Category: News

Free tickets are available to KC students for the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening performances of the upcoming Rangerette Revels production, “The Sky’s the Limit” which opens April 5. Students can pick up their single ticket beginning Thursday, March 23, by presenting a current KC ID at the Revels Box Office in the Rangerette Gymnasium or in the box office of Dodson Auditorium an hour before the show they wish to attend, pending availability.  Tickets are available to the general public beginning Wednesday, March 22, and tickets for all shows cost $25 each to the general public.

The two-hour variety show produced by the Rangerettes which will run at 7:30 nightly through April 8 with a 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday as well. Telephone orders are available with a credit card by calling Elaine Woodmansee at 903-983-8179. Box Office hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Friday. Sea

ting is reserved.

The show features solo and group dance numbers, singing and music. This production is the highlight of the Spring Semester for the internationally known Rangerettes.

During this past election, people took to Twitter and created the hashtag, #Repealthe19th. By this, the users meant they wanted the 19^th Amendment, the amendment allowing women to vote, to be removed.

March is women’s month, and highlighting suffragettes should be mandatory.

For nearly 100 years, women fought for the right to vote. Not just by showing up at rallies and protests, but by actually fighting, boycotting and as a result, were abused by their husbands. For this period of time, rich white men ruled politics, and some might say they still do; however, thanks to the mother of young state representative, Harry Burn, American women were given the right to vote.

Red and white roses were secured to the lapels of men in Tennessee. White roses for the men who wanted to put the 19^th Amendment in place and red for the ones opposed the movement.

Burn pinned his lapel with a red rose.

At this point in time, Tennessee was the deciding state on whether women would be able to vote in America or not. If the state was able to agree upon women voting, it would be the 36^th state to ratify the possible amendment.

In the meeting, the vote was split evenly between legislators with Burn being the last to vote. With a red rose pinned to his shirt, it was almost inevitable which decision he would make; however, Phoebe Ensminger Burn, his mother, wrote him a letter.

According to History.com, the letter said, “Hurrah, and vote for suffrage! Don’t keep them in doubt. I notice some of the speeches against. They were bitter. I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet.” She ended the letter with a rousing endorsement of suffragist leader, Carrie Chapman Catt, imploring her son to “be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the ‘rat’ in ratification.”

Burn took that advice and voted for the 19^th Amendment, causing Tennessee to become the 36^th state to ratify the amendment, and eight days later the amendment was adopted by the country.

Thanks to Burn’s mother and other women like her, women have the right to vote in America. There are countless other stories about women like Phoebe Burn, some filled with violence, illegal actions and perseverance.

So for both men and women to take to Twitter wanting to #Repealthe19th is not just disrespectful, but back-tracking all of the work women of the past have accomplished for you.

This is not just an issue of sexism, but civil rights. So, before you decide what to believe, remember to “be a good boy,” or girl.

PTK 

•  Next meeting is 1:45 p.m. on Monday, March 6 in the Communications/Automotive Building,  Room 104.
• PTK is collecting a wide variety of school supplies to bring on March 9-11, to Texas Regional Convention in Corpus Christi. If you’d like to donate supplies or cash, please present items to an officer or bring to Michelle Daniels in the Communications/Automotive Building, Room 104.
• The Spring Induction is set for March 31. To apply for the PTK Membership Scholarship, fill out the application on the KC website under Student Clubs.  Deadline is 2 p.m. March 22. Help is needed with setting up for the induction ceremony.  If you think you can help, please contact an officer or adviser.

Tri-C

March 9 – Free Meatballs, Gravy and Mashed Potato Lunch and Devotional at the Tri-C

BSM

During Spring Break, the BSM is taking any students who are interested in serving others on a Mission Arlington Metroplex trip. There is a planning meeting at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 8 at the BSM. Students interested in going should join for the meeting or come to BSM to sign up. Departure is at noon on March 12; the participants will be back at 9 p.m. on March 16. The cost for the trip is $85 to cover food during the week. Students will need to bring money for travel food. To explore and find out more information about Mission Arlington, visit:  http://www.missionarlington.org/

KC Industry Dance company will leave today with hopes of making the cut for the Gala performance in Plano at the American College Dance Association festival.

The conference brings together the south-central portion of the United States’ dance departments.  There are about 200 students included in the conference; 8 students from KC will  be attending.  There are 40 dance works that are adjudicated (viewed by adjudicators in an anonymous selection process). The adjudicators do not know what schools the participants are from. After watching all 40 entries, the adjudicators choose the top eight to ten dance works from the entire conference to perform at the Gala on Sunday.

“To be chosen would mean that your work was recognized for its performance, choreography, and artistry,” said Angela Aulds, KC dance instructor. “Our work is titled ‘Sonder,’ which means the realization that every passerby has a complex and vibrant life much like your own.”
In 1971, the ACDA began as a brainchild of a group of college and university dance educators who set out to create a national organization that would sponsor regional dance conferences at the college level, along with national dance festivals.  The aim of these events was to encourage excellence in performance and choreography in higher education.

Today, attendance at the regional conference and national festivals numbers between five thousand to six thousand, with over 300 schools participating annually. These festivals play an important role in the field of dance by reinforcing the connection between dance and higher education. It gives graduate and undergraduate dancers and choreographers exposure into the professional dance world and they have the opportunity to build lasting connections with dance educators and dance programs across the country.

The Christian Campus Center took 21 students to Oklahoma State University last weekend for Campus Encounter. The event is sponsored by Stillwater Church of Christ and welcomed 16 college ministers and 260 students to the campus for education, worship and fellowship.

Davis was one of the presenters of a class called, “Take Five.” The class looked at five issues people deal with in today’s society: poverty, racism, sexual immorality, the definition of marriage and personal freedoms.

KC students Steve Mena, Kilgore freshman, and Holden Silvery, Tyler sophomore, led two of the devotional times throughout the weekend.

On the drive back to Kilgore Sunday afternoon, the group stopped at the National Memorial Museum and Grounds in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This was the site of the April 19, 1995 bombing outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people and injured hundreds.

Since the bombing took place 22 years ago, some of the students were not old enough to know about it, so it was a learning experience.

“I didn’t know about it prior to coming here,” said Horace Bonner, Coppell freshman.

A guide gave the students a brief history about the Grounds, including the two gates with 9:01 and 9:03 etched in the wall and the reflection pool in between them. The first time represents the city prior to the bombing and the second time represents the city after the bombing. To the left of the pool, there are nine rows of chairs representing the nine floors of the building and the victims that died on each floor. The “Survivor Tree” is an American elm tree that survived the explosion and is located to the right of the pool. It symbolizes the resilience of the people of Oklahoma City.

As students gathered in the area around the Tree, Christian Delany, Gilmer sophomore, gave a devotional and Bobby Davis, an elder from the Chandler Street Church of Christ,  led the group in prayer. The enriching and fulfilling weekend ended as KC students returned to the bus for the long ride back to Kilgore.

Dan Reigstad is the newly appointed deputy director of Kilgore College’s East Texas Police Academy. He became a full-time instructor at ETPA in 2015 after being a part-time instructor since 2002.

Reigstad was born and raised in the small town of DeForest, Wisconsin where he graduated from high school in 1983. After graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served from 1983 to 1992. During his time in the Army, he was stationed in South Korea and West Germany. After that, Reigstad took a difference path by leaving the Army and joining the Longview Police Department.

Reigstad joined the LPD in 1992 where he ended up working as a patrol officer, uniformed crime scene investigator, field training officer, telecommunications operator, senior latent print examiner and senior physical evidence detective over a span of 23 years. As a part-time instructor for ETPA in 2002, he taught Crime scene and Forensics classes. Reigstad has an extensive experience in crime scene processing, finger print processing and identification, forensic and night-time photograph, shooting reconstruction and bloodstain analysis. He is also a former chairman for the Latent Print Certification Committee of the Texas Division of the IAI and is a certified latent print examiner with the IAI.

He is an active member of various professional forensic associations. Reigstad also has numerous certificates which include TCOLE Master Peace Officer, advanced instructor, firearms instructor and he is a trained police emergency vehicle driving instructor through Texas A&M TEEX.

As a full-time instructor, Reigstad began teaching more classes including firearms and driving, forensic, crime scene and also basic police courses. Once Reigstad became full-time for the ETPA he retired from LPD after 25 years.

Reigstad said he is excited to be filling the position left vacant by his new boss Joe Cassin. “I love it,” he said. “It’s fun because you’re always teaching something different and you never get bored.’’

Topics such as tuition increases, the evaluation of Dr. Brenda Kays, and concealed carry on campus were discussed on the second floor of the McLaurin Administration Building as it overflowed with students and community members on Monday night.

The meeting lasted about three hours as the Board of Trustees went into executive session for an hour and a half to discuss personnel issues dealing with Dr. Kays’ first year as KC president.

Kays’ contract was unanimously approved to run through Aug. 31, 2020 after the Board of Trustees performed their evaluation.

“We are publicly pleased by Dr. Kays’ performance and are looking forward to extending her contract,” said Larry Woodfin, KC Board president. “Dr. Kays, you are rehired.”

After the extension of her contract, Kays joked and said she guesses now she will be able to eat for the next three years.

“All kidding aside, it is an honor and a privilege to lead Kilgore College with talented administration, faculty and staff. I really appreciate the visionary leadership of our Board of Trustees,” Kays said. “I look forward to spending the length of my tenure with the institution making sure we are always striving for student success at the institution, that we are achieving our mission, our vision, our values and that we are living our strategic plan, because we all realize that without our students, there is no reason for us to be in existence.”

These students will pick up a little more of the responsibility as they foot the bill for increases in the Fall 2017 semester. Low contact hours and a drop in state funding were cited reasons, but KC is still the eighth lowest tuition in the state, trustees pointed out.

Heath Cariker, KC police chief, presented an update from his campus carry committee.

Included in the discussion were exclusion zones, areas on campus where concealed carry will not be permitted. The areas without concealed carry are where employee and student hearings are held, athletic events, K-12 events, open meetings, testing centers and in the various academy classes, such as police and fire. Three permanent and 14 temporary zones have been set up and will be posted next week.

Cariker took to the podium and made the audience aware of the precautions he and his campus carry committee have been making over the past months. The committee included faculty, staff and two students, Kami Pack and Josh Boffling.

The committee met in September 2016 to begin making a plan for KC and discuss what rules would be applied. Later that year, in November surveys were sent out to students; during this time, four town hall meetings were held. Two in Longview and two in Kilgore, one for students and one for teachers respectively.

Soon after, in December 2016, there were still not any exclusion zones established on campus. After attending a workshop in January in Austin to compare notes with other community colleges, the committee found they were ahead of other schools in their preparations. Next month the final draft of campus carry rules will be submitted to the board to make a vote.

For information concerning concealed carry, log on to kilgore.edu/concealedcarry.

Updates to facilities will be made over the next few months according to Jeff Williams, Environmental Safety and Construction and Facilities Manager. The Quads will be repaired and repainted. One quad will be fixed per month. Doors and trim will be repaired and will be followed with power washing, painting and re-leveling the ground in the area.

Williams commended the work on Nolen Hall over the past six weeks.

“We replaced the drainage lines and within four weeks had the second and fourth floor return to their dorms; after six weeks, the first floor was able to return,” he said.

In a new segment of the board meeting named, “Where Are They Now,” Maize Jamison, a KC alumni and former Rangerette, spoke about her time at KC as a Rangerette and a student.

“I simply cannot image my life without the Rangerettes,” she said.

Jamison attended KC from 1967 to 1969. She attended the University of Texas at Austin to receive her bachelors’ degree and Texas State University to receive her masters’. During her time as a Rangerette, she was under the direction of Gussie Nell Davis. While speaking, she told of her times meeting other Rangerettes outside of Kilgore.

“We’re everywhere,” Jamison said, “and I think the world is better for having us everywhere.”

The employee spotlight was presented by Becky Johnson, Dean of Liberal Arts. She introduced Charleen Worsham, Director of eLearning, and Doris Johnson, Coordinator of eLearning. The two women were nominated years ago by Becky Johnson for the transfer to BlackBoard from Moodle, an online learning system, but did not receive recognition until now. The two thanked the board.

The Student Spotlight, presented by Judy DeRouen, Support Specialist and Marketing and Facilities Rental, was Adan Aguinaga, Dallas sophomore.

Aguinaga discovered KC when he went to a college fair his school hosted. Prior to this, Aguinaga considered dropping out of high school in the 11th grade. He now has a GPA of 3.67 and has been involved with various KC clubs and activities, including the Ranger Ambassadors, Math Club, Latinos En Accion, Homecoming court nominee and many more.

“Kilgore College made me a better person,” he said.

He has plans to transfer to Miami University Ohio in the fall and major in Public Administration.

James Walker, Vice President of the Board, concluded the meeting with describing how the Ranger Softball team has been an asset to the community. The team has held two softball tournaments, hosting 14 teams, roughly estimated to around 300 people, not including fans who decided to travel. Around 125 motel rooms were rented and around 2,500 meals were eaten within the community, causing an economy boost.

The next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Monday, April 10 on the second floor of the McLaurin Administration Building. For more information on the board, on to print out an agenda or a citizen comment form, go to Kilgore.edu/boardoftrustees.

According to the ASPCA, approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year. Each year, approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized. One organization in Longview has an idea: Cat Yoga.

For those with allergies to fur, cat yoga might be a bit of a stretch, but for those without, the Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center is hosting “Cat-urday” yoga from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 4.

Karen Bonds, instructor at Longview Yoga, will teach a free beginning yoga class surrounded by cats from the adoption center. “Our ultimate goal is for animals to get adopted,” said Jacquelyn Reynolds, Volunteer Coordinator.

The center is planning on making the event monthly and possibly allowing people to bring their animals and including dogs as well.

“We saw a lot of major cities doing it,” Reynolds said. “We are trying to think outside of the box and trying to end the stigma behind shelters. A lot of people think it is sad, but we really try to make it a positive atmosphere.”

Another event the LACAC has hosted was the “Home for the Holiday” dog house build. The Center called on craftsmen to build elaborate doghouses and sold raffle tickets to win them. The center earned around $13,000 on ticket sales.

The Center opened July 1, 2016 and has been accepting abandoned animals from Longview and other Gregg County areas since. It is a $50 fee to adopt one of the animals from the Center; the fee includes the animal being spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped.

So, pack up your yoga mats and give cat yoga a chance, but if allergies do seem to be a problem, donations will be accepted to go toward the LACAC.

For more information, visit the center’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/friendsofLACAC/