The Register, 2007-09-19

              colorblind aggie pride is stocks options for students the tree of knowledge sits in a courtyard at jena high school this tree has become the center of a media firestorm after nooses were hung from it's branches last september in response to black students sitting under the traditionally white tree the day before deep-rooted photo by chris graythen • chicago tribune/mct the student government association nonetheless bell is not out of danger despite his impending release he can still be arraigned in juvenile court so the rally must go on a judge subsequently threw out the conspiracy verdict on sept 4 and an appeals court vacated the remaining battery conviction this past friday campus organizations what a rally when who a collection of major thursday 5 p.m where holland bowl why support for the jena 6 an all-white jury convicted the young ath lete as an adult of sec ond-degree aggravated battery and conspiracy after the da reduced the indictments the morning of the trial police charged bell 17 and five other afri can-american students with attempted sec ond-degree murder for punching and kicking a white classmate in the high school cafeteria they will join a rally outside the town court house to protest the sentencing of mychal bell the first member of the jena six to go to trial at 3 p.m on sept 19 a bus filled with over 50 a&t students will embark on an 18-hour ride to jena la ifs never too soon to think about your financial future financial advisers give tips on how to start your stock portfolio page 7 see rally page 2 br michael j mccray interim editor in chief campus news national news international news opinion business arts & life sports by jocelyn marks contributor lenz is among the many students at a & t who works out daily to avoid the stress that college students may feel according to the new york times 80 percent of college campuses in the united states have noted significant increases in serious i try to put my priorities first and put the partying and hanging out sec ond being at the gym for a couple of hours helps me clear my mind from everything and be able to think straight about my life now in his third year at a&t lenz believes that being a full time student working part time and hav ing a social life is stressful brian lenz wipes the sweat off his face as he finishes his two-to three hour workout by doing a cool down run to help him think about the things that have occurred in his life that day federal reserve slashes interest rates market soars bvjeannine aversa ap economics writer is that flamingo you're rockin one students design company takes his musical influences and turns them into unique pieces of art page 8 that incident landed six black students robert bailey who was the black student attacked the all-white party jesse beard mychal bell carwin jones bryant purvis and theodore shaw in a local jail fac ing attempted second-degree murder it's believed that his association with the students who hung the three nooses and later intimidated black students led to his attack barker suf fered various injuries to his face and has run up a medical bill of nearly 12,000 according to his parents december 4 2006 was the day justin barker a white student at jena high school was jumped by a group of black students and knocked un conscious as he left the gym all-white party and days later when another white jena resident pulled a shotgun on three black students at a convenient store it was under this tree one year ago that white students continued unlaw ful segregation posting an invisible sign that read whites only it was underbids tree that black students sat the tree of knowledge in jena la has opened the eyes of a nation and exposed to them the very real presence of racism not only in the american south but everywhere it was in the book of genesis when adam and eve ate from the tree of knowledge in the garden of eden that they were shown the evils of the world shattered were their rose colored glasses and now visible was a disturbing world the tree of knowledge sits in a dated courtyard surrounded by an aging school a plant bed with no life scattered desks and a beaten sidewalk after a fire destroyed part of the high school in november racial in timidation continued when a black student was attacked for coming to an in the ensuing months violence broke out in this quaint louisiana town that sits 230 miles northwest of new orleans after the three white students accused of hanging the nooses only received a three-day suspension after that came a string of fights between white students and black students who only count for 85 of the 460 students at jena high school to some in this rural community it was just a schoolyard prank but to others who can still remember days when strange fruit hung from trees like the one at jena high school it was a disheartening sign that things hadn't changed that much at all one day and a day later it was under this tree that nooses were hung from its expansive branches see jena page 2 aggies can't sinktheship a&ts losing streak continues as they fall to three-time meac cham pion hampton 59-14 in the aggies home opener page 11 sweating out the stress photo by leroy mikell • the a&t register less immediate will be relief for the country's economic health the rate reduction could take three to nine months to ripple through the econ omy and bolster overall activity the aggressive action underscored the fed's resolve and it will help some homeowners whose adjustable rate mortgages reset in the fall those rates will still go up but not by as much as they otherwise could have analysts said the fed's action means borrowers who can obtain credit should see rates drop on a variety of loans it will become less expensive for people to finance certain credit card debt and for homeown ers to take out popular home equity lines of credit which often are used to pay for education home improvements or medical bills bernanke today's action is intended to help forestall some adverse effects on the economy that might otherwise arise from disruptions in financial markets and to promote moderate growth over time the fed said in a statement released after its closed-door meeting whether bernanke can handle the crisis suc cessfully is the biggest challenge he has faced in his 19 months at the fed helm as a result wells fargo bank of america and other commercial banks dropped their prime lending rate charged to millions of borrowers by a corresponding amount to 7.75 percent colleagues lowered an important interest rate to 4.75 percent economic and political pressure has been building on the fed to act welcomed the move in a crucial and anxiously awaited decision bernanke and his central bank federal reserve chairman ben years politicians shaken by record high home foreclosures also 335.97 points its biggest one day point jump in nearly five wall street responded enthu siastically propelling stocks up washington ap — in a bold strike the fed eral reserve slashed a key interest rate by a half point on tuesday the first cut in over four years and left the door open to further relief to prevent a painful housing slump and jarring credit crunch from driving the country into recession see interest rates page 7 high 81°f low 60°f thursday h 84°f l 66"f working up a sweat aggies are channeling the stress of college life into daily workout routines excercising is just one of the methods experts suggest to ease the stress that goes along with being a college student see stress page 2 i college football picks £ 5 ® x jlpi from the meac to the top 25 we are v kl h^q^^sdjm l / picking all ofthis weekend's big games lj ish^l the a&t register volume lxxxi no 5 wednesday september 19,2007 the student newspaper of north carolina a&t state university the real world greensboro aggies rally to support jena 6 on campus aggies came one step closer to the real world last wednesday when 350 companies were represented at the 2007 career awareness fair page 2 bv jennifer sims contributor mexiacan drug lord francisco javier arellano felix pleads guilty to various charges that carry a mandatory life sentence but did throw out of the possibility of be ing executed page 4 drug lord pleads guilty there isn't a law that says you have to be black to attend a&t one student discusses why he came to aggieland page 6