Child-abuse prevention month celebrated in Imperial Valley

By |

EL CENTRO, Calif.–An estimated 15,000 people packed Bucklin Park throughout the day on Saturday April 13, to celebrate Child Abuse Prevention Month at the 34th Annual Children’s Fair. “We hope that families were able to enjoy a beautiful day outside with their children and learn about the resources available to strengthen their families in Imperial County,” said Yvette Garcia, executive director of the Imperial County Child Abuse Prevention Council, the organization that co-sponsored the event with the Imperial County Office of Education. More than 70 businesses and organizations helped entertain and inform attendees young and old alike. Imperial Valley College journalism students spent the day recording the festivities. The following slideshow is a compilation of their work.

Stemming the strays through Imperial Valley’s S.A.N.D.S.

By |

IMPERIAL VALLEY, Calif.–It is difficult to commute from town to town here without encountering any number of dead animals on or near the roadway on any given day; some motorists swerve around the remains, others seem to deliberately aim at the already-decimated animals—dead pigeons on city streets, rabbits or coyotes on rural roads, and countless other carcasses on the I-8 freeway heading east and west between Arizona and San Diego. But most of the time, the heart-wrenching sight of small furry victims on any local street or major byway are stray dogs or cats whose owners might, or might not be wondering where their pets have gone. “From June to November, 500 dogs were picked up (both alive and dead), 169 cats (both alive and dead),” according to Beatrice Palacio, animal control supervisor for the Imperial County Public Health Department, which is charged with policing a 4,500-square-mile realm outside of the county’s cities’ limits. “Live roosters and chickens, dead raccoons, dead skunks, coyotes, and a live sheep, for a total of 707 animals.” And that’s only what Palacio has been able to log in a five-month period of 2012, unknowing if the animals were abandoned, lost, or feral. Holiday generosity and a bad economy

Usually this time of year animal rights organizations often use statistics like those about stray animals to illustrate to holiday revelers how ill-advised impulsive buys of pets as Christmas gifts can be for recipients who may or may not want a furry or feathered friend; who may or may not know how to care for them, or cannot afford to.

More than 30,000 women bowlers converge on El Paso

By |

EL PASO, Texas — The United States Bowling Congress will wrap up its women’s international bowling championship on July 3 following a four-month-long tournament at the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center. More than 30,000 women bowlers in nearly 6,000 teams from around the world will have competed in continuous play from March 27 to July 3. A year-long conversion of the convention center for the 100-day event created 48 bowling lanes and 20,000 feet of exhibit space. The USBC allowed members of the Dow Jones Multimedia Training Academy at the University of Texas at El Paso to interview, photograph and videotape participants and events of the tournament during the week of June 7. The following video, audio and slideshow presentations are productions of the students of the academy, Kirk Notarianni, Robert Muilenberg, and Gina Germani and instructor Kate Gannon.

Confessions of a first-time journalism professor

By |

The things that made me drunk with disappointment, challenge and joy are countless—and they all occurred in a period of just 16 weeks last spring after I agreed to teach just one three-credit introductory journalism class.