Pizza Barn Sponsors Eating Contest

photo by: The Pizza Barn

photo by: The Pizza Barn

Gurgitators from all over Texas will be gathering together 11:00 am  Tuesday June 9th to take part in a pizza eating contest sponsored by The Pizza Barn. An entrance fee of $15 pays for all of the pizza you can shovel into your mouth. Prizes for the top three eaters include vintage Pizza Barn t-shirts and clothing, gift certificates to various Pinebox businesses and a grand prize of a trip for two to New York City for a chance to compete at the International Pizza Eating Contest held annually in Times Square.

Proceeds from the contest will be donated to the city of Ninevah to help with the city’s rebuilding efforts after it’s recent streak of fires. All interested parties should contact The Pizza Barn at 936-555-9273 to register or simply show up an hour before the event. The Pizza Barn has also provided an online form that can be filled out on their website.

Another Mystery in Cavalas

At about 1:12 in the morning Johnathan Marcos looked out his window to see a heavy snowfall in the hot summer night. Cavalas, a small town in the process of rebuilding after many mysterious and unexplained abandonments, rarely sees any weather temperatures outside of 90 degrees Fahrenheit at this time of year.

Johnathan Marcos was not the only townsfolk to witness this event. Sarah Blackhert, Johnathan’s closest neighbor, also saw the snow out her window.

“I was adjusting my drapes when I noticed a thick snowfall. I went to the porch and put my hand out — it was snow and a whole lot of it.” Sarah Blackhert carried on, “The air was hot and cold at the same time… I really don’t know how to explain what I felt. It was nothing I have felt in snowfall before.”

Of the few people in Cavalas who claimed to have seen the snowfall, they all shared the belief that the snow was not falling for more then 12 or 13 minutes.

Forecasts did not and still do not call for any unusual weather this week in Cavalas or the surrounding areas. This morning Cavalas remains in the low 90′s as the heat continues this summer.

Computer Game Causing Student Problems

If you haven’t heard of Infection, you probably haven’t been paying too much attention. The game designed by ETU seniors Dave McColluch and Dana Curtis solves the perennial game designer’s problem of “Easy to Learn, Difficult to Master” and has been downloaded and spread throughout the campus. Simultaneously releasing as a Flash based game played in web browsers, downloadable through such social gaming networks as XBOX-Live and also available for play on iPhones and T-Mobile’s G1 Infection has been downloaded nearly 45,000 times and is entirely ubiquitous amongst campus residents.

“We never thought it would catch on like it has, it’s really been quite amazing.” noted McColluch. “Within just two weeks of release, Dana and I have both sealed our senior project and nearly paid for for the last two years of tuition.”

Not everyone is so pleased with the game’s success though. Students currently dealing with the stress of finals have had to contend with dividing their time appropriately between play and study. Professors are concerned that the temptation of Infection might affect students an a very immediate and negative fashion. “For what it is, the game is an addiction. There’s the immediate reward of peer recognition by announcing high score achievements across all networked players, constant requirement to attribute more and more time to the game and significant feelings of withdrawal when unable to play. Students are awarded for getting their friends to join with in game bonuses furthering the game’s ability to steal away precious time that should instead be spent studying.” stated Jonah Amberwood from ETU’s department of student affairs.

Most others who have played the game are unconcerned, but with finals soon over the impact Infection has had on the student population will be clear.

Search Continues for Missing Parachutists

A photo of one of the Texas Air Rangers at the Friday jump.

A photo of one of the Texas Air Rangers at the Friday jump.

Golan County Search & Rescue and the Golan County Sheriff’s Office are continuing the search for two parachutists who are missing following a jump on Friday. The parachutists, Ellie Castle and David Wang, jumped with a local parachute enthusiasts group as part of the celebration of Pinebox Softball Daze, which began Friday evening. The group, the Texas Air Rangers, practices aerial maneuvers and pinpoint landing and often performs at air shows around the region.

Sherriff Butch Anderson has confirmed that all twelve members of the group, including Castle and Wang, were aboard the DeHavilland Twin Otter when it took off from Golon County Airport. Witnesses among the group report that Castle and Wang jumped at the same time as the others. Photographs taken from the ground show all twelve members linking arms to form a circular “star cluster” as they descended. Ten members of the Texas Air Rangers landed at the Pinebox Athletic Field as planned, but Castle and Wang failed to appear.

Although no official cause has been put forward and no bodies have been recovered, a member of the Texas Air Rangers stated on condition of anonymity that the two parachutists may have collided in midair, knocking them unconscious and they fell to the ground without opening their chutes. Another member of the team, also speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that the dive became difficult after the group broke up, with violent air currents and unusual updrafts.

Texas Air Ranger president Adam Lang has released a statement thanking the Golon County Search & Rescue and Sheriff’s office for their continued efforts.

Noxious Fumes Ruin Faculty Chili Cook-off

The annual spring faculty chili cook-off was canceled only minutes after it started when several people fell ill from noxious fumes and had to be hospitalized. The source of the fumes was found to be not from the cook-off but from a broken ventilation duct from the nearby Abrimov Sciences Building. Six people were admitted to the Golon County Hospital for headache, dizziness, and nausea. All but one has since been released.

The faculty chili cook-off is an ETU annual tradition to mark the end of the school year. This year the event was held on the ETU grounds near the chemistry building. An estimated 250 attended before the event was canceled. While a few people complained of an unpleasant smell prior to the cook-off, no source could be identified. Only after the cook-off began did the odor become overwhelming, forcing faculty members to leave the area and emergency personnel to respond.

Investigation into the source of the fumes revealed a misaligned ventilation duct inside the Sorenson building. The duct has since been repaired and Vernon Richards, president of the College of Chemistry, expressed his regret for the incident.

Lifeguard Rescued at Community Pool

Emergency services went to the Golan County Community Pool on Friday after receiving a call from a panicked staff member of the pool. However, when the ambulance crew arrived, they discovered that it was a lifeguard that was in trouble.

“A pool patron, a kid, came up to the lifeguard on duty yelling that there was somebody at the bottom of the deep end.” Janet Rosamond, the pool director told reporters. “The lifeguard thought she saw a form at the bottom of the pool and immediately dove in. While underwater searching for the victim, she was overcome and inhaled water into her lungs. Emergency services pulled her from the pool and revived her.”

No victim other than the lifeguard has been found and it is believed that the initial report was a mistake. The lifeguard has not been identified and but Rosamond stated that she is expected to make a full recovery.

The community pool is staffed by professional lifeguards. Every year, emergency services personnel to dozens of incidents at the pool, ranging from cuts and falls to near drownings. However, the pool’s only loss of life occurred in August of 2003 when several teenagers broke into the pool after hours and one accidentally drowned. Alcohol is believed to have been involved in the incident.

The Real Scoop

This wasn’t just a case of an overactive imagination and too much chlorine. The kid and lifeguard really did see someone at the bottom of the pool. The someone in question has been dead for a while and he’d like to have company.

Back in 2003, Anthony “Tony” Grogan was the youngest of a group of juvenile delinquents in Pinebox. The group had liberated some beer from a supermarket and met up with some girls when Grogan suggested they go skinny dipping at the pool. Getting over the fence was easy and soon they were having a grand time. However, things got nasty when Grogan and another boy, Dave Schiff, got in a fight over a girl. Both were pretty drunk and before he knew it, Schiff had held Grogan’s head underwater for a bit too long. The group panicked and ran off, leaving Grogan’s body to settle in the deep end, where it was discovered the next morning.

Grogan is now a Lost Soul, and still a bit of a horndog. His spirit remains lurking beneath the waters of the pool, watching the female patrons and invisibly pawing at them. He recently discovered that he could make himself visible and so attempted to draw an attractive lifeguard into the water and drown her, keeping her with him forever.

Tony Grogan, Lost Soul (ABE)

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor, d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidate d12, Notice d4, Swimming d12, Taunt d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5

Special Abilities
Ethereal, Cluster Attack, Cold Spot, Channel, Electrical Drain, Electrical Malfunction, Fatigue, Fear –2, Reek, Scent, Scream, Telekinesis, Visible Form (in water only), Voice, Whisper