Final story

TV Script

(Footage: Wideshot driving range --> clubs stacked against the club houseà upward shot of a golfer hitting a ball. NAT Sound: Bird singingà ball being hit off a tee)

Spring time is officially here and that means it is time for golf players to pull their set of golf clubs out the shed, put on their favorite polo and get out to Palmer golf course, the only course open in mid april.

 (VOSOT: George Collum 10 seconds, C.G: George Collum Director of Golf)

“We are off to an early start, we have all 18 holes up and running and the driving range is open too.”

(Footage: Long shot of someone teeing off the first holeà People driving in a cart. NAT sound: Cart bring driven.)

Palmer golf course is the first golf course to open after the winter months and the last one too close at the summer seasons end.

 (VOSOT: George Collum 13 seconds)

“We are able to open earlier than other golf courses simply because of the weather. There are not as many forest areas out here or mountain ranges like there are with the Anchorage courses so the snow melts faster.”

(Lineshot of people hitting balls at the driving rangeà longshot of brown grassà close up of a pull cart rolling over the brown grass.)

Although Palmers seasonal weather patterns give it’s golf course the advantage of being open earlier then the courses in Anchorage, the course is still far from prime conditions. It will be another month before the brown colored grass turns green, the temperature gets above 60 degrees, and the course is completely removed of the little bit of snow it has left.

(VOSOT: George Collum 8 seconds)

“We still have a few temporary greens on a few of the holes which some find annoying.”

(People putting on a temporary greenà close up of a putt on a temporary green à someone missing a putt on a temporary green. NAT sound: person yelling after missing the puttà putter hitting a ball)

The temporary turf composed greens can make even the best golfers putt look like a sloppy mess. But they are necessary until the regular grass greens completely fry out for fear of damaging it. Collum says that even though the course is still using temporary greens, they are opening more regular greens every few days.

(VOSOT: Billy Bomar 10 seconds, C.G: Bill Bomar Director of Tanglewood golf course”

“Palmer is a great place to play. The course is beautiful and it is open really early compared to the Anchorage courses”

(Footage: People walking down the course àclose up of a ball on a tee and being hit. NAT Sound: people laughingàsound of ball being hit off of tee)

With the season still it’s early days, Palmer golf course may only 100 people a day, but once the grass turns green and things start to warm up, a day on the course will be a home away from home for more then 220 people.

(VOSOT: George Collum 10 seconds)

“Things are going great, we could not hope for more especially this early into the season and we look forward to the rest of the summer.”

(Footage: Putt where the ball dropping in a hole. NAT: sound of ball going into hole)

For KUAA News I’m Donald McSherry  

Radio Script

(NAt: birds singing, golf balls being hit)

Spring time is officially here and that means it is time for golf players to pull their set of golf clubs out the shed, put on their favorite polo and get out to Palmer golf course, the only course open in mid april. For Course director george Collum, it is an exciting time.  

(George Collum, 8 seconds): “

“We are off to an early start, we have all 18 holes up and running and the driving range is open too.”

(NAt sound: someone pulling a club out of a golf bag, and hitting a ball)

Palmer golf course is the first golf course to open after the winter months and the last one too close at the summer seasons end.

(George Collum 13 seconds)

“We are able to open earlier than other golf courses simply because of the weather. There are not as many forest areas out here or mountain ranges like there are with the Anchorage courses so the snow melts faster.”

Although Palmers seasonal weather patterns give it’s golf course the advantage of being open earlier then the courses in Anchorage, it is still far from prime conditions.

Collum descirbes the course during the summer months as beautiful. He says that the fairways are green and pleasant to play on.  

But right now, The grass that encompasses the fairways is dead and has an ugly brownish color as they recover from the cold of winter. Collum also says that the temperatures of Palmer are less then desirable. It will be another couple of weeks before the brown colored grass turns green, the temperature gets to a comfortable rate.

(George Collmun 8 seconds)

“We still have a few temporary greens on a few of the holes which some find annoying.”

The temporary greens, which are made up of astro turf, can make even the best golfers putt look like a sloppy mess. But they are necessary until the regular grass greens completely dry out to keep from damaging them. Collum says that even though the course is still using temporary greens, they are opening more regular greens every few days.  Billy Bomar, the course director for tangle wood golf cours, which is still closed until mid may, says he is excited to get out in the open golf air.

(Billy Bomar 10 seconds)

“Palmer is a great place to play. The course is beautiful and it is open really early compared to the Anchorage courses”

(nat sound: sound of golf balls being hit from a tee)

With the season still it’s early days, Palmer golf course may only 100 people a day, but once the grass turns green and things start to warm up, a day on the course will be a home away from home for more then 220 people.

“Things are going great, we could not hope for more especially this early into the season and we look forward to the rest of the summer.”

For KUAA news

(Nat sound: golf ball hitting the bottom of hole)

i’m donald mcsherry

Reader

Spring time is officially here and that means it is time for golf players to pull their  golf clubs out the shed, put on their favorite polo and get out to Palmer golf course, the only course open in mid april.

Every year palmer opens it’s golf course a month before any of the courses anchorage. accoridng to the golf director of palmer george cullmon, palmer is able to open it’s doors earlier simply because the weather is better for golfing. With more flat lands and less forest area, palmers climate conditions allow for an earlier start.

This is good news for golf enthusiast billy bomar. Bomar is the manger of tanglewood golf course which is still closed until mid may. has been golfing for more then 20 years and always looks forward to the early opeing of palmer golf course.

Wheather you are a professional golfer looking to get a head start on the season or if you just simply want to hit some golf balls and see how far you can hit them, palmer golf course has opened it doors for all. For Kuaa news, i’m donald mcsherry

story 4

(Video:Ranger school sign, soliders running doing push ups. NAT: Drill sergeants yelling, soliders breathing hard)

Ranger school. The ultimate test for a soldier of the United States army. Ranger school prepares soldiers to be leaders in extreme combat situations.

(Video: Matt blanchett running, Video: BLanchett breathing hard)

 For soldier Matt Blanchett, receiving the ranger patch to his uniform has been a major goal of his since he joined the military.

(Matt Blanchett interview)

“If your tabbed people look at you because you have achieved something great.”

(Video: soldiers standing in formation, crawling through mudd, running uphill in line, firing guns, hand to hand combat training, soldiers throwing up. NAT: drill sergeant yelling, feet hitting the ground as they run, gun fire)

Ranger school is a 61 day program that takes place in Atlanta. it puts soldiers into intense combat situations and teaches them how to adapt and survive. It has been called the hardest school on Earth due to it’s extreme nature which involves very little sleep or food. For Blanchett, preparation is key to graduate out of the school.

(Video: Matt running, doing push ups and chin ups, drinking water and looking tired. SOUND: grunting, breathing hard after every pushup.)

 Matt runs several miles a day, and keeps up with all kinds of cross training exercises to keep his body in peak physical condition. To get into the school, a physical fitness test is required. It consists of 49 pushups, 53 situps, and six chin up. That may not sound very difficult for a soldier of the army, but ranger school requires its students to do every exercise perfectly or they fail the test. Matt says that the physical challenges are not what bothers him. It’s the mental challenges he will face if accepted into the school.

(Matt BLNACHETT)

“There is really no way to mentally prepare yourself for what you will experience. I know there are a lot of days where you don’t sleep where you don’t eat and you just have to roll with it.”

(Video: Iraq war b-roll. Soliders leading other soldiers through a door. Close up on a ranger patch)

For a student who graduates from the school, it means faster promotions, greater leadership, and advanced combat knowledge.

(MattBlanchett)

“It would really help my career in the military. I want to be a platoon leader and ranger school would help me get to that goal faster.”  

(Video: Clayton walking down a sidewalk.)

Specialist Clayton Philips received his ranger status four years ago. He says that the school is one of the most challenging things he has ever accomplished.  

(clayton philips)

“It was miserable but once your done with it its feels pretty good”

(Video: soliders trying to stay awake during their guard shift)

Philips says that the hardest part about the school was the lack of sleep. He says that the maximum amount of sleep he ever got in a night was four hours.

(Clayton philips)

 “I would trade away some of my food for my guard shifts so that I could sleep a little more.”

(Video: Iraq b-roll. Soldiers pratolling a street. Sound: Gunfire in the distance)

Philips says that the school helped him become more aware of his surroundings in combat. He learned how to stay alive and how to remain unseen when in dangerous situations during time in Iraq.

(Clayton Philips)

“The training I got at the school really helped me during my tour in Iraq.”

(Clayton walking down the sidewalk, fade to Matt running down a street. Sound: Matt breathing hard)

The advanced training showed Philips how to be a better solider, something that Blanchett will soon figure out.

(Video: Image of the Ranger School Sign zoom in)

 “I’m excited and scared. It’s going to be crazy.”

For KUAA News, I’m Donald McSherry.  

story 3

It’s spring time and for many, that means its time to put away the jackets and snow shovels and bring out the grills and sunglasses. But for Josh Heuer it’s also time to bring out the m14 air soft assault rifle, call some friends who want to have some fun with guns in the woods, and shoot each other. 

Air soft is a gun based game that uses small round plastic bee bee’s fired out of a weapon that is usually based off of a real gun. The bee bees hit hard and leave red welts on the skin but, are virtually harmless compared to their led counterparts.

Josh first started air soft two years ago when he and some friends bough some small spring fed pistols that did little more then hit someone from ten feet away. Falling in love with the game, he saved his money and bought an electric automatic rifle that could hit someone from half a football field away at over 350 feet per second. After buying the gun, ammo and other gear, it can cost a person over 300 dollars. But Josh and the people who frequently join him in this game say it was well worth it. Roughly Once a week, Josh and other players get together, pick teams take arms and shoot at each other until the last man is standing.  

Air soft gets its small popularity from the look and feel of using realistic weapons that don’t seriously hurt people. Josh describes it as being similar to paintball but with real looking guns, and the shots don’t explode with paint when they hit you. Josh says that the game requires players to be totally honest, if you get shot once you’re out until one team wins.

Another enthusiast of air soft is Max Greenstein. Max got into air soft after his brother brought him to a few games out by the abandoned missile silos outside of Wasilla. Max was drawn to the game because it put him in a real gun to gun combat situation without running the risk of dying. After finding the game fun, and full of action, Max bought an Mp5 replica and got serious. Now he plays with his friends frequently over the spring, summer, and fall months, taking cover behind trees or hills and crawling on the ground to avoid fire waiting for a perfect shot.

Max says that airsoft is not very popular in Anchorage. Max and Josh usually have to go outside of town to Eagle River or Wasilla to find an area they can play in without the risk of shooting anybody not in the game. There are no leagues or official games so it is still something that people have to do outside of official regulation. Until a major airspoft company comes to Alaska it is still something that Josh and Max have to do out in the woods.for KUAA news, I'm Donald McSherry

2nd story

Every day students around the UAA campus use their computers to check their university student email to receive important emails and updates from their professors, advisors and other organizations on campus.

Twice a week, students open their email to find a message which is subjected “The Green and Gold Newsletter” But many students when asked about they feel about the steady stream of green and gold emails had this to say:

(two students saying they don’t know what the news letter is)

The green and gold newsletter is a message generated to inform students on the events and activities going on around campus in the week to come. It is released by the University Advancement center which is a program dedicated to promoting the University to the Anchorage community.

(Kathleen McCoy, University Advancement) “We have worked really hard to design a news letter that will inform students on what is happening around campus and how they can be involved.”

But is the newsletter a good method of communicating with student? Or does it hit the trash bin sooner than it is opened? Some argue that is a waste of time, or too much email.

(Christina waters student): "I never really read them I just end up deleting it.”

(Jacob Thompson, student) “it seems that it comes too often. If they would release it maybe once a month instead of as often as they are releasing it now it would be a little better.”

The university advancement has been making efforts to increase the interest in the newsletter and have had relative success reaching students.

(Shana Robinson, student) “I like it. I think it is very informative. I always know what is happening around campus and it makes me feel informed. It also lets me know where the free food is.”

Feelings are clearly mixed on the topic of whether the Green and Gold News newsletter is effective at reaching students.  For some it is a resource of knowing what it what around campus the busy campus. But for others it is just more piece of junk mail. For KUAA news, I’m Donald McSherry

Story 1

Anyone who has been out and about lately has probably noticed that gas prices around town have increased by roughly 60 cents a gallon in the

 last month. 

UAA College senior Karl Wing is just one person who has felt the effects higher gas prices have had on the Anchorage community.

But the city limits are not the only place where Karl has been affected by high gas prices. With two nights a week spent driving 26 miles to and from Eagle River for class. He says that he is spending more time and money at the pump.  

 Karl is taking a full load of classes which does not leave any time for a job so the high gas prices are not doing him any favors. He says that he is graduating with a degree in political science in May, but until that happens, the budget it tight.

Spending 3.95 a gallon to get from Anchorage to Eagle River has taken a financial toll on college students like Karl who take classes in the small community to make sure they get the credits they need to graduate.

Karl says that the last month gas price increase has forced him to find alternative means of transportation such as putting together a car pool with class mates to reduce the amount of time he spends driving.   

Another student who has been affected by the increasing gas prices is Alexa workman. Workman grew up in Eagle river and says that she loves living in smaller community because of its quieter and calm nature.

But the 19 year old freshmen and her 99 dodge ram turbo diesel has seen an extra 300 dollars exit her bank account to cope with increasing diesel gas prices which have increased over $4.11 per gallon.

  

Workman says has taken steps to accommodate the increase in gas prices by building a better budget and spending certain amount money at places like Fred Myer where she accumulates discounts at the pump. 

She says that the last time she filled up her truck she, did so with a 70 cent discount from Fred Myer, but it still ran her over 100 dollars.

For KUAA news, I’m Donald McSherry