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News Page 2 October 28, 2003 A Look at Alpena Community College's Recruiting Process DOMINICK MILLER Sports Editor The recruiting season is in full swing for the ACC athletic teams. In fact, recruiting season is always in full swing at ACC. Recruiting for Alpena Community College teams is a non-stop, year-round process. From January 1" until December 31st, coaches are always on the look out for the next player tQ wear the maroon and white How the recruiting is done normally depends on the coach. Frank McCourt, men's basketball coach, has been playing the recuiting game for quite some time. For every year except two since 1980, he has been involved withACC sports in one function or another. For the most part, McCourt does not really need to get out and do heavy recruiting. He has made enough connections over the years, through friends, former players, etc., to have a lot of his recruiting done for him. Also, McCourt will receive letters throughout the year from various coaches. "You see this," McCourt Fletcher Paper Mill's Future JON REID Staff Writer A lot is in the works for the former Fletcher paper mill and the property it sits on. Proposed for the site are a brewery, a visitors' center for the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, a hotel, retail stores with condominiums, and eventually possibly a Starbucks. Jeff Konczak of Alpena Marc, LLC and his business partner Jerry Nudo purchased the former paper plant in August 2002. The plant had remained vacant si~ce 2001. When interviewed for the Alpena News, Konczak said, "We have spent the last eight months working on this vision and although it doesn't look like much has gone on other that it being very cleaned up inside, there's been a lot going on." Konczak noted that he chose to renovate the buildings rather than tear them down because of their historical connection. Alpena Marc has received the support of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, as shown through its approval of the city'srequestfor$1.6million for Fletcher street improvements. The city has previously applied for a $1 million grant, but prospective buyers for the plant could not be found. Now that the plant has a buyer and because the project proposes to be more of a public draw, the grant has been increased to allow for ,more cosmetic changes. The grant has stipulations, such as the creation of 160 jobs over a period of five years. Konczak estimates job creation between 500-700. He also said that the whole project is unlikely to be completed within five years. Airplane Manufacturer and ACC CONNIE IRLAND Features Editor "ACC has been involved in attracting Boeing to Alpena from the beginning,,"said Chuck Wiesen , Dean for Technology and Economic Development. "When the call came in from, County Coordinator, Jim Peltier, at quitting time on a Friday last summer, Dr. Mary Ann Carlson, Dick Southerland, and · I spent about four hours that afternoon putting together the higher education portion of Alpena' s proposal to Boeing," said Wiesen. "Boeing puts a high priority on education; this is where ACC comes in. ACC will offer both non-credit and credit courses, up to the sophomore level, for the ongoing education of Boeing employees, "said Wiesen. Don Mac Master, Assistant Dean and Director of Workplace Development, is in charge of planning the non-credit classes. There is a lot of unknown; however, he plans to approach this as he does for other area businesses. First, he will find out what Boeing needs for training new employees and updating the skills of current employees. Then he will tailor classes to meet their specific needs. Some may be classes already offered like applied math, welding, metallurgy, and team building. ACC has begun talks with WMU to develop a type of joint program in aeronautics management and aviation maintenance technology in case Boeing locates here. MSU also has aviation programs and would be willing to talk with ACC if Boeing were to come to town, said Wiesen. "We are competitive, and ACC is a big part of it,"said Wiesen. says, pointing to a letter from the varsity coach at Warren De La Salle High School regarding a player. "I get these all year long. Coaches will send these to 20 or 30 schools. I try to respond to them right away," he said. adding that it helps to be one of the first schools interested in the player. "Most of my recruiting is done by dealing with people who are familiar with the program," McCourt commented. the assistant coach at the University of Toledo. The University of Toledo is a division one school, so Tuori knows a good basketball player when he sees one. Tuori has been a big help for McCourt in recruiting players from that area. A surprising aspect of the men's basketball team is that only two players on the roster hail from Alpena. McCourt says that the reason behind that is that most kids who live in a another college. For newer Goaches, like volleyball coach Bill Matzke, who may not have as many connections as McCourt, it's "a little bit of everything" when it comes to recruiting. Matzke and his staff go out and visit different tournaments. He also attends basketball games, to try and get a feel of the types of athletes he is looking at. Also, current players aid in the recruiting process. Matzke is looking at a pair of girls from Sault Ste. Marie. One of his former community college district One of his current players, players, Nate Tuori,is now want to move on and try Melissa Dorsey, is from the Soo, and that has helped bring these two girls in. Also, Alpena High School has helped in bringing some new players. The high school girls practice with the college players, and that gives the high school girls a taste of what college athletics is like. This season has not been successful in terms of wins and losses, but has been successful in terms of making progress and team unity. The team returns hopefully four or five players who saw substantial playing time; Matzke hopes for the same recruiting season this year. Huron Shores' ewOwners New Drunk Driving Law CONNIE IRLAND Features Editor After 25 years, Huron Shores has a permanent location belonging to ACC. On Oct. 23rd, the Alpena Community College Board of Trustees authorized Chairman Of The oard, Roger Bauer, and Presi- dent Dr. Donald Newport, to act on their behalf in the acceptance of the Quit Claim Deed offered to ACC by Oscoda Town- ship for the deed execution feeof$1.00. This property consists of the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base Headquarters Photo By Kqtie Pizza Building, which has housed Huron Shores since 1995, and also includes approxi- mately 5.6 acres of sur- rounding land. During the board meeting Bauer laughed and said, "I think this is the longest deed I have ever seen". 1)le deed is 40 pages long 1 ing attachments. He aid this had been a rather engthy process, as ACC id not want to assume ownership of the property until they were assured that they would not be held ac- countable for any environ- mental issues that were caused by Wurtsmith Air Force. COREY DALESKI Staff Writer On September 30th, a new state law was passed regarding the drunk driving policy in the state of Michigan. Motorists will now be considered driving under the influence if their blood alcohol content is .08 instead of the previous .10 that was in effect prior to Sept. 30. According to the Michigan State Police's Drunk Driving Reports, 57, 789 people were arrested for drunk or impaired driving last year, down from 58,562 in 2001. Alcohol and drug related crashes were accountable for 463 deaths last year as opposed to 503 in 2001. While many people disagree with this highly disputed issue, Michigan State Police Sgt. Larry Bak believes this will be beneficial to the safety of our roads. "The rationale behind it all is to reduce the number of accidents and injuries," Bak said. "Hopefully, if you have had too much to drink, you will use common sense and not get behind the wheel." The fines and penalties from the previous drinking limit, .10, will remain the same with the new .08 -93 days in jail, $500 fine, and roughly 360 hours of community service. Michigan is one of many states that passed new drunk driving legislation to avoid losing federal highway funds. States that don't lower their Blood Alcohol Content standards to .08 will lose two percent of federal funding each year. The six states - Delaware, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia - are those who have not yet complied with the federally mandated .08 drinking law. Global Awareness Consortium Brings Cultural Experiences Vietnam is brought to life by those who have experienced it as Michigan Global Awareness Consortium brings new cultural experiences to ACC. The first of these events was held yesterday. Le Thi Thanh Thu, provided an overview of education in Vietnam. It covered all aspects of public education from grade one to the university level. She included course material, graduation rates, and the competition for on Oct. 29 th is at 2:00p.m. history of Vietnam into the university enrollments. and will cover the Vietnam twentieth century. Two programs are War. Huan Le will be It will both argue planned for Oct. 29 th . discussing not only his against certain general The first is on Culture own experiences as an cliches and present the and will be held at officer in the Vietnamese flow of history over the 10:00a.m. Huan Le and Armed Forces but the fact centuries, as we now Thuc Thi Tran will that it was really a three- understand it. discuss from both a sided confrontation. He will look at what the personal and factual Thomas Warstler will historical past means to the perspective their cover the full gamut of Vietnamese and how this departure from Vietnam Vietnamese geography past has figured in the during those anxious utilizing a generous array twentieth century. days just before the fall of photographs and data The programs are held in of Saigon. In addition, within the context of the the Center building, Room they will discuss the basic themes of geography 106.Admission is free, and adjustments they and during his presentation the public is welcome to their family made in the Nov. S£h at 10:00a.m. attend some or all of these United States. On Nov. 6th, John K. eventsrelatedtothecultureand The second program Whitmore will examine the experiencesofVietnam. Those wishing to post events in the next issue of The Lumberjack should send their information to acclumberjack@yahoo.com by November 21st. Chris Lefave ()vmer