THE LAKEWOOD TIMES “QUESTIONABLE BEHAVIORS” Vol. 94, No. 3 - December 2014 - Lakewood High School -14100 Franklin Blvd. Lakewood, OH 44107/www.lakewoodtimes.net Editors’ letters Editorial Policy As preservers of democracy, our schools shall protect, encourage, and enhance free speech and the exchange of Staff 2014/2015 ideas as a means of protecting our American way of life. The Co-Editors: Times and its staff are protected by, and bound to, the prin- Editorial Board Members: Matt Morgenstern ciples of the First Amendment and other protections and Mackenzie Rivera LaNiqua Jones Contentslimitations afforded by the Constitution and the various Robert Searles court decisions implementing those principles. Jacob Buntyn Ryan Swingle It is the mission of The Lakewood Times, the official Jacklyn Voll Mickey Nestor newsmagazine of Lakewood High School, to serve as a Assistant Editors: public forum that promotes the gathering and exchange of Ashley Hirsch Mandy Muscatello Veronica Gordon (Photography) ideas, and uphold high journalistic standards for the pur- Brett Brown Ozemenay Taylor pose of enriching the lives of our readers. Ryan Mitchell (Sports) The Times is established as an open forum for student Emily Suleiman Eman Naserallah expression and as a voice in the uninhibited, free and open Emily Suleiman (Copy) Christian Bort discussion of issues. The Times will not be reviewed or re- Maggie Jawhari strained prior to publication. Content of the Times, there- Samuel Ciancutti fore, reflect only the views of the student staff or individual Adviser: students and not school officials. Students may use online Dennis Ebner media to educate, inform, and entertain their readers. Both the school and the cyber community are entitled to the same protections and subject to the same freedoms and Underage odyssey....................4 responsibilities, as all other student media outlined in this policy. Online media are forums for self-expression and are similar to traditional media, in their freedoms, responsibili- Drugs........................................6 ties, and professional obligations. As such they will not be subject to prior review or restraint. Student journalists may use online media to report news and information, to com- Why party man?.......................8 municate with other students and individuals, to question and consult with experts, and to locate material, to meet Marijuana..................................9 their news gathering and research needs. The Times, and staff, will strive to avoid publishing any material determined by student editors or the student edito- Snow days..............................10 rial board to be unprotected, that is, material that is libelous, obscene, materially disruptive of the school process, an un- warranted invasion of privacy, a violation of copyright laws Traffic......................................11 or electronic manipulations changing the essential truth of the photo or illustrations. Other obligations can be found in Holiday events........................12 the handbook available to each student. The Times adviser will not act as a censor. If questions arise over specific copy as defined within Bad teachers..........................13 this policy, student journalists will seek the advice of the communications attorney from the Student Press Law Cen- ter. The Times editorial board as a whole will be responsible We all love Christmas music..14 for determining editorial opinions, which represent the opinions of a majority of the editorial board. No single New Years resolutions............16 member of the Times can be held responsible for editorial content decisions. The Times is a tool in the learning pro- cess of journalism and operates as a learning laboratory. Holiday recipes.......................18 Any student may be a member of the staff, with or without prior journalism experience or enrollment on the staff for credit. As a forum for student expression, the Times will Old building.............................20 publish all letters to the editor, provided they are 300 words or less and contain the author’s name, house, and address. Shoes......................................22 On occasion, we will publish letters using the “name with- held” providing the Times editor, or a team editor, knows the author’s identity. Blackfish.................................24 We reserve the right to withhold a letter or column and return it for more information if we determine it contains items of unprotected speech as defined by this policy. Let- Poor police mentality..............26 ters will be edited for spelling and grammar. Should a letter contain errors in fact, excessive grammatical errors or be Commercialized Christmas....27 too long, it will be returned to the author for re submis- sion. Deadlines for letters and columns will be no later than ten days before the next publication date. The Times may Gym worries...........................28 choose to report student, staff, faculty, and alumnus deaths as he editorial board is made aware of them. We reserve the right to decide not to cover a death based on relevance, On the Cavs and hope...........29 timeliness and circumstances. In cases where the editorial board decided not to cover death, letters to the editor in re- Winter sports..........................30 gard to that death could be printed. 2 contents The Lakewood Times I endorse hardly any of the activities in this issue—even the ones The content contained in this issue of The Lakewood Times isn’t that are relatively peaceful in the time of the holidays. Still, I en- a reflection of the staffs’ beliefs in any way and shouldn’t be taken Editors’dorse this issue as something that the Times seldom does—plays letters as offensive. The main focus of this issue is on drugs and alcohol, with a taboo object. But it’s quite fun to do so. and why students choose to do these things. All students inter- All of these testimonials are anonymous, for we’d rather not viewed asked to remain anonymous to protect their identities. have our students be persecuted for any unlawful partying. But, The purpose of this topic was not to encourage any of the activi- even for teachers, I think what can be gained from this issue is the Contents ties in this issue, but was a very good topic to talk about in this day idea that sometimes we need to step back and look at the ques- and age. Students may be peer pressured into something that they tionable times in life. I, of course, find my happiness in different, don’t want to do or may have some kind of addiction to some sort more lawful manners, but that doesn’t mean that accessorizing of substance. This may be relevant to many of the students and one’s festivities with amenities of various descents is always a bad has some worth to Lakewood. This issue could be a great way to thing. In fact, it can be all right at times. educate the students of LHS about the many different things that Some may dislike this issue for some very blatant articles on teenagers do today. marijuana legalization and views of law enforcement, as well as a For example, this issue of the Times contains a story about cover wherein two psychedelic marijuana leafs are framing a red why students do the drugs they do. It explains how the student solo-cup that inconspicuously lords over the setting. If you don’t may feel and how it may affect that person’s life. The purpose of know what the cup is supposed to suggest, you need to get to this story isn’t to persuade the students of LHS to not do the thing a party or watch Animal House right away. It’s one of the more that they do, but to rather to take in consideration on how it affects memorable of American party symbols. their body and their surroundings. Because the drugs may be af- Additionally, this issue deals with more relaxed (and tame) fecting your body, but it may be affecting the people who care for subject involving the forthcoming holiday season as well as some you the most even more. Not to mention that if a student is doing important issues (such as Photography Editor Veronica Gordon’s drugs and they are failing their classes, it’s probably a direct result article on the Blackfish documentary). of their drug use. My hope for this issue is that it shows the stu- Stay safe this Christmas break even if you want what Miley dents of LHS to be safe and to not be peer pressured into anything Cyrus would call a “banger.” Be blunt with your decision-making, that they don’t want to do. and realize that, in the end, it’s all about having fun. Sincerely, Matt Morgenstern and Robert Searles December 2014 misc. 3 the underage drinking trip TheBy Ryan Swingle new “Odyssey”: As each week comes to a close, there p.m. All of the “squads” now meet up, be- are illegal substances involved? This is is always talk of where this weekend’s cause God forbid someone would show up where the “plug” comes in. Each squad “banger” will be held. Adolescents seem to a party alone. Of the four or five people member frantically hits up any potential to crave these parties almost as much as in the squad, one person will have to be plug, a supplier of drugs. When a reliable they crave the drugs that are ever present the DD for the night. This person is key to supplier is reached, the squad then hits up at such “bangers.” The drug of choice for the squad having a successful night of par- a local corner store as the plug buys them many teenagers is the “satanic” liquid of tying. They are in charge of transporting alcohol and picks up the drugs. Now, it’s alcohol. What goes on at these parties and everyone to and from the party.