Sophomore Student Austin Walker said, “I’m sad Mrs. Stafford is leaving, but I don’t know if I’ll like the new teacher or not.”

Release Time is a Bible study class that takes place during school at Sandy Springs Baptist Church. Stafford will leave soon, and the new teacher will take her place for the rest of the school year. According to Walker, the new teacher has not been determined yet, but will be soon.

Release Time Teacher Megan Stafford said, “It’s bittersweet, I’m that I’m going to be a mother, but I love my students, and I’m sad to leave them.”

On Tuesday, November 22nd, the lunch plan for Tuesdays changed. Instead of burgers from Sonic, the new plan is four different options from Veggies To Go.  All four of these plans have one type of meat, and two vegetables. These plans are $3 each, and one plan will be available each Tuesday.

Director of Operations Sandy Brigmon said, “We chose Veggies To Go because they were in our price range, and they offer home-cooked hot food.”

Sophomore student Logan Byrd said, “They probably thought Sonic was unhealthy, and they probably thought Veggies To Go sounded like a healthy place, because it had veggies in it.”

The first plan is two large chicken tenders, macaroni, and green beans. The second plan is beef macaroni with baked apples and a role. The third plan is two corndogs with applesauce and beans. The fourth plan, which will take place sometime after Christmas break is spaghetti, a roll, and baked apples.

Brigmon said, “We’re trying to keep the price in reach of the students, we don’t gain any money.”

 However, the second plan (beef macaroni with baked apples and a roll) will be taken out of rotation. The first and last plan will rotate instead. This will start on January 10. Wednesdays will also have a hot meatball sub along with the other two choices.

Byrd said, “I think they should keep Sonic, and change Arby’s instead.”

According to veggiestogo.net, they offer meat and two vegetables for $6.50 with a drink and a roll at their restaurant.  The school is offering meat and two vegetables for $3, and with a drink it would be $4, which would be $1.50 cheaper than going to the restaurant.

Brigmon said, “The lunch program is a service we offer that we don’t have to offer… and if anyone has any suggestions I’m open for discussion.”

Around eight protestors spoke out against the government at McPherson Park in Downtown Greenville, South Carolina along with hundreds more in the Occupy Wall Street Movement. More than thirty protestors were at Morgan Square in Spartanburg. There is also a small group of protestors in Charleston. Similar protests are being planned in Columbia, Greenville, and Florence.

On September 17^th, protestors marched on Wall Street shouting out against the government’s financial system. Earlier, protestors planned out their protests on various websites including Facebook and Twitter.  Now there are around 100 cities in the United States that protestors are protesting in and 1,500 cities globally.

History teacher Mark Roberts said, “I think they are protesting a lack of progress for the common man, while the big companies continue to prosper, CEO’s fly their private jets and our government gets all kinds of fringe benefits while the common man must go without necessities.”

According to The New York Times, the Occupy Wall Street Protestors have many different demands. Many are protesting against the rich, while others are protesting about economic problems such as college loans or health care prices.

Sophomore Isaac Abee said, “The protestors are having problems staying alive, they want a chance to live normally.”

According to The New York Times, during the first day of protesting, three people were found protesting inside Bank of America on Broadway and Liberty Street. Two of them were arrested, and the third got away. There are also protestors committing violent acts while protesting. Some protestors are only protesting for the excitement of protesting.

Sophomore Brittany Gilliland said, “I think they have a point, but some don’t know what they’re doing.”

Sophomore Gil Gonzales said, “I know they’re angry, but they’re directing their anger at the wrong thing.”

According to Yahoo News, George Soros, one of the richest men in America, may be financing the protestors. However, according to Yahoo News, the protestors and Soros deny that they are working together. Soros has financed protestors in Canada before the Occupy Wall Street Movement, and many people think he is financing the protestors today.

Roberts said, “I’d say they’re protesting because other methods have not worked. I think that they believe that these protests may be able to grow into something bigger or better in dealing with the change that they are looking for.”

Gonzales said, “The only other way to fix their issue, is if they win a political position, and they want instant gratification.”

Other countries also have protests over similar problems. Greece, which is one of many countries involved in the protests, has some violent protestors.

Roberts said, “Violence and humanity go hand in hand. When people are protesting – saying they don’t like something, then feelings get hurt, people get angry, and violence ensues.”

According to OccupyWallStreet.org, many of the protestors feel like the wealthy 1 percent is writing the rules for the other 99 percent. Their website also says their movement is inspired by popular movements in Egypt and Tunisia.   

Abee said, “It’s part of the American dream to have the chance to be wealthy.”

Sophomore Austin Walker said, “I think the release date is a coincidence.”

According to CNN, the Nook Tablet has popular applications such as Angry Birds or Scrabble. It also has Netflix and Hulu Plus. There will be over 2.5 million books available. It also has the ability to browse the internet. However, the major purpose of the Nook Tablet is to read books.

Walker said, “I have a regular Nook, and it’s great.”

The Nook Tablet has a 7 inch color touchscreen which can display colors. It has the operating system of a customized version of Google Android. The battery can last for 11.5 hours of reading, or 9 hours of video. It has 16 gigabytes of storage, and 16 gigabytes of RAM. It weighs 14.1 ounces.

Brashier Middle College Systems Administrator Geoff Getty said, “BlackBerries send and receive emails on their own network, and that’s why BlackBerry users were affected, but not other smartphone users.”

Due to this outage many customers have complained on blogs. Some say they may buy a different phone from a different company. Workers apologized, but avoided answering questions about how they would please their customers.

Getty said, “Research In Motion claims the outage was due to a core networking switch failure in Europe, which caused a massive backlog of emails, and eventually crashed their global network.”

Free applications include: Sims3, Bejeweled, Bubble Bash 2, N.O.V.A., Shazam Encore, and more. Business customers will receive a free month of technical support. Some customers were excited about free applications, but others were far from impressed.

RIM says it found out that the outage was caused by a core switch failure, not by hacking. The backup switch also failed, which was unusual because it succeeded when they tested it. The outage focused on internet services and texting, not calling.

Getty said, “This was the worst BlackBerry outage yet, lasting 3 days for most affected users.  Most data services on users’ phones were interrupted – email, Internet access, etc, however users were still able to place and receive calls.”

Simpsonville Assistant Police Chief Colleen O’Neil said, “Although the entire country was on elevated alert status, there were no indications that the City of Simpsonville faced any imminent threat of terrorist activity during 9/11. Obviously, there could have been something undetected that was planned and that could happen any day. For that reason we stay vigilant in our efforts and investigate anything that appears suspicious or ‘out of place.’”

There are different possibilities why the country didn’t have another attack. Some people think it would have been too predictable, and others think it’s due to Osama bin Laden’s death.

Sophomore student Will Dodson said, “We’ve shown them that you can’t mess with America.”

O’Neil   said, “I think the terrorists would know we were on ‘high alert’, and that would cause them to lose their surprise element of their attack.”

Extra security around the country included extra police officers and firefighters as well as military surveillance. Borders, airways, airports, subways, and areas where large groups of people gather had extra security.

O’Neil said, “I think domestic terrorists would have been the more likely suspects that we’d face during the anniversary of 9/11. They can create just as much problems as foreign terrorists. The terrorist would most likely target something that would impact a large number of people or something that would shock the conscience of a society like a school or daycare.”

In an investigation, police officers would usually search for packages that are left unattended, someone that looks suspicious, people on a watch list, and more. According to the Simpsonville Police Department, police officers would use resources to gain intelligence about a situation, and be swift and thorough in acting when danger is imminent.

O’Neil said, “I think it’s important for everyone to live free and enjoy liberties that we Americans have, but be aware of the things that threaten our freedom and way of life in general.”

“I thought it went well for all the work we did,” says Abercrombie, “we ended up just taking donations and doing a bake sale.”

With the success of their first fundraiser, what are the sophomores planning to do next?

“We don’t know what’s next,” says Abercrombie, “but we might do another one later on down the road.”

Sophomore Logan Byrd said, “My goal is to learn how to make a robot.”

This year students will pick a goal that they want to work on in Project Command throughout the school year. This goal could be related to technology, or almost anything else. Students will be able to work on this goal the entire school year and can get help from other students in Project Command.

Sophomore Will Kelly said, “I want to learn C++ scripting or how to make a video game.”

Video game lock-ins will most likely continue like last year. There may be other activities this year as well, depending on what can be approved.

Byrd said, “I think we should do plenty of lock-ins this year.”

Students may also run basic updates on computers in the Media Center, computer labs, and laptop carts. This may count as service hours for each student that does this.

Kelly said, “I think it’s a good idea to get service hours for updating computers.”

The meeting on September nineteenth was about how students at Brashier could use technology to prepare for college. It also covered ways people use technology now.

Donald Trump, one of the richest men in America with a net worth of 2.7 Billion dollars (CBSnews.com) was really thinking about going for the most powerful position you can have in this country. Though he never made it official, many people thought that he would. Although he’s not running he said that “…if I was to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election.” http://www.washingtonpost.com   
“I thought it would have been good,” Says sophomore Rachael Arnold.

Teacher Rosemary Abecrombie agrees. “We needed a businessman who knows what he’s talking about”.

But other people aren’t so sure.

“I’m not a big fan of him” says Freshman Gill Gonzalez. “I think he would be a better financial advisor instead of president”.

 But, everyone agrees on one thing, he’s a businessman, and that would affect the economy, a lot.

“He would find ways to put more money in the economy,” says Freshman Isacc Abee

“I think that he would be good with the finances part of it,” says senior Ben Voss.

“He would help us get the economy back on track,” says Abecrombie.

He’s good with money,” says Arnold, “that would really help with the debt.”

And with that money, he could have really done well with campaigning. CBS news said that if he had run, he would have spent $600 million of his own money on his campaign which would have given him a good head start over some of the other people.

“Hey it’s his money,” says Gonzalez.

“He has it, why not use it?” says Abecrombie.

But, many people think, what would have been his bad side if he had run? What thing could have made him not as popular?

“He might make America too capitalist,” says Abee.

“He could make a lot of other countries angry,” says Voss.

 But, when you think about, every person has their strengths and weaknesses. He could have had a really good political vice president. But, I guess the country will never know what he would have done or who he would have had as his vice president because, at least for 2012, he’s not going to try.

photo courtesy of taftmatney.com

Public relations specialist Taft Matney Jr. visited the Journalism class on Thursday, May fifth during second period. He discussed his job in public relations, as well as what a person could do in public relations. Matney also discussed the importance of honesty and building relationships.

 Matney said, “You have to work hard to build relationships. Relationships- build them, trust them.”

Matney explained how the real world is different than what professors teach about in college. He told students the purpose of going to college is to get a degree to do their job. To him college was about getting a degree in order to be able to get a job.

Matney said, “You’re going to college to get the piece of paper.”

Matney explained that public relations is used to send story ideas to journalists and news reporters. Public relations workers are paid to make sure issues are heard. While journalism is unbiased, public relations can be completely biased. Matney also explained that a public relations worker needs to be honest and have integrity.

Matney said, “Make sure people always think you’re credible.”

Near the end of his message, Matney told the students that his main message is to build relationships and to have honesty and integrity.

Matney said, “Why not get paid to tell people how you think and feel?”