THE BEHREND BEACON
Church acts
other horrors
by Kim Horner
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
October 22, 1999
CEDAR HILL. Texas
Ferguson says he wants to save teens
from sin, from hell, from another
school shooting like the Columbine
High School massacre. And to save
souls, the Trinity Church youth
pastor says he has to scare them first.
His Assembly of God church's
alternative haunted house, Hell
House 911. shows teens the road to
hell with more than a dozen scenes
about rape. suicide and other grim
topics --- including a re-enactment
of the Littleton, Colo., high school
shooting in April.
" Mav he I can make one person
think not to do it. - Ferguson said.
Visitors come by the bus load and
line up for a haunted house that has
no witches or goblins. Some call the
Hell House even scarier because it's
about true-life horrors.
"It freaked me out, it's so real, -
said Stacy Holbrook. 19, of
Duncanville. Texas. The recreation
of the Columbine attack is not
unusual for Hell House. NA lUeh has
staged school shooting scenes the
past several dears. Last year. it was
the West Paducah. KY., shooting.
This ear's theme hits "too close
to home - for Dave NlcPlierson, who
has counseled Columbine students
as pastor of \Vest Bowles
Community Church in Littleton.
"But even though it's not my
style, 1 see that it can serse a
purpose. - he said Wednesday. Oct
20. in a phone interview. "The thing
that's interesting about this hell
house is there will be kids who will
eome to that who will never go to
Professor tackles Christian,
Darwin fish symbols
by Edward M. Eveld
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
October 20, 1999
KANSAS CITY, Mo. Call it
"The Great American Fish War," It
plays out on the backs of cars,
pickups and St:l\ l s. One side displays
the Christian fish symbol. The other
also display s a fish. but one that has
sprouted fret, with the word
"DARWIN" spelled out inside the
symbol to bring home the point.
But w hat exactly is the message
from the Darwin fish contingent?
That's \\ hat Toni Lessl wanted to find
out. He's ;in associate professor of
speech communication at the
University of Georgia. Even before
the state school hoard debate over
evolution erupted in Kansas, he was
alking parking lots in five states
looking for Darwin fish, distributing
questionnaires.
"I wore out two pairs of shoes, -
Less! said. Such emblems can he
powerful statements, just like
national flags. and people invest their
identities in them, he said. More than
that, the Darwin fish folks
appropriated a religious symbol and
University of Illinois students reap
benefits working as mentors
by Anne Cook
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
October 20, 1999
CHAMPAIGN, 111. University of
Illinois finance professor Elisabeth
Oltheten is preparing her UI students
for life in the business world. The
students recently helped a class at
Centennial High School simulate the
trading floor of the New York Stock
Exchange.
Having her students do that helped
them on two different levels,
Oltheten said. "One is the academic
part, setting up mock trading sessions
NATIONAL CAMPUS NEWS
church, and it may he their onl \\ hen the killers asked whet
exposure to the church. - she believed 111(1 , d hcli shout
Cassandra Chance of Littleton. hci. tl he i n t i at i uu ' ink)
Colo., was hest friends with shooting shoiitin L i has cast douht on vim
victim Cassie Bernal', who is Cassie .1, the one the killer
portrayed in the hell house. - My gut
reaction was repulsiveness, I was
repulsed. It hit so close to home. -
said Cassandra. I 7.
"But I think if the message is
getting out. that's the point of it."
Ferguson said church leaders
thought carefully before planning
another school shooting scene. ci \ en
the Colorado tragedy. Ultimately.
they decided the immediacy of the
violence makes the scenes more
potent, he said.
Alter buying $7 tickets. isitors
see two teens in trench coats in„
yy ith guns. planning the crime.
"Those jerks will he sorry the}
ever made fun of us." said the actors.
actually , teen church \ olumeers.
Next scene. two teen girls talk in
the school library. One is loosely
based on Cassie. who reportedly said
degraded it. Lessl said. That's
potentially serious business.
Early Christian believers were said
to draw the outline of a fish as a
symbol of their beliefs. Letters in the
Greek word for fish kwin an acrostic
for "Jesus Christ, Son of God.
Savior. - So, he wanted to know. is this
an earnest war of some sort " Or just a
playful parody? He asked thick.'
questions: Why did you put this
emblem on your car? What audience
did you hope to reach What does the
Darwin fish mean to you? He
distributed 140 sur‘eys and got
responses front more than a third.
According to the stirs e) responses,
a chief aim of the Darn in Dish people
is, indeed, derision, Less' said. Their
assumption is that people who put
Christian fish emblems on their cars
are members of the Christian political
right, who hold a spectrum of
conservative social and political
The conflict was not so much about
evolution vs. creationism, he said,
although some respondents did
mention that debate. "This is more
religious culture against secular
culture," Lessl said. "It's very much a
and understanding more deeply about
processes on the (trading) floor." she
said. "The second one's more subtle.
Students feel separate from the
community, and they want to he part
of it."
"Going into the high schools makes
them feel more at home here. They're
not transients. They live here four
years, and this helps develop a
relationship with the community."
Oltheten said UI students learn
students' names and occasionally
field questions that give :hem a
chance to spread the word about
higher education. "We have kids
out Columbine attack,
to make teens think
"The thing that's interesting about this
hell house is there will be kids who will
come to that who will never go to
church, and it may be their only
exposure to the church."
-Dave McPherson.
pastor of \\*k...,t 13owlcs C'~unn!ut its
Church in Littleton
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The Darwin fish has inspired a
seeming! \ endless nunihcr of fish
mutations. Time's a Sinner !hit ith
h orn ,. a spaceship lookur„.! Science
\ en a (iefilte fish. One emhlent
slaps hack at the Dam in fish by
depictim2 a lar2cr fish \\ allow 'um it .
Melissa lkiechailo. a doctoral
asking about going to university
'How you choose one! . 'Do you
have to know your major" --- ,And
other questions as well. - she
Lev Gurman said the youngsters he
worked with cam!ht ( i tl i k: kj v
"The)'re pretty
bright. and sonic
of them understood almost
immediate! said GUMILIII. Ui
senior who's looking for a joh in
management consulting. "They were
pretty mature."
He , :aid the ow,_lience aI looks
Companies like to see you involved
in the community, giving hack.-
OCTOBER 29, 1999
(lunch. His program, which serves
about 40 youths, will have an All
Saints Day party to remember the
life of Christ. rather than a visit to
Hell louse, he said. The shock value
wears oil for children who see
\ odeuce evcry day on television. he
said. But mostly he disagrees with
the approach to solving violence.
- Tr) ing to scare people into a
decision is very wrong. - Tucker
said. ''lf v ou consider all the money,
along \\ oh ministry hours ... if they
V kalld refocus those areas on
missions in urban Dallas. I think
the \ \\ 'till,' have a lot bigger return
on their money." Sarah Wilke,
director of the Wesley-Rankin
Leiner. a U nited Methodist mission,
said the roughly 50 teens at her West
Dallas facilitv already see too much
pain and violence.
"I don't need to charge them and
stick it in their face, - she said. "I lust
think we ought to wrap them up in
quilts and hold on to them. They
need all the care and comfort we can
~ , ivc them.'.
ink,
OIL
lIL I
LLI
But Sian Denman. youth pastor of
Hie Church at Burleson, says re
enactments work. His church's
I 1\ inc Hell haunted house has
laeeLl school shootings in past.
"I he Baptist drurch called of this
CM , CllOOl shooting scene after
public reaction to a newscast about
the plan. I)enman said. The hoard
net and decided not to co ahead
it the afternoon before the
Wctig"tiod Baptist Church shooting
in Hirt \Vol ilk he said.
- I hat \i‘ ;.I• too close for us. - he
said. "We iust weren't comlortable
v. oh ii We didn't have peace about
-Audent :n music at the University of
\our i-Kwhas Cit . ), was not part of
, but she \vas spotted
\\ ith a I )arwin fish on her blue
Saturn . 111 C Christian fkil ti) 111h01
uruirJ;in (Taut. She felt that people
ed it were pointing to
Menisci \ es as being ahme the rest in
sensc. It reminded her of
the I )r. Setts, story about the haughty,
stal "Sneetches, - creatures
Ito thought they were better than
regular „nce,c
hes who lacked belly
!••),lik.l imk2
Derechailo, who considers
herscll a spiritual and religious person,
the l)arw in lish was a way to counter
that message. Plus, she said, she
thought it was a humorous way to take
a jab ;it the "conservative right wing."
- I didn't feel like I was defiling
some( Inc else's symbol they hold very
dear. - she said. "It was more like a
tweaking. - All of this has made
Derechailo. like many others, a fish
einhlem watcher. One of the funniest
she has seen depicts a figure erupting
out of a fish in an Edvard Munch-like
rose, hands against the head.lt could
he we all need a st o od Scream.
Clurman said. "It's always a positive
thing to mention to recruiters. They
like to see you doing something on
your own. - Andrea Scheffler, a junior
who is president of the UI Finance
Club. said it's fun to go off campus
to work with high school
students."We never see kids on
campus. - she said. "I think it went
well, and the kids were enthusiastic.
When I'm interviewing for jobs, this
will probably come up in the
intcrviev.."
Tar Heels now can reminisce over
legendary No. 23 at '23'
by Christine Tatum
TMS Campus
October 2.1, 1999
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (TMS)
Folks gathering 'round tables to
discuss Michael Jordan's glory days
at the University of North Carolina
may one day think to mention his
cornmeal-crusted calamari right
alongside the jump shot that handed
the Tar Heels the NCAA men's
basketball championship in 1982.
Then again, maybe not.
The center of the restaurant resembles a basketball hoop
with the cables in the foreground making up the netting.
It's too soon to tell. His Airness
new restaurant, "23, - opened on
Franklin Street the university's
main drag ---- on Thursday. Oct 21.
to a sell-out crowd, with a long line
of students piled outside with hopes
of snagging a spot at the bar.
Reservations in the restaurant's 140-
seat dining room were hooked solid
weeks in advance.
Jordan was noticeably absent from
the grand opening: public relations
reps said bad weather kept him from
11 . N Mg in for the event but rumors
that he'll frequent the restaurant any
time he's in town have already
drummed up a loyal following for the
joint.
"Even i f the food isn't so good, it'd
he worth it to go if there's a chance
he'd he there, - said UNC student Kris
Mattison. The cuisine is billed as
''contemporary American,'' and the
menu is filled with Southern twists:
)ccatl,e it
Homecoming '99: 'Yell' more like
a whisper at U. of North Dakota
Campus Correspondent -
University of North Dakota
October 19, 1999
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (TMS)
Maybe making attendance at some
school events mandatory isn't such
a had idea after all. And manners?
Well, it certainly appears quite a few
students at the University of North
Dakota could stand some refresher
courses in those. At least that's what
organizers of this year's
homecoming festivities are thinking.
For more than 10 years, students
have packed a traditional celebration
held two days before the university's
big homecoming game. The night
typically includes performances by
the cheerleading and dance team,
door prizes, the school's annual
"Yell Like Hell" competition and the
crowning of UND's homecoming
king and queen. All those things and
more were staged this year but
fewer than 200 of the campus'
10,000 students showed up to see
them. Hardly a stellar crowd for the
Oct. 14 celebration, given that the
event normally attracts close to
1,000 students cheering the Fighting
Sioux to victory. Why was this
year's attendance so low?
Many suspect it had something to
do with this year's Greek Week
a battle in which fraternities and
sororities compete to show which
chapter has the most school spirit.
In the past, attending the night's
"Yell Like Hell" competition
which pits different campus groups
against one another in a war of spirit
with yells, cheers and chants as
artillery was required of chapter
members because Greeks
PHOTO BY JUDITH SCHLIEPER - UNC
by Sherri Richards
barbecued rabbit. stone-ground grits
and Atlantic cod cakes. Prices are a
hit steep for the average student's
budget -- entrees range from $ 14-$26
hut the bar offers more affordable
snacks
" I just want to sit inside, and the
bar is the only place that'll fit in my
budget," said UNC student Brad
Vincent. "I'm not even going to he
able to afford many drinks. This isn't
the type of place that looks like it'll
he offering too many blue-cup
specials. - Indeed, Jordan's new
restaurant developed by Jordan's
Jump Higher L.L.C., a management
company charged with creating a host
of eateries with ties to the basketball
legend -- was decorated in far more
sophisticated tones than the family
style Michael Jordan's Restaurant in
Chicago. But the decor does point to
Jordan's career: Chicago Bulls-red
ceramic tiles arc in both restrooms, a
private dining area is painted in
Carolina Blue, and strategically
placed cables descending from the
ceiling create the illusion of a
basketball net.
"It looks really cool in there, and
I'm glad he's home,'' said UNC
student Misha Campbell, cupping her
hand against a window to sneak a peck
at the crowd of diners inside. "But if
it keeps doing business like this, I
don't know when I'm e'er going to
get a chance to go inside
participating could help their houses
earn points that helped them win the
title. This year, participation wasn't
required, so few groups showed --
which was particularly unfortunate,
organizers said, because the
traditionally Greek-dominated night
had attracted much attention this
year from students outside the
fraternity and sorority scene.
Of the seven groups that did sign
"I'm really
disappointed in the
lack of school
spirit."
-Kim Johnson,
UND student
up to perform at the "Yell Like Hell"
competition, six dropped out at the
last minute and not one called
festival organizers ahead of time.
"I'm really disappointed in the lack
of school spirit," said UND student
Kim Johnson, pep rally chairwoman
of the university association that
plans the university's homecoming
celebration. "It's nothing I did.
People just don't care." Jacob
Johnson, president of McVey
residence hall, which participated in
the competition and showed off
school spirit anyway, said he wished
there had been more people at the
event."l'm just glad it was my team
that showed up," he said.
PAGE 8