University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, October 30, 1987 Page: 1 of 6
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Good
Morning!
\
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Serving Lamar and the community for 64 years
It’s Friday
October 30, 1987
Vol. t>4, No. 12
Gray Library
services to
expand on
seventh floor
By Patti Baker
UP staff writer
The Gray Library staff is working
on renovations for the seventh floor
recently vacated by Lamar Univer-
sity’s Systems Offices.
The systems
offices were
moved to the
John Gray In-
stitute in
September to
provide more
library space.
Various li-
brary facilities
will replace the
areas vacated
by the systems offices.
“Dr. Franklin approached me
during the summer about a
microcomputer lab that would be a
general use facility. He felt we need-
ed one that would be available for all
students and faculty as well,” Max-
ine Johnston, library directory, said.
Currently, several of the colleges
house their own computer labs in
various buildings on campus. Most
are closed to students other than
those in the particular schools.
“The library has been thinking
about expanding for some time now
but has been unable to do so because
of financing,” Johnston said.
Some of the services presently of-
fered by the library will be expanded
on the seventh floor.
“The media services are already
on the floor, but it is very crowded.
There aren’t enough wet carrels,
work stations, in there to meet the
needs. We also needed room to ex-
pand the production services,”
Johnston said.
Media services works with
students and faculty for classroom
aids.
The special collections room, also
currently housed on the second floor,
may be expanded. The room stores
collections of Tare books and other
items given to Lamar.
“We have had to turn down some
collections because there is not
enough room to keep everything peo-
ple want to give us,” Johnston said.
Administrative offices for the
library were moved from the first to
the seventh floor this week.
The InterLibrary Loans office on
the first floor will be expanded to the
former administrative offices on the
first floor.
Used mainly by faculty and
graduate students, InterLibrary
Loans searches for books and ar-
ticles not kept in the Lamai library.
Through the use of an IBM M300
computer, a search is conducted
through computers of other schools
until the desired material is found. It
is then delivered to Lamar.
“We might use the old ad-
ministrative offices for part of the
InterLibrary for delivery and pick-
up,” Johnston said.
Many of the renovations will be
completed during the Christmas
holidays.
Four classrooms on the seventh
floor will be taken out during
renovations.
“There are some English classes
that meet in there right now, so they
probably won’t do anything until the
Christmas holidays,” Johnston said.
The classrooms will become part
of the media services with the front
two classrooms being converted to
wet carrels. The two in back will be
used for the microcomputer lab.
The library lecture hall will be un-
touched by the construction.
Renovations are being completed
by campus architect Horace Allison.
Floor plans are currently being
drawn up to determine cost of the
project. When the plans are finaliz-
ed, approval from the board of
regents will be sought. While most of
the work can be done by campus
crews, bids will be sought for some
outside work.
Maxine Johnston
Inside
Murchison profile.. .page 2
Editorials..........page 3
Letters to the editor.page 3
KVLU fund-raiser____page 4
Tuesday elections.. .page 4
Crossword puzzle.. .page 4
Baseball clinic......page 5
Volleyball..........page 6
Photo by DREK REESE
Josie Perrault, voodoo expert, takes time out from psychic activities to feed her feline friends.
Halloween magic
Beliefs stem from cultural past
By Marlene Auster
UP staff writer
Saturday is Halloween, and many
people envision a night of spooks,
witches, ghosts, goblins and other
supernatural beings.
“It’s a matter of what you believe,
and it’s just a matter of how to
deceive,” Josie Perrault says.
Perrault is a local writer, an ac-
tress, a black heritage supporter
and* she says, an expert on voodoo.
“Voodoo is a cultural thing,” Per-
rault says. “I’ve been aware of it all
my life. My parents and grand-
parents shared all their information
on it with me.”
“There are many sayings in
voodoo. One that I remember well is
‘Pour soapy water,’ old grandpa
said, ‘on that hill of dirt. Dem earth
worms will come wigglin’ out, and
I’ll catch me a bucket and fry ’em in
possum grease, and that will make
the best salve you ever did see.’ ”
Her parents told her all about
herbs and roots to make teas for il-
lnesses. She says nutmeg is good for
anyone with heart trouble.
She says she even has a chant to
make a person lose his speech.
“Grind up a lizard, and it will stick
to their gizzard, and they shall lose
their tone of voice.”
wnen she was young, Perrault
says, she learned many chants and
cures from voodoo, which stemmed
from a large population of the Negro
peasants of the West Indian
Republic of Haiti.
She says the torture of dolls with
the image of an enemy is common,
but it is really in people’s minds. It’s
the power of persuasion. If people
feel they’re being hurt physically,
she says, they will be.
“Voodoo dolls are pure
deception,” she says.
But what about witches?
In the western world today, our
conception of a witch, if we have a
conception at all, is probably of the
weird sisters from “Macbeth” or the
beak-nosed hags wearing conical
hats and riding broomsticks that
children impersonate on Halloween.
We picture witches as casting evil
spells on enemies and throwing
animal parts into a cauldron.
“There are white witches and
black witches,” says Marie, an area
psychic and white witch.
“They have a gift, and they study
the books. Some choose to be black
witches who may cast spells,
charms and hexes and stir up love
potions and other mixtures.”
Marie says these black witches
are concerned with selfish things
and motives such as money, wealth,
power or pleasures of the body.
She says white witches, on the
other hand, are directed toward
helping people. “They heal the ill, in-
fluence people, and, to some extent,
make wishes come true.”
White witches believe strongly
that they channeled their power,
during World War II, to Hitler’s
mind, preventing him from crossing
the English Channel, she says.
“White witches are into
cleansing,” Marie says, whereas,
black witches try to control people.
Marie says white witches can
clear from a home dead souls who
have refused to accept their death.
She says a house will be cold with the
spirit there, but, after the witch
cleanses it, the house will be warm
again.
These dead souls are ghosts that
are troubled spirits who won’t ac-
cept death. They are unlike
poltergeists, which leave physical
traces that they where there.
Carol, another psychic in Beau-
mont, says that should you tell
ghosts they’re dead, they will cease
to exist.
“Sometimes prayers or the sign of
the cross will discourage the ghost,”
Carol says.
Marie and Carol say they’ve had
their psychic powers since they were
children. Both say they have
predicted things, such as fires and
deaths.
They say they believe the sub-
conscious is more powerful than the
conscious and that people go to
psychics because they are called to
them.
Dr. Marion E. Bihm, a sociology
lecturer at Lamar, says, “Many peo-
ple feel a sense of hopelessness, so
they turn to these powerful things.
It’s also a cultural thing where
grandma tells you about it, and so
you believe it.”
SGA passes
homecoming
resolution
By Bryan Murley
UP managing editor
The Student Government Associa-
tion voted 29-8-5 Tuesday to pass a
resolution requesting the
democratic election of future
homecoming kings and queens.
The resolution, which failed by one
vote in last week’s SGA meeting,
was resubmitted this week with revi-
sions and passed.
“I’m really glad it passed,” said
Anne-Marie Roy, Political Science
Forum president and author of the
resolution. “We’re the voice of this
student body and we’ve got to be
able to represent them. Everybody’s
going to be able to vote.”
During debate, Roy said the issue
went beyond homecoming.
“It’s very important that we have
a say as students,” Roy said.
“Homecoming is for the entire stu-
dent body so why should we narrow
it down to a certain group of people
as far as deciding who the nominees
will be.
“Going beyond this issue of the
selection process is the whole issue
of democracy.
“I understand that there are a
very small number of people ... who
get involved in student activities,”
Roy said, “but you don’t want to
deny those people the right to vote.
“One of the inherent principles of
our system is that we all have the
choice to get involved,” Roy said. “I
don’t think we should deny a lot of
people that choice.”
Discussion of the resolution was
“I’m really glad it passed.
We’re the voice of this stu-
dent body, and we’ve got to
be able to represent them.
Everybody’s going to be able
to vote.”
-Anne-Marie Roy
less heated than last week's discus-
sion.
“What I heard a lot of last week
was more of personal attacks than it
was considered debate.” Winchell
Lind, senator, said. “I think we’ve
gotten down to some of the most
basic issues here.”
Lind said, in support of the resolu-
tion, “As long as you give everybody
the right to participate ... nobody
has a legitimate right to complain.”
Although Amy Goodell, academic
affairs committee chairperson,
directed questions to Roy, no discus-
sion opposed to the resolution was of-
fered before the question was called.
In other action, SGA appointed
Mary Denson, Vidor senior, to a two-
year position on the Supreme Court
and Anthony Holmes, Baytown
junior, to the Traffic Court.
SGA city council liaison John Hock
then read a proclamation by Mayor
Maury Meyers proclaiming Oct.
24-31 as National Higher Education
Week in Beaumont, recognizing
Lamar’s contribution to the com-
munity.
Group to examine
goals, objectives
of two LU courses
By Bryan Murley
UP managing editor
The academic affairs committee
of the Student Government Associa-
tion is planning to examine the
“goals and objectives” of two
remedial courses, Amy Goodell,
chairperson, said.
“In the last issue of the University
Press, it was stated that the
academic affairs committee was
evaluating the effectiveness of
English 137 and Math 1314,” Goodell
said in her committee report to the
SGA Senate. “I’m not saying that’s
wrong, but that’s not quite what we
intended to convey.”
Goodell stressed that her commit-
tee was not attempting to study the
effectiveness of these courses.
“I would not take it upon myself or
my committee to evaluate the effec-
tiveness of any academic course on
this campus.”
The committee will examine the
courses in response to several stu-
dent complaints that the committee
has received, Goodell said.
“It seems that students basically
don’t understand the purpose of the
courses or why the requirements are
such as they are,” Goodell said.
The committee will attempt to
gain a better understanding of the
courses, Goodell said.
“In understanding it better
ourselves, we can then promote a
better awareness in the student
body,” Goodell said.
Over the course of this semester,
the committee members will talk to
department heads and other faculty
involved in the programs and review
statistics of the programs, she said.
Goodell has not ruled out talking to
students with complaints, but the
committee is “not interested in
hearing just complaints, we want to
hear the positive side, too.”
The Social Work Student Associa-
tion, earlier this month, created a
task force to look into allegations
directed toward the effectiveness of
both classes.
“Their study is concerning a
similar issue,” Goodell said, “but
taking a different approach.”
The committee study will, most
likely, not work with the social work
task force, Goodell said.
“We would be receptive to what
they have to say, but I’m also in-
terested in that information being
quantifiable.”
Goodell said she has set no
timetable for completing the study,
but expects it to be completed by the
end of the semester.
Theater group to present walk-through spookhouse
By Brent Snyder
UP entertainment writer
The Lamar theater group
“Dramatis Personae” will present
“The Labyrinth of Blood,” a walk-
through spookhouse, in the Setzer
Student Center ballroom
perimeter rooms from 6 to 10 p.m.
today and Saturday.
What sets this spookhouse apart
from all the others, director
George Brock said, is the dedica-
tion and expertise of the labyrinth
creatures and the low cost of ad-
mission to the public ($1 per per-
son).
Members of “Dramatis Per-
sonae” will don makeup and
costumes to portray ghouls,
werewolves and various other
monsters, come completely new
and original.
Dal James, the much-talked-
about actor from the LU produc-
tion of “The Elephant Man”
gleefully described the creature he
will play as “the Labyrinth
Monster from Hell.”
“Unlike in other haunted
houses,” James said, “we are not
going to recreate scenes from
popular horror films, or feature
pop culture slasher stars like
Freddy Kruger and Norman
Bates.”
When an audience sees a
machete-wielding Jason or a Fred-
dy Kruger in a spookhouse, it
knows exactly what to expect from
him; his actions ai^ predictable.
There is no fright involved because
the characters are so familiar.
What will be different about
“The Labyrinth of Blood” is that
James and Brock want to give the
audience something that they may
not have seen in a spookhouse
before.
“The unknown,” said Brock,
“that’s where fear comes from.”
“To stick with the pop monsters
would be too easy,” James said.
“There’s no creativity in that.”
“Our spookhouse takes a
chance,” Brock said.
Each of the 15 actors performing
in “The Labyrinth of Blood” was
designated an area in the mazing
spookhouse and given total
freedom to create for himself any
creature he wished.
Where does a young, serious ac-
tor or actress seeking meaningful
work on the stage find motivation
to play an imaginary monster?
“From inside themselves,”
Brock said, “from the childhood
fears that they’ve closed the door
on.
“I don’t agree with that,” James
interjected. “I think that adult life
is much more frightening than a
child’s.”
“The pressures of adult living,”
James said, “can result in terrific
nightmares.”
The nature of fear is important
to the spookhouse ensemble, but
Brock said “The Labyrinth of
Blood” is not designed as “the
thinking man’s spookhouse.”
“We are aiming to frighten peo-
ple” Brock said, “but the tongue is
definitely in cheek in the perfor-
mances.”
“That’s what, Halloween is
about,” Brock said, “ — having
fun.”
On Halloween night, “The
Labyrinth of Blood” will be run in
conjunction with a project of LU
sororities, who will pass out candy
to attending children in an attempt
to provide a safe trick-or-treat en-
vironment in the Lamar-
Beaumont community.
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Ford, Steven. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, October 30, 1987, newspaper, October 30, 1987; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500129/m1/1/?q=music: accessed July 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.