Herald-Journal weathers criticism from some sources

Ryan Bird wasn’t impressed.

After being featured in The Herald Journal about his involvement in Herm’s Inn, a new restaurant in a recently restored historic building in Logan, Bird felt that he was inaccurately portrayed.

“They didn’t even ask what my role is,” Bird said. “They said I was the manager when I am actually one of the five owners.”

Bird didn’t feel as though the Logan-based newspaper’s reporter adequately prepared for the interview — and he isn’t alone in feeling misrepresented. The Herald Journal — Cache County’s primary professional news-gathering organization — often finds itself on the wrong side of public opinion.

Doug Snow, an assistant principal at Logan High School, said The Journal wrote an article about the new truancy policy at Logan High School that led readers astray.

“The reporter came and got the entire story from me and then omitted much of the information,” Snow said. “The Herald Journal made it sound like a strictly negative thing and it’s not.”

The Herald Journal didn’t include the positive reinforcement the school uses to reward good attendance, according to Snow. This was apparent to Herald Journal readers as well.

“I found Sunday’s article (“LHS to fine hall loiterers”) light on supporting information,” said Ed Rogers, a Herald Journal subscriber, in a letter to the editor on Feb. 21.

“I had so many phone calls from parents after the story came out,” said Andrea Connor, the attendance secretary at LHS.

Many readers are disenchanted with the local paper — and letters to the editor often reflect a frustrated tone.

“Shame on you for not upholding your own rules and regulation and letting political bias guide your selection of the letters to the editor to be printed,” said Ashley D’Antonio, a Cache Valley citizen, in a letter to the editor on Feb. 14.

“Strangely, though, a couple of weeks ago in this paper when information was given about each of the final six candidates, did you notice, as I did, that he (Doug Thompson) was the only one about whom no information was given? I trust this was just an oversight on the part of The Herald Journal and not a deliberate omission, because the many contributions made by him during his time as mayor ought to be well known by the people of Logan,” said Ross Allen, a Cache Valley citizen, in a letter to the editor on Nov. 1, 2011.

Managing editor Charles McCollum said negative feedback is common for community newspapers.

“We get a lot of complaints — usually about the play of stories, some are about the errors,” McCollum said. “If someone points out an error we correct it.”

McCollum said the newspaper rarely fact checks its reporters’ work — and some believe that practice could run contrary to the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

The code calls on journalists to “test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error.”

But Christopher Harper, associate professor of journalism at Temple University, said most newspapers depend on reporters to do their own fact checking.

Ana Daraban, who works in the breaking news and data center at The Salt Lake Tribune, said that’s similar to policies at the state’s largest newspaper.

“Nearly all of the fact-checking is done by the reporter. Then the section editors and copy desk personnel get into the scene and they double check items,” she said.

Even with the best of reporters, producing a daily newspaper that meets the standards and expectations of all of its readers is a difficult task.

The Herald Journal produces its news product with the support of reporters who don’t have college degrees, McCollum said.

“We have had tons of journalism students over the years,” he said. “They work part-time and not many people with a degree in journalism want to work part-time.”

Journalists don’t need degrees, necessarily, according to Harper. There is no license given to a journalist. Reporters are simply expected to adhere to the SPJ Code of Ethics.

Brooks Jackson, director of Factcheck.org concurs.

“It's just a matter of sensible quality control,” Jackson said. “It's a bad thing to the extent that incorrect information gets passed along. When there's too much, it's just bad journalism.”

Jill Dean, Kyndall Peterson, Paige Sjoblom, Aaron Griffiths, Cambria VandeMerwe, Heather Foster and Lauren Handy contributed to this story.

Sen. Hatch hosts forum in Logan, affirms president's citizenship

Sen. Orrin Hatch held a question-and-answer event in Logan on Thursday as part of his campaign for re-election.

Hatch, who is serving his sixth term as U.S. senator from Utah, said he would likely be the Senate Finance Committee chairman if he is re-elected — and if the Republicans take control of the Senate.

“One reason I’m running again is because of the finance committee, that’s the most important committee in Congress. There are many changes that need to be made and 60 percent of all spending is in that committee,” Hatch said. “We need Orrin Hatch as chairman of that committee.”

The other Utah delegates don’t have the seniority to achieve a rank such as finance chairman, according to Terry Camp, Republican Party area captain over Cache, Box Elder, Rich and Morgan counties.

“The chairman has sole power of the agenda — and it’s been 90 years since a Utah senator has been in this position,” Camp said.

Hatch said his re-election would be beneficial for Utah.

“I’m not just trying to hold onto this position,” Hatch said. “I’ve been there a long time and because of that, we can make a lot of things happen in Utah that are for the better.”

If re-elected, Hatch would be the president pro tempore — the senator with the longest record of continuous service in the majority party.

“The biggest reason Hatch will win is because he will be the finance chairman if the Republicans take over the Senate,” Camp said. “Utah will have no seniority if he doesn’t get in.”

At the event, an audience member expressed concern that President Barack Obama is not a citizen of the U. S.

“Every indication, including the paperwork, shows that the president is a U. S. citizen,” Hatch said. “However, he isn’t as committed to America as he should be. He doesn’t see America as being exceptional. He wants us to be like Europe.”

Another concern from the audience was that Obama is cutting back on the U. S. military.

“I don’t agree with what he’s doing. He’s cutting back on our nuclear arsenal at a time when Iran is developing nuclear weapons,” Hatch said. “A number of other countries are in turmoil and he’s not doing what needs to be done.”

According to Hatch, the Republicans need to take control of the presidency in order to improve the economy.

“We have more debt than we have revenue, that’s one of the reasons why I support Mitt Romney,” Hatch said. “He has extensive business experience and he’s the only one that can beat this president.”

Kyndall Peterson, Jill Dean, Lauren Handy, Cambria VandeMerwe, Heather Foster, Aaron Griffiths and Paige Sjoblom contributed to this report.

Hazing scholarship was a scam, officials urge caution

Alana Hill thought she was being helpful.

In an attempt to aid fellow members pay for school the ASUSU assistant director of student involvement sent out an email to the Greek community last month.

But the email — about an anti-hazing scholarship —was quickly caught and recognized as a scam.

“To be honest I did not have any idea,” Hill said.

Hill’s recipients weren’t alone. Many employees received the pitch, which asked applicants to write and essay and include a $5 submission fee.

“I became curious because I received several of the messages in spite of not being in a position at the university that has anything to do with scholarships or other academic matters,” said Bob Bayn, of the USU information technology security team.

Patti Kohler, USU’s scholarship coordinator, said there is no way to know how many students actually received emails from their advisers and applied for the scholarship because they would have done so independently.

The email may have been particularly well targeted to USU students, even if it that wasn’t the scammer’s specific intent. Hazing awareness has been at the forefront of USU’s agenda since the death of Michael Starks in 2008.

Kohler does not think that these two things are related. “I’d be surprised if they even knew about Mike Starks, they probably just chose something that sounded noble and cold and applicable and then sent it by email to tens of thousands of people,” she said.

Students should always be wary of scholarships which require an application fee, Kohler said.

An email was sent to USU employees warning them about the legitimacy of the scholarship. Mark Kantrowitz, founder of finaid.org, called this a “promotional scholarship.”

Promotional scholarships are publicity attempts by the sponsor’s commercial website, Bayn said.

There is no reason to believe students have lost their faith in the USU scholarship office, or the IT department, Bayn said.

“Each applicant loses $5 at most. And, to the credit of the scholarship program, the applicant does need to find the university's hazing policy and submit a copy with their application,” he said. “So the applicant does gain some awareness of the hazing policy at USU, even if they aren't likely to win a randomly drawn scholarship.”

Students are cautioned by university officials to use good judgment when applying for scholarships.

Riley Jo Justesen, the Alpha Chi Omega membership programmer, said her sorority had received the email to apply for the scholarship. Justesen said she even started to apply for the scholarship, but did not get far enough to pay the fee.

“I just know that people need to be really careful,” Justesen said, “because you know scholarships are a good way for people to scam people these days.”

Justesen said that at least four of her sorority sisters applied for the scholarship last semester. She was not sure how many more sisters applied this semester.

“I honestly got it forwarded from admissions,” Justesen said. “I got a forward from some other folks in student services and just passed it along.”

Justesen said the scholarship felt legitimate because it had been sent to her by so many different university instructors and employees.

“USU cannot thoroughly evaluate all scholarship offerings that students may encounter,” Bayn said.

David Thomas, Brie Geller, Mackinzie Hamilton, Marissa Shields, Ashley Howell and Danielle Manley contributed to this report.

After illness and injury, wandering artist finds meaning — where she is

Everything was easier then.

Before the cancer.

Before the fall.

She could walk without thinking twice. She didn’t need a motorized chair. She could speak fluidly, easily. Her lips wouldn’t prune up after an hour-long conversation. She could write, draw and paint for hours. She was the master of her hands.

She was always independent, ambitious and open-minded. Always happy.

And she still is — even if everything was indeed easier, way back then.

“My whole life has been a handicap in a lot of ways,” Linda Loosle said. “But I always have been very, very happy.”

At one time she did her best to share that attitude with the world. Today, she shares it with fellow residents at Legacy House, an assisted living community for seniors who can no longer manage on their own.

Just one thing: Loosle isn’t a senior.

She’s 49. She insists that she still feels 29. Either way, she’s generations younger than most of Legacy’s other residents.

•••

As a young girl growing up in Logan, Utah, Loosle was already passionate about art and writing. At 7 years old, she was creating stories and drawing pictures – two hobbies-turned-passions that would remain a constant in her life and career.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Utah State University. And although she is a white member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Loosle went on to earn her master’s degree at Xavier University of Louisiana – a predominantly black Catholic institution.

“I’m very culturally interested in everybody,” Loosle said.

It was that cultural curiosity that led her to Abu Dhabi, the capitol city of the United Arab Emirates, following college. She spent three years teaching there before returning to the United States to spend more time with her young nephews.

Ideologically and artistically, her time in the Middle East continues to be one of the greatest influences on her life. Hundreds of Arabic-inspired art pieces adorn the walls, shelves and doors of Legacy House apartment No. 207, where Loosle has lived since 2008. No one leaves this apartment without their name written on a card in Arabic.

•••

Not long after returning from the Emirates, she discovered a lump. Breast cancer.

Following chemotherapy and remission, Loosle moved into her parents’ home to recover and shifted her focus to sculpting, painting and writing. But it wasn’t long before the wanderlust that had been constrained during her illness had returned. She stuffed her paintings — at least 100 of them, she said — into her car and simply began to drive. She stopped in Idaho to visit a sister. She traveled through Colorado and New Mexico. She sold paintings out of her car.

She eventually found her way to Arizona, where she came across the Wolf Gallery, a small gallery that has since been shuttered. The shop bought up all of her remaining pieces to sell.

Loosle went back to Abu Dhabi, then returned again to Arizona to teach at a community college.

“That is what I was doing when my world changed,” Loosle said.

Leaving school one day she tripped, fell — and broke her neck.

“When I came to, I was quadriplegic and I couldn’t talk,” Loosle said. “It was really funny because I had just finished teaching a class on speech.”

The quadriplegia was short-lived, but Loosle still lives with dystonia – an inability of the nerves in the brain to communicate to the muscles in the body – and functional movement disorder.

Suddenly art was a challenge — but it was more important to her than ever.

“Before she fell, she was doing beautiful artwork,” said Loosle’s mother, Joan. “After she came back from the hospital, that was one of the therapies the doctor said she needed. She needed to gain that skill back. It helps your mind, especially in her situation. She was always active and involved in everything and now that she’s so limited, this gives her purpose.”

•••

Linda Loosle is always up by 5 a.m. After accomplishing necessary household tasks, she rewards herself with time set apart in her studio for art and writing. Inside the studio, she has closets loaded with her many art supplies. Pictures of her nieces and nephews sit on the bookshelves.

Her current project — a red and orange flower still life — sits on an easel by a window.

“I’m hoping to be done with that soon,” she said. “It’s just about finished.”

She is sure to write and draw every day, no matter how tiring it is. She sets a timer and limits herself to 15 minutes of writing time; if she writes any longer, her hands become immobile.

Some might be frustrated by the limited time for their art — Loosle has learned to revel in the minutes she has.

“She’s always had a lot of determination and a very positive attitude,” Joan Loosle said. “That is everything. She’s never been one to say ‘Why me? Poor me.’ That gets you down.”

Last fall, management at the Legacy House allowed Linda Loosle to have her own art show. She covered all of the second-floor hallways with artwork. Family and friends came to see the show. Now, each week, Loosle puts up a weekly display in the hallway outside her front door.

This week, Loosle presented her various ethnically inspired paintings and drawings, alongside sculptures from the countries that inspired them.

“I love her art. It’s beautiful. She’s so talented,” said Raeann Winslow, a family friend — 40 years Loosle’s senior — who used to go on weekend camping excursions with Loosle’s parents.

Winslow now lives just down the Legacy House hallway.

“I always make sure to come look at whatever she has up,” Winslow said.

•••

Inside Loosle’s apartment, a two-part sign reads: “only when we celebrate our sameness…can we understand and appreciate our differences.”

She lives by these words. Focusing on differences, she says, just leads to war. Beneath the sign hang six nearly-identical drawings of families standing together – the only variation is the race of each family.

It’s taken a while to get used to her new life — to get used to everything being harder. But Loosle is determined to be everything she ever was — and more.

An artist. A teacher. An inspiration.

“She shares her knowledge with anybody who is interested,” said Loosle’s father, John. “She paints with a message.”

And no one leaves her apartment without a piece of her work — and a lingering hug.

Betsy Blanchard, Jason Borba, Taldon Bressel, Maggie Euller, Alicia Facer, Curtis Lundstrom and Amanda Taylor contributed to this report.

USU volunteers give Special Olympians a chance to shine

Though unknown to the majority of their campus peers, one dedicated group of students at Utah State University has helped train some of the greatest athletes in the world.

It began 10 years ago in the midst of the grandeur of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. And it continues now, every Saturday of the year, as the USU chapter of Special Olympics meets to train athletes with intellectual, cognitive or development disabilities.

During the winter, athletes participate in cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, snowshoeing or snowboarding. In the summer, the choices are soccer, basketball, softball, cycling and track and field.

Regardless of the sport, the mission is the same: to provide training and competition for individuals eight years old and older in a way that develops physical fitness, demonstrates courage and gives opportunities for joy and fellowship.

And it works, “time and time again,” said Thomas Bryner, who has served for the past three years as the USU program’s director. “It gives the athletes the opportunity to grow in so many different ways.”

Marie Greenhalgh said her son, Jason, had always been enamored with cycling. He started biking at a young age — leaving on his Big Wheel tricycle for hours at a time. He continued the behavior when he got his first bike.

“He would just take off, and we wouldn’t know where he was,” Greenhalgh said. “We would spend hours looking for him.”

Jason Greenhalgh carried this passion and skill in cycling with him to the Special Olympics when he was 10 and has been competing ever since.

The 22 year old is modest about his success.

“Well, I went to Park City,” he said. “Got some gold medals.”

Marie Greenhalgh said it wasn’t long after the Park City games that she was called with an invitation for her son to represent Team USA in the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Greece in 2011. Athletes from more than 100 different countries attended.

To help Jason Greenhalgh train, Bryner and fellow USU student Melanie Hall would go biking with him every Saturday. Greenhalgh said they were very helpful.

“They are friendly, and willing to help us out,” he said. “Help us get ready for our games and competitions. When I had the opportunity to go to Greece, and they took time out of their schedules to train me.”

And that training paid off. Greenhalgh competed in the 5k, 10k, and 15k cycling events at the Greek Olympics. He brought home two gold and one silver medal for Team USA.

Marie Greenhalgh said the rewards for being in the Special Olympics go far beyond the medals. Her son, who has a pervasive developmental disorder with autistic characteristics, has difficulty with social situations and doesn’t read social queues like other people do.

“Before he got into it, he had a lot of behavior problems, he didn’t have a social group. It was hard for his siblings to be around him,” she said. “Through this, he made a lot of friends, his confidence just bloomed. He used to have ADHD, but this gave him an outlet. He just couldn’t compete in normal sporting events.”

Jason Greenhalgh is not the only person whose life has been changed by the Special Olympics.

Carson Geiger was diagnosed at the age of seven with a mild form of FG Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that can cause physical anomalies and developmental delays. Although he has been in school since he was two, Geiger reads and writes at a second grade level. He is usually sick five months of the year with upper respiratory and intestinal problems.

Geiger started his career in the Special Olympics a bit later in his life, at the age of 17. He’s now 21, and Kerri Geiger said that the program has already changed her son’s life.

“He has become a little more independent, cause we aren’t with him all the time, especially when he goes out to the games,” Kerri Geiger said. “He’s got friends, he’s happier and it’s like he has a good life. Truly, he does. Before then he hung out with us a lot, and we were worried about him meeting new friends. We ask ourselves a lot why we didn’t start this earlier. It’s been wonderful, just wonderful.”

Carson Geiger’s social life has expanded since he joined the Special Olympics. He goes to movies, plays video games and hangs out with his Special Olympics.

And, he said proudly, he now has a girlfriend.

“Her name is Ashley Rasmussen,” he said with a grin. “We just started hanging out.”

At his last count, Geiger said he had won 15 gold medals in various snowboarding competitions around the state. His goal is to make it to the world games.

Geiger is now training for the Utah Special Olympics Winter Games, which will be held at Powder Mountain beginning March 24.

He works closely with different trainers every week to prepare, but Bryner said not all of the coaches can keep up with Geiger on the mountain — and sometimes he teaches them.

Both the Geigers and the Greenhalghs are happy that the Logan Special Olympics program is run by USU students.

“Those guys are awesome. You couldn’t ask for better people.” Kerri Geiger said. “He loves those guys.”

Marie Greenhalghs agreed. “It’s amazing. It’s his peer group; it gives him people to look up to. Those kids go the extra mile,” she said.

Bryner said the Special Olympics team is always looking for more volunteers. According to Bryner, most have an incredible experience.

“Most of our volunteers, after they have done it for a season they keep coming back,” he said. “It changes lives. You get to see someone accomplish something they didn’t think they were going to be able to do. We can all learn from that.”

Abbie Lewis, Adam Barkley, Amanda Morgan, Amy Nelson, Danielle Hayes and Katelyn Swain contributed to this report.

Student research team to present plagiarism findings

Miles Maynes used to be a frequent plagiarizer.

He never got caught. He never felt guilty — until he started scientific research of his own.

“I realized that at some point in the future, I may be publishing my own work,” Maynes said.
In a survey by U.S. News and World Report, 75 percent of college students admitted to cheating.

Five Utah State University students have taken on the task of researching plagiarism, an activity that can result in failing grades and, in serious cases, expulsion.

In November 2011, Jessica Christensen, C.J. Zobell and Heather Haderlie started their work by comparing dissertations. They were looking for incidences of plagiarism. In recent months the group has added Rebecca Feller and Tyson Mertlick to their team. They will present their data at the USU Student Showcase on April 2.

The research team will also be giving three different presentations on the subject at the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association conference in Reno, Nev., on April 12.

“We’ve done quite a bit of coding already and have come across a lot of issues in detecting plagiarism,” said Christensen, who is also the president of the Psi Chi International Psychology Honors Society. “A big part of our study is to show how difficult it is to define plagiarism... because there are so many different perspectives and definitions.”
“Turn it In” is a program commonly used by professors to catch plagiarism among their students. The program compares an uploaded document to previously published material and then provides a list of plagiarized areas. The group is evaluating the effectiveness of programs like these.

“They are very useful to detect plagiarism,” Christensen said, “but it grossly overestimates the amount of plagiarism in any given document, not accounting for common phrases, or methodological and statistical terminology.”

The study may change the way the academic community will define and enforce policies on plagiarism in the future, Christensen said.
Upon the event that a student is caught committing an act of plagiarism, a professor has multiple options. According to USU academic policies, penalties include probation, suspension and expulsion.
In the 15 years he’s spent teaching college courses, Steven Shively, associate professor for the USU English department, has dealt with approximately 18 cases that were serious enough to fail a student.

“My students are mostly English majors and minors; I believe such students know not to lift material extensively from another source,” Shively said.

In a recent situation, Shively reported the violation to the office of the vice president for student services.

“The student had a formal opportunity to appeal my decision, but did not do so,” Shively said.
Maynes said that once he got involved in his own research, he realized how long such work takes, “and how long they spent in the lab getting results and compiling information. To me, their paper didn’t represent anything more than 25 words on a page but to them, that paper represented thousands of hours of work.”

David Thomas, Brie Geller, Mackinzie Hamilton, Marissa Shields, Ashley Howell and Danielle Manley contributed to this report.