T H E

VOLUME 52 ISSUE 25 1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613

The ground beef referred to by some as “pink slime” and by others as “lean finely textured beef” has aroused considerable controversy recently but will not be taken out of Cedar Falls School System meals.

The low-cost filler — made from meat scraps, cow connective tissues and other beef trimmings treated with ammonia gas — comprises approximately 6.5 percent of the ground beef used in CFHS meals. Food Service Director LaVonne Ardnt said that the school has been informed by the USDA, food safety and inspection services, and the Iowa Department of Educa-tion that the product presents no health concerns.

“We’ve been assured that it is a safe product, so I know of no other reason to think otherwise,” Ardnt said.

Governor Terry Branstad has been outspoken about en-couraging schools to continue use of the product, sending schools all a letter touting its safety and making a trip to the South Sioux City plant to promote the product himself.

However, information revealing that Branstad re-ceived $150,000 in campaign contributions from BPI — the maker of pink slime — has raised eyebrows about his motivations for supporting the

product.Junior Brandon Dix

questions the validity of the government assurances.

“The fact that other coun-tries, such as Canada, won’t even accept imports cleaned with ammonia gas and choose to use alternatives in their beef products makes me hesitant to eat it.”

The product has been on supermarket meat counters since the early ‘90s, but a social media frenzy fuelled

by British chef Jamie Oliver has led to a wide-scale outcry about the use of the product. The collective public revul-sion has prompted the halt of use of the product at retailers such as McDonalds and Taco Bell as well as the closing of the Waterloo BPI packing plant, resulting in laying off more than 200 workers.

Senior Jeff Daniels said that he feels the issue sur-rounding the BPI product is more psychological than

physical. “Just because you know

what is in it and it changes how you feel about it doesn’t mean the actual product is any different. I’ve been eating this meat for my entire life, and I turned out normal.”

Although no illnesses have been linked to BPI’s product, its integration into meat without proper label-ling has spurred concern.

The USDA currently

labels products 100 percent beef if they contain 15 percent or less of BPI’s product. Ardnt said that it’s impossible to pinpoint which products in the Cedar Falls lunches contain the product because the school ships their commodity beef to a processor and buys the finished product.

But some still remain concerned. “When I eat things, I want to know what’s in them,” senior Erin Keiser said. “What else am I eating that I don’t know about?”

Retailers such as HyVee have responded to the public demand for proper labelling by offering beef with BPI’s product and beef without it. Ardnt said that Cedar Falls lunch system may consider doing something similar next year, although no details are available.

“I think this is really a transparency issue,” sopho-more Martha Hall said. “Consumers should have a choice. I should be able to know what’s in my food and eat meat knowing it doesn’t contain pink slime instead of just not eating meat.”

Still, a resounding opinion of CFHS students was expressed succinctly by senior Andrew Malley.

“If it tastes good, I’ll eat it.”

ABOUT ‘PINK SLIME’

WHAT IT IS: The meat is a low-cost filler that is made from meat scraps, cow connective tissues and other beef trimmings that is treated with am-monia gas to kill pathogens. HOW IT’S USED: The additive is used as a filler in ground beef, low-fat hot dogs, meatballs, frozen entrees and lunch meats.

‘Pink Slime’ controversy may lead to higher beef prices

‘Pink slime’ controversy hits CFHS

The halt in use of the BPI product comes at a cost — literally. The cutback in the use of the low-cost filler will likely drive up hamburger prices. Industry of-ficials attest that the removal of the filler is the equivalent of losing 1.5 million head of cattle and that lower supply will mean higher prices. Estimates range from an increase of three cents per pound to 25 cents per pound.

What’s in your beef nachos? According to Food Service Director LaVonne Ardnt, the school cannot pinpoint whether products —such as the nachos senior Peter Tran munches on— contain the contested BPI product.

Sara Gabriele photo

Sara Gabriele Editor-in-Chief

Lucas Hamilton photo

ACT, feature 4

Jared HyltonSports Editor

The purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers (not of Ana-heim) by a group headed by ex-NBA star Magic Johnson has the Dodger organiza-tion revamped with a whole new swagger. The $2.15 billion purchase marks the most expensive sports franchise ever sold. Although Johnson owns only a small percentage of the team, he’s become the voice of the team. Alongside with star outfielder Matt Kemp, he’s also slowly becoming the face of the franchise.

The real genius behind the new ownership is Stan Kas-ten. Kasten is a familiar face

like a kid at a candy store.”Johnson and his team of

investors seem to be just as excited at the new change of management as the players and majority of fans are. A large part of the off season for the Dodgers was spent dealing with lawsuits and the bank-ruptcy of the organization. It’s a relief for Major League Baseball and the Dodgers to move on with the finalization of the deal on March 27. The embarrassment of the fall of one of the most popular sports organizations in the world looks really bad for baseball.

Bud Selig and the Dodger’s players did a great job of handling what has been a sticky situa-tion. Kemp ran into Johnson after the season opener and said that it was re-ally encouraging to see Johnson hanging

around the organi-zation. Although I’m not a Dodger fan by any means I can say that I’m interested to see how this works out for the Dodgers. I’m confident in their front office and their abilities to a run a playoff-caliber team.

ably expensive $25 ticket. We either take the ticket and make it to class on time, or we park far away and risk a tardy.

As a student, it is some-thing I learn to deal with. When I am forced with this choice, I park far away.

It didn’t bother me too much until the other day when I noticed a green van with a red and white teacher park-ing pass hanging from their rearview mirror parked in the second spot in the student parking area. Then I glanced behind myself and noticed all the open spots in the teacher parking. I understand that the 30 extra steps would have been excruciating from the nearest teacher spot, but re-ally? I think they could have handled it.

Is that fair? Kids get a $25 ticket for a parking in the teacher parking, but teach-ers get no penalty for taking spaces in the overflowing student lot. Teachers deserve some authority, but this unruly act is abuse of authority.

Contact the Tiger Hi-Line

The Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journal-ism classes of Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division St., Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Our website is www.hiline.co.nr. The Hi-Line is distributed to CFHS students on Tuesdays to read in their free time.

Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Hi-Line or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial staff view is presented weekly in the editorial labeled as Our View.

Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to the Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Letters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Thursday for publication the following Tuesday. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limita-tions. Include address and phone number for verification.

Editorial StaffEditors-in-Chief: Sara Gabriele, Ellen Gustavson, Meg Lane

News Editors: Maya Amjadi, Sara Gabriele, Chandal Geerdes

Opinion Editors: Meg Lane, Karl SadkowskiSports Editor: Jared Hylton

Feature Editors: Ellen Gustavson, Sandra Omari-BoatengEntertainment Editor: Lucas Hamilton

Hi-Line Online Editor: Martha HallStaff Writers: Sarah Church, Lindsey Davis, Chase Eremieff, Mikayla Foland, Isabelle Hayes, Trevor Johnson, Kathrine

Mayhew, Diamond Spann, Rhydian Talbot

our viewA new CFHS policy has a number of students caught off guard. As of recently, students who have yet to

make up more than four hours of detention will likely not be able to attend prom. The brouhaha surrounding the high school administration’s decision wouldn’t be so loud, however, had this rule been announced several months earlier — or better yet, at the beginning of this academic year to give students more time to make detention arrangements.

In order to work off these detention minutes, Associate Principal Dana Deines said he believes a produc-tive and worthwhile way for students to regain their prom eligibility was to spend time cleaning up the high school’s campus last Friday. A constant eyesore and nuisance to the custodians is the unnecessary amount of trash left by students that they must clean up. It may seem fairer to ask the students to clean up their own messes. Fortunately, beautifying CFHS was not mandatory; that would cross into the realm of forced labor rather than detention. It is best to leave cleaning up the high school as an option for making up detention min-utes and nothing more.

Deines said the new detention policy is quite unofficial, not included in the high school handbook. He does confirm that the high school is communicating with parents of students owing detention time, however.

No matter the detention option, students continue to feel cheated under the new prom-attendance policy.

Letter to the Editor: CFHS staff taking advantage of limited student parking

OpinionApril 10, 2012 hiline.nr.co

Colby CregerCFHS Senior

It is apparent to everyone at Cedar Falls High School that parking is scarce. At 7:20 a.m. the early birds begin to fill the spots in the north park-ing lot. As 7:45 rolls around, the last spots in the lot are taken, and the Division Street spots are filled. Cars line up and down 12th Street and 8th Street, even stretching to and past Ellen Street.

The ½ mile into school wouldn’t be so bad, if kids didn’t have to walk past the 10 open spots in the teacher’s parking lane. Then the lunch hour comes and kids run to their cars in an effort to be the first to the closest fast food restaurant and come back so they can reclaim their precious parking spots before others who had the long walk in the morning try to steal it. While all of this is going on, the 10 or so spots in the teacher’s’ lot still remain un-touched. If we park there, we get tagged with an unreason-

“A large part of the off sea-son for the Dodgers was spent dealing with law-

suits and the bankruptcy of the organization.

”

Prom meets the perils of detention

Dodgers’ new front office has ‘Magic’ effects on organization

in Atlanta where until 2003 he was the owner of the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL, At-lanta Hawks of the NBA and Atlanta Braves of the MLB. Kasten won a world series in 1995 with the Braves. To date, it is his only championship ring in a major sport.

The move to replace Frank McCourt has the organization excited to bounce back from a disappointing 82-79 season last year on a team loaded with sluggers. The move has the team eager to perform for new management that has a great amount of potential.

Johnson described the experi-ence of sitting in the box for the Dodgers 5-3 opening day win against the San Diego Padres as “thrilling”. Johnson went on to talk about taking in the whole experience: “Man, it was fun,” he said. “I was

Athleteof

the Week

Sportshiline.co.nrApril 10, 2012

Power to the browWildcat’s recent basketball success raises questions among experts, coaches and fans

Jeff DanielsStaff Writer

Calipari finally has the gorilla off his back. He’s won his national title. Now he and his young Kentucky phenoms will go and take on the Char-lotte Bobcats in an exhibition game after the end of the NBA regular season to see which team is “top cat.”

Kidding aside, many people that followed college basketball this year had a running joke going the entire season that Kentucky could beat an NBA team. After going 38-2 and blowing by every team they played in the NCAA tournament en route to a 67-59 victory over Kansas in the Championship game, that

running joke became a real thought for many people. It shouldn’t come as a surprise; in a recent NBA 2012 mock draft, the entire starting line-up for Kentucky was picked in the first round, with two in the top three. Anthony Davis, also known as the unibrow guy, was picked number one, while his teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was picked number three.

Great for the kids, right? Well, many critics have come out and called Kentucky a “One-and-done University.” Even a week after the Cham-pionship game’s conclusion, many are bickering and seeth-ing with outrage over the idea that kids can go to college for

one year just to play a sport, disregarding their education in pursuit of their dreams and aspirations of becoming a professional athlete. However, it’s not entirely the student-athlete’s fault. A recent NBA rule states that NBA players must go to college for one year before becoming pro.

This has worked great for Calipari, Kentucky’s head coach, who has brought in two to four of the best freshmen in the country every year for the past couple years, promising that he will make you a better player and get you to be a lottery pick in the upcoming draft. It’s a system that has worked out great for Cali-pari, but he had never won a

championship until this year. The old saying, “Experience beats youth,” didn’t work out this year.

Will this become a trend? Will Calipari continue to rake in the talent and win champi-onships as easily as it seemed for him this year? Should the NBA get rid of their rule on forcing athletic freaks like An-thony Davis to go to college for a year instead of going straight to the NBA, which has happened in the past? Does the name Lebron James ring a bell? Either way, Cali-pari has an excellent business model that has many critics calling it a “travesty” and a “complete façade.” They’ll just keep winning.

The Cedar Falls Women’s soccer team beat Iowa City High 1-0 on Thursday, April 5, in a shootout thanks to the stellar play of Schwickerath.1.What do you do to prepare for a big game? I like to listen to music, talk strat-egy, and have a team prayer.2. What can Tiger fans expect out of the team this sea-son? We’re relatively young, but we’re go-ing to grow as a team, work together and get ourselves to State.3. What are some strong points of the team? We have really good team chemistry and great senior lead-ers.4. What’s your favor-ite music to listen to when getting excited for a game? I’ve had the same playlist since freshman year, it’s just a little bit of everything.

Men’s tennis not sorry for party rocking

At left, junior Roy Ju returns a serve against Waterloo West. At right, junior Greg Powers keeps play alive in his doubles match with Roy Ju. The men will be in action tonight against Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

Laura SchwickerathWomen’s Soccer

Erin Keiser photos

FeatureApril 10, 2012 hiline.co.nr

Rhydian TalbotStaff Writer

Keep calm and circle “C”.On Apr. 14, students

across the country will report to designated centers, pencils sharpened and erasers poised, to take the seminal American College Testing (ACTs). The ACTS came to fruition as an attempt to rival the College Board’s Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Broken into four sections, the ACT tests aptitude and likelihood of collegiate success through assessments in English, math, reading and science, offer-ing an optional writing test for an additional fee. Each section receives a score from one through 36, and each individual score contributes to a formulated average composite.

Offered five or six times throughout the school year, a host of students will sit down and have their basic skills tested for the first time this upcoming Saturday. Many others, however, have chosen to forgo the April testing option and will be assessed after the final school bell has rung this semester. With the

June test date lurking right around the calendar, first-time test-taker Josh Carlo, a junior, decided to get a leg up in the prepara-tion process and took advantage of CF’s own prep classes.

As per years past, the high school offers prep classes chunked into four two-hour sessions that delve into the know-how of the standardized event. Teachers from the core test areas explain the logistics of each test section — num-ber of questions, amount of time, other specificities — and debrief students on material they’ll most likely encounter on the ACTs. A past test is then administered under actual time constraints; once completed, students can check their scores to receive immediate feedback and seek additional help with fuzzy concepts. Along the

way, teachers divulge various tips and tricks to test taking that may help in unexpected ways. Commented Carlo, “apparently, chewing something or having peppermint dur-ing standardized testing improves scores by an average of 10 percent. Who knows if it actually works, but I'd say it's worth a shot.”

Even if this minty advice falls stale, Carlo and all other test takers have the option to retake the tests should they so choose. Senior Beth Kosmicki was one such student, opting to try her hand at the proce-

dure a total of three times. Observing her older brother’s experience with the test, she embarked on her first ACT chal-lenge during sophomore year so that her current geometry les-sons in school would stay fresh in mind during the math portion.

Testing first as a

sophomore gave Kosmicki actual practice and plenty of leeway to retest should she feel so inclined.

And retest she did. After receiving her first scores, Kosmicki’s intrinsic drive to reach her full potential led her to retake the test not once but twice, not stopping until

Students offer tips for success on high stakes standardized test

her personal benchmark had been reached. “Each time I retook the test, I did better. I think it was because I became more familiar and less anxious with the testing process, and I learned more in school, which I could apply,” she said.

Though it proved benefi-cial for the ambitious senior, Kosmicki said she believes retesting applies on a person-to-person basis. “If you are satisfied with your first score, then don’t retest, but if you believe you can do better, then do it. Ultimately, you need to do what will make you happy. When you know that you have tried your hardest, in my opinion, that’s all that really matters.”

Content with his first crack at the ACTs, senior Jesse Streicher ended up retesting in order to tack on a writing score. He received said score and then some, becoming one of only 705 students out of over 1.6 million to score a perfect 36 Composite score in 2011. Crediting the benefits of paying attention in class, Stre-icher urges future test takers to play it cool and trust their teachers’ preparation when it comes time to fill in the circles. “Getting nervous will hurt you. You should have a healthy amount of nerves, but freaking out will get you in the end.”

Lindsey DavisStaff Writer

Trash has become a big problem at Cedar Falls High School in the past year. Mc-Donalds bags, Jimmy John’s cups, Subway napkins and much more have come to coat the school’s parking lots and neighboring yards. There has always been an issue with trash on school grounds, but this year has seen a much worse situation.

“It almost seems like students think it is perfectly acceptable to just throw things on the ground,” Associate Principal TroyBecker said.

Students have complained that there would be no trash situation if there were more trash cans surrounding the school and not filled to the brim all the time. However, the school has already added two new garbage cans to the north lot and has taken to emptying the cans more often.

Not only has the garbage affected school grounds, but it degrades local residents’ homes as well.

“The garbage often ends up blowing into the yards of house’s that are close to the school. We want to be good neighbors to them and keep our property clean so they don’t have to continually clean up our garbage,” Becker said.

The administration has made numerous announce-

ments and has been working with custodians to improve how things get collected. Students have also had the opportunity to shave off de-tention minutes by picking up trash. Student Senate has been throwing around some ideas on how to help the situation.

“We try as an organization to better improve our school, and picking up trash around the grounds helps make our school look more profession-al,” Student Senate President

Jesse Streicher said.Although it is not yet set

in stone, the Senate is trying to create a cleanup day, which would happen on Earth Day. Students in study halls and who have release will have the opportunity to clean up around the school.

Take out wrappers and empty cups are not biodegrad-able, so the administration encourages students to show some pride and keep the cam-pus looking clean and green.

Ultimately, you need to do what will make you happy. When you know that you have tried your hardest ... that’s all that

really matters.— Senior Beth Kosmicki

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School works to clean up trash on grounds

Ellen Gustavson Photo