITY, STEPHENVILLE
The J-TAC
February 22,2007
SINCE 1919
Volume 173, No. S
Ku Klux Klan plans rally in Stephenville
■ Members seen distributing flyers on campus, in town for March demonstration
Francisco Reyes/The J-TAC
Members of the KKK were
seen handing out flyers and
talking to students near
Bender Hall on Sunday.
By ERIK WALSH
Feature Editor
Flyers supporting the Ku Klux Klan
were passed out on the Tarleton cam-
pus last Sunday and Monday. Some
flyers were reportedly placed on car
windows outside Hunnewell Annex as
well as Bender and Ferguson.
The flyers state the KKK, or the
"Traditional Christian Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan/' is "growing fast in Tex-
as/' The flyers state five reasons why
the Klan is growing, saying "Whites
are beginning to see that the future of
their children is being sold out to third
world immigration, drugs and
multiculturalism."
According to the Web ad-
dress the flyer provides, the
KKK group will be in Stephen-
ville March 17, demonstrat-
ing at the Erath County Courthouse
square. The Web site states the KKK
will demonstrate in protest of amnesty
for illegal immigrants; the destruction
of the American Constitution, as well
as defending the Tarleton students that
were involved in the "MLK "
For student party.
opinion, Athough not able to
See Paee 7 re'ease an official university
statement^ Dean of Students
Rusty Jergins, who is also the
mayor of Stephenville, said the flyers
See RALLY, page 10
Construction of Tarleton
buildings on schedule
By AMBER BARRON
Staff Writer
New constructions should
be available for use by stu-
dents, faculty and staff no lat-
er. than the end of the school
year in 2008.
Projects include: restroom
facilities at Tarleton's rodeo
arena, a visitor's information
center located in the Tarleton
Center for the Office of Sty-
dent Relations, and new win-
dows and doors on buildings
around campus.
However, there are two
main construction projects
— the new dining hall and the
recreational center.
The new dining hall is a
little behind due to weather
but Dean of Students Rusty
Jergins imagines the time lost
will be compensated for.
"I believe that time can
be made up once the slab is
done/' Jergins said.
A projected completion
date for it is March of 2008.
It remains to be seen when
the dining hall will actually
open up for use, but "it will
not open, up in the middle of
the semester/' according to
Jergins.
Tarleton's new recreation-
al center is going as planned,
according to Ronald Giles, di-
rector of Recreational Spprts.
Weather seems to be a
common thread in falling be-
hind schedule on construction
plans.
"We are one and a half to
two weeks behind because of
weather," Giles said.
The new center is to be
open next school year in the
early part of Sept. after con-
struction is finished in Aug.
Francisco Reyes/The J-TAC
Construction material around the partially finished
recreational sports building. The building crossed the
25 percent completion mark last month.
Slam dunk to glory
^ '>fuNlLHS\ }
MAC
■siM, J ji £ ?
Francisco Reyes/The J-TAC
Dallas Maverick's mascot "Mavs Man" shows off his dunking skills during the Tar-
leton vs West Texas A&M game. The event took place at the Wisdom Gym on Wednes-
day, Feb, 21, during the last home game of the regular season. The "Mavs Man" usu-
ally performs his dunking routine for a standard fee of $550.
'MLK'
partiers
endure
backlash
By MANDI ROBERTS
Staff Writer
Tarleton students in-
volved in the "MLK" Face-
book racism controversy
are experiencing the conse-
quences of their actions.
"I constantly have peo-
ple calling me racist, even if
it is a joke," Kelsey Alvara-
do, Tarleton student whose
picture, dressed in a'shirt
marked with the words, 'I
love chicken/ was all over
national media as a repre-
sentation of the party said. "I
also lost my job at a daycare
here in Stephenville and got
kicked out of my fraternity;
we were forced to resign or
else get expelled,out of the
fraternity."
Party attendee Evan
Braswell was also given the
new nickname,
"The word 'racist' was
written really big on my
truck a couple of weeks
ago," Braswell said.
Braswell said that he
was "impressed with the
Unity Rally and that "aftei
the party, I think we did ev-
erything we could to work it
out."
Yet, despite the forum,
Braswell added he still "gets
looks and mutters from peo-
ple."
Personal criticisms have
also come from outside the
university.
One person sent an e-
mail to Jeremy Pelz with the
subject line: "Ain't no peanut
butter over here cracker."
The message, which was
forwarded to The J-TAC on
Jan. 27, accused the partiers
See PARTY, Page 9
Tarleton students work on Light of Day project
By ASHLEY CAGLE
.Staff Writer
Tarleton students have joined jour-
nalism students from universities across
the state of Texas to work on a project
sponsored by the Freedom of Informa-
tion Foundation of Texas, known as the
Light of Day project. With the help of
journalism instructors Dan Malone and
Kathryn Jones, students have learned
how to obtain public records on how
Texas law enforcement officers use Tas-
ers and non-lethal weapons.
"I think that the Light of Day (LOD)
project is helping not only college stu-
dents, but many people in the journal-
ism industry understand their rights to
information," senior communications
major Kyle Gambrell said.
Students working on this project are
required to write to law enforcement de-
partments in Texas requesting copies of
any "use of force" reports, offense or in-
cident reports, death reports, reports of
training injuries, and policies regarding
the use of any non-lethal weapon by any
officer in their department since Jan. 1,
2000.
Senior communications major Kyle
Gambrell wrote to the city of Lubbock
requesting records while taking Jones'
news writing class. The city requested
a large fee to cover the time and copy
expense of gathering the records. After
a long struggle with Lubbock, the city
turned over pages of police reports.
"The Light of Day project allows
everyday people to get an understand-
ing of what is going on behind closed
doors," Gambrell said. "Not all informa-
tion being obtained is negative, but by
doing this project, you see just how far
some people will go to hide information
that they don't want to be released."
Kathryn Jones, the adjunct instruc-
tor of journalism, said the project is
intended to help communications stu-
dents gain experience in reporting.
"Student journalists at Tarleton are
learning firsthand what an important
tool open records requests are," Jones
See LIGHT OF DAY, Page 9
David Pulliam/Kansas City Star/MCT
Kansas police officer Jeff Jewett patrols a high school
armed with a taser. The Light of Day foundation is most
prominently involved in examining Taser use by police
departments around Tex,
Index
News
2
Opinion
3
Features
4
Entertainment
5
Campus Life
6-7
Special
8
Sports*
11-12
Dr. Gary Peer retiring
Tarleton provost to retire this
summer, ending a career spanning
40 years in higher education See Page 4
War deterence
Military speaker comments
on nature of conflict in
Middle East
See Page 6
Avoiding college
burnouts
Preventing stress e>A
from overtaking 4C* &
college life <}
See Page 4
A
Diversity speaker
Nigerian-born radio show
hosts talks on importance
of racial tolerance See Page 6
igrrn-
Men's Basketball
Texans lose to West Texas
A&M in final
home game 69-63
See Page 12
Softball
TexAnns beat St. Edwards in
weekend double header
See Page 12
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 173, No. 5, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 22, 2007, newspaper, February 22, 2007; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth142149/m1/1/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.