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| Vol. 86 No. 10 | February 4, 2011 | thelink.harding.edu |
‘LOVE ALWAYS PROTECTS’ 1 Cor. 13:7 Harding graduate remembers Arizona shooting victim
by SARAH KYLE editor in chief
Almost one month ago, 2004 Harding graduate and photographer Bonnie Rose was enjoying a bittersweet Saturday morning in Tucson with her two sons. The trio had met Rose’s mother and sister at a local diner to remember a life lost; Bonnie’s father, who died in 2008 while biking home from work, had always loved the pancakes, she said. Thirty minutes after she left the restaurant, the Tucson community was shattered as Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ local meet and greet, killing several in attendance and leaving Giffords and others critically wounded. By the end of the day, Rose would pay tribute to not one life, but six. Among the dead was Dorwan Stoddard, a role model, friend and fellow Mountain Avenue Church of Christ member. Reports of Stoddard’s heroic death on Jan. 8, 2011, circulated the nation for days after the shooting. He had attended the event with his wife, Mavy. When Loughner opened fire, Stoddard dove in front of Mavy, saving her life and losing his own. Mavy was shot three times and is currently battling severely infected gunshot wounds in her legs and is restricted to using a wheelchair, Rose said.
Rose first met Stoddard, 76, when she moved to Tucson to live with her parents while her husband, Harding graduate Ryan Aherin, was at basic training for the Air Force. In 2010, she returned to Tucson until Aherin completes his tour in Hawaii. Rose said that since her return to Arizona and Mountain Avenue Church of Christ, where Stoddard and his wife, Mavy, attended, Stoddard was an active part of the church and local community, offering to help Rose fix electrical issues in her house a short time before his death. “Since I moved back until the tragedy in Tucson, I have heard his name brought up in conversation more often than any other person I know in this area,” Rose said. “When I had heard the initial word of his passing, this was a truth that came to mind immediately in dealing with the shock that he was gone. Everyone around me knew Dorwan Stoddard and was impacted by his life.” Stoddard was a man of character and loved until the day he died, Rose said. “Everyone who knows Dorwan and Mavy will tell you that where one was, the other was right there,” Rose said. “What has impacted me was that just in the way Dorwan lived his life a hero to Mavy and everyone he impacted, he died a hero, protecting his wife in the midst of gunfire.” Each victim has a story,Rose said, adding that there are few
TOP: Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard are caught holding hands at a Mountain Avenue Church of Christ event several years ago. The Stoddards had attended Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ local meet and greet when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire on Giffords and the crowd, killing Dorwan and five others. photo by JENNIFER GLIDDEN | Tucson BOTTOM: Memorials set up outside University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz., in memory of the victims: Dorwan Stoddard, 76; U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, 63; Christina Green, 9; Dorothy Morris, 76; Gabe Zimmerman, 30; Phyllis Schneck, 79. photo by BONNIE ROSE | Tucson in Tucson who have not been affected by the shooting. “No one expects something like this to happen in your community,” she said. As time passes, Rose said she hopes to see a renewed Tucson, with citizens inspired and thoughtful of the lives lost and those forever changed.
“My hope is that through the tragedy that people can hear about Dorwan and his life, and in turn go out in their lives and help others around them in a humble servitude,” Rose said. “Life is too short, and we should love those around us and show them how much we love them every day.”
HU accident victim A new era for textbook sales memorialized How the Internet and local stores affect the Harding bookstore by GINA CIELO guest writer With each new semester, students are presented with the ever-so-popular question: Where should I buy my books? With a local textbook store making their debut and Internet sites selling books for half price, the decision seemed to get even harder for students this semester. The Harding Bookstore experienced this competition firsthand, but according to Mel Sansom, Vice President of Finance, the effects were not substantial. “From what we have seen so far, it hasn’t really impacted us much,” Sansom said. “The sales are pretty steady with last spring’s numbers.” The Harding Bookstore offers many advantages over outside dealers; Students have the ability to simply charge the books straight to their account and it is on campus, making it easy to access, Sansom said. “I buy my textbooks t h ro u g h t h e H a rd i n g Bookstore because it seems like the easiest thing to do,” freshman Alex Ford said. “I think the best thing is not worrying about paying immediately.”
by MONIQUE JACQUES student writer
We want to do our best and continue to provide excellent services to the students. -Mel Sansom Vice President of Finance Sansom said due to the competition, the bookstore is in the process of more closely comparing their prices to those of outside sources, looking at ways to lower costs, and potentially buying books back all semester. “We want to do our best and continue to provide excellent services to the students,” Sansom said. Textbook Brokers, a new textbook store located in Searcy, made its debut last semester and created immediate competition to the Harding Bookstore as they bought students’ books back. With roots in White C o u n t y, c o - o w n e r o f Textbook Brokers Trey McIntosh said S earc y seemed like an ideal
location due to the large student population. He said he plans on the company becoming a permanent fixture here in the Searcy/ Harding community. W ith more than 70 stores across the country, McIntosh said the bookstore gives them more used titles than any other textbook chain in the country. “I heard that Textbook Brokers was a cheaper way to get your books and that they would buy them back from me at the end of the year for a better price, so I thought I would give it a try,” senior Melissa Piccino said.
Chegg.com, Amazon. com, Half.com and many other textbook sites also entice Harding students not only with their low prices, but also with their fast shipping. “Since freshman year, I have bought my books online because the prices are incredible,” junior Ellen Erwin said. “I have never been dissatisfied with the quality of the books I have bought.” Although most students are done buying textbooks for this semester, it will not be long before they are faced with this decision again.
A Harding University Physical Resources employee of 21 years fell 12 1/2 feet to his death while working on the Mabee Center addition one month ago. Teddy Joe Pike, a carpenter and welder, was on a rooftop beam doing a routine heating and air preparation job when he fell to the concrete floor in the presence of his son-inlaw, Roger Barger, and two other workers. The accident occurred Tuesday, Jan. 4, but Pike remained on life-support until Wednesday because he was an organ donor. This is the first on-campus employee death Harding has ever dealt with. “It was a terrible accident and we certainly feel for the family,” President David Burks said. “He had been a valuable employee for Harding for over 20 years. It is just a shock when something like this happens, a terrible loss. We just continue to lift up the family in prayer.” Faculty who attended the memorial service Friday, Jan. 7, took a loaded Harding bus to Quitman, Ark., where the auditorium of Howard General Baptist Church, equipped with extra chairs down the aisles, was full “cheek to jowl,” as Director
of Physical Resources Danny DeRamus said, with standing room only in the foyer. “It was a memorial of his life; it wasn’t a tragedy of his death,” DeRamus said. “Memorializing who he was and what he stood for. I’ve got to remember that if I want a service like this I have got to live like Joe did.” An official memorial plaque is in the process of being created for the Physical Resources office. The men who worked with Pike on a regular basis created their own memorial, though, a sheet of metal engraved with his name and welded to the crossbeam from which he fell in the Mabee. When tragedy strikes, questions of safety arise. “We’re in a dangerous business,” DeRamus said. “Any time something like this happens, safety awareness is heightened,” Vice President of Finance Mel Sansom added. “I think that we do have good policies and procedures in place, but they will be looked at strongly and we’ll make improvements where needed and communicate them even better.” Because most of the Physical Resources employees have been with Harding for 20 to 40 years, DeRamus said that they have become a family within the larger Harding family. -SEE PIKE PG. 2A