Montana State News

By MATT PARSONS/Montana State News

Ty Sherwood and Nick Fordyce seem like any other twenty-something roommates.  The only difference is that in their Bozeman bachelor pad there’s no beer in the fridge and the toilets seats are down.

Despite disabilities, Ty Sherwood and Nick Fordyce are able to live independently.

And on the back side of their front door is a note that reads “Is it after 9 p.m? If it is…STAY INSIDE!” I wonder what this means. But I decide not to ask, not yet at least. I had just arrived.

Inside their three-bedroom, two-bath duplex, Sherwood and Fordyce lounge around in t-shirts and basketball shorts. Fordyce has a Hewlett Packard computer in his lap and Sherwood is busy cleaning up the kitchen where French toast is frying in a skillet.

Fordyce shows me what he’s been working on.

“It’s a menu for the coming week,” says Fordyce. “Ty and I take turns cooking dinner every other week.” This week was Fordyce’s. His menu looks pretty appetizing – spaghetti, pork chops, a variety of vegetables. Thursday night just says “leftovers.” Sundays are reserved for dinner with their parents.

At this point you’re probably wondering what is different about these two young men. They plan out their menus a week in advance? They clean the kitchen? They put the toilet seats down? That’s just not normal, certainly not for a 20-year-old male. Well, you would be right.

In fact, it’s quite extraordinary, especially considering that Sherwood and Fordyce have mental disabilities that prevent them from doing some of the things that many of us take for granted.  More

By LEVI WORTS/Montana State News

16C—the ward for the most severely mentally disabled at the Boulder River School and Hospital. Infants suffering from large accumulation of fluid in their brains are kept here.  Some do not even have brains, just a brain stem to keep the body functioning on the lowest level.

The facility houses a wide range of persons with intellectually disabilities and mentally illness; the residents include children to adults that vary from completely non-functioning to deaf. Families can show up and drop off persons with mental disabilities for any reason.

This was the state of mental health care in Montana when Gene Haire, the current superintendent of Montana Developmental Center, first arrived in Boulder in the early 70s.

“There were people who should not have been here but were committed because they were deaf,” said Haire. He arrived in Boulder at a time of drastic change in mental health care in Montana. In 1975 Montana legislation changed the rules for committing persons with intellectual disabilities, according to Haire. More

By KEVIN KNAPEK/Montana State News

Spring of 2013 marks the first graduating class in Montana State University’s Extended University Liberal Arts Degree program.

For now, the program is classified as a completion degree, but Josef Verbanac of the English department at MSU hopes it will transition into a full, four-year online degree once the infrastructure and resources are in place.

A completion degree is where students come into the program with credits already accumulated (at least two years) and finish their degree completely online. This completion degree program was just approved last year.

The current costs for online classes at MSU are $222 per credit for residents.

So why does it cost more to take an online course? It would seem that not having a face-to-face class would be cheaper in the long run. After-all, the students are using their personal computers and the school is not paying for the electricity for the machines to be used and lighting required in a normal classroom. More

By PATRICK HILL / Montana State News

Navy SEAL and sniper Chris Kyle was shot and killed at a Texas gun range Saturday.  Officials say he and a fried were shot and killed while working with soldiers who had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Kyle, who served four tours of duty in Iraq as a SEAL sniper was the president of Craft International, a training company serving military and law enforcement officials.  Credited with the most kills of any American serviceman at 160, Kyle is also author of the bestselling autobiography “American Sniper.”

Around 3:30 p.m. both Kyle, 38, and Chad Littlefield, 35, were at the Rough Creek Lodge, about 50 miles southwest of Forth-Worth, when Eddie Ray Routh, a former Marine who had also served a tour in Iraq, allegedly shot both men with a semiautomatic handgun and fled the scene. Routh was captured at his home in Lancaster and is currently being held at the Erath County Jail on a $3 million bond. More

By JESSE POWELL/Montana State News

Despite a desperate attempt to remind Montana of winter, Friday’s snowy weather did not keep hundreds of people from witnessing the First Grand Entry of Native American royalty at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. The parking lot was full a half hour before the event and the fieldhouse floor crammed with visitors and participants.

Native American dancer takes part in the annual MSU Pow Wow last week. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Krogstad.)

Pounding drums and loud singing in native tongues shook the rafters and drowned the noise as drum groups representing various nations, like Rocky Boy and Crow Agency, thundered in the pageantry.

The opening prayer to the competitions honored fallen warriors; the JROTC was present in the color guard. The solemn ceremony of remembrance and recognition was for those whose sacrifice continues to maintain our freedom. There was a significant cultural celebration as well.

“You want to have the Native perspective,” Orlando Runs Above nods his Denver Nuggets cap, giving his neck a rest from hard dancing with his tall headdress, “to have a full understanding of anything, you have to have a wide perspective and listen to many things before you can state a judgment of anything…despite what you may believe in the beginning. You must be open.”

The causeway between merchandise vendors and food vendors never let up being jammed as it ran next to the dance floor and encampments of drum teams. Part of the spirit of celebration could be felt in the knots of kindred catching-up or being introduced. There was no separation between observers and performers. Shuffling in line to get an Indian taco, one sometimes had to dodge the magnificent plumages of headdress and shoulder “wings.” More

By TRUDI FISHER/Montana State News

This year marked Bozeman Running Company’s Fifth Annual Run to the Pub, to Pub 317 in downtown Bozeman, on Saturday, March 17. The race attracted nearly 2,000 runners from all kinds of running backgrounds to participate in an early-season 10K and half-marathon.

Proceeds from the event go to local charities: Family Promise, Trails for Horses and Run Bozeman. Each year one participant is drawn randomly for a trip for two to the Dublin (Ireland) Marathon in the fall. Participants are always encouraged to dress in costume for prizes, and top runners in each race and gender are awarded prize money. More

By MATT YORK/Montana State News

Montana State’s literature and arts publication Read This is returning to campus after nearly a year hiatus from publication.

Published by the English department of Montana State University, Read This is dedicated to the promotion of works of both fiction and non-fiction from students and non-students alike, and has been in publication since the fall semester of 2006.

More

By RANDI TYLER/Montana State News

In honor of National Poetry Month, the Bozeman Public Library is holding Poetry Live!, an opportunity for the community of Bozeman to read and listen to poetry. Readers are welcome to either read poems from some of their favorite poets or read some of their own.

This will be the fourth year for these public readings. For the first two years, they had special guests come read and talk about some of their favorite poets. Montana State University English Professr Marvin Lansverk read and spoke on Blake one year. Ben Leubner and Robert Bennett, also MSU English professors, spoke on 20^th century poets and read some examples.

Last year was the first time the public was able to come and read some of their favorites or their own creations. More

By ANGIE FORD/Montana State News

An offshoot of Network of Environmentally Conscious Organizations (NECO), 1,000 New Gardens believes that is just what the world needs. And “the world” isn’t an exaggeration. From Bozeman to Africa, a new wave of Liberty Gardens is sprouting up everywhere.

It all started in 2011 when Matt Smith started the 1,000 New Gardens organization, an MSU club that is an offshoot of NECO, to help families jump-start growing organic food for themselves.

The goals of the club take a three-pronged approach: help people reduce their grocery bills, build a sense of community and “[plant] the seed in people’s minds about sustainable gardening.” 1,000 New Gardens “is more of a community group than a student group,” Smith said.

The club provides free composted material to gardeners that can be used to help grow crops – but the process is a circular one: The Coffee to Compost program has linked arms with local coffee shops that provide coffee grounds and food scraps to make compost. More