Scheduled to be open daily from 6 a.m to 9 p.m. and until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, many of Olive’s redesigns and additions will benefit students looking for a convenient place to study or hang out from morning to night. Available after 11 a.m., the lunch and evening menu will feature flat-bread pizzas, sandwiches, soups and many other items. Breakfast will be offered from 6 a.m. until 11 a.m., and a selection of beverages including espresso, tea, local and imported wines and beer on tap will be served all day.

“We want this to be a place where people can gather with friends to study or just hang out for a while,” said Maccarone. “We’ve added a bunch of new furniture upstairs, so you can get a large group of people together to study or enjoy some beer and pizza.”

Olive’s upper level will feature a carpeted, well-lit lounge area furnished with new sofas, love seats and a conference table in accommodation of students needing a large space to study or meet in groups.

The refurbished second floor, explains Maccarone, is one of many renovations and aesthetic touch-ups builders have made in anticipation of Olive’s unveiling next month. He and Crenshaw have reconfigured the kitchen and added more counter seating, built a new raised seating area on the main floor and created a new wine department and tasting area. The café’s overall look and atmosphere will not undergo a drastic change, said Maccarone.

“People are worried we’re going to transform Merchants into this up-scale, pricey place,” said Maccarone. “We’re not changing Merchants; we’re just making it better. We’re repainting and finishing the café, fixing doors and adding new restrooms, but Olive will still have the same casual atmosphere.”

In addition to its new hours and expanded menu, Olive will add to its predecessor’s services by offering in-house and carry-out dining as well as retailing a variety of ingredients from the café’s marketplace.

“We make everything from scratch at T. Maccarone’s, and we’re excited to now retail many of these products for our customers to use in their own kitchens,” said Crenshaw. “We’ll offer fresh pastas and our signature sauces, house-cured meats and sausages, and even fresh seafood and local cuts of meats. Olive will be an amazing resource for any home cook.”

For those loyal to Merchants’ sandwich and lunch foods, Olive’s reformulated bill of fare will supplement selections from T. Maccarone’s established lunch and breakfast menus with new sandwiches, pizzas and other foods.

“From students, to local businesses, to people picking up meals for home, Olive will offer something for everyone,” said Maccarone. “It’s going to be really cool.”

Gabriel Cantu Leija of 613 Fern Avenue was taken into custody about 1:30 p.m. after SWAT team members raided his house, and is being held at the Walla Walla County Jail on accusation of first-degree robbery, The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin reports.

The robbery occurred about 10:40 a.m. and resulted in the lock-down of four local schools, including Edison Elementary, Berney Elementary, Sharpstein Elementary and Pioneer Middle School.  Police say Leija entered the bank with a fake gun and demanded money, leaving with more than $1,300.

“It’s really a great way to get people thrilled about Christmas and is the kick off to the holiday season in Walla Walla,” said Greer Buchanan, assistant director of the museum.

Complete with a clanking steam radiator and a handsome staircase, the Victorian Era home proudly wears its Christmas garlands.

Aside from decorations the house is preparing for live bands, carol singing led by City Council Member Barbara Clark and homemade treats. Community volunteers who had attended the event previously all commented on the desserts; especially a peanut brittle that is supposed to the best.

“That’s the rumor anyways,” said Buchanan who, although born and raised in Walla Walla, will be attending Victorian Christmas for the first time.

Fred and Sally Kearsley were active helpers in preparing for the Christmas party. Mrs. Kearsley, the current president of the Kirkman House board of directors, was a ready decorator while Mr. Kearsley prepared himself to play a Santa Claus garbed in green, not red.

“We’re not placing an age limit on Saint Nicholas,” said Buchanan.

June McKenzie and her son David McKenzie, recent arrivals to Walla Walla, helped set up the tree.

“I have a good friend who always volunteers for the Kirkman House and she told us about the event,” said June McKenzie. “It’s a beautiful place to be doing something like this in.”

The Kirkman House, located on 214 N. Colville St., was built in the 1880s. It was donated to Whitman College in 1919 where it served as a dorm for first-year boys. After that, it was as an apartment building for the Walla Walla community but soon fell into disrepair. The building was to be torn down but is currently being restored due to the formation of a Historical Architecture Development Corporation.

“I had the kids scrubbing on their hands and knees,” said Beverly Filla, a volunteer for the house. In the past year and a half, she brought in Whitman students to scrub the floors and bring back its original shine.

Though Victorian Christmas is a popular event, many are unaware of it.

“You’d be amazed how many Walla Wallans don’t know about this place,” she said.

With all the efforts of the many volunteers and the continuously praised board members, the event is readying itself to bring new attendees this year.

Victorian Christmas will be held this Saturday, Dec. 5, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Emily Lorente '11, who developed the College Coaches program set to begin spring semester at Whitman, poses in Penrose Library. Credit: Bullion

Already this year, Whitman students have adopted grandparents, become storytellers and mentored local elementary school kids. Now, thanks to junior Emily Lorente, they’ll also have the opportunity to be college coaches at Walla Walla High School.

“[The students] have a lot of potential to seek higher education but some need support,” Lorente said.

Lorente became interested in starting the College Coaches program after being an RA with the Whitman Institute for Summer Enrichment, a program which reaches out to local middle school students and helps them begin to prepare for college. She had a great experience, but also saw that the summer enrichment program lacked the resources to follow up with students during their time in high school after the program ended.

“It was kind of like, ‘Have a good four years!’” she said.

College Coaches aims to offer that missing support by working directly with Walla Walla High students in a group mentoring capacity. The program will start as a pilot during spring semester and will work with the existing Achievement Via Individual Determination program at the school. Each Whitman volunteer will be assigned three students to mentor.

Lina Menard, the community service coordinator, has been working with Lorente on getting the program started, and says if it’s successful in its first semester, it could be incorporated into the community service office next fall.

“I think it’s really neat that we’re working to develop a connection between Walla Walla High School students and Whitman students that is academically focused,” said Menard.

Both Menard and Lorente feel the program will allow Whitman students to work with a new group in the Walla Walla community.

“It was something I felt was kind of lacking at Whitman,” said Lorente. “There are [programs with] little kids and there are [programs with] old people, but there’s nothing with high school-aged kids.”

Mentoring college-bound students has already proven effective in other schools which have similar programs. The Seattle School District’s College Access Now program pairs parents and AmeriCorps volunteers with low-income, first-generation, college-bound juniors and seniors at three high schools. The volunteers help students look at schools, edit essays and apply for scholarships.

Walla Walla High School senior Denali Molitor said she believes the program will have a positive impact on the school.

“It’s good to see people who are in college—it makes it more visible,” she said.

Molitor is enrolled in two Whitman classes—calculus and Spanish—and is preparing to apply to several colleges this winter. She says that her school has a large achievement gap.

“You usually don’t have classes with people of lower economic status,” she said. “It feels completely different when you’re in an AP class or a regular class.”

Molitor estimates that out of last year’s graduating class, about 100 students went to Walla Walla Community College, about 200 went to four-year schools, and about 100 found a job or joined the military.

Although life for many Walla Walla students is different than what most Whitman students grew up with, Molitor feels that College Coaches will foster an important connection between the two groups.

“I think any help is good help,” she said. “If [the schools] stay separate, it doesn’t help anything.”

Associate Professor of Education Kay Fenimore-Smith has agreed to help Lorente with training for the program. She agrees that the divide between the experiences of Whitman students and Walla Walla students can be bridged.

“If you’re aware of stepping back, understanding that you’re there to mentor and learn and that you don’t have all the answers, that makes your approach very different.” she said.

Lorente hopes the program will inspire Walla Walla High School students by showing them that going to college is a possibility.  She encourages interested Whitman students to come talk to her about getting involved.

“We’re looking for anyone who wants to be involved in the community and have a good relationship with high school kids,” Lorente said.

Photos by Bullion

It’s Wednesday night, and a woman is standing in a dark coffee shop receiving a revelation from God. Her eyes are closed and the words coming out of her mouth are full of fire as she describes her spiritual conviction. Her name is Lijuana Freeman, and she has come to an open poetry reading at Coffee Perk in downtown Walla Walla to share a piece of herself with a crowd of strangers.

“I like these kinds of venues,” she said. “Everyone can come as they are and share in their own way.”

This philosophy of inclusion has drawn a diverse crowd of people to the weekly poetry readings, which are put on by Humanists for Equality. H4E is a nonprofit founded by Walla Walla residents Jade Fenton and Clinton Sweeney to address a wide variety of social issues.

“It started with the idea that Walla Walla needs a music venue,” said Fenton. “We just ended up coupling that with other things that we cared about.”

Along with the weekly readings at Coffee Perk, H4E has been providing free hot meals to the public every other Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Heritage Square Park. Fenton says the purpose of these events is both to provide a community gathering space as well as meals for those who might not otherwise be able to eat.

“We really believe that people should have access to food without strings attached,” she said. “They shouldn’t have to listen to prayers or a particular speech just to get a meal.”

Ultimately H4E aims to get a community center started in Walla Walla, to provide a place for youth to hang out and hold events, without any political or religious agenda.

“People are a little blown away at first that we don’t have ulterior motives,” said Fenton. “They’re like, ‘What church are you from?’”

Whitman senior Josi Kerr is H4E’s treasurer. She heard about the organization from Fenton, who works with her at the Safeway on Rose Street.

“It seemed like a really good idea,” Kerr said.

Kerr lives in an off-campus apartment with her husband and works up to twenty-five hours a week in addition to a full class schedule, facts which set her apart from most Whitman students. She feels that many Whitman students are disconnected from the realities of life in Walla Walla.

“I think the Whitman bubble is about being oblivious to what’s going on outside,” she said. “It’s great that Whitman students have such a sense of community, but it’s not the real world.”

Kerr hopes to play a mentoring role in H4E’s future community center. Coming from a lower-income background, she wants to show local students that college is a possibility.

“I think it’s important for kids to know their opportunities,” she said. “College isn’t for everybody, but there’s something better than what these kids are given.”

H4E’s Youth Committee leader, Sandra Marim, agreed that Walla Walla’s youth often face a lack of options.

“There’s a lot of teens that I know who are sleeping on park benches,” she said. Marim attends Walla Walla High School, but focuses her outreach efforts on Lincoln High School, which is an alternative high school program. She believes H4E is able to provide resources for young people in a way that the city can’t.

“I’ve been out on the streets,” she said. “I don’t want to get caught by the police, taken to juvie and have my mom blamed for it.”

While they work on getting a location for a community center, H4E will continue to hold events for anyone interested in making a connection with other people.

“This is a forum where anybody can spit who they are and what makes the world go ‘round,” said Sweeney at the poetry reading last Wednesday. True to this mission, the poems shared ranged from homemade elegies to pieces by Pablo Neruda, and everything in between.

Kerr believes this type of connection is important.

“Get to know the people you’re living with for four years,” she said. “A lot of Whitman students don’t.”

Credit: Sloane

If representatives from each of Walla Walla’s three colleges have their way, the region will soon be transformed by an energy revolution. This, at least, is the hope of Walla Walla University physics professor Fred Liebrand. Liebrand is working on a community solar project which will unite Whitman, WWU and Walla Walla Community College in a venture to generate renewable energy.

“It just seemed like a very good idea that could help everyone,” said Liebrand. His idea is to solicit investments from community members and alumni of all three schools, which would be used to purchase a solar energy system.

“The idea is to allow people from the community in—people who couldn’t afford to put solar panels on their own homes,” said junior Nat Clarke, president of Whitman’s Campus Greens. Clarke is enthusiastic about the project and says Whitman only found out about it this fall.

“The school’s current involvement is cautiously interested but not actually engaged,” he said.

Clarke, along with Professor of Geology Bob Carson and the Whitman Conservation Committee, is in the process of determining how Whitman can become involved in the project.

Liebrand says that for both WWU and WWCC, the project would provide technical training for students who are studying engineering and other related fields. The goal of the project would be for students to do the actual system installation themselves.

“Whitman may rely more on the goodwill of its students,” he said, referring to the fact that Whitman has no technical programs. Nevertheless, he feels that installing a solar system would be a valuable experience for Whitman students.

“Knowing how things are put together is always valuable,” he said.

In addition to the logistical details, a major aspect of the project has been determining its financial viability. Installing a functional solar energy system is expensive, costing about $5,000 per kilowatt. One kilowatt will generate about $85 worth of energy in a year, so government incentives are key for the project to work.

Currently, the federal government will subsidize the installation of solar systems by giving a 30 percent tax credit on the cost of the entire system once it is installed. Washington also has a program in place to pay per kilowatt hour of energy generated. Community solar projects are eligible for double the rate residential projects can receive, and if the project uses solar panels made in Washington, the total incentive is up to $1.08 per kilowatt hour.

Though these incentives might seem high, Carson points out that it makes sense for the government to invest in solar energy.

“New power facilities are expensive, and we’re also getting clean air,” he said.

Carson said he’s communicating with the other colleges involved in the project to determine how they can move forward. The cooperation of local governments and utilities will be important, as will the participation of all three schools.

Whitman junior Ari Frink also sees an opportunity for the Network for Young Walla Walla to get involved in the project. The network was founded this year so that WWU, WWCC and Whitman students can work together on projects and share ideas.

“Once we find out what a solid role for the network could be within the solar project, I’ll bring it up,” he said.

Currently, the project’s future is still being determined. In spite of the logistical obstacles, Clarke believes the project can succeed.

“I’m really excited about this project,” he said. “If it gets through, it’s going to be the next big green thing on campus.”

Credit: von Hafften

As winter approaches, the Walla Walla Farmers’ Market draws to a close. The last market will be this Saturday, Oct. 31, and with the exception of the Holiday Market in December, fresh and local produce will not grace the streets of downtown on weekend mornings until May.

The growers and farmers that sell their goods remain positive at the end of the year, despite the economic downturn.

“It’s been a good season. Sales are down a little bit, but overall, we’re doing very well,” said Ron Courson, president and founder of the new Walla Walla Valley Farmers’ Market three years ago.

“Overall, we’ve had a good year. We’re down a little bit in revenue, but some of our sales in produce are actually up,” said Beth-Aimee McGuire, the market’s executive director.

Vendors have also found this season to be a positive one.

“It’s been a good summer,” vendor Antoinette LaRondelle said. “Very multicultural. We have had people come from all over. I also love to have Whitman students and their families. We have had hot days and cold days, but it’s been fun. “

LaRondelle feels like the economy has slightly affected the market, but not enough for any permanent damage.

“I felt the economy downturn in the middle, in July and August,” she said. “This could have been just because it was hot, but at least it has picked up again recently. People are being more frugal with their money, but other than that, things are well.”

LaRondelle also believes that the green movement has helped the market by encouraging people to shop locally.

“I hope the local movement has helped us,” she said. “People are becoming more conscious of going green and going local, and of course the fact that I use most everything in the summer from local growers encourages people to buy more local food. We also have active co-op groups, which are going well.”

Vendor Michael Locati also believes that the economy has helped the Farmers Market by encouraging people to be more conscious.

“More people probably don’t go out to eat as much, so we get more people to come out here,” he said. “We see a shift in sales from restaurants to local individuals. Once you get established down here and start making products, people ask about us, so we start growing. It takes time for the market to adapt, but we have made certain changes.”

For example, Locati said that this is the first time he has brought squash to the market, to see what varieties people prefer.

“We’ve also seen a lot more of young mother canning going on this year, which has helped the farmers,” Courson said.

A current challenge is growing the market on Sundays. While Saturdays are busy, fewer vendors and cusomters come on Sundays.

“We would like to see the market keep growing, especially on Sundays,” LaRondelle said. “That’s my biggest concern. We have good attendance of vendors and people on Saturday, but Sundays are so slow. We would like people to come here on Sundays for breakfast so that we can feed them.”

Courson is glad to see the market doing well despite the economic downturn and is looking forward to a new season in the spring.

“A lot of us farmers have seen the progress in the market,” Courson said. “So we are growing more and more berries to meet the customers’ demands, and other farmers are growing a lot more too.”

“The work that Pedro has been doing is groundbreaking,” said Grant. “[Latinos] haven’t been reached out to in the past.”

The debate began with an opening statement from each candidate, followed by both preplanned and audience questions. The issues addressed ranged from support for bilingual education programs to enforcement of laws regarding employment for agricultural workers.

“I am open to suggestions and recommendations from all of you,” said Nealey.

Further, Nealey stated that his campaign has been trying to reach out to Latino voters since the beginning, but has sometimes found it difficult.

Neither candidate identified any of the problems they talked about as specifically Latino issues.

“Latinos are like anyone else—they want to live the American Dream,” said Nealey.

Although both candidates discussed farm labor and workers rights, they did not speak directly to how these issues affect Latinos in Walla Walla.

“I wish they’d talked more about employment,” said community member Maria Bahena. “There aren’t a lot of jobs here.”

Bahena said that while she agreed with both candidates’ view that Latinos care about the same issues as everyone else, she felt the debate did not address the issue of political access for Latinos.

“We have lots of needs and we don’t know where to go for help,” she said, speaking about the language barrier that keeps many Latinos from accessing social services.

Galvao felt that the event was successful, particularly since the candidates took questions from the audience.

“I’m glad that they were able to put themselves in a position to have half the questions be things that they weren’t prepared for,” he said.

The reaction from community members in attendance was overall very positive.

“I liked it because it was the first time I’d been to a political debate,” said Bahena. “I had an idea what it meant to be a Democrat or Republican, but I learned what each party’s specific goals were.”

The stated goals of both candidates were fairly similar. Each spoke about the importance of fiscal responsibility, promoting business, supporting agriculture and improving education. Nealey also said that balancing the budget in Olympia and keeping an eye on taxes were crucial steps in fixing the state. Grant mentioned attracting manufacturing firms to the Walla Walla Valley area, including solar panel manufacturers.

Galvao ended the debate by reminding those present that voting on election day is an important step in becoming more involved in politics. According to Galvao, about 1,600 Latinos are registered to vote in Walla Walla, but less than 100 actually voted in the last election.

Galvao also emphasized that although voting is important, people unable to vote can still have a voice.

“Speak to [the candidates] about issues that concern you,” he said.

Grant emphasized that she is there to represent everyone, including undocumented immigrants.

“We need to let them know that they do have a voice and it’s important to utilize it,” she said.

Mentees arm wrestle at last February’s Mentees to Campus Day. The annual event, which lets the mentees come to their mentor’s school, also features mini golf, fishing for prizes, and popcorn. Credit: Norman

Sophomore Mary Allain is excited to return to her mentor this week.

“I can’t wait to see how she’s doing,” said Allain, who will be mentoring the same student again this year.

About 165 student mentors spend one lunchtime each week at one of Walla Walla’s elementary or middle schools. According to statistics collected by MENTOR, a national philanthropy project, children with mentors are less likely to have attendance problems and abuse substances and are more likely to attend college.

“We have a lot of great mentors but it just never is enough for how many mentees there are,” said senior Molly Carroll. Carroll is one of two student mentor interns, along with senior Enrica Maffucci.

For the past week Carroll and Maffucci have worked diligently to match mentor applicants to mentees from the six local public elementary schools and the two middle schools.

The children are suggested to the mentor program by either an intervention specialist or a teacher for various reasons, including learning disorders and issues at home.

“We all make a really big difference,” Allain said.

The ultimate decision to have a mentor rests with the child. Most are eager to have someone to look up to.

“The intervention specialist at Sharpstein [Elementary School] would get notes from students saying that they want a mentor,” said Carroll.

Allain’s relationship with her mentee has become very close. Once a week she goes to the local school to spend time with her mentee during lunch break.

A mentee selects a prize from the prize booth at last year’s Mentees to Campus Day. Credit: Norman

“She eats her lunch so fast so that we can go out on the playground,” Allain said.

To form a strong relationship took time. When Allain first met her mentee at the beginning of last year, she felt that her visits took away from time her mentee could be spending with other children. A few months later, Allain found that her persistence paid off.

“She started to really confide in me about things that were happening in her life,” said Allain. “She always has this big smile on her face when I come, even if she was having a bad day.”

Allain has been able to watch her mentee grow more self-confident.

One week out of the school year it is the mentees that travel to Whitman. The mentor-mentee pairs spend time at the Mentees to Campus Day carnival celebration held in Reid Campus Center.

Carroll describes the mentors as the “celebrities on campus” at the local schools.

The Mentor Program is no longer accepting applications for this semester but may re-open applications in the spring semester.

Credit: Van Neste

If you ask a typical Whitman student how they participate in the political process, they’ll probably tell you that they vote. Voting seems a fairly simple and straightforward way of influencing government, but what if the candidates don’t speak your language, you can’t read the ballot and no one’s talking about the issues that matter to you? With these questions in mind, Whitman junior Ariel Ruiz and senior Pedro Galvao organized a forum for the Latino community in Walla Walla to discuss issues surrounding Latino voting.

“The Latino voice isn’t heard,” said Galvao.

According to him, Latinos are 20 percent of Walla Walla’s population, but cast only 2 percent of the votes.

“It’s important to change this, because there’s a lot of power in participation,” he said.

The forum was held on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009 at St. Patrick’s church, the only church in Walla Walla which offers services in Spanish. About 150 members of the community attended and participated in a roundtable discussion of issues facing the Latino community.

Originally, four Latino politicians from eastern Washington were scheduled to come, but all canceled at the last minute due to emergency conflicts.

“They think ‘Latinos don’t vote, so maybe change isn’t important to them,’” said Refugio Reyes, advisor for Walla Walla High School’s Club Latino. “If you don’t vote, you won’t be a priority.”

Instead of hearing from Latino politicians, community members spoke about the obstacles facing Latinos who want to vote. Several people said that they would vote if they could access voting materials in Spanish.

“Everything comes down to the fact that we lack information,” said sophomore Aaron Aguilar, president of Whitman’s Club Latino.

Galvao and Ruiz are trying to combat this lack of information. They are currently organizing a debate between Laura Grant and Terry Nealey, the candidates for the 16th district’s seat in the state House of Representatives. The event is scheduled to be held on the weekend of Oct. 17 and 18 and will be translated into Spanish.

For many people at the meeting, voting goes hand-in-hand with solving other challenges facing the Latino community.

“Education is one of the most important things,” said Imelda Rovoles, a Walla Walla resident.

However, access to higher education for Latinos is often limited, since undocumented students are usually ineligible for financial aid.

“Whitman offers aid to undocumented immigrants, but the majority of schools don’t do this,” said Aguilar.

The DREAM Act, currently before Congress, would change this by allowing undocumented students to apply for aid.

Other community members spoke about problems with management at work, such as being forced to work through breaks. Galvao encouraged people to speak up if they are treated unfairly.

“The law applies to everyone, even undocumented immigrants. The government is here to help us,” he said.

For some, though, the reality is not so simple.

“The laws are equal, but they’re not applied equally,” said Rovoles. “There’s a big difference.”

In spite of these challenges, hope seemed to dominate the discussion. Many people asked what they could do to get involved and who they could talk to about specific concerns. Many more promised to vote.

“When it’s time to vote, I will vote for those who can’t vote,” said Louis Gonzales, a Walla Walla resident. His proclamation was followed by a burst of applause.

Galvao and Ruiz hope to have more events which will mobolize the Latino community and increase political participation. Judging from the enthusiastic chant of “¡Si se puede!” which ended the meeting, they appear to be well on their way.

“We need to maintain what we’ve got,” said Christina Stamper, a small business owner. Stamper was able to gather 50 signatures on a petition to not cut services.

She is a full time student at Walla Walla Community College and says that her family uses Valley Transit to get to school and work.

The board reached its decision after holding two public hearings last week. According to Dick Fondahn, the Valley Transit general manager, public opinion was overwhelmingly in favor of leaving the system unchanged until a public vote on the proposed sales tax increase.

“We feel that there’s evidence of enthusiastic support in the Campaign for Valley Transit,” said Fondahn.

The Board also passed a motion to recommend that the sales tax increase be put on the ballot. If approved by the county auditor, the measure will appear on the ballot on February 9, 2010. The citizens of Walla Walla will be able to vote on a sales tax increase of .03% to fund valley transit.

In spite of concerns over the viability of a tax increase during a recession, board members remain hopeful.

“Valley Transit takes people to work. It takes customers to businesses. It takes kids to school,” said board member Barbara Clark. “I think the costs of not having Valley Transit operating at the level it’s currently operating at would be so much greater [than the tax].”

The board’s decision is effectively a gamble on that issue. If voters don’t approve the tax increase, Fondahn says services will have to be cut even more deeply in March 2010. The primary impact would be on Route 9, which would be eliminated entirely if the tax increase is rejected by voters.

However, the Campaign for Valley Transit organizers are confident that they can generate enough community support to see the tax raise through.

“We’re happy the board took such a long view of things,” said Norm Osterman, a volunteer for the group. As for next steps, Osterman said the group would work on campaign strategy and generating contributions.

Whether Valley Transit can continue to operate at full service levels is now up to voters. In the meantime, those who depend on Valley Transit will have to work hard to ensure its future.

For some parents, though, keeping their kids home was preferable to having them watch the 15 minute speech, which the President gave on Tuesday, Sept. 8 at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va.

The Walla Walla School District left the decision of whether to show the speech to individual  teachers. “There were some parents who had some issues,” said Green Park Elementary School principal Mike Lambert. “They were concerned that it would be used as a propaganda tool.”

Lambert said that many parents were worried by the Department of Education’s suggested lesson plan for the speech, which included having students write a letter saying what they could do to support the president. Although this plan was later revised, many conservatives took it as evidence that Obama was trying to promote a political agenda.

Devin Duran, who has children at Sharpstein Elementary School and Pioneer Middle School, said that she understood why some parents were concerned, but felt that many of the President’s critics were “very rude and disrespectful.” She added, “If it’s something that’s going to help the kids, then it should be shown in class.” Her son, who attends Sharpstein, said he watched the speech in class and thought it was good.

Lambert allowed parents to opt-out of having their students watch the speech, but said overall reactions were positive. Jack Mehn, Assitant Principal of Pioneer Middle School, said that Pioneer did not require parent permission for students to watch the speech. Mehn felt that the speech was “a great message for all” and said he received no negative reactions to it.

Principal Lambert agreed that the speech was contained an important message about staying in school and working hard. “It’s the same thing I tell kids everyday,” he said.

At least 36 trained volunteers will be placed into three local elementary and middle schools to teach students about the environment, various climate issues and what they can do to personally make a difference. Each lesson will last approximately an hour and will be during the weeks of April 6-10, April 13-17 and April 20-25. 

With the help of the National Forest Service at Fort Walla Walla the Campaign put together a curriculum that incorporates lesson plans from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and addresses national learning standards. 

The three main points of the curriculum are “getting across basic scientific understanding of climate change, talking about carbon footprints and finishing with tangible things the kids can do,” said Elena Gustafson, Campaign organizer and founder of the Youth Adventure Program. 

“We are going to have a lot of discussions with the kids, scientific experiments and other activities to bring these points home.”

Gustafson feels it is important to bring these lessons specifically to elementary and middle school students. “First of all, it’s important for Whitman students to be a part of the greater Walla Walla community and to have a positive impact on kids in this area,” said Julia Lakes, Campaign organizer and leader of the Environmental Education for Kids Club. 

“In addition, these kids have never been exposed to the majority of the material we are presenting and I think if we are going to slow down climate change or at least live more responsibility, it is going to come from the youth.” 

The Cool the Schools Campaign will provide a forum for children to discuss what the adult media so often portrays as “doom and gloom” scenarios. 

“Kids need to have the chance to talk about climate change and have a space to discuss their fears,” said Gustafson. “I mean, I’ve worked with 5 year olds who, unprompted, ask questions about why the earth is sick and what climate change is going to do to them.”

“If our kids, who are scared and suffering because of a lack of time in nature and fear of these big abstract problems, are not educated, we are going to run into bigger problems in the future,” said Gustafson.  

She hopes that with these lessons, the program will create an atmosphere of learning. Students will be able to get their questions answered and will start caring more about the environment they live in. In addition, she hopes they will come away with constructive things they can do at home and at school to help.

Gustafson acknowledges that there is only so much volunteers can teach kids in a short period of time. This being the first year of the Campaign, Gustafson is happy with the enthusiasm they have received from volunteers and teachers.  

For more information about Whitman College’s efforts to address environmental issues visit the Campus Climate Challenge Web site at http://whitmanccc.wordpress.com/. Additionally, the EPA Web site, http://www.epa.gov/ provides educational and practical resources for anyone who wants to learn more about the issues. Specifically, there is a link to “protecting the environment: at school.”

Emily Deitzman of Welcome Table Farm, Dan Clark of Faith Communities for Sustainability and Ann Finan, a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at Whitman, organized the meeting. Two local organizations dedicated to sustainability, Sustainable Walla Walla and Walla Walla Valley Faith Communities for Sustainability, sponsored the meeting. 

Deitzman is a seasoned veteran in establishing and running Community Gardens. She serves as a great resource for locals interested in participating in the local Community Garden effort.

According to Deitzman, the meeting’s goal was to figure out “how to make all of our ideas into some sort of a tangible reality.” 

Deitzman also emphasized the wide-reaching effects that Community Gardens can have on a community.

“This is how we can make a difference,” she said. “Not only by learning how to grow good food, but also how to grow good relations.”

“One of the next steps for the Garden is to have an ongoing relationship with the community.”
-Jesse Phillips, ‘09

The evening began with a series of presentations by Whitman students in Ann Finan’s “Sustainable Food and Agriculture Class.” Finan hopes to use the community as a classroom by requiring her students to volunteer with or research a Community Garden in Walla Walla. 

Finan’s students shared information about the different types of Community Gardens in order to help residents determine which type best suits their needs and abilities. 

In a Charity Garden, participants donate grown produce to food banks or other charities. In an Edible Garden, participants grow produce for their own consumption. Schoolyard Gardens are implemented as an educational tool for students, and often double as Charity Gardens. In a Neighborhood Garden, neighborhood residents share the responsibilities of the garden and also share the produce. 

Alyssa Breetwor, a first-year in Finan’s class, enjoyed researching the different types of Community Gardens. 

 “It was interesting to compare the differences and see which ones would be most beneficial to the community members,” she said.

Following the students’ presentations, senior Page Taliaferro discussed the need for Community Gardens in Walla Walla. Taliaferro is involved with Faith Communities for Sustainability, plus, she’s writing her thesis on Community Gardens.

“This type of project would be greatly appreciated and a wonderful contribution to the Walla Walla food banks and community,” Taliaferro concluded.

For a large chunk of the meeting, Dietzman and Clark mediated an open discussion among attendants. Some participants requested help with their existing gardens: others offered to share their gardening expertise with beginning gardeners.

Lina Menard, the Coordinator of the Center for Community Service, reminded meeting attendants that many Whitman students are eager to help.

“If you want strong backs, get in touch,” she said.

After a while, the discussion morphed into one big brainstorming session. 

How can interested Walla Walla residents communicate and work together to support local Community Gardens?

Who is going to head up this effort?

What’s the next step?

Meeting participants decided to compile a master e-mail list of interested community members. Alice Bagley of West End Farm volunteered to serve as a sort of communication coordinator for the Community Garden effort. Other meeting participants volunteered to find a meeting spot and time for a follow-up planning meeting. 

In addition, the Sustainable Living Center is working to transform their website into an information database of sorts. The website will enable interested community members to share information in a sort of Craig’s list format. In the future, there may even be maps of Walla Walla on the website on which residents can mark their gardens. This could be used to locate empty plots of land or surplus produce for hungry community members. 

Whitman has its very own Community Garden: the Organic Garden, located on the corner of Pacific St. and Penrose Ave.  Although the Organic Garden remains rather separate from the Walla Walla community, leaders of the Garden are eager to involve non-Whitman students.

According to Jesse Phillips, a leader of the Garden, “One of the next steps for the Garden is to have an ongoing relationship with the community. We really need to get connected—this past summer we had to advertise to give our produce away.”

Sophomore Naomi Gibbs, another leader of the Garden, echoed Phillips’ desire to forge a connection between the Walla Walla community and the Organic Garden.

“We would welcome local families who wanted to come garden and would definitely be more than happy to share what we produce with them if they were to come help,” said Gibbs. 

Gibbs also mentioned that neighborhood kids sometimes come and garden alongside Whitman students.

If you have questions about the meeting or are interested in helping other Walla Walla residents create Community Gardens, you can e-mail Alice Bagley at alice.bagley@gmail.com. 

Center for Community Service Coordinator Lina Menard said the organization started three years ago and has been choosing winners annually. Whitman did not apply the first year.

Menard said that Whitman’s place on the Honor Roll was not a result of recent changes on campus, but rather a long history of service. “I don’t believe there has been a change at Whitman as much as there has been a renewed interest in community service nationally and among young people in particular,” she said. “The programs continue to attract more volunteers each year and we continually strive to improve the services we’re providing both to our students and to the populations we serve.”

Whitman is one of 10 colleges in Washington State featured on this list. Walla Walla Community College was also chosen, as well as Whitworth College in Spokane and Washington State University in Pullman.

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service Web site, the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll “recognizes colleges and universities nationwide that support innovative and effective community service and service-learning programs.”

Junior Carole Wilson, an intern with the Community Outreach program, thinks the fact that Whitman made this Honor Roll expresses something about the students here. 

“We have an incredibly enthusiastic and passionate Center for Community Service (CCS), but I think this award says more about what’s at the core of Whitman students,” she said. “Whitman students want to make a difference and get involved in projects bigger than themselves.”

While jumping in the bounce castle after the Mentees to Campus Day carnival (which she helped organize) was over, Wilson said that community service on campus brings Whitman closer to the local community. “I think Whitman has a rocky relationship with Walla Walla, and the Community Outreach Program sort of bridges that gap,” she said.

Sophomore Matt Manley, who started the Adopt a Grandparent program last year along with sophomore Kelsie Butts, estimated that half of Whitman students volunteer in some way. The CCS office lists 300 students who have volunteered so far this year, but most volunteer work is done individually and off the record, according to Manley.

Manley said that he wishes all students would recognize how many opportunities there are to get involved. “There are a veritable myriad of opportunities that are already organized through the CCS, and I would especially emphasize your ability to start your own program,” he said. “But there are many one-time volunteer opportunities as well.”

 The CCS is open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every day, and its commitment to service is part of the reason why Whitman has been honored nationally for two years in a row.

Said Wilson, “I think the students we have and the staff at the Center work hand in hand to produce amazing results.”

Last year's mentees and mentors gather on campus. Photo courtesy of the Communications Dept.

The Whitman Mentor Program’s anticipated event of the year, the Mentees to Campus Carnival, takes place Friday, Feb. 20 from 12-2 p.m. This event celebrates the special bond between Whitman student mentors and their Walla Walla elementary and junior high school mentees. 

“This is a big, fun event,” said Whitman Mentor Intern, senior Amy Strauss. “The kids love it. It’s their one chance to get to come to Whitman during the school year.”

The Carnival’s main purpose is to provide a day for the Mentor Program mentees to interact with other mentees and with their mentors, exploring the mentors’ schooling and living environment. Mentees get to leave school early, play games and have a fun social day.

“Mentees see that they’re part of a bigger thing, a big group,” said Strauss. 

“Since mentors only visit mentees at their school, this gives the kids a chance to come to their mentor’s school,” said Assistant Student Director, sophomore Rachel Sicheneder.

The Carnival reveals the Whitman Mentor Program’s success, reflected in the growing number of attendees. The first Mentee to Campus days was attended by 24 mentor/mentee pairs as compared to the 170 pairs this year. Mentor Program interns predict that over 300 Whitman students and 180 local Walla Walla kids will attend this year. This makes it the most successful event to date, largely due to the addition of two new Walla Walla public schools to the program.

“We’re expecting about 500 people total, mentors and mentees,” said Strauss. “We need lots of volunteers at booths, since mentors will be taking their mentees around.”

As of now, the Mentor Program includes eight public schools, which includes two middle schools and six elementary schools.

The Whitman Mentor Program, which started 15 years ago, seeks to help “high risk” students by finding positive student role models to pair them with.

“It’s a broad definition,” said Strauss, regarding how “high risk” youth is defined. “[It includes] anything from a hard home life to socially shy students to those with behavioral problems. Anyone who can use a positive adult model is considered for the program.”

The Walla Walla elementary and middle school faculty and administration nominate students who they think could use a role model, and students are paired with Whitman mentors. 

“We try to have schools nominate kids who need mentors more, since there are so many who apply,” said Sicheneder. 

While the Whitman Mentor Program does seek to improve student’s academic success, the mentors focus primarily on engaging mentees socially and creating a strong, consistent bond.

“For most mentees it’s mostly about having someone to play with, to pay attention to them, since they don’t really get as much of that at school or at home. We want [mentors] to be a friend,” said Sicheneder. 

“The mentor program is all about one-on-one relationships,” said Strauss. “[Mentees]form bonds with a positive adult model.”

To volunteer for the Whitman Mentees to Campus Carnival, contact the Whitman Mentor Program via e-mail at mentor@whitman.edu.

“We always need volunteers,” said Sicheneder. “We have more booths this year, and more people.” It’s going to be huge.”

Junior Elena Gustafson started Y.A.P. during her first year at Whitman.

According to Lina Menard, the coordinator for C.C.S., Gustafson started Y.A.P. to fill a void in the community.

“She realized that there really wasn’t a program at Whitman or in the Walla Walla community that provided training and helped people to take kids out into the community…to play and learn more about the environment,” said Menard.

Now that Y.A.P. is a part of the Center for Community Service, Gustafson serves as the Y.A.P. intern.

Every student-run community service program that’s part of the Center has a paid student intern. The student-run programs at C.C.S. include Y.A.P., Adopt-A-Grandparent, the Story Time Project and the Mentor program. In addition, a community outreach intern coordinates seasonal and ongoing C.C.S. projects.

Menard emphasized the importance of student interns in the success of the community service programs.

“Because we’ve been able to provide internships for each of our student-run programs, it has allowed us to give some committed time to coordinating the program, not just volunteering,” she said.

Adopt-A-Grandparent is the other student-run program that was integrated in to the Center for Community Service this spring. Sophomore Matt Manley started the program in the spring of 2008. He gathered a few friends together to “adopt grandparents” at the Washington Odd Fellows Home, a nursing home on Boyer Avenue.

“This past fall, he was coordinating, along with [sophomore] Kelsie Butts, to connect Whitman students with residents of Odd Fellows,” said Menard.

They managed to get about 20 Whitman students involved in the program last semester. Now that Adopt A Grandparent is part of the Center for Community Service, it’s likely that the program will grow even stronger: incorporation into the Center has its benefits.

“Because we work with so many contacts in the community, we can help students to network to figure out other resources that they might be able to work with,” said Menard.

Incorporation ensures that the program will continue into the future, despite fluctuations in student interest.

“It helps over time for there to be a little bit more continuity in the way the program is run,” she said.

Although incorporation into the Center has its benefits, a student-run program can still thrive independently.

“Both of these programs have been quite successful before coming under the Center umbrella,” said Menard, referring to Y.A.P. and A.A.G.

The Whitman community will benefit from the recent changes, though.

“Since the focus of course for the Center for Community Service is to get Whitman students, faculty and staff involved in the Walla Walla community, it makes sense for them to be a part of the center,” she said.

For more information about the Center for Community Service or any of its student-run programs, check out www.whitman.edu/content/community_service or visit the Center for Community Service office in Reid Campus Center (room 208).

No one can escape it. Even the bubble of Walla Walla has been popped by the recent economic recession.

Four restaurants, 26Brix, Luscious, Sean Destination Grill and Pine Street Diner at Elmer’s closed within the last two months and two businesses, Gotta Go Embroidery and A Touch of Class, are planning to close in March.

While the owners of the local businesses are choosing to close for personal reasons, the restaurants needed to close due to poor weather conditions and the credit disaster.

“Back to back harsh winters, the recession and the inability to re-structure debt because of the credit meltdown all contributed to our closure,” said owner of 26Brix, Mike Davis.

Bob Austin, owner of another local restaurant that survived the winter, Merchant’s Delicatessen, agreed with Davis about the harsh winters. “After being here six years we’re used to it. It’s just like any other date on the calendar, but combined with the greatest amount of ice and snow that we’ve had in years, and with the downturn we’ve had in the economy, this has been a really tough winter…”

The closure of the restaurants also affects the prominent Walla Walla tourist agency, which relied on places such as 26Brix and Luscious, to pull in east coast travelers.

“It sad to see these folks go because they’re a major part of our tourism industry,” said a representative of Tourism Walla Walla, Chris Erickson.

The Downtown Walla Walla Foundation, an organization formed in 1984 to address economic activity in the downtown area, hopes to improve the situation through various methods. These include lowering rents to fill vacancies, assembling a group of experts to offer free services to local downtown businesses, and trying to reach out to more regional tourists instead of East Coast travelers.

Jennifer Northam, Events and Public Relations Manager for the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation, stated that recent times will still be rough even though Walla Walla is in better shape than other communities.

“[We] have two different bankers on our board of directors. They are pretty certain it won’t be until 2011 when things are seeing the uptake again. So, yeah we’re in it for the long-haul…” said Northam.

Perhaps the greatest reaction to all four of the local restaurants closing was about 26Brix.

Senior whittie Ron Davie commented on the closure, saying: “It was unfortunate because they [26Brix] actually had really good French cooking combined with American influences.… it was actually one of my favorite places.”

Davis, owner of 26Brix, is “personally devastated [in] being forced to close. 26Brix was our dream and our passion. Losing it was like losing a family member.”

“There’s just been a lot of hearsay surrounding the event. A lot of gossip,” said senior Associated Students of Whitman College (ASWC) representative Aisha Fukushima.

The immediate aftermath of the blackface controversy sparked angry listserv e-mails and eventually class cancellation.

“We put up fliers, talked to faculty, worked late-night meetings to set up the symposium’s format,” said Fukushima of the student committee’s response.

“It wasn’t just one particular person who cancelled classes,” said Associate Dean of Students: Intercultural Programs and Services Mukulu Mweu. “Students put up a petition to the faculty and explained why classes should get cancelled. Faculty voted and authorized it.”

The first symposium explored race and ethnic issues, and last year it extended to include a wide variety of topics including class, gender, and voting issues.  Last year’s symposium was held on Martin Luther King Jr. day.  

While still unclear, the event’s absence seems to have stemmed from student responses to last year’s Symposium.

“The decision came from feedback from last year, which showed that both students and faculty thought there was too much packed into just one day, and people could not attend all the workshops that interested them,” said Mweu.

According to Associate to the President Jed Schwendiman, the symposium has not disappeared but has instead been “repackaged” into smaller events that occur throughout the year. Each event, according to Schwendiman and Mweu, gives the same message of appreciating diversity while focusing on particular topics.  These events include the upcoming lunch and workshop series on torture with Professor Biswas and visiting writer Marjane Satrapi’s presentation this spring.

“It seemed as if [the Symposium] was cut, but that is not the case,” said Schwendiman. “We did evaluations and found that without a specific incident to react to, the focus of the event seemed less clear. Students and faculty wanted to see discourse [about diversity issues] built into every day, rather than a single annual event.”

However, since the Symposium Planning Committee decided to “repackage” the daylong event shortly after receiving last year’s feedback, points of contention have arisen between student representatives and faculty and staff committee members.  

According to Schwendiman, the smaller events will allow more students the chance to participate.

“It gives students more opportunity to be involved. With the smaller events, students plan without the stress of a large-scale event. For the symposium, planning so much for just one event is frustrating,” he said.

However, students such as Fukushima and fellow senior student Symposium Planning Committee representative Amanda Roberts seem to feel differently.

“I was pretty disappointed when the Symposium was not in the events calendar,” said Fukushima. “The whole campus needs to talk about these topics. It’s not just a priority for certain groups –– It’s an institutional priority. One of the Symposium’s goals was to interrupt, to disrupt the laissez-faire attitude towards discrimination.”

“I don’t think these smaller events are as effective, because we’ve had them before. I think the large-scale organization of the symposium had more effect,” said Roberts.

The Symposium Planning Committee –– which is made up of a student subcommittee and another mostly faculty subcommittee –– theoretically works together to create topics for the Symposium, plan the event, and work to educate the campus about the Symposium’s message.  

However, as the misunderstanding over the reformatting of this year’s symposium reveals, the past the subcommittees have had difficulty communicating with one another.

“Students who were on both committees were supposed to be the voice between us, but they didn’t really do their jobs,” Roberts said. “We were never told anything about the other committee’s activities.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mweu and Schwendiman believe the issue of communication comes in part from the administration’s concerns about respecting the power of student representatives.

“We can’t tell ASWC what to do. The dialogue about diversity must come from different sources and not just the Intercultural Center,” Mweu stated.

“We don’t want to overstep the student representatives’ involvement, either,” Schwendiman said.

The future of the Diversity Symposium depends both upon how the subcommittees will solve this communication problem as well as how the Whitman community responds to the new format of the symposium.

“We would love to get feedback from students about the new model,” said Schwendiman when asked about student opinion. “We are always interested in what students have to say.”

Nevertheless, both parties convey the same message about the importance of campus discourse on inter-cultural awareness and diversity. 

“I like that the dialogue has been started, and I would like to see it increase,” said Roberts.

“Diversity should be a way of living,” said Mweu. “We are dealing with it every day. If we find a way of building it into what we do at Whitman, we are engaging the community on a regular basis.”

Mike Osterman, middleware analyst for Whitman’s Emerging Technology department, has been named a 2009 Frye Leadership Institute Fellow.

The Frye Fellowship is a prestigious information technology program designed to develop the next generation of higher education leaders. 

Osterman’s work with projects such as netFiles, CLEo and GoPrint have designated him Whitman’s first recipient of the award.

“I feel incredibly honored to have been selected, and am looking forward to the challenge ahead. I’m especially grateful that I’ve received a Mellon Foundation scholarship, which will cover all my expenses, including travel, for the residential portion of the program,” said Osterman.

The Frye Leadership Institute provides an intensive two-week residential program held in early June for faculty, librarians and university information technology professionals who aspire to significant leadership roles. The program focuses on creative leadership and the qualities needed to confront strategic changes in higher education. Following the residential program, participants will go on to conduct a year-long practicum to explore, at their own organization, some of the key issues raised at the conference.

“Whitman has had great success through collaboration in the Sakai (the system that runs CLEo) community, which is comprised of institutions diverse in instructional program, size and culture. The Frye Institute will give me the necessary leadership skills to broaden this practice of collaboration and ultimately result in innovative and effective technology solutions for the College,” said Osterman.

Osterman will begin his fellowship in June 2009, and his practicum will continue throughout the 2009-2010 school year.

If you shopped at the Daily Market Co-op even a month ago, you probably wouldn’t recognize it today. The Co-op, located at has been drastically remodeled, doubling its shelf space, increasing its inventory, and even repainting.

“I walked in and said, ‘This looks fabulous!’” said senior volunteer coordinator Wynne Auld. 

The co-op has also overhauled its administrative structure. Previously, a paid project manager oversaw all the activities of the co-op. Now, however, it has switched to a completely volunteer-based system. Appointed day managers supervise the store, and trained volunteers work in shifts throughout the day. 

“It’s amazing to run an organization of all volunteers,” said Auld. “People have to be really reliable.”

In 2005, three Whitman students received a $40,000 grant from ASWC to provide the Whitman and wider Walla Walla community with a sustainable and healthy local grocery store. Since then, the co-op’s growth has enabled it to focus more on enriching its products and services.

“The Daily Market’s goals have shifted from trying to get member-owners to join, to really providing a place where the community can buy locally,” said senior board member Elizabeth Bragg, who is also the Co-op secretary and store community chair. “Today we are trying to find a new location in downtown Walla Walla so that we may provide our customers with more food and a better overall experience.”

The co-op is member-owned and operates as a democratic body. Members pay a sum up front, as well as yearly dues. These membership fees, along with store profits and donations, made up the funds for the recent remodel.

“The people who shop [at the Daily Market] are really the ones who own the grocery store,” said Auld.

Although membership comes with benefits such as discounts and votes on issues that concern the grocery store, shoppers do not need to be members to purchase products at the co-op. Products are affordable even without member discounts.

 “We get wholesale rates from all of our producers, and we mark up less than the typical grocery store,” said Auld. 

Unlike commercial grocery stores, the co-op focuses on supporting various local and regional farmers. 

“The co-op is more concerned about where products are coming from, how things are made, how it affects people,” said day manager Darby Le Clair.