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*updated May 16, 2012 at 8:39 a.m.

by Al Stover and Jane Martin
for the Easterner

Chandler Gayton, a safety on the Eastern football team, was arrested after reportedly brandishing a gun near police May 11.

According to Cheney Police Chief John Hensley, officers Dave Bailey and Chris Oakes were responding to a call from the bouncer at Eagles Pub about a bar fight and a patron with a gun.

When they arrived, they were told the patron had already left. Video footage on the traffic camera on first street looking west showed the officers spotting a man about to urinate on a wall at approximately 1:56 a.m.

“The officers told him to stop. He turned and pulled a gun out of his pocket … both hands were on the gun in what we call the ‘low ready position,’” Hensley said. He added that officers shouted “drop the gun” several times before the man dropped it a few seconds later.

Video footage also showed that when the suspect turned in response to officers’ initial shouts to stop what he was doing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handgun. He then took three steps forward, squared off and held the gun at a downward angle with both hands.

Eight seconds passed from the time officers first got the man’s attention to when he dropped the gun and got down on the ground, according to the footage. He was handcuffed and taken into custody.

Gayton is being charged with threatening and intimidating officers with a firearm.

Head coach Beau Baldwin, who had just returned from vacation in Los Angeles, held a press conference at Roos Field at 4 p.m., where he officially announced that Gayton had been dismissed from the EWU football program.

“Every situation is unique, but this is definitely one that we felt warranted this type of swift action,” Baldwin said. “It’s one of those things that is unfortunate, but we felt as a university, as a football program, this was the right thing to do.”

In the EWU Student Athlete Manual, it says that an athlete is responsible for informing the university about an arrest off-campus. After the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities is notified of the arrest, the university may send a letter to the student requiring them to make an appointment for an interview with the OSRR. The university also reserves the right to initiate concurrent disciplinary action against the student.

According to Baldwin, Gayton was a good teammate, competitive and did all of the right things in the classroom.

“[I was] just stunned; it’s hard to hear that,” Baldwin said. “I’m going to be surprised to hear any of this stuff from any of the guys in the locker room. I think so much of them, but when these things happen, you have deal with them and then move on.”

Prior to his arrest, Gayton had just finished spring football practice. He had six tackles and one interception during the spring scrimmages.

Baldwin has communicated with Gayton and had a conference call with the police department. He plans on having a meeting with the rest of the team May 14.

According to Director of Media Relations Dave Meany, Gayton is still enrolled at the university as a student, however that standing with the university will be under review.

Al Stover/The Easterner

By Al Stover
sports editor

The echo of volleyballs hitting the gym floor in the Upper Gym Room 265 is just one sign that the EWU women’s volleyball is getting ready for the 2012 fall season.

As a part of the Orland Killin fundraiser weekend, the EWU women’s volleyball team faced each other in a four-set scrimmage April 28.

Coming off of the 2011 season where they held a Big Sky Conference record of 9-7 and earned a spot in the postseason Big Sky Conference volleyball tournament, the team returned to practice after winter break.

Prior to the scrimmage, the team had competed in tournaments at Idaho and Washington State.

Several players returned to the team including team captain and All-Big Sky first team selection Cora Kellerman, All-Big Sky second team selection Shelby Puckett, middle blocker Talia Fermantez and defensive specialist Celeste Crosby, who

had been sidelined for a year and a half because of a knee injury.

For Kellerman, it has been a good experience to get back on the court and  work with her teammates.

“We’re working on getting the kinks out and working into a rhythm so that when fall comes we’re in stride and ready to go,” Kellerman said.

One emphasis the team has going into the fall season is working on offense, getting as much playing time on the court and helping newer players adjust to their roles on the court.

Rachel Morrow, a freshman who redshirted in 2011, will be joining Fermantez as middle blocker.

“I learned [the position] last week in practice,” Morrow said. “The girls are supportive so it makes it easy and fun to play.”

According to assistant coach Lisa Westlake, although the team has still a ways to go before the season starts, they are learning and maturing.

“Our leadership has stepped up and that’s transferring to the younger kids on the court,” Westlake said. “Through spring they are showing tremendous strides and by fall they will be ready to go.”

Al Stover/The Easterner

By Al Stover
sports editor

Masks, streamers and balloons of all colors were scattered through the PUB’s MPR as students danced to songs such as Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” and Werner Thomas’ “The Chicken Dance.”

Pride Week ended with a masquerade ball hosted by the EWU Pride Center on April 28.

Patrons wore masks ranging from a rubber skull mask to one mask of the goddess Demeter from Venice, Italy.

Fira Ballew, who had been looking forward to the masquerade since winter quarter, wore a black and gold cat-like mask inspired by a combination of steampunk and the three Egyptian goddesses: Bastest, Sekhmet and Wadjet.

“Because Sekhmet is often referred to as the Eye of Ra, or in ancient Egyptian Wadjet, thus the Wadjet eyes,” Ballew said.

Evan Knudson was one of the students who spearheaded the process of putting the masquerade together. According to Knudson, the reason for a masquerade ball as opposed to other dances is because anyone who is there wears a mask to hide their identity.

“That’s how people in the LGBTQ community live, they have to cover up who they are all the time to conform to society,” Knudson said.

Although the fundraising for the event did not quite go as well as planned, Knudson had a lot of support during the planning process. The only difficult part was getting everything approved by Eastern.

“Once the ball started rolling, it was really easy,” Knudson said.

For Knudson, seeing everyone in masks come together is what he enjoys most about the masquerade.

“They don’t know if you’re a part of a fraternity or a part of a sorority, … if you’re a part of Eagle Pride, they don’t know if you’re a part of the math club. All of them having a good time together. I love that ideal,” Knudson said.

In addition to the music played by the disk jockey provided by Eagle Entertainment, there was also food and tarot card readings.

According to Sandra Williams, Pride Center coordinator, the Pride Center has been trying to put together a dance since she started working at EWU.

“I walked in and there’s people dancing and happy,” Williams said. “It’s really exciting for me that they finally made it happen. [Eagle Pride members have] worked really hard and the campus is supporting them.”

Aside from the masquerade, Williams added that the other Pride Week events had a lot of attendance and support from the campus.

The Pride Center also plans on holding a masquerade for Pride Week in 2013.

“I’m so excited that we had so much activity this year,” Williams said. “It is the biggest Pride Week we’ve had since I’ve started working here.”

By Al Stover and Terry Simpson

Fans filled the seats of Whitworth’s fieldhouse as the 2012 Get Lit! Festival featured the second HooPalousa basketball game where the Whitworth Wordsmiths defeated the Spokane Dirty Realists 101-96.

The Dirty Realists were comprised of local authors such as Jess Walter and Chris Crutcher, as well as former Gonzaga basketball players Casey Calvary and David Pendergraft.

The Wordsmiths were comprised of Whitworth staff and basketball players.

In addition to giving fans the chance to watch local writers compete alongside the basketball players, the event also benefitted the University of Idaho’s American Indian Graduate Fellowship in Creative Writing.

In the previous HooPalousa, the Dirty Realists defeated the Wordsmiths.

According to Get Lit! Programs Coordinator Melissa Huggins, the game was previously played in Moscow, Idaho.

“Jess Walter decided to organize a second game as a part of Get Lit!,” Huggins said. “It’s always fun to see these guys get into it and give each other a hard time.”

Miranda Tubbs, an English major who assisted with the festival, scored four points with one steal.

She got involved after being asked by Huggins to play.

“She knew I coached and played a little,” Tubbs said.

For Tubbs, it was very intimidating playing with the authors and the athletes.

“I’ve never felt so small in my life, but it was cool,” Tubbs said. “I’ll be back next year if they will have me.”

Walter improved his score to six points for this year’s HooPalousa, as opposed to the five he scored in the previous game.

Although his team did not win, Walter enjoyed the competitiveness of the game as he enjoys the idea that literature can be about all kinds of things.

“You can make it about basketball or about pie and whiskey,” Walter said. “Get Lit! is more than just a book festival, it’s a community festival. Events like this, benefitting the Native American creative writing fellowship, just really show that.”

By Al Stover

“First of all, what kind of crazy people think of giving away whiskey and pie?”

That was the question asked by poet Elizabeth Austen before she read in front of nearly 300 people in the lobby of the Woman’s Club of Spokane.

Austen was one of 12 authors who read at the Pie and Whiskey Reading presented by the Get Lit! Festival, April 12. The whiskey was provided by local distilleries, like the Dry Fly distillery, while the pies were homemade.

Prior to the event, the authors were given two prompts: one involving pie and the other involving whiskey.

Rachelle Henning was one of hundreds in attendance at the reading. A student at Spokane Falls Community College, Henning came to the event to earn extra credit for her English class.

“The homemade pie is definitely a benefit,” Henning said.

Austen used the pie prompt for her untitled poem.

She began her poem with an epigraph from the Chinese proverb, “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names,” and used the last line from Li-Young Lee’s poem, “Self Help for Refugees.”

Other authors who read at the event included Jess Walter, Sam Ligon and Kate Lebo.

Lebo, a graduate student from the University of Washington who baked some of the pies, wrote a recipe for making pie crust.

The whiskey and pie had nearly run out by the time the reading started.

Lebo was surprised at how many people came to the reading.

“I was just saying to Jess [Walter] that some people can’t get this many people at their wedding,” Lebo said.

Below is an audio recording of Lebo performing her poem

Kate Lebo_poem

by Al Stover
sports editor

Josh Strickland enters the cage and stands across from Steven Frank, as chants of “Sigma” come from Strickland’s fellow Sigma Phi Epsilon members in the crowd.

Strickland was one of four Eastern students who competed at the King of Cheney 2 mixed martial arts [MMA] event, March 3.

The event featured 10 bouts, with a main event for the heavyweight championship between Paul Torres and Mike Peterson. Torres was able to control the first round while Peterson got a second wind and controlled round two. In the third round, Torres was able to get the mount and finish Peterson with an armbar.

Torres, who is now 6-0 in MMA, dedicated the fight to his friend Stephen Alfaro.

“This time I had somebody to fight for,” Torres said. “I had something to keep alive and that was his name. That was the motivation of never giving up.”

Prior to his fight with Frank, Strickland had doubled up on his training after finding out his original opponent had backed out of the fight.

He has also learned how to avoid punches and control himself rather than reacting to what his opponent does.

Strickland, who fought in the fifth match, started off swinging before locking Frank in a guillotine choke. After applying a second guillotine choke later in the round, Frank was able to escape. However, Strickland threw a punch that knocked Frank down to the mat.

“I told myself I was going to come out with the left hook,” Strickland said. “He had to open up, so I came out [and] landed. He shot in and I got double under-hooks. I could hear my corner saying ‘Get away, get away.’ I let him stand up, let him trade and I got him.”

After Strickland won the match, he made the motion of ripping his shirt like Superman, as the Sigma Phi Epsilon members rushed to the cage.

He was awarded a belt for getting the first knock-out of the night. Strickland celebrated with his fraternity brothers, who cheered for him from the opening bell.

“It was amazing,” Strickland said. “It’s been quiet for everybody, but then I went out there and it was loud. I can’t replace this feeling.”

The other heavyweight match was between Curtis Flett and Brandon Moseley, a 2009 graduate from Cheney High School. Flett had only thrown a single punch before Moseley took him down and began peppering him with some punches of his own.

After taking more punches and escaping an armbar, Flett was able to reverse and gain control on Moseley’s back where he proceeded to punch him until the referee stopped the fight.

Prior to their fight, Flett had watched videos of Moseley’s previous fights.

“I worked on what he was horrible at,” Flett said. “He improved from his last fight so I was impressed with that.”

Caleb Sherman, another Eastern student, fought against Charlie Shultz. Sherman had gotten bloody early in the first round before losing by submission in round two.

Despite the loss, Sherman would like to fight again.

“I’d like to go until I win one, to see what that feels like,” Sherman said.

The King of Cheney event also featured a women’s match between Eastern students Brittany Hammond and Alissa McCoy.

Hammond, who had a reach and height advantage over McCoy was able to trade shots with McCoy and keep her moving backwards.

Although McCoy landed several body kicks in both the first and second round, Hammond was able to get the take down and submit her opponent in round two.

Hammond, who was also the ring girl for the first fight, had a training regimen consisting of boxing, jiu-jitsu, and watching videos. She wants to fight again.

McCoy had training in kickboxing, boxing and take-down defense with her cornerman Mack Zavala in preparation for her fight against Hammond.

McCoy knew Hammond would try to take the fight to the ground.

“Everyone told me she would go for the take-down,” McCoy said. “I rocked her a couple of times and that felt good.”

McCoy, whose red shorts had “Warrior” embossed on the side, also plans to fight in the future, despite the loss to Hammond.

“I think I just [have to] work on my ground game,” McCoy said. “Definitely practice my submission defense. I’m going to keep fighting.”

To watch highlights of the King of Cheney 2 follow the link

Aaron Malmoe/The Easterner

by Kyle Franko and Al Stover
for The Easterner

Blistering winds and snow come down as the EWU rugby team runs, rolls and tackles each other on the frozen red turf of the football field.

The team is getting prepared for their game against Oregon State, March 10.

Jacob Moffett has been playing rugby for seven years. His mother passed away in August 2011 while Moffett was playing in a 7’s tournament.

One thing Moffett remembers about his mother is how full of life she was.

“She was the kind of person you gravitated to because she was her own person,” Moffett said. “People always respected that about her. It’s one of the things I’ve missed the most is her charismatic character.”

After returning from dealing with his mother’s death, Moffett found himself within a system of support among his teammates.

“They surprised me by telling me they were getting these patches [with her initials] and dedicating this season to my mom,” Moffett said.

The patches, a black football with the initials LDM (Lisa Diane Moffett) were ironed onto each  club member’s jersey. Moffett is thankful to be a part of such a supportive team

“Everyone has gone over what they should have done and made it such a nice transition,” Moffett said.

Shawn Fenton is in his second year on the team.

Fenton was the one who organized the creation of the patches through the company Zome Design.

“[Moffett] is a good friend of ours,” Fenton said. “Kind of the best thing I thought to do was as a team come together and support him. I thought the cool thing to do would be to put the patches on the jersey.”

One change Moffett has noticed in this year’s team is the intensity of their play and their work ethic.

An aspect of the game Moffett and the team are working on is getting their momentum going and keeping it going throughout the whole game.

“We’ve always been known as a second-half team,” Moffett said. “I want to get our momentum going earlier.”

Part of the process this season has been integrating some players into positions they had not played before.

“I feel like in the last few games you can see from game to game we’ve really taken some big steps towards that,” Fenton said. “Oregon State … is going to be a good showcase for how we’ve come together.”

In 2011, Oregon State defeated Eastern, keeping them out of the Sweet Sixteen in the DI-AA playoffs.

“We really don’t like each other,” Fenton said. “It’s going to be a blood bath.”

As stated by Brandon Rannow, rugby club president, playing Oregon State will be different as Oregon State teams plays pack heavy.

“It’s a lot of big guys, a lot of ground and pound rugby,” Rannow said. “That’s how we play, so we know it’s going to be a clash. It’s going to be whose [outside] backs can really get the ball and run it.”

Oregon State, sitting atop the league standings at 4-0, is coming off a 59 point drubbing of Idaho on March 3. Meanwhile, Eastern 1-1-1, has not played since Feb. 11.

“These past [few] weeks off have been pretty nice for our bodies,” Moffett said. “A lot of us were hurting and it’s been a lot better for our bodies to have some time to heal.”

According to Fenton, the team has not lost since they began playing on Roos Field. Although playing on the Eastern football field is smaller than a regulation rugby field, Fenton believes it gives them an advantage over playing other teams.

“Home field … is crucial. It’s kind of intimidating coming in here, playing on the red turf,” Fenton said.

Rannow attended 7’s tournament with Moffett when Moffett’s mother passed away. He remembered how Moffett was upset, and how he was still there for the team.

“It meant so much,” Rannow said. “We’re not just a team. We all choose to be together, we’re not on scholarship. Moffett’s mom is [as] much a part of our family as he is. When he scores trys, it’s emotional for him. Everybody is playing for that patch.”