Fireworks shot from the Second Street Bridge at Thunder 2009

     As March rolls around each year plans for prom, graduation, Derby and Thunder Over Louisville can be heard in the hallways and during lunch.  If you’ve lived in Louisville for more than one Derby season you know what Thunder Over Louisville is. It’s a huge event that takes place on April 17 this year  to kick off the annual Kentucky Derby Festival. It’s a full day of fire works and plane acrobatics on the waterfront. Over 700,000 people attended last year and thousands more see the action from home on their televisions.

     Everyone should attend Thunder at least once in their life.  Being there in person is so much different from watching it on tv. Standing at the foot of the Second Street bridge,  you can literally feel the explosions as they come off the bridge.   It looks as if the fireworks are coming right at you.  

     It’s the teenagers and younger folks that keep Thunder running because they’re really the only ones that can fight their way downtown and last the whole day without getting worn out. Most come in groups and hangout here and there. One of the most popular places that teens end up at is the skatepark. On Thunder day you’ll find not only skaters who go to skate, but lots of other young people that want to hangout and be with crowds of people their age. Obviously, that’s not the only place to be. There are tons of booths set up all over downtown to purchase Derby goods and the great lawn is open for hanging out. It’s also a good idea to grab a seat early so you can watch the fireworks later on; it gets crowded fast. There’s really no way you can wind up at Thunder and not know at least a few people there.  If you’ve never been, make this year your year to try it and see what the talk is all about!

Lenette Holt

     Junior Lenette Holt had 18 points and 9 rebounds in Monday’s game against Ballard. Even though she was one of the game’s leading figures, Holt remains modest.  “It feels good,” said Holt, who hit 8 of 11 shots and 2 of 2 free throws. “We’re in the final four now, and that’s just a blessing. It seems like a dream. It was nice to win district, but this is better.”

     The lady Chargers’ coach was also happy to see the team get their twentieth  win. “This is special because we weren’t even ranked among the top 10 in the region in the preseason. We used that as a motivator.” 

     The Lady Chargers (20-8) advance to face Mercy in Thursday’s 3:30 p.m. semifinal at Bellarmine University’s Knights Hall.

    

Thomas Jackson works his way under an Eastern player to score

     “They played with tremendous focus and finished the game strong. They had a great amount of team work and I’m proud of them,” Coach Hawkins said with a smile.   

Richard Kennedy flies to the basket

      Coach Morrow’s goal is to keep team work going and keep effort up out on the court.  He comments, “I’m proud of all the players; we had a good win. It’s nice to win a championship, but we got a bigger one ahead.”

Boys Stats:

Thomas Jackson 26

Richard Kennedy 9

Trey Porter 9

Dominique Smith 8

DeMicheal Jackson 5

Daniel Ross 2

Desmond Dorsey 2

Jordan Hagan 2

The Lady Chargers celebrate a district championship

Our Lady Chargers took charge as they started off with a 26-13 lead in the middle of the second quarter. Cami Calderon’s second three-pointer put the team into a 40-38 lead with thirty-three seconds left on the clock in the third quarter.

Coach Kyser says, “We were very lucky to win; CAL has a great team. They’re already in regionals. I’m very proud of the ladies. They worked hard.” Lenette Holt and Cami Calderon led J-Town and Aisjah Roan had great defense.

“Our triangle play came in well with defending the best players on the opposing team, and Brittany Dawson did well at it. Chasity and Cami did well chasing who they had to,” Coach Kyser explained.  Our Chargers are playing their hearts out and they are in it to win it. They don’t give up; they just play harder.

Lenette Holt 18

Cami Calderon 17

Seventh region Coach of the Year, Coach Kyser

Some of Kentucky’s top teams didn’t know what to think when J’town won the district title. Now the Chargers are headed straight to Bellarmine to demolish these teams and earn our place as regional champions.

 Friday, February 26, Jeffersontown High beat Eastern, 63-55, in the District Championship game, proving we are the best in our District.  

Barth Accused of Misusing Funds From McMahan Fire District

            Recently, McMahan Fire District’s former chief Paul Barth has been charged with misuse of the department’s credit card.  These charges include use of the card for expenses such as  vacations, personal purchases, taxes on a Florida condo, and automobile taxes.  Barth also allegedly used Crusade for Children’s donation money to pay off these credit card funds. The total amount of funds found used improperly is $70,637.90.  In return for committing the crime, Barth offered to pay back these funds that he secretly took.  The fire district, though, accepted his retirement, but not his money.  Instead of allowing him to reimburse the department, law enforcement will deal with the troubles.      

        For the time being, Barth has agreed to pay back these funds but claims he has already payed back some of them.  There aren’t any records of this pay back and the department has decided to leave the case up to the Secret Service.  Though Barth may not have paid back these funds he claims, the fire district happens to owe Barth $38,274.77 for nine sick days, one personal day, fifty vacation days and five holidays that have been accrued but not used.

            The scandal has called for a new fire chief.  Joe Johnson, a life long firefighter, has recently been positioned as chief.  It has always been Mr. Johnson’s dream to become chief for his father founded a fire department in Henry County in the 1960s.  McMahan fire district hopefully is now in good hands. 

Joe Johnson new fire chief of McMahan Fire Dept

 

   The new year brought a saucerful of awards for J-town’s art department after participating  in this year’s Scholastic Awards. Although falling short of last year’s accomplishments, J-town still managed to bring home twenty-one awards consisting of nine Gold Keys, five Silver Keys, and seven Honorable Mentions  in a diverse spectrum of categories. In addition to an awards ceremony held at Gheens Auditorium on February 11, the Gold-winning work also took part in a gallery opening  from February 5-26 at the Kentucky Center of Art and Craft. Following the gallery display, the work of Gold Key students will be sent to New York for national judging in March . Seniors Sierra Jeffries and Lara Kinne also recieved a Gold Key award for their art portfolios. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

Gold Key winners:
Amber Cox, Sierra Jeffries, Lara Kinne, Stephanie Stone, and Alix Mattingly.

Silver Key winners:
Madison Shepard, Lee Cosby, Michael Cox, and Jennifer Lewis.

Honorable Mentions:
Abby Borders, Kel Crick, Nick Waldron.

Slide shows of the winners’s work can be viewed, here.

Snow days aren’t that exciting anymore for JCPS students. As a result of the last snow storm local schools were closed on Tuesday, February 9; Wednesday, February 10 and a one hour delay on Thursday, February 11. JCPS was closed again Tuesday, February 16 due to more snow. The last day of school before the snow storm was May 25 and now district officials have pushed it back until June 1. This was the same situation JCPS was in last year and students didn’t get out until June 3.  Just think! Every time JCPS cancels school, it shortens our summer vacation.

Here’s what some Chargers had to say  about going to school in June.

Sarah Connor “I hate it because it takes away from our summer.”

Alec Newton “It doesn’t bother me that much because I’m a senior and I won’t be coming back.”

Justin Mutters “I will be missing a couple days to make up for it.”

The DarkSide of the Wall
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
The Brown Theater
Better Than: Going to the dentist…?
     

     I have spent at least ten minutes trying to remember what music I listened to in middle school through freshmen year of high school, and the only thing that prominently comes to mind are the words Pink Floyd. This is when I realized that through that entire period of my life I listened to virtually nothing else. There may be a foggy memory of Dinosaur Jr’s Green Mind, or a Mars Volta album somewhere in the mix, but as far back as I can remember (and that’s not very far), I lost my entire middle school/9th grade years to Pink Floyd, and there’s no regret there. I’ve benefited from the binge. From an exhausting knowledge of their catalog, to a growing affection that becomes stronger as the years go by, I find that having such a strong connection to a band is like having affection for a kitten: it’s unconditional. Even if they may wet on your rug, that really tied the room together (Momentary Lapse of Reason, ahem), or split up because one of the members is a little difficult, you find a way to overlook that flaw. The great thing about having this affection for such a high capacity band like Pink Floyd is that there are so many different albums, eras, and sounds to get into at once. You’re never left bored or pining for more; it is emotionally and physically satisfying. The downside to liking a band like Floyd, though, is that two very significant members are already dead. Syd Barrett may have been kicked out of the troupe earlier on, but it doesn’t stop that part of Pink Floyd from being totally irreplaceable. How are we supposed to expect a reunion now that Richard Wright is dead? This is where tribute bands come in.

There’s always been a sort of 50/50 love-hate affection I’ve had with tribute bands, but when your long time favorite band is slowly dying off, sometimes you have no other choice, especially when you long to hear that music amplified to a live capacity. I’ve seen The Pink Floyd Experience twice: four years ago in Huntington, West Virginia and roughly one year ago while residing in Louisville. Both sets were sensually satisfying, but not because they played “Wish You Were Here”- in fact, they didn’t play it at all. They were satisfying because they took time to cover virtually every era of Floyd, cascading from the late Division Bell to the ancient jam tune known as “Astronomy Domine.” No Floyd was left behind. So after seeing this band twice, I’ve had pretty high expectations when it comes to these kinds of concerts.

The DarkSide of the Wall is a Louisville-based band consisting of what the website claims as “some of the top music and production talent in the region.” Unfortunately, there is a difference between being exceptional and genuine. I totally understand the concept of playing what the crowd may want to hear, but sometimes the crowd isn’t all middle aged washups. Perhaps there are eager high school girls crammed between drunkards who simply wish to hear a song from Obscured by Clouds, or maybe just a couple tracks from Relics. It’s hardly a selfish thing to ask for; after all, why would we want to hear songs we hear consistently on 107.7 anyway? No luck. It was all strictly Dark Side and The Wall as their name fittingly proclaims. Although I have no complaints about hearing “Welcome to the Machine” or “Pigs,” I just kind of wished there would be more variety. You would be considered naive to think this set list did any justice.
But the set list wasn’t the only problem I noticed with the band. There were several instances during the show where specific guitar solos were omitted and replaced with  vocal solos instead. Take the second acoustic solo in “Wish You Were Here,” the glorious moment when David Gilmour scat vocals with his guitar: completely ignored here. It’s almost like the guitar player was either too stupid or too lazy to learn the solo. Even I know how to play that solo. I also noticed a problem with the band’s guitar tones, specifically on songs like “Run Like Hell” or “Pigs” where the initial guitar tone is absolutely key. I’ve listened to these songs enough to know a wrong tone when I hear one. As opposed to the hollow and twang-like tone used in these tracks, the band adapted a heavier and almost metalesque sound that didn’t work well with the music they were supposed to be playing. The lead guitarist was also prone to jumping around the stage as if in a slow motion mosh pit, something I’ve never seen David Gilmour do on stage before. His only job is to play and look cute!

I feel I could fill up another paragraph about how I was close to walking out mid-show or about the sloppy vocals on “The Great Gig in the Sky,” but I guess I should have seen this coming. I can’t expect less-than-perfect musicians to give me the absolutely perfect show that I want. That’s not what a tribute band is about. They may know how to play all the notes and use all the right lights at the right time, but it all comes down to the fact that it’s not Floyd. Not even close. These are merely people like me, committed in their fanship, just in a different way. I know I wasn’t fortunate enough to be born in a time where a Pink Floyd tour was the norm, but I wish that I could at least have a taste.  Just a little bite.

Mrs. Sandburg's room was full of balloons waiting to be delivered, a fund raiser held by the senior class.

Valentine’s Day is Sunday, February 14. Do you have your special someone a gift? The senior class sponsored a fund raiser on Friday, February 12 for those who wanted to get a jump on the holiday by sending their sweetheart a balloon bouquet.  If you have not yet thought about how to celebrate the day of love, try some of these ideas and understand where the gift-giving tradition of Valentine’s Day really came from.

Chocolate
♥ Physicians of the 1800’s commonly advised their patients to eat chocolate to calm their pining for lost love.

♥ Richard Cadbury produced the first box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day in the late 1800’s.

♥ More than 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine’s Day.

♥ Over $1 billion worth of chocolate is purchased for Valentine’s Day in the U.S.

Flowers
♥ 73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine’s Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.

♥ 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day.

Roses
♥ The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.

♥ Red roses are considered the flower of love because the color red stands for strong romantic feelings.

♥ 189 million stems of roses are sold in the U.S. on Valentine’s Day.

♥ California produces 60 percent of American roses, but the greater number sold on Valentine’s Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America.

♥ Approximately 110 million roses, mostly red, will be sold and delivered within the three-day Valentine’s Day time period.

Greeting Cards
♥ Approximately one billion Valentines are sent out worldwide each year according to estimates by the U.S. Greeting Card Association. That’s second only to Christmas.

♥ Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all Valentines.

♥ Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.

Students prepare to deliver balloon bouquets on Friday, February 12

♥ The most fantastic gift of love is the Taj Mahal in India. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife.

♥ Every Valentine’s Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.

♥ About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.

♥ In the US, 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine’s Day with their sweethearts.

http://www.sheknows.com/articles/807655

Ms. Linder

Ms. Green

Ms. Shumate

Ms. Lineberry

Ms. Brown

Dr. Smith

Ms. Jaworski

 And the winner is……….

Ms. Squier