Local entertainment staple closes

by Rachel Kenderdine

What are the people of Paris going to do?

After almost 100 years in the Paris area, the Paris movie theater has shut down. As of February 6, the theater is boarded up and closed.

The employees of the theater say that the reason the theater closed is not clear, but they do have several speculations.

“We think it’s because we were their smallest theater, and AMC is a big business, so we didn’t matter to them,” said Cayla Higgins, a former movie theater employee.

Alex Sanders, also a former movie theater employee, said that the theater’s profit may also have had something to do with it. “We closed because after we switched over to AMC we lost a lot of business due to our prices going up,” she said. She also said that outdated movies coming to town may have also been a factor in the closing.

The closing theater has also left the employees abruptly without work.

“They told us on short notice [that the theater was closing],” Cayla said. “We didn’t find out too much longer before the community did.”

Alex added, “I was pretty upset about the whole thing. I mean, at first they gave us a two week advance to tell us we were going to be closing, then they decided to change their minds and it was the following Sunday and we were told this on Thursday.”

Cayla also added that the chances of the theater reopening are in the hands of buyers. She said it will not open, “unless somebody buys it and re-establishes it as a theater. It’s up for sale right now.”

And that closing will impact the city. “I think it’s horrible,” said Cayla, “because it’s one of the only forms of entertainment we have in town and it’s going to impact the community.”

Ice storm stops town in its tracks

by Madison Gates

On February 1, 2011, our little town of Paris, Illinois, and the greater part of the Midwest, experienced an ice storm. Monday, February 1st, in the afternoon, it started raining just about the time school released for the day, and the temperatures were in the high 30’s. Later that night the temperatures dropped big time! The roads started to get slick. Everyone knew that this was coming though. Meteorologists predicted an ice storm of epic proportions, which then would be followed by a little snow storm. Canned foods and candles were flying off of Wal-Mart’s shelves. People were getting out all of their blankets, and were ready for the storm!

The next day when everyone woke up, there was a wonderful layer of ice on absolutely everything. It was extremely slick, and schools everywhere were being cancelled. Later that night around 11:00 p.m. electricity all around Paris was going out. At some homes it would go out for only a just a few minutes. Other houses it was off for days. “My power was off for almost three days, it sucked,” said PCHS freshman Briana Pearcy.

The road conditions were terrible, and it was dangerous to even get out of the house. The sidewalks, steps, driveways everything was absolutely covered in ice. Trees were even breaking because of the wait due to the ice that covered them.

“I couldn’t do anything because of the ice. I didn’t like it,” said PCHS student Randi Hays.

Schools in Paris were cancelled for the rest of the week, and Vigo County schools were even closed the following Monday.

English teacher expecting baby girl

by Serena Wells

For those of you who may not know, Mrs. Rodriguez is having another baby. As of February 7th, she is 23 weeks along. I asked her some questions about her expecting, her current family life, and how she thinks things will change after the new baby is born. Following is our interview:

Serena Wells: How do you think Noah is going to act about a new baby in the family?

Kristy Rodriguez: Noah will probably be a little freaked out at first but will quickly adapt. He is used to being around a lot of different people so once he gets used to the baby crying and making strange noises, I see him handling it well. He might actually be helpful because he does like to help me around the house with picking toys up and feeding the dog.

SW: Do you have any ideas for names?

KR: We have discussed a few names but nothing that is sticking now. We didn't decide on Noah's name until a month before he was born so we have time. Her middle name will be Basilisa for sure because that was my husband's grandmother's name but no first name yet.

SW: How do you think life in your household will change when the baby comes?

KR: Life at first will be chaotic. Noah is used to being the only one and he expects things when he asks for them. He will need to learn to be patient and we will have to adapt to a new baby's schedule along with trying to get Noah on the same sort of schedule. Because I have all summer off, it will help with the exhaustion of learning to have 2 children to care for but hopefully this will be a pretty easy transition for all of us.

SW: Are you excited for the new baby and is there anything you can think of that you're not yet prepared for?

KR: I am super excited for the new baby. I can't wait to hold her and all the little baby things that come along with it. I am prepared for actually having her here but we still don't have girl clothes. I figure my mother and sisters will be buying enough clothes that initially we will be pretty set and there are some things Noah wore that a girl could wear too. I am also not prepared for the constant exhaustion that will accompany the first 2 months (at least) of her life but we'll deal with it. I see lots of naps in our future!

SW: How does your husband and the rest of your family feel about an addition to the family?

KR: My husband is probably more excited than anyone about a baby girl, even though he tries to act all rough and tough about it. Noah has him wrapped around his little finger and I foresee a daughter being even worse. The rest of my family can't wait to start buying clothes. My mother has already attempted to buy a few dresses when we are together and I keep telling her to wait. We just don't have anywhere to put any new clothes right now! My grandmother can't wait to have another great-granddaughter and my husband's family is excited to have their first granddaughter to spoil rotten.

SW: Are you happy it's a girl?

KR: I would have been happy either way but a girl is just perfect. It rounds out the family nicely and I am glad I will finally have someone on my side besides our dog!

Congratulations on you’re new baby Mrs. Rodriguez and to your family! (:

Sexting: A problem for teens

by Madison Gates

You hear your phone vibrate, you’ve got a text, Who’s it from? Your mind is racing. I hope it’s from him, or hope it’s from her, you think to yourself. Quickly, you look is it a funny picture, a FWD, or just your mom checking up on you? It’s none of these things, it’s a picture though. Yeah, one of those pictures. Should you save it to your phone? Or delete it right now? Thousands of thoughts rush to your head. Should I tell someone? Or not? I promise I wouldn’t show anyone, and they believed me.

Those are just some of the thoughts that very many high school teenagers throuoghout the country have every day. The cause of this? “Sexting.” What is sexting? It’s sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, mostly between mobile phones, but also the internet.

Teens that do this and send them digitally to another cell phone may be engaging in an illegal activity. Child pornography laws exist to protect children from sexual predators and sexual exploitation. It’s illegal to take those sorts of pictures if you’re under the age. However anyone, regardless of age can be charged with this offense. The only thing that matters is the age of the person in the photo.

“People shouldn’t do it,” said Logan McDaniel, a freshman here at PCHS. “People get pressured, that’s why they do it,” stated Briana Pearcy, also a freshman.

Based on the statistics, 20% of teenagers overall have sent or posted a nude semi nude picture of themselves, that’s one in every five people! From those results, 22% of girls have, 18% of boys, and 11% of teenagers 13-16 years old. The percentages of teens still sending them is even worse. Overall, 39% of all teens are still sending them, 37% of girls, 40% of boys.

Some teens don’t even know the person there sending it too, 15% of teens who sexted only knew the person online. 48% of teens have received sexts. 71% of girls and 67% of boys have sent or posted sexually suggestive content to their boyfriend, or girlfriend. 51% of girls and only 18% of boys sexted because they were pressured to do so. This is a problem for not just PCHS students but for all teenagers around the country. For help and more information on the topic visit www.pcsndreams.com , or www.associatedcontent.com.