OSAA 4A Basketball Tournament moves to different location

    When the game clock struck 00:00 in the 4th quarter at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis on Saturday, March 15 at 10:05 PM it not only signaled the end of the game, it also signalled the end of something that had been occurring for 8 years. Gill Coliseum on the campus of Oregon St. Univ. had been the place for the OSAA State Basketball Tournament since 1999. Philomath’s Tournament win on March 15 was the 176th and final 4A Basketball game to be held at this venue, it was also Philomath High School’s first state title win in basketball since 2002.

    Starting in 2015, the OSAA 4A State Basketball Tournament will be held at Liberty High School and Century High School, both in Hillsboro. The OSAA Executive Board made this decision based on venue size and attendance figures. They found that there was no need for such a large venue with low attendance numbers. The Moda Center (Formerly the Rose Garden Arena), where the 6A tournament was held, can hold nearly 20,000 people. Starting next year the 6A tournament will be held at the Chiles Center at the University of Portland which has a capacity of 4,800. Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene at the Univ. of Oregon, where the 5A was held, can hold roughly 12,000 people. Gill Coliseum which has a capacity of 10,000 will be the new site for the 5A tournament in 2015. Liberty HS and Century HS can combined hold 5,200 people. When searching for a location for the 4A tournament Hillsboro School District considered it and later agreed and was willing to sacrifice school on Thursday and Friday of the 3-day tournament, which used to be a 4-day tournament.

    The tournament move should have a great impact on local businesses in the Hillsboro area for the 4A tournament, but also in Corvallis for the 5A tournament depending on what teams are competing. “I think it will have great impacts on both,” said Steve Walker, OSAA Sports & Information Director. There are seven 5A schools within 30 miles of Corvallis which means if all of them compete in the tournament at the same time, which isn’t likely, there won’t be much of an impact on Corvallis businesses because everyone will stay home and eat dinner. However, there will likely be more of a fan turnout due to the short distance. When the 4A tournament was held in Corvallis there were only three 4A schools within 30 miles. Philomath, which is less than 5 miles away, often competed in the tournament which means every time they did there was a large turnout but everyone who came likely didn’t eat out. In Hillsboro there is only one 4A school within 30 miles, Banks is less than 15 miles away, which means there may not be an enormous turnout but the fans who do come will be forced to eat at local restaurants along Cornelius Pass Road in Hillsboro and 185th Avenue.

    Because the OSAA has annual contracts with it’s sites, there is the possibility that a site could be changed after being there for only one year. When asked what would happen if having the 4A tournament in Hillsboro doesn’t work out Steve Walker, who has been with the OSAA for 14 years, said in part “What potentially could happen is, alright the Hillsboro Schools were not big enough for the demand were getting for tickets for 4A. So we’re going to move 4A back to Oregon State, we’ll leave 6A at the Chiles Center, and move the 5A to Portland State who is building a new on-site arena in Downtown Portland.”

    Before 2007 the OSAA did not have 5A and 6A classifications, it only went up to 4A. When Gill Coliseum began hosting tournaments in 1999 it was first the site for the 3A tournament from 1999-2006. In 2007 Gill Coliseum became the site for 4A and the 3A tournament moved to Willamette University in Salem, but since 2011 it has been held in the Coos Bay/North Bend area at Marshfield HS and North Bend HS. The 2A tournament has been held at the Pendleton Convention Center since 1991, starting in 2015 the OSAA will still be holding the 2A tournament in Pendleton but at the Pendleton Convention Center and Pendleton High School making the 4-day tournament a 3-day tournament. The 1A basketball tournament will remain in Baker City at Baker City High School, where it has been also since 1991.

    A notable player who played in the tournament at Gill Coliseum was former NBA player Luke Jackson. When the 3A tournament was held at Gill Coliseum, Luke Jackson helped lead the Creswell Boys to the 2000 OSAA State Championship Game where they would rout Philomath 56-40 to win their 2nd OSAA State Title (1969, they also won in 2004). Luke Jackson, who was a senior in this game, was named the MVP of the game. During his high school career Jackson scored 2,095 points, the 4th most in OSAA history. After his high school career he went on to play for the University of Oregon where he played until 2004. His NBA career began in 2004 and ended in 2011, he played for five different teams. 2000 was also the year that the Philomath Girls won their 3rd OSAA State Title, edging Marist 35-31. That was the first time ever that both Philomath teams played in the title game in the same year.

    This year, there were five schools with both the boys and the girls competing in the tournament, one of those schools was Philomath. This was the first time since 2003 that both Philomath teams competed in the tournament in the same year, the first time ever as a 4A school. The Philomath Girls came into the tournament ranked #3 in the state at the 4A level with only three losses during the regular season. The began the tournament by playing North Valley who they fell to 46-41. That put them in the consolation bracket where they topped La Grande 48-31. Following their consolation win, the PHS Girls advanced to play for 4th or 6th place on championship Saturday at Gill. Unfortunately, the girls had to settle for 6th place after being routed by Henley, 56-36. This was the first time since 2012 that the girls have appeared in the OSAA tournament, but the 4th appearance in the past nine years and 21st since 1984. The Philomath Boys entered their 2nd consecutive tournament appearance ranked #1 in the state at the 4A level, also only three losses during the regular season. The boys began the tournament against North Valley who they edged 44-43. PHS advanced to the semi final round where they topped La Grande 61-52. This sent them to the first state title game for a Philomath team since 2006, when the girls lost to Burns 49-33 at the 3A level. Philomath slid by La Salle Prep 48-39 in the OSAA title game for Philomath’s first title win since 2002, it was the 5th title between the two teams in school history (Girls in ‘86, ‘87, ‘00 Boys in ‘02, ‘14). This was the first time that a Philomath team even appeared in the OSAA title game as a 4A school. The 4A winner on the girls side was Sutherlin defeating La Salle Prep 52-40. It was the second tournament win for the Sutherlin Girls (2008). It was the first time since 1984 that both La Salle teams made it to the title game, both won that year.

    West Linn knocked off Sheldon 67-56 to win 6A Boys title, Oregon City defeated South Medford 57-48 to win Girls 6A title. Boys 5A title won by Jefferson, Portland after defeating Churchill 69-64, Willamette defeated Corvallis 63-54 for Girls 5A state title. At the 3A level, Valley Catholic topped De La Salle North Catholic 62-50 on the boys side, on the girls side Vale routed Valley Catholic 52-36 for win. Irrigon wins Boys 2A title after 42-21 rout of Oakland, Girls 2A won by Regis after edging Western Mennonite 36-29. Columbia Christian topped Horizon Christian, Hood River 68-49 for 1A Boys title win, Girls 1A title won by Condon/Wheeler after 57-52 defeat over Damascus Christian.

LBCC Spanish Website

     Students who visit the LBCC website will find something new and interesting at the upper right hand corner of the page. The link labeled "Espanol" will take you to an all new site designed for Spanish speaking families.
     The Spanish page, which was launched in early February, is part of LBCC's efforts to become a college of choice for Latino students. The Spanish pages are designed to help the parents of Spanish speaking students, not to recruit students. The pages that are identified as Latino Focused are going to be around issues of admissions, student life, tutoring services, etc.
     Javier Cervantes, Director of the Department of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, said "I think it's a great effort for us," when asked if he likes the new Spanish website, "there are some hiccups here and there with regards to grammar and what not but those are all things that we're working on."
     The LBCC Spanish Website was created because of a strategic initiative called "College of Choice" which evolves around the evidence that the Latino community is the fastest growing community in the LBCC service district. "We know that there are a lot of families where English is not spoken at home," said Bruce Clemetson, LBCC's VP of Student Affairs. "The research tells us that in the Latino culture family has a lot of influence about where you go to college."

Journalism Ethics Speech at ACP Convention

     During his speech at the 2014 ACP Convention in San Diego, Chris Ison, Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota, discussed several ways to report stories the right way.
     He began his speech by showing several different slides that were snapshots of front page newspapers from the past. He would show them then ask the audience if they were ethically right. The first slide was one of a newspaper that, on the front page, pictured the Virginia Tech shooter (Seung-Hui Cho who killed 38 people, including himself, in 2007) pointing a gun into the camera lens. Ison asked the audience if they would run that photo. Most said no, some said they would but not on the front page. One audience member said that she would rather run a picture of him looking pathetic rather than powerful because "He shouldn't be depicted as being powerful." Ison responded by saying "He shouldn't be depicted as being powerful? Why not?" The same audience member responded "That encourages other people to do the same thing. If they depict him as being weak and pathetic it most likely wouldn't create a 'copy cat' problem."
     He later showed a slide of the front page of a newspaper that showed a picture of a baby whose body was found in a trash bag in a vacant lot in Detroit. He asked who would run the photo, no one responded and some left the room. After talking about the incident a little bit more he asked the audience why they would not run the photo, one person responded saying that "It's dehumanizing." Ison then said to the audience "Ok, why would you run it?" A different audience member answered "Because it's the story." As he concluded talking about this slide he pointed out an ad on the front page that read "Best Fest for Kids" and mentioned that that probably should have been pulled reminding the audience that "You need to look at the whole page."
     Ison concluded his speech by talking about some principals and values of Journalism. He stated that the central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society. He discussed the Potter Box with is a series of steps to follow to help someone make ethical decisions. It was developed by Ralph B. Potter Jr. who was a professor of social ethics at Harvard Divinity School. The steps are as follows: Define the situation, What values should you apply, What principals should be applied, and What are your loyalties.