November 13, 2002
Speech team comes in third,
brings home six trophies
Staff Writer
KELLY BRENNAN Contributed
Left to right: Kerrie Hughes, Nole Steketee, Melissa Karki, Alex Woolner, Leah Clack,
Jennifer Cile, Kelly Brennan, Jennifer Nelson, Amy Perin. The Clackamas speech team
recently competed at Butte College, CA and Lower Columbia College, WA.
With a placement of third overall
at the speech team’s last tournament
at Lower Columbia College, it’s
obvious that “the team is progressing
very well,” as Forensics Director
Kelly Brennan assures.
Despite the team’s progression,
Brennan explained that “one of the
drawbacks” of being a community
college team is “we’re always
rebuilding,” meaning our team has
members who are either new or at the
most two years with it. Four year
college’s have the advantage of their
members having been a part of the
team for longer and therefore also
having ‘more experience.’ That’s
what makes it even more impressive
that our team, compiled of many
first-timers, still does so well.
“Everyone went and just did really,
really well,” Brennan states in praise
of his team, in reference to their
Lower Columbia success.
The weekend before Lower
Columbia there was another tourna
ment, which fewer team members
were able to attend. This was held at
Butte College in California on the
weekend of Oct. 26-27, and the team
ended up bringing home six trophies.
Amy Perin was a finalist in
Extemporaneous, Informative, and
Persuasive speaking.
Jennifer
Nelson and Leah Clack were both
finalists in Parliamentary Debate.
Nelson was also placed as the fifth
overall best speaker.
Although the Butte tournament
went well, the next weekend of Nov.
2-3 went even better. Perhaps their
success was motivated by the fact
that the Lower Columbia tournament
was the first time this year that the
Speech team had been allowed to
take all 22 members. The Clackamas
team brought home 16 awards as a
result. Among the speakers were
Eric, Lizzie and Joanna Piarson;
three home-schooled siblings, the
oldest being 18, who were competing
for the first time with Clackamas.
Eric was a finalist in Novice
Impromptu, and won 20th best over
all speaker. Lizzie was also a finalist
in Novice Impromptu, Novice
Persuasion, and a finalist in Debate,
and Joanna won third in'Open Prose.
Additionally, Alex Woolner brought
home third in Novice Informative,
and was the tenth-overall best speak
er. Melissa Karki got third in Open
Informative, second in open prose,
and 18th best overall. Jennifer
Nelson was third in Open Poetry, a
Parliamentary Debate finalist, and
rated fifth-overall best speaker. Leah
Clack was a finalist in Parliamentary
Debate and placed second in Novice
Drama.
ASG, Cancer Society join Kulongoski wins
forces to sponsor Great
American Smokeout Day
Copy Editor
News Editor
“More people, believe it or not,
quit [smoking] on Great American
Smokeout day than on any other
day," Amber Nunes stated at the
planning meeting for The American
Cancer Society Great American
Smokeout day activities.
Nunes is a health educator for the
Clackamas County Public Health
Division. She and the Associated
Student Government’s Campus
Activities
Officer,
Stephanie
Neuhauser, are collaborating to
come up with activities to be held on
campus Nov. 21.
On Great
American Smokeout Day all smok
ers are asked to quit just for one day.
The American Cancer Society
(ACS) has literature, posters, and
activities to support and help people
that would like to quit on that day.
“I don’t even remember the Great
American Smokeout happening last
year,” Neuhauser said. “I’m hoping
this year I can get the word out and
it’ll be a bigger deal.”
Students should begin to see new
posters appearing around campus.
Nunes brought several from the ACS
for Clackamas to use in effort to pro
mote Smokeout day.
“People like to look at the
posters,” Nunes said. “Some of them
are pretty funny.”
The festivities on campus for
Great American Smokeout day will
include a display in the courtyard
featuring a variety of anti-smoking
brochures and posters. Students will
have the opportunity to sign anti
tobacco pledges that may be entered
into a drawing. There will be lots of
giveaways, including key chains,
fake tattoos, magnets, pens and
decals. According to Nunes, the
American Cancer Society will sup-
ply these materials
to Clackamas.
Activities
on Nov. 21 may
include a prize wheel, donated by the
ACS, that students can spin to win t-
shirts, food and other novelties.
Nunes and Neuhauser also discussed
holding a “gear exchange.” Nunes
explained that in the past, several
groups have featured this activity, in
which smokers can bring in lighters,
cigarettes, and other tobacco-related
products (such as clothing with
tobacco company logos) in exchange
for other items. Some of the items
that Neuhauser proposed to offer in
trade were restaurant and store gift
certificates.
Another topic that was discussed
at the planning meeting Nov. 5 was
the possibility of installing designat
ed smoking areas on the college
campus. Neuhauser said that in the
past ASG has attempted to get bus
shelters put up on'campus for people
to smoke in.
“At one point we were pushing
for it, but then it fell by the way
side,” Neuhauser said. “Basically, it
would just be way too expensive to
install designated smoking areas.”
As a member of ASG’s tobacco
committee, Neuhasuer agreed that
she would present the idea of desig
nated smoking areas to the commit
tee again in the near future.
“I’m willing to work for desig
nated smoking areas,” Neuhauser
said.
Nunes offered to aid in pushing
the proposition forward by bringing
in cost and procedure statistics from
similar schools that have gotten
smoking areas installed.
“It’s not a non-smoker versus
smoker issue,” Nunes said. “It’s a
health and consideration issue.”
Smokers interested in quitting
can call the Oregon quit line' at 1-
877-270-7867. Anyone who calls
this number will receive free coun
seling and can receive a free “Quit
Kit” by mail.
With a voter turnout approaching
70 percent, Oregon voters elected
Democrat Ted Kulongoski as its
next governor, defeating Republican
Kevin Mannix and Libertarian Tom
Cox in one of the closest gubernato
rial elections in the last 40 years.
Although Mannix took the
majority vote in 28 of the state’s 36
counties, Kulongoski won enough
votes in heavily democratic
Multnomah and Lane Counties to
edge out Mannix by about 33,000
votes.
Republican Gordon Smith won
re-election to the United States
Senate, easily defeating Oregon
will con
tinue to oper
ate at the
highest level
that we can.”. j
Michael Jordan
Clackamas County
Commissioner, on faffed
'
county measures
Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. In
the races for the U.S. House, all five
incumbents in Oregon’s congres
sional districts easily won re-elec
tion.
Oregon citizens voted to raise the
state’s minimum wage from $6.50 to
$6.90 per hour, with annual adjust
ments for inflation, by a 51-49 per
cent margin. The voters overwhelm
ingly shot down measures to label
genetically engineered foods and to
give all Oregonians state-subsidized
health care. Collectors of initiative
signatures for all future ballot meas
ures will no longer be paid by the
signature, with the passage of
Measure 26.
Voters in Clackamas County
defeated measures that would have
raised funds to operate the Sheriff’s
and Juvenile Departments, and to
raise bonds to fund a new court
house and juvenile facilities in the
Hilltop area of Oregon City.
“Although the voters have spo
ken and we find this disappointing,”
said
Clackamas
County
Commissioner Michael Jordan, “we
will continue to operate at the high
est level that we can. We hope to
scale back our request and come
back to the voters in the near future.”
Governor-elect Kulongoski will
have many challenges facing his
new job come January. The state is
still facing an enormous budget
shortfall that continues-to grow by
the day. Democrat Kulongoski faces
a legislature that has a Republican
majority in the Oregon House and an
even 15-15 split in the Oregon
Senate. Kulongoski hopes to use his
many years of experience in the
Oregon government to find consen
sus between both parties in order to
get the state’s economic problems
behind it.
On Jan. 28, voters in the state
will be asked to pass a temporary
three-year surcharge on the state’s
income tax. The state hopes to use
this money, approximately $312 mil
lion, to shore up education and
social services in Oregon. If the
measure fails at the ballot box,
schools may face early closures and
more cuts to their budgets.