Post (Athens, Ohio) January 23 2006

              THE POST WEATHER: Cloudy, high 43, low 31 Tuesday: Sunny, high 52 INSIDE: Simone Redd enters record book of most points scored in game PAGE 6 ANNAS, OHIO '  MONDAY, JAM ARY 23. 2006 www.thepost.ohiou.edu Behind the barbed wire Matt Eich/ For The Post Hocking Correctional Facilities, in Nelsonville Ohio, is thought of by some inmates as "a place to die." It is a strange combination of prison and home for the elderly. Many of its 470 odd inmates will never again live a free life. On Sept. 30, 2005, an inmate who goes by the name "Paulie" tunes a guitar in the yard while another inmate sunbathes. One prisoner said that HCF is much nicer than other prisons he's been in because if you lie on your back and look straight up, avoiding the barbed wire, you can see trees and blue skies almost allowing you to imagine you're free. Jail, prison suicide rates decline in U.S. Jail suicide rates are down 64 percent nationwide, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics. Suicide rates in local jails have fallen from 129 suicides for every 100,000 inmates in 1983 to 47 suicides for 100,000 inmates in 2002 the most recent year for which national suicide statistics are available according to the report. State prisons also have seen a drop in suicide rates from 34 suicides for 100,000 in inmates in 1983 to 14 suicides for 100,000 inmates in 2002, according to the report. In Ohio prison suicides dropped from a record high of 11 suicides in 2004 to five in 2005, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's Bureau of Public Information. Jails local facilities that usually house inmates awaiting trial or those who have been sentenced to a year of incarceration or less have historically had higher suicide rates than state prisons, the report said. Prisons are state-operated facilities that incarcerate inmates who have been convicted in court and sentenced to incarceration for more than a year. Jeremy Tolson, deputy warden for the Southeast Ohio Number of inmate suicides in Ohio prisons 2005 - 5 2004 -11 2003 - 4 2002 - 3 2001 - 5 2000 - 7 Source: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Committee vies for compliance to disabilities act by Shaylyn Cochran Staff Writer sc307303@ohiou.edu The Ohio University community might refer to its members as Bobcats, but Cort Schneider has another nickname for people living in and around Athens: TABs. The graduate student borrowed the term for "temporarily able-bodied" from a faculty member and uses it frequently to describe how he views the difference between able-bodied and disabled individuals. "We're all just one banana peel away from not being ablebodied," said Schneider, who has used crutches since age 8 to help with mobility. "When you put it like that, how can we not help but examine the way society deals with disability?" The university spent about $200,000 on disability services for students during the 2003-04 school year, said Yegan Pillay, assistant director for Office for Institutional Equity. Born with cerebral palsy, Schneider has spent several years in Athens living with his disability. Through services and assistance provided from the university by way of the Office for Institutional Equity, the student, who still manages to run four miles a day, has found the school's efforts to make OU more accessible a work in progress. "The university has services like CATCAB that make it easier to get around," he said. "But going Uptown with the narrow doors and steps at entrances is another story." Carolyn Lewis, director for the WOUB Center for Public Media, agreed with Schneider's sentiments. Using a wheelchair for "President McDavis is serious about diversity, and disability is incorporated in the definition." Yegan Pillay, assistant director for Office of Institutional Equity four and a half years, Lewis holds no bars when it comes to improving accessibility. "Whenever I see that a ramp needs to be widened or a curb needs to be adjusted, I don't hesitate to make a phone call because that's what we have to do to get things done," she said. "Getting things done" is exactly what Schneider and Lewis hope to see at OU. As members on a disability advisory committee appointed by OU President Roderick McDavis last quarter, the two are focusing on Ohio's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 15-year-old federal law is designed to help people with disabilities participate fully in employment, public accommodations, transportation and other activities. "The mandate of this committee is to explore how we're doing with compliance and how we can improve," Pillay said. "President McDavis is serious about diver•sity, and disability is incorporated in the definition." The dual significance of Teachers become students: professors taught technology by CNS by Bethany Furkin Staff Writer bf286104@ohiou.edu Even though technology in classrooms continues to expand at Ohio University, new devices can be a challenge to professors during class, an issue OU's Communication Network Services is working to improve. Laminated instruction cards are available in recently upgraded classrooms in Gordy, Morton, Ellis and Bentley halls and are being added to other rooms, said Sean O'Malley, Information Technology communications manager. CNS offers other services for professors who need classroom assistance, including video tutorials on OU's Informational Technology Web site (technology.ohio.edu), an online directory of classrooms with technology and accompanying instruction manuals and a support line for professors who have problems during class, O'Malley said. "Oftentimes, we can talk people through the problem in 30 seconds," he said. "We don't want them having to sit there and wait." If the class period is long, CNS can dispatch a technician to the classroom to fix the problem while the professor moves onto another topic, O'Malley said, adding that faculty members also can call CNS to set up a one-on-one training session for the equipment in their rooms. The 50 renovated classrooms in Gordy, Morton, Bentley and Ellis halls now include a projector and a screen, a PC with Windows software, laptop cables, built-in or wall-mounted speakers or amplifiers, a combination DVD/VHS player, a closed caption decoder and a push-button projector controller, according to the IT Web site. "(CNS) just recently took over responsibility for technology in classrooms," O'Malley said. "We targeted classrooms that were most in need of an upgrade." For professors wanting to incorporate more technology into classes, OU's Center for Benefits outweigh high cost of new software for education majors by Janet Nester Contributing Editor jn131302@ohiou.edu The College of Education at Ohio University is integrating new technology into its program that could help students create portfolios for jobs and organize their teaching materials. While the college hopes Live Text software, a Web-based electronic portfolio system, will help students now and after they graduate, some students expressed concern about the price. The software, which sells for about $llO, was advertised as being "required for all education majors" at three bookstores College Book Store, Follett's University Bookstore and Specialty Books at the beginning of the quarter, j Some students "freaked out" about having to buy the software, 6ut the education professors told their students whether they would peed the software for their classes. The "required" signs in the book- Store ultimately created more of a headache for the College of Education, said Dianne Gut, associate dean for the college. Although the signs at the bookstores advertising the "required" software were dismissed as miscommunication by the College of Education, all three bookstores received an e-mail asking to order it. The e-mail read that the college "is requiring all education majors" to purchase it. The e-mail, sent Oct. 17 by Mary Gibbons Mize, an administrative assistant in the counseling and higher education department in the college, asked the bookstores to order 1,800 log-in codes for Live Text software. This was a huge order, and the college did not specify whether each store should order 1,800 or that the college needed 1,800 total, said Carolyn Gilmore, manager of College Book Store. One education graduate student, Edward Supranowicz, said he thought the college should have considered whether students could afford the software. He thought the college should look into cheaper options, he said. "It's costing a lot more than it would otherwise," Supranowicz said. "It's dirty," he added, noting that the college benefits because the software can be used to accredit the college. Other colleges and universities use programs created in-house and do not force students to buy software, he said. Generally, undergraduate education majors spend about $2OO a quarter on books, said senior Julia Allen, an early childhood education major. At the beginning of the quarter, both bookstore workers and professors urged students to attend class Community center posts net profit for first time Sponsored eve, raised tenantfees boost revenue The Athens Community Center earned a net profit of about $lO,OOO in 2005, the first time in its five years that the facility has reported ending a year in the black. In the past four years, the center has reported annual losses of more than $60,000, said Kevin Schwartzhoff, director of the Athens Parks and Recreation Department. In 2005, the facility earned $917,778 in income, enough to cover about $907,000 in annual operating costs. Membership has remained steady at about 5,000 during the past four years, but an 11 percent increase in rental income made a significant difference in revenue for 2005, Schwartzhoff said. Rental income increased from $27,540 in 2004 to $31,513 in 2005 despite the accounting shift of a $6,000 fee from the rental category to the program income total. The center incorporated a preschool program, which had previously rented space for $6,000 a year, into its list of programs. If the $6,000 had been considered a rental, as it was in past years, the rental income increase would have been much higher, Schwartzhoff said. Next year's budget has been increased in anticipation of higher revenue, Schwartzhoff said, adding that he expects the 2006 income reports to reflect a 10 percent increase in the cost of membership in October 2005. Annual membership fees range from $l4O for a youth to $345 for a family. The center also raised rental fees between 3 percent and 7 percent, depending on the size of the rental. The community center has 4,000 square feet of space available for area residents to rent at costs ranging between $4OO and $BOO, Schwartzhoff said. The center also rents space to the United Seniors of Athens for about $16,000, a fee tallied separately from the total annual rental income. Athens Mayor Ric Abel said last week that he attributes the revenue increase to the payoff resulting from the center taking risks to sponsor bigger events, such as the Southeast Ohio Golf Expo that took place at the community center this past weekend. But rather than center-sponsored events, Schwartzhoff said he prefers events paid for by other organizations because the activity represents less burden and risk for the community center and has the potential to benefit other businesses by drawing people from out of town. Schwartzhoff said he hopes to see more of those kinds of events in 2006 and already has scheduled a few, including two Amateur Athletic Union basketball tournaments and the annual bridal show sponsored by local radio station WXTQ Power 105. Kantele Franko Rob Hardin/ Senior Staff Photographer Former LPGA Professional Tammie Green leads off a "closest to the pin" contest on a golf simulator Friday night in the Athens Community Center. She appeared as a special guest at the Community Center's golf expo. See PRISON page 4 See DISABILITY page 4 See TEACHTECH page 4 See EDUCATION page 4