Published: August 29, 2008 12:54 pm         

Thorns & Roses

Friday, Aug. 29, 2008

Thorns & Roses is a weekly feature highlighting the best and worst of the week.



Roses

• To Special Olympics athlete Jessica Crook, who traveled to New York City this month to tape a public service announcement regarding the use of the R-word in the movie “Tropic Thunder.” She described the word as “mortifying.” She said she feared that hearing the word in the movie might make someone go out and use the word she remembered hearing from other kids as a child. “I’d come home and cry,” she said. “It’s just a mean word.” Crook is a courageous young woman, and we admire her for her willingness to speak out. The commercial is a part of the Special Olympics campaign encouraging people to pledge not to use the R-word. For more information on the campaign, check out the organization’s Web site at www.R-word.org.



• To the 300 Purdue University students who volunteered their time last week to help Carroll County residents still trying to recover from flooding in January. The resident assistants, staff residents and residence life managers donated a combined 1,200 hours of labor over a two-day period. Dave McDowell, the EMA director in Carroll County, helped to organize the effort. “There was an amazing amount that got done,” he said. “I was astonished. … Their ability to achieve things surprised the homeowners and myself.” Much of the effort was focused in some 35 homes around the region, many of which had not been touched since the flood. Students left feeling they had barely made a dent in all of the work that remains to be done, but McDowell pointed out that all of the time they spent will help to match federal dollars coming in to help the ongoing recovery effort.



• To siblings Zyon and Princessa Rennewanz, who were winners in the recent Entrepreneurship Academy at Purdue University. Seventeen-year-old Zyon took home the top prize with his four-person team, while 16-year-old Princessa was part of the third place group. LHS junior R.J. Baker also participated in the contest. The competition was the culmination of a week of activities at Purdue. Forty-five juniors and seniors from 17 Indiana counties were nominated by their teachers to participate in the academy.