Child Stars Skip School

The child stars from "Slumdog Millionare", Rubina Ali, 10, and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 11, grew up in horrible slums of Mumbai, India. After filming the movie, director Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson were able to get the kids into a school for disadvantaged children. However, Ali and Ismail have been neglecting their studies, attending 27% and 37% of their classes, respectively. Their parents blame deaths in the family and other misfortunes, but filmmakers state that the children are missing school for endorsement deals and other celebrity activities. If the children do not get their attendance rate above 70%, they will lose the benefit of a trust set up to help them after they graduate, if they graduate. Hopefully, Ali and Ismail will heed these warnings and attend their classes, perhaps for the benefit of education rather than the trust fund.

Hannah Rector, Assistant Photo Editor

Happy Holloween

Hope the seniors are enjoying it. Today is one of the many unofficial senior holidays, and as it goes this is probably the best one. Compared to Senior Skip Day, Prank Day, and Freshmen Kill Day its one we can all enjoy. The pile in the Dean's Office of confiscated costumes was a nice parade this morning. Many teachers were surprised to find out that it wasn't actually allowed, which got me thinking- maybe next year it could be.

Hannah Gill Copy Editor

Zombie Walk

I read the article earlier this week about the walk in omaha done by around 300 people who dressed as zombies. It was funny because everyone in my family thought my dad had gone crazy when he came home that night saying there were zombies everywhere in the street, but the paper the next day proved that he was in fact sane. The article was written well, creatively depicting the strange scene, and the picture was cool.

Emma May

Staff Writer

Stop Bashing the Herald!

I'm guessing the reason the whole Wiccan sex offender story is front page is because most stories pertaining to Halloween (at least in the World Herald) are fairly boring. This story offered the World Herald a chance to entice readers with both a Halloween-esque story (tis the season), and actually reportable news. The story does have value beyond making fun of the guy, name changes are often used by criminals as means to mask the stigma surrounding their name, and this story reports that Mr. McDonald's (Blackthorne) name change was justified by his Wiccan beliefs, which I do suppose is news-worthy to those who share a similar faith.

- Julius Fredrick

Wican Sex Offender

I believe the guy has a right to change his name, that's all good and fine.

I mean if he changes his religion good for him, he obviously needs some new morals to follow, if they're religious morals that's great too. The thing I think is sad, is the fact that this is front page news. Think about it, isn't there anything more news worthy? Yes, it's interesting, but the article is really just a reiteration of his criminal record with his new name. If they would go in-depth into the Wican Religion, then I think it would be front pages worthy. It caught my eye, it's something you don't see every day, but I think there are better things to put on the front page.

Julie Dworak, staff writer

Abused Dog

I read the article "Looking for a happy ending for Jasmine". Reading about the abused dog who got shot in the head makes me think of my dog. Recently my family adopted a dog from a shelter. We think she was abused because she is scared of people. In fact she's still scared of me and she has been living in our house for about 2 months now. She won't greet me when I come into the house, and last week she even barked at me for 5 minutes straight. Seeing animals treated this way disgusts me. I'm happy that the dog in the story survived and still is friendly. Not all dogs are that lucky. It really should make us stop and think about how we treat other living creatures.

-Lauren Florea Managing Editor

Gunshot Wounded Dog Recovers

A dog survived two gunshot blasts to the head: Jasmine, a foster dog was found injured by the Veterinary Clinic. The dog is a one year old American Stafford terrier mix, and now hopes to be adopted. Additionally, Jasmine shows wounds that indicate abuse, and the county sheriff is investigating the dog's former owner. However, Jasmine is extremely friendly and playful, even though she has endured such pain – she does not show aggression similar to other dogs who have endured the same.

Witherspoon Mansion

I would like to touch on an article buried in the Midlands section of the OWH. It covers the sale of the Witherspoon Mansion, a staple of Regency. No one seems to know what will become of it, but I hope it will be repaired and kept. A beautiful old house like that should stay. Demolishing it would be a shame.

-Ian Holmes

Mandatory Insurance???

There has been so much talk of the health care bill in the past couple of weeks, and with so many changes to the bill, I'm confused. One thing I do know is this: I do NOT want government run health care. First the government buys up most of the car industry, now this? And excuse me, but I don't think the government should make this "mandatory." Can they even do that? To me, it should be an option. And, OK, if the government wants to require it, then I can deal with that. But forcing people to pay a fine because they don't believe in what the government is doing? I don't think so.

Shelby Pieper

Copy Editor

Halloween Discipline

While students are having fun getting into the Halloween spirit, some people are going too far with their costumes, and some are indeed breaking the Code of Conduct. It is good to see them held accountable by the administration. At the same time, it is disappointing to see the extent of the restrictions in certain situations. One girl from my class was asked to remove an inch-think headband she wore not as part of a costume, one that would be acceptable any other day of the year and is still acceptable to be worn by some other students today. While it is fair and right for the administration to crack down on Dress Code violations, the discipline should remain consistent throughout the entire year.

Mary Susman Managing Editor

midlands - 10/30

There were two stories about animal neglect in the midlands that i can't understand. The first one was about some animal shelters that don't allow the adoptions of animals, specifically black cats. I don't understand how people could be that superstitious about black cats... that's like if we were selective on who we want to be friends with because of how they look on the outside. The second story was about a pitbull named Jasmine who was shot in the head twice. I don't understand how people can bring such harm to another life form for no reason. The news makes me sad :(.

"By any other name, he's still a sex offender"

Sex offenders should not be allowed to change their names based on religious beliefs. It is important to keep track of sex offenders and by changing their name, they become unrecognizable to track by the general public.

-Brian Frey Entertainment Editor

Offensive article on sex offender

Did anyone else read the article in the World Herald "By any other name, he's still a sex offender"? Was I the only one who thought it was written a little inappropriately? The connection between the name change and the sexual offense seemed iffy, not to mention not front page worthy. Furthermore, it was written from a perspective that seemed to poke fun at Wiccanism — not politically correct.

It seems it would have been better placed in Opinion.

Agree?

-Mary Hepburn, Managing Editor

New Condos

I read in the "Money" section of the Omaha World Herald that a new tower of condos will be going up on the riverfront. That would be fantastic in my opinion since the condos already there are ridiculously good.

-Charlie Ziegenbein Photographer

Saw VI is Greatest Movie Ever

I'm kidding. The over-the-top acting and ridiculous storyline that has become a staple of the Saw movies is still present in the latest installment. However, the sixth movie is actually an improvement over the last three films, which have been absolutely awful. Granted, being a step up from those movies is not saying much, but Saw VI is entertaining enough to be worth about half of its admission price. And that's about all we can ask from these yearly sleezefests.

-Daniel Kemp, Sports Editor

Teacher of the Year

Last week Westside's own science instructor Mike Fryda received the Nebraska Teacher of the Year award. I was in his class taking photos for another story we were mentioning Fryda in. I remember how patient he was with his students and how he genuinely wanted them to learn. He definitely deserved this award :).

-Lindsay Lee Photo Editor

Poor Black Cats!

There's this interesting article in the Omaha World Herald about black cats not up for adoption during Halloween season because of disturbed individuals who will abuse them.

Isn't that awful?!?!?!?

-Grace Lyden Copy Editor

First Post!!

This is the first post and is a test.

-Brian Frey Entertainment Editor