The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 48, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 4, 2012 Page: 4 of 8
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NEWS
WEDNESDAY 04.04.12
CRIME
Vehicles burglarized during spring break
Four juveniles and an
adult are suspects in a
rash of vehicle burglar-
ies over spring break. The
ACU Police Department
expects to arrest the adult
and take the juveniles into
custody later this week.
At least 11 vehicles were
burglarized on or near cam-
pus in one night during the
week of spring break, say
police. One vehicle parked
near Christian Village and
10 others parked around
campus were broken into,
and items were stolen.
At 5:05 a.m. March 15,
ACU Police received a call
reporting suspicious activ-
ity. A WFF employee who
called was working late
when he noticed a vehicle
driving around the parking
lot with no headlights and
also reported hearing the
sound of glass breaking.
ACU Police Officer Steve
Rogers responded to the
report and was able to lo-
cate and stop the vehicle on
campus. The two juveniles
in the vehicle were identi-
fied but evidence at the time
was not enough to warrant
arrest or detainment, said
ACU Police Chief Jimmy
Ellison. During the traffic
stop, Rogers also identi-
fied another vehicle driving
with no headlights but was
unable to pursue.
“The officer did good
work at locating them, de-
taining them and identify-
ing them,” said Ellison. “He
released them and then
through the course of the
next day we located the 11
burglaries.”
The next day, Sergeant
Thomas Valdez began the
investigation. Initial inter-
views with the two juveniles
revealed that three other
individuals were involved.
Many of the stolen items
were also recovered. Only
one of the five individuals is
considered an adult by law
at the age of seventeen and
none of the suspects have
any affiliation with ACU,
Ellison said.
“Based on the informa-
tion that he gathered from
those interviews we be-
lieve that we will be mov-
ing forward this week with
criminal cases against all
five of those individuals,”
said Ellison. "We were also
able to connect all burglar-
ies to those individuals.”
Since the crimes were
committed by a group of five
individuals, the charges will
be increased from a Class A
misdemeanor to a felony for
engaging in organized crim-
inal activity, Ellison said.
The 11 burglaries make
up nearly half of all vehicle
burglaries that have oc-
curred on campus during
this school year. Ellison
said it is unusual to see an
incident like this on cam-
pus but that it would not
be uncommon throughout
the city.
“This is a city wide prob-
lem,” he said, “but college
campuses can be pretty
prone to it. We have a pri-
vate university but a public
campus. It is not a gated
community. We often say
in press releases that we are
actually more vulnerable
during our holiday breaks.
We don’t have 5,000 sets of
eyes to report things.”
Ellison attributes the
success of the case to the
alert WFF employee who
reported suspicious activ-
ity to the department.
“Anytime someone
sees something suspi-
cious they should call it in
We are actually more
breaks. We don’t have 5,000
sets of eyes to report things.”
JIMMY ELLISON
ACU POLICE CHIEF
and report it immediately
and let us follow up on it,”
Ellison said.
With the upcoming Eas-
ter Break, Ellison urges stu-
dents to park in lit, interior
parking lots on campus and
to remove valuables from
their vehicles.
CONTACT SINGER AT
DIS08A@AGU.E0U
FACULTY
Faculty to gather to pray through semester
For a group of ACU pro-
fessors, Friday Chapel has
become an opportunity
to gather in community of
prayer.
Throughout the year,
surveys are given to stu-
dents and faculty about
their concerns and hopes
UNIVERSITY
for ACU’s campus. A survey
was administered among
the faculty over Christmas
break and addressed a need
for time of prayer amongst
professors was mentioned.
Several professors
showed interest and want-
ed to get a time set aside for
prayer amongst teachers.
So, Friday Chapel has be-
come the time allotted for
faculty prayer.
"There are a lot of tran-
sitions and uncertainties
permeating the ACU com-
munity right now, and we
want to provide a way to
share our concerns with
each other and to take them
to the Father together,” said
Dr. Eric Hardegree, profes-
sor of chemistry and bio-
chemistry. “We can lessen
our cares by sharing them,
and we can cast all our anxi-
eties on Him.”
Dr. Neal Coates, chair of
the Department of Politi-
cal Science, Hardegree and
Dr. Jerry Taylor, assistant
professor of Bible, are alter-
nating every Friday to lead
the prayer time. This time
allows the faculty to pray
on their own or any of the
three professors are willing
to pray over them. Coates,
Hardegree and Taylor plan
on setting up devotionals
occasionally as well.
The professors are gath-
ering in the auditorium of
the Margaret and Herman
Brown Library on Fridays.
“It is a very informal
event, but we wanted to
set up a room for people
to come and pray,” Coates
said.
Last Friday was the first
time the prayer event took
place. The announcement
just went out in hopes that
many faculty members will
join together for a time of
healing and praise every
week.
. "It fulfilled the purpose
for that group,” Coates said.
CONTACT DALLE AT
8LG08C@ACU.Et8i
Shankle, Snider to fill open administration positions
The president and provost
appointed two faculty for
administrative posts.
Dr. Donnie Snider has
was appointed as interim
dean of the College of
Education and Human
Services, and Dr. Nancy
Shankle as asssitant pro-
vost for general educa-
tion, Dr. Greg Straughn,
interim provost, told fac-
ulty and staff in an email
Tuesday.Snider served as
chair of the Department
of Graduate Studies in
Education for three years.
He’d also been associ-
ate dean for the College
of Education,and Human
Services.
“His many years of ex-
perience as an administra-
tor in PK-12 education and
higher education make
him an excellent choice as
interim dean for the Col-
lege of Education and Hu-
man Services,” Straughn
said in the email.
Shankle currently
serves as the interim as-
sistant provost for general
education and will fill the
role on a permanent ba-
sis, beginning this sum-
mer. She has also served
as chair of the English
Department and associ-
ate dean for the College of
Arts and Sciences.
“Dr. Shankle’s work
with the General Edu-
cation Review Steering
Committee, as well as her
continued involvement in
curriculum decisions re-
garding general education,
makes her an ideal person
to provide leadership for
the CORE,” Straughn said.
Straughn said a com-
mittee will convene next
semester to search for a
permanent dean of the
College of Education and
Human Services.
CONTACT SMITH AT
MDS10A@ACU.EI81
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Students, faculty awarded at convention
Dr. Kenneth Pybus was
named Adviser of Year and
The JMC Network staff
Won several dozen awards
including TV sweepstakes
at the Texas Intercollegiate
Press Association conven-
tion in Corpus Christi last
week.
Pybus, associate profes-
sor of journalism and mass
communication, won the
award for his mentoring
during coverage of the Nov.
4 bus accident as well as
seven years of advising the
Optimist.
“It’s an important honor,
and it means a lot to me be-
cause I’ve been involved in
TIPA since I was a student,
and several students and
former students worked
together to nominate me,”
Pybus said.
Students from the De-
partment of Journalism
and Mass Communication
competed against students
from across the state in
onsite and presubmitted
competitions.
The students brought
back 46 awards, 12 of them
being first place certificates
in newspaper, radio, news
website, literary magazine
and television categories.
Mark Smith, sophomore
convergence journalism
major from Powhatan,
Va., was awarded the $400
Frank Buckley Scholarship
at the convention.
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It means a lot to me
because I’ve been involved
in TIPA since I was a
student.”
DR. KENNETH PYBUS
ADVISER TO THE
OPTIMIST
"A few months ago Ken-
neth told me I should apply
for the scholarship because
he thought I had a good
shot at it,” Smith said. “I’m
honored they chose me.”
Smith, next year’s edi-
tor in chief of the Optimist,
also took home first place
in live radio sports writing.
“I started at the Optimist
as a sports reporter but I
haven’t written any sports
since I began work as man-
aging editor last August,”
he said. “It was great to win
that contest to know that I
still got it.”
The semi-weekly stu-
dent newspaper placed
third in the best-in-show
contest. In television pre-
submitted competition,
the JMC Network won the
sweepstakes award for
compiling the most and
highest awards in that cat-
egory.
“This is the first time our
program has won sweep-
stakes in the television cat-1
egory. We emphasize con-
verged curriculum, which
means we work to train
students as journalists
across media,” Pybus said.
“It shows that emphasis is
paying off.”
Many of the awards in
presubmitted competition
were for student coverage
of the Nov. 4 bus crash near
Ballinger involving 12 stu-
dents from the Department
of Agriculture and Envi-
ronmental Science, three
of the department’s faculty
members and one faculty
spouse. On their way back
to ACU, the JMC students
stopped by the crash site to
remember those affected
by the accident, includ-
ing Anabel Reid, who was
killed in the crash.
CONTACT ISBELL AT
JRI10A@ACU.EISi
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 48, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 4, 2012, newspaper, April 4, 2012; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth896616/m1/4/: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.