By Alyssa Wilder and Kirsteen Wolf
The Broadside

Bend Police arrested Central Oregon Community College Part-Time Instructor Thomas Bray on Feb. 26, 2011 after receiving an accusation that he raped a 23-year-old woman.
Since the incident, COCC has instituted new hiring procedures, according to Ron Paradis, director of College Relations.

Part-time faculty did not previously undergo criminal background checks aside from those hired in the Nursing and Early Childhood Education departments, according to Paradis.

Employees who would potentially handle money or possess master keys were also subject to background checks.

Bray was charged with two counts each of first-degree rape and sodomy in connection with this case, according to a Bend Bulletin article. In August, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In October 2011, an unnamed COCC student and former girlfriend of Bray’s filed charges against him for the February incidents.

Bray is charged with two felony counts of first-degree rape, a felony count of assault and a misdemeanor count of strangulation.
Stephen Houze, Bray’s lawyer, filed a Oct. 22 motion to separate these cases.

The new charges pushed Bray’s hearing back. According to the Bend Bulletin, Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Tiktin set July 17 as Bray’s new trial date.
The incidents started a “thoughtful discussion” on the hiring practices at COCC, said Paradis.

“We had discussions prior [to the situation], but it was not something we were working toward,” he said, in regard to background check policy.
Bray had been employed by the college for fewer than two months. The staff had to weigh the pros and cons.

The college needs to balance the cost and time associated with the different levels of background checks with a sense of security with the candidate, said Paradis.

The other decision was based on how deep to go with the checks. If the checks are too cursory, he added, nothing shows up, but if they are too deep, the costs are high with little added benefit.

The costs are estimated at $16,000 to 20,000 dollars per year, according to Paradis, amounting to $40 dollars for each background check done on a candidate.

Although the policy was approved in September 2011, according to the COCC website, it wasn’t implemented until November. The hiring done over the past summer was not subject to the new background check procedure.

The checks, however, don’t pull up everything, according to Robert McDilda, COCC’s Campus Public Safety supervisor.
“Background checks just show convictions,” said McDilda.

Pulling court documents cost about four times as much as standard employment background checks, according to McDilda.
Court documents include everything from overdrawn checks to pre-charge protective orders, but without the matter ever having a verdict with due process, an individual’s privacy becomes an issue.

“Legally, there’s not much more we can do,” said McDilda. “We have an innocent-until-proven-guilty mandate in this country.”

It is also unclear whether Bray’s previous restraining order, filed only a few months before in California, would have appeared under COCC’s new background check policy.
“It differs from state to state and also jurisdiction to jurisdiction … There’s no guarantee,” said McDilda.

Despite the legalities and costs involved with the new hiring procedures, McDilda is hopeful that the new policies will help keep students safe.
“It’s certainly a step in the right direction,” said McDilda.

Isaac Newby
The Broaside

“The Witcher 2” blasts into your world like a train made of pure awesome. “The Witcher,” for those unfamiliar with the series, was originally a PC-only title due to its graphics requirements, but through some technological witchcraft, the creators have lowered the graphics requirements to work on the Xbox 360 without sacrificing any essential gameplay elements. “The Witcher” exceeds in a few key areas and fails in basically none.
There is only one issue that may really affect gameplay. This is the complicated control scheme, which requires a player to keep track of health, weapons, armor, wards (defensive or offensive magic) and/or traps (depending on how you play) all while still within a fight. Those more comfortable with games such as “Skyrim” or “Mass Effect” may find themselves a bit overloaded here.
This game requires a high level of effort. Those who are more comfortable with the RPG experiences that allow you to run in, heal on-the-fly and basically survive anything will not like this game. Blocking, parrying, proper ward and trap use are all requirements in order to make it through the story of this game.
On “Insane” difficulty, the game gives you one life for the entire game, which will take anywhere from 30-60 hours to beat on medium difficulty. This should indicate the level of dedication the creators of this game have.
In short, the PC version is significantly more beautiful than the console version, but unless you have a gaming PC that can handle it, you won’t see a difference. The difficulty level will definitely make some people shy away, but for anyone looking for more “out-there” gaming, this is an essential game to play.

(Contact: inewby@cocc.edu)

Lindsey Brown
The Broadside

If you prefer the same old cliche romance stories and perverted humor, then ‘The Five-Year Engagement’ is for you. The beginning and end are fast paced, funny and entertaining. The entire middle of the movie, however, dragged on forever with too much drama to even be considered humorous. There were several good jokes sprinkled throughout the movie, but the ending is predictable.
In the beginning, Tom Solomon, (Jason Segel) meets Violet Barnes (Emily Blunt) at a New Year’s Eve party. They hit it off and their journey together begins in San Francisco. Solomon takes Barnes on a romantic rooftop and, with a few interruptions, manages to get a proposal out. Then Barnes starts planning their wedding, which soon gets postponed.
After a few event mishaps and a new job, the couple ends up in Michigan. Solomon gives up the job of a lifetime in order to stay with Barnes, and let her live her dream. It was Solomon’s turn to plan the wedding this time. After many more disastrous events, the couple breaks up and gets back together again. In the end, they are both happy and finally get hitched in a fun and original way.
Written and directed by Nicholas Stoller and produced by Stoller and Rodney Rothman, both known for “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”—another crude comedy starring Jason Segel—and produced by Judd Apatow, known for “Bridesmaids,” “The Five-Year Engagement” is like any other romantic comedy, but with a few crude jokes thrown in.
This movie should only be recommended to adults who greatly enjoy both romantic comedies and sketchy humor. Although this movie does have a generous amount of vulgar language, there are a few intimate scenes as well.

(Contact : lbrown@cocc.edu)

Kirsteen Wolf

The Broadside

On a recent visit to COCC, psychotherapist and author Tina Payne Bryson shared insights from her book “The Whole Brained Child.” The mother of three offered strategies to raise “calmer, happier children” and ways for parents to navigate day-to-day struggles.

About the brain, see end of article.

Bryson, co-author of the book “The Whole-Brain Child,” helps parents, educators and caregivers to do just that by explaining the way children’s brains are developing and teaching how to respond appropriately.
Bryson was the keynote speaker at the Spring Conference of the Central Oregon Chapter of the Oregon Association for the Education of Young Children on April 27. The lecture filled the Pinckney Theater to near capacity, according to organizers. More than 350 people came to hear the psychotherapist, author and mother of three talk about “strategies that nurture your child’s developing mind.”
“I felt the energy on Friday was tangible—every person left that night with new tools for connecting with the children in their lives and for supporting learning and development,” said Amy Howell, director of Early Childhood Education at Central Oregon Community College.
Bryson, along with coauthor Daniel J. Seigel, offer practical, scientifically-based information to help those who work with children to become “brain architects” by understanding the interplay between the right and left hemispheres and the “upstairs and downstairs” brains. The 12 strategies they offer in their book “The Whole Brain Child” can help those who work with children navigate a crisis but also connect with children on a deeper level to build a foundation of understanding.
Bryson’s lecture was funny—some of her slides had the audience in stitches—and presented in a very easy-to-understand style. She connected with an audience that was there to learn to be better parents, caregivers and educators.
“What I most appreciated about [the] presentation was Dr. Bryson’s emphasis on relationships,” said Howell. “ Even in our moments of limited resources—time, energy—we can take simple steps to connect with our children on both emotional and rational levels.”
This is accomplished through integration between the logical left brain and the emotional, “out of control” right. If a child is in a right brain state, the advice in “The Whole-Brain Child” is to approach the situation with right-brained language and slowly move them over toward a left brain outlook and vice versa. The key is maintaining balance. It’s like you are floating down a river with ”rigidity” on one side and “chaos” on the other and your goal is to stay balanced in the middle. The same is true for the integration between the still developing “upstairs” brain —the middle prefrontal cortex—with the primitive fight-or-flight “downstairs” brain.
It may sound complicated, but like Bryson’s lecture, the information in the book is very simple and easy to apply according to Anna Higgins, instructor in the ECE department and member of the COC-OAEYC.
“As a parent, I was able to read a chapter at night and start applying it the next day with my children,”she said.
Higgins hopes the event served as a springboard for further conversation and community building.
“The more we know,” she said “The better we do.”

(Contact: kwolf@cocc.edu)

Scott Greenstone
The Broadside

When the Gay-Straight Alliance returns to Central Oregon Community College, it will have two new leaders at its head. Students Stacy Falcis and Cameron Huston are in negotiation with the Associated Students of COCC (ASCOCC) as two of the founding members of the new GSA club.
Huston, who moved to Bend from Ashland in March, sees few “safe places” in Central Oregon for people questioning their sexual orientation and he wanted to create one. He sees people joining the club “to support other people as human beings and get to know them.”
These two hope that more students will come forward and join them in growing the “seedling,” as Falcis described the club.
“It’s important to come together,” said Falcis. “I don’t want to be invisible in my community.”
Currently, the GSA is struggling to stay visible. The club was active during the 2010-11 school year, but when club leader Steph Jackson graduated, no one rose to take her place.
“When a strong leader leaves, sometimes the group dissipates,” said Matt Coito, ASCOCC Clubs Coordinator. “This was the case with the GSA.”
ASCOCC has been searching for months to find students dedicated to starting a GSA club once more.
“It needs a good foundation of dedicated students,” Coito said. “That makes a successful club.”
The formation of the new GSA club is one step away, according to Brandi Jordan, ASCOCC Outreach Coordinator.
“It’s just a matter of finding those right students,” said Jordan. “The club has an advisor and is ready to begin, but they need the dedication of COCC students to take the lead.”
Falcis and Huston will be two of the four founding students required for the club to start. Both students contacted Admissions in the last month to find a club such as GSA. Upon finding it had collapsed, they both decided to volunteer.
Falcis’s conviction to lead the club is rooted in her desire to protect others from her own experience. When Falcis was 21, she was physically assaulted by her taxi driver. Upon telling the police she was attacked because of sexual orientation, she said they suddenly had another call.
Falcis knows that there are others who are “invisible” in her community, but she believes that unity is their greatest defense. The Alliance’s directive, according to Falcis, is identifying strengths instead of weaknesses.
“When we’re alone, we’re isolated,” said Falcis. She believes that regardless of sexual orientation, this issue affects everyone.
“It could be someone in your family, or your best friend,” said Falcis. “We’re all brothers and sisters, and there’s a lot of ignorance going around.” said Falcis.
Falcis wants to build bridges and fight the ignorance that has affected her life and the lives of others at COCC.
With three of the four students needed for founding a club, the only thing standing in the GSA Club’s way is lack of student participation. On April 10th, a recruitment meeting occured in the ASCOCC room upstairs in the Campus Center to build the club’s member foundation.
“It’s all ready to go. We just need COCC students to take the lead,” said Jordan.

(Contact: sgreenstone@cocc.edu)

Ryan Soderquist
Kirsteen Wolf
The Broadside

“Sordid Lives” is a comedy about unconditional love, acceptance, death, adultery, betrayal and laughs starring four Central Oregon Community College students.
The play is about a family  who come together after the accidental death of the elderly family matriarch Peggy. After her death, the family is plunged into chaos and it brings out the best and worst of them.
“It sends a good message, it brings the family together and it is hysterically funny,” said Sandy Klein, producer of the play.
The characters include a mother who is in denial about her son being gay, a singer at local watering hole,  a person-cheating on his wife whose wooden legs killed the matriarch and a wife who is being cheated on and seeking revenge therapy.
“It is set in Texas, and I was born there. The people that live there are crazy and that is my type of people,” said Raechel Gilland, a COCC student who plays Noleta.
Sherise Esther, another student actor, said she is enjoying working with a diverse cast, as well as the humor of the production.
“It is going to be funny … we laugh during the rehearsals and I really love how we (the characters) are portrayed in the message,” said Esther.
Adam Eagle, who plays “cross dressing lunatic” Brother Boy, points to director David DaCosta’s focus to downplay the stereotypes and make the characters “real.”
Eagle had to make some adjustments to play his character, including shaving his beard and waxing his arms and legs.
“My grandmother hardly recognized me,” he said.
Along with the laughs, Eagle praised the play itself.
“The script is so well written,” he said.

The cost for the play is $18 for adults, $16 for students and $20 at the door. However, if you go to the theatre’s website to purchase the tickets, you can enter the promo code “local” and receive a $7 discount.

(Contact: Ryan Soderquist at rsoderquist@cocc.edu; Kirsteen Wolf at kwolf@cocc.edu)

The annual Salmon Bake, provided by the First Nation Student Union, faces some challenging financial troubles this year.
On April 25, representatives of the FNSU met with the Associated Students of Central Oregon Community College during ASCOCC’s meeting, to discuss options for meeting out all their budgeting concerns. This was the first item on ASCOCC’s agenda, occupying a significant portion of their time.
With the cost of all the other aspects of the event, the FNSU found it difficult to purchase the salmon with what was left in their budget, according to Cruz Mueller, who spoke on behalf of the FNSU.
“We’re running a pretty tight budget, and everyone, including the performers and the salmon chef are asking for more money,” said Mueller.
The cost for fish changes weekly, with the average somewhere around $40 per fish at Safeway, according to Mueller. ASCOCC suggested the FNSU approach Albertson’s for their fish, since the manager at Albertson’s was especially helpful in getting ASCOCC a good deal on turkeys for Thanksgiving, according to Taran Underdal, ASCOCC advisor.
The student government decided to postpone any decisions about granting more funds to the FNSU until they were able to assess the club’s overall budget and the cost of the fish is determined.
Once again, ASCOCC turned their attention to the Early Childhood Education conference, having already paid partially for up to 50 students to attend. Originally, they approved $25 per student, covering roughly a third of the cost. Only ten students had signed up for the event at the time of ASCOCC’s meeting, according to Michael Biermann, fiscal and operations coordinator.
“Lets go ahead and pay for these guys,” said Biermann.
“We originally approved $1200 total to cover the 50 students, we should be able to cover the ten that already signed up at $85 per student.”
A recent blood drive with the Red Cross turned in good results, according to Kelly Huskey, branch campus coordinator. With Bend and Redmond campus seeing the highest number of donations at 62 and 28 respectively, Madras came in third with eight and Prineville with six.
With the blood drive ending on the day of the meeting, Huskey requested $500 to cover the cost of lunches for all the volunteers. Part of that money would go to Huskey herself, to reimburse $228 she claimed she paid out of pocket.
Since there were not enough members of the council present to represent a quorum, they couldn’t vote on the decision since Huskey’s vote would reflect a conflict of interest.
“Its not about whether we want to approve that amount,” said Michael Biermann. “Kelly shouldn’t be spending that amount of money out of pocket.”

(Contact: nmhughes@cocc.edu)

This Mother’s Day, many moms won’t receive a day to relax. Jennifer Bardwell, a student in the Counseling program at Oregon State University, wants them to know they’re not alone.
Bardwell is a mom. She has four kids, works full-time, raises awareness for women with postpartum depression, and is studying for her master’s degree at Oregon State University- Cascades.
“I’m extremely good at time management and I have lots of energy,” Bardwell said. “I make my kid’s lunches every day and every night I make a big, healthy dinner for everybody.”
Bardwell often makes her own clothes and clothes for her family instead of buying a lot of name-brands. This saves the family money for what they really enjoy, such as snowboarding and traveling.
“I’m extremely resourceful,” Bardwell said, and adds that her kids are very understanding. “We’re all sacrificing right now.”
Bardwell still finds time for the things she’s passionate about. She works with Saving Grace, a non-profit organization that aids victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
“I facilitate a financial empowerment course–an important thing for women,” Bardwell said. “Strengthening the ways that we’re vulnerable makes us less available to predators. I’m a big proponent of education.”
Bardwell believes that the public needs to be educated on supporting moms in the community.
Before she worked with Saving Grace, Bardwell wanted to be a midwife. However, the on-call schedule kept her away from family often for days at a time. Bardwell took her passion for helping women and funneled it into her work with Saving Grace and now, raising awareness for postpartum depression in Oregon.
“Postpartum depression is the most common complication of childbirth,” Bardwell said, “and it’s the most terrible. But with support, it swiftly goes away. The better job we do as a society to support moms, the more successful our communities will be.”
Bardwell couldn’t do everything in her life alone, she admits. Every mother, in her opinion, needs support.
“I have a really supportive boss, a really supportive partner, a really supportive workplace…” Bardwell said. “All of that feeds into me.”
However, Bardwell doesn’t think it’s hard being a student mom with ambitions. She believes that with support, the only limit is what goals are set.
“Say what you want, and then do it. You just have to choose. You have to choose to show up, and do your best, even though it’s tempting to give up,” Bardwell said.

The citizens who serve and protect the United States by enforcing the law will be celebrated on campus as a part of National Police Week with events provided by Central Oregon Community College’s Criminal Justice program.
On May 10 at 2:00 P.M., a memorial service for fallen officers will be held inside COCC’s Wille Hall, according to Criminal Justice program director Kathy McCabe. The memorial will include an appearance by members of the Bend Honor Guard, which the Criminal Justice program has been raising money for through the sale of t-shirts on campus.
The Honor Guard will present colors before the ceremony kicks off, which will feature the Police Chaplain saying a few words about Memorial Week followed by the laying of a wreath to pay homage to fallen officers. The memorial will end with taps being played on the bagpipes.

Criminal Justice has also planned to make and serve lunches to the area’s police departments as well as decorate their lunch rooms with drawings done by local elementary students. And on May 11, the club plans to decorate the trees on campus with blue ribbons representing the signature blue officer’s uniform.
National Police Week pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund website.The observance originated in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy who marked May 15 as National Peace Officer’s Memorial Day.
“This is actually the second year we’ve done an event on COCC grounds,” said McCabe. “Deschutes County is doing their own event but we wanted to do something strictly on the campus and for students.”
The Bend Police Department is one of those area departments that COCC will be celebrating.
“I think it does two things. one, it lets us see that people really do appreciate what we do and the risks we take,”said Lt. Paul Kansky of the Bend Police Department. ”The other portion is it honors us to see the community honor us and especially honor the officers that have given their lives.”
Although the week is meant to recognize police officers for the work they do for the community, the officers unfortunately do not get the week off according to Kansky.
“It’s two fold,” said Kansky.
“The officers absolutely appreciate the week, for one. the flipside is the emergency calls never stop. we try to give them some time to soak it up, but the radios never stay off.”

(Contact: wjames@cocc.edu)