The welcome page of Collegeacb.com encourages students to begin posting on their school's portion of the website. College ACB expanded their reach after the closing of Juicy Campus. (photo by Victoria Stahl)

College Gossip Site Takes Place of Juicy Campus

At the wake of the closing of the college gossip website, Juicy Campus, a new rumor mill emerged under the name CollegeACB.com, which stands for Anonymous Confession Board. Students can once again continue gossiping on the new site.

According to site moderator, Phil Hall-Partyka, College ACB started around the same time Juicy Campus did, but was focused on a few schools. In the wake of the Juicy Campus site, Hall-Partyka said they decided to expand the reach of the website to other schools as well. He said that there are many things that set the site apart from Juicy Campus and users can expect more features in the near future.

"We are going to launch a new interface soon," said Hall-Partyka. "Users should also look for a chat feature, classifieds, and the ability to create dating profiles."

To join the site, which Hall-Partyka assures is 100% anonymous, students can find their school and register at collegeacb.com.

The Big Event Left in the Cold

Due to forecasts predicting winter storms for the Metro, The Big Event, which was supposed to take place today, is postponed until April 18. As a result, many students who cleared their schedules for the volunteer day were left with nothing to do.

The Big Event is an annual, nation-wide volunteer event which incorporates many different types of activities for participants to take part in. The University of Oklahoma has been a part of The Big Event since 1999, but throughout the week weather forecasts gave bad news for those involved.

"A lot of the events are outside, so I think it would have been pretty bad," said Big Event volunteer Brandon Oldham. "A lot of students wouldn't have wanted to come out in those conditions, because even though it wasn't a huge blizzard, it was still really cold."

Oldham also said that The Big Event will be reopening registration, so students who still want to participate should keep an eye on the event's website for more details.

On the South Oval, students can be found walking and biking to and from class. However, the small bike lanes present a dangerous situation for pedestrians and cyclists on campus and throughout Norman. (photo by Victoria Stahl)

Committee Tries to Make Norman More Bike Friendly

Throughout the years, the City of Norman has made many small efforts to become more accessible to the biking community, but conditions for cyclists in this city remain dangerous and unfit for those choosing an alternate means of traveling. In a small college town like Norman, many students use bicycles for transportation to class, but may have difficulty finding a safe route.

The City of Norman created the Bicycle Advisory Committee about two years ago to improve the conditions of transportation for cyclists throughout the city. The BAC has made many accomplishments such as installing proper parking for bicycles and creating bike routes which give cyclists a safe route away from heavy traffic roads. Unfortunately, the changes have not solved the problems that cyclists face on a day-to-day basis.

"There is a two way street," says Paul Minnis, former Chair and current member of the BAC. "Cars have to understand that bicycles are vehicles and have a right to the road and shouldn't be shuttled away to the sidewalk, which is unsafe. But it is also a function that bicyclists need to ride better in general. There are ways to ride bikes on the side of the road which are safer than others."

Minnis said it is important that cyclists know the rules of the road if they expect motor vehicle drivers to share the road. For students who ride bicycles to class, the OU Police Department website has many tips to help cyclists learn to ride their bikes in traffic.

According to the website, cyclists who ride on campus must yield to pedestrians and cyclists who choose to ride on the street should treat their bicycle as a vehicle and must obey traffic laws. When using the city streets, bicyclists must stop at traffic lights and stop signs as well as signal when they turn.

Minnis, who rides on average 5,000 miles a year in Norman, said that few cyclists have the proper safety behavior while riding bikes, and it may be because they either do not know the rules or that they ignore the rules. He also said that one of the most dangerous things cyclists do is ride on the wrong side of the road, because bicyclists, unless using the sidewalk are required to ride with traffic, not against traffic.

Luke Short, employee at Buchanan Bicycles on Campus Corner said that while Norman is doing a good job, there are improvements that still need to be made for cyclists.

"We could definitely use some bike lanes," Short said. "But it's not too bad here in Norman. Sometimes when you get around Campus Corner it gets busy and hectic with students. It's important to have safe bike routes for students, because a lot of them don't have cars."

Bike routes, which have been put in place by Norman and improved by the BAC, offer cyclists a safe route away from the threat of heavy traffic. However, despite the availability of bike routes, some cyclists choose not to use them.

OU Senior and experienced cyclist Christopher Dearner says that while the bike routes exist, he rarely uses them because they are inconvenient.

"Bike routes are a great idea, but all of the routes in Norman are so far out of my way that I don't use them," Dearner said. "There is no point to go twenty minutes out of the way just to find a bike route."

Dearner says that most times, he does not feel like his safety is threatened by riding on the streets, although he did say that drivers and cyclists both need to be more educated about sharing the road.

"Some dangerous situations can come from just not knowing what to do when a driver sees a cyclist on the street," he said. "Some drivers think that bicycles belong on the sidewalk which is just not true. What needs to happen is that bicycle rules should be included in Driver's Education so everyone knows what to expect from cyclists and how to share the road with a bicycle."

Senior Nick Southerland said that while he rides his bike, he feels that his safety is greatly threatened while riding his bike on city streets in Norman due to lack of bike lanes and poor education for commuting in mixed traffic.

"There aren't nearly enough bike lanes in high traffic areas," Southerland said. "When there is a bike lane, they shouldn't just put up a sign. There should be a separate and clearly marked lane."

However, while Southerland said that motorists and cyclists need to be better educated on the rules of sharing the road, he admitted to breaking the rules "all the time."

Recently, Norman put up signs bearing the slogan, "Share the Road." The Share the Road campaign is a nationwide effort of bicycle organizations to spread the awareness of bicycle-motor vehicle safety. The signs were put up in an attempt to make Norman a more bicycle friendly community.

This year, the Bicycle Advisory Committee of Norman applied to become a member of the Bicycle Friendly Community Campaign. According to its website, the Bicycle Friendly Community, a program sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists, is an award given to communities which actively support bicycling. The application was denied but the feedback given by the review committee included some positives for the community of Norman.

According to the feedback form, the reviewers believed that Norman has the key building blocks in place to become a better environment for cyclists but the community still has significant improvements to make before it can accept the title of being a Bicycle Friendly Community.

Some suggestions the organization gave were to expand education campaigns and to adopt a Complete Streets policy, which would make every street accessible by pedestrians, motorists, cyclists and other types of transit. For the full feedback letter, click here.

Minnis said that by applying to become a Bicycle Friendly Community, the BAC was hoping to get suggestions from the professionals at the League of American Bicyclists, but they were not expecting to be accepted at this time.

"We were wanting to be the first bicycle friendly city that received a designation in Oklahoma and I think we still may be, but we got feedback which is what we wanted," said Minnis.

Listen below for more of Minnis's feedback on the biking environment in Norman.

A $1.01 raise in Tobacco tax could cause some smokers to decide to quit in order to save money. (photo by Victoria Stahl)

Tobacco Tax Increase May Cause Smokers to Quit

On April 1st, tobacco tax across the country will raise 62 cents to fund children's health care. This increase may cause many college students to give up smoking in order to save money.

According to a study done by the American Lung Association, 23 percent of young people aged 18-24 were current smokers in 2006, the most recent data available. As a result of the tax increase, Oklahoma's tobacco tax will be raised to $1.65, which may cause young smokers to kick the habit to save money.

Programs and information to help students and faculty quit smoking are available through OU Health Services and Norman Regional Hospital.

Help wanted ads continue to appear in Oklahoma newspapers, but the unemployment rates in Oklahoma are not nearly as bad as the national rates. (photo by Victoria Stahl)

Oklahoma Among Lowest Unemployment Rates In US

According to the United States Department of Labor website, Oklahoma is among the states with the lowest unemployment rates in the country. This news may come as a relief to University of Oklahoma seniors graduating in May.

The last complete study, which was done in January 2009, showed Oklahoma with the seventh lowest unemployment rate of 5.0, which is up from a 3.3 percent rating from one year ago. The state with the highest rate is Michigan, whose unemployment rate is 11.6 percent.

The next update of unemployment rates in local areas will be released by the US Department of Labor on March 19, 2009.

The Decker Family (clockwise from top left: Steve, Deborah, Matthew, and Nathan) poses with author Steve Decker's new book, Zack the Prairie Dog. The book features an autistic hero who was inspired by the family's two autistic children. (photo by Victoria Stahl)

Norman Author Raises Autism Awareness

Norman author, Steve Charles Decker, published his first book, "Zack the Prairie Dog" in January, which he said he hopes will raise acceptance and awareness about the development disability, autism. Decker said that it is important for everyone to know that those with autism are similar to everyone else, but they simply have trouble communicating and interacting with others.

Decker said the idea for the book first came to him when he and his wife moved to Oklahoma, and reemerged after both of his sons were diagnosed with autism. After the diagnosis, he and his wife Deborah began to face the challenges that come with being the parents of autistic children. With the book, they said they want to let people know that children with autism are no less than other children and it is not a bad thing, but it is just a difference.

"The book is almost more for typical children than it is for special needs kids," says Deborah. "Because it explains autism in a really easy way to understand. We want to change the world's perception of kids with autism."

"Zack the Prairie Dog" is available at Hastings in Norman and can also be found on Amazon.com.

(photo by Victoria Stahl)

Locally owned restaurant Othello's on Campus Corner entertains and feeds the citizens of Norman. Two years ago, James Nghiem and a few of his friends began a weekly set of stand-up comedy, the first of its kind in Norman. (photo by Victoria Stahl)

Grad Student Laughs His Way Through School

Every Tuesday night, Professional Writing Graduate student, James Nghiem performs at the local restaurant and music venue, Othello's, on Campus Corner. Ngheim, who graduates in May, has been telling jokes as a stand up-comedian for the past two years and has been seen by many locals.

Nghiem said he got serious about stand up comedy shortly over two years ago when a friend of his organized the first comedy night at Othello's. Since that first successful night of comedy, Nghiem and several other local young comedians have performed their comedy sets every Tuesday night. He says he hopes to one day be a professional comedian.

"I'm always working toward something, but I enjoy it too," said Nghiem. "So you're working toward this goal and it might never happen, but you do it no matter what and hopefully you get there."

Once he graduates, Nghiem said he wants to travel and expand his career, but until then, students can see him perform every Tuesday night at Othello's.

For more on James Nghiem's interview, press play.