Beyond the sadness
Hope endures after a year of healing at Wedgwood
Baptist
By Matt Stiver
Senior reporter
A pink cloth banner is draped on the back wall of the Wedgwood Baptist Church sanctuary. Its depiction is simple — one of hope. A small child lifts a cross over his head. He gazes up at the word “Abba” (or Father).
One year ago, several feet in front of this spot, Larry Gene Ashbrook turned his 9mm handgun on himself after fatally shooting seven people and wounding seven more.
For Ashbrook it ended, but for the members present at a Wednesday youth
meeting that night and for those absent, the past year has been one of
soul-searching and surviving.
Wedgwood Baptist Church senior minister Al Meredith said the congregation has worked to move beyond the shooting. They wept, they shared and they healed on the shoulders of one another and their God.
“We were about the Kingdom before the shooting, and we were right back the following Sunday,” Meredith said. “We were not going to let the shooting stop us.”
The day after the 400 youths had their worship interrupted, Meredith walked past the sanctuary for the first time. Blood stains still marked the walls. Pews still bore the scars of bullets. His emotions were still raw.
“There was a sense of violation,” Meredith said. “A sense of sadness because of a trauma for people too young for something too hard. And a sense of peace. The following Sunday — with the pews removed and the carpet torn up — there was a sense of this is where God meets us.”
Anne McEowen, librarian and a 24-year congregation member, said the shooting united the church. In the midst of tragedy, church members found positives.
“I wouldn’t want to say we are glad this happened because we hate it,” McEowen said. “But members do talk about it. It lets them talk about God to people.”
In the months following the shooting, Meredith said more than 20,000 letters and 13,000 e-mails of encouragement and support poured into the church.
“We used them as wallpaper,” Meredith said. “Every time anyone came in, they would see the letters. They could read the cards and know that people around the world were praying for them. That probably did as much as anything.”
Meredith and other church leaders organized counseling sessions, which are still ongoing, to help members deal with the shooting. Both professional counselors and members of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Marriage and Family Center were available.
“They needed to know God was with them that night, that God was not out to lunch,” Meredith said. “In spite of all this, God still loves them.”
The victims’ families still struggle with the events of Sept. 15, 1999. McEowen said while some remained church members, other families have moved on, unable to cope with the trauma.
Though gone, the families remain close to the congregation, Meredith said.
“We have not lost them,” Meredith said. “We know exactly where they are. If you know exactly where something is, then you haven’t lost it.”
Wedgwood Baptist, just as it did last year, will hold a youth rally Wednesday on national “See You at the Pole” day. Church officials expect a larger turnout than last year.
Jeff Laster, facilities manager, said no new security measures have been added. Police will be present and some of the adults will serve as security for Wednesday’s “See you at the Pole” concert. Laster said the same band that performed last year, 40 Days, will return.
“We don’t want to be paranoid, we want to be prepared,” Laster said.
When the Wedgwood community marks the anniversary of the shooting today, the congregation will be 25 percent larger.
Rather than wither away, the church has grown stronger, turning tragedy into triumph, Meredith said.
“We are an ordinary people with an extraordinary God who is faithful,” Meredith said. “It’s not about us. It’s about Him.”
Matt Stiver
mrstiver@student.tcu.edu
Availability of oral contraceptive debated
At least 160 TCU students a month obtain the
pill
By Elise Rambaud
staff reporter
Local women’s health professionals are divided on whether or not the pill should be available over-the-counter.
The Food and Drug Administration’s 10-year debate over making oral contraceptives over-the-counter resurfaced in June, when the FDA held public meetings to discuss safety and ethical concerns of the pill’s availability.
According to Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals, 40 percent of American women between the ages of 18 and 29 take the pill. But many women’s health professionals say over-the-counter access of the medication may do more harm than good.
TCU students get about 10 prescriptions filled daily at the Health Center, pharmacist Tom Peterson said. Those figures suggest at least 160 students a month obtain the pill for both estrogen therapy and contraceptive use.
Donna Behl, a nurse practitioner at the Health Center, said women would not know how to use the pill correctly without medical consultation.
Robert Hatcher, a gynecologist and author of “Contraceptive Technology,” a book that supports over-the-counter oral contraceptive availability, said an instructional audio tape or video should be available upon initial purchase of over-the-counter oral contraceptives.
A month’s cycle of the pill can be produced for 10 to 20 cents, Hatcher said. If the pill was available over-the-counter, it would be less expensive.
Currently, if a woman’s health insurance does not cover prescriptions
for the pill, she may pay $25 to $35 a month, said Jaitendra Deora, a
pharmacy manager for Walgreen Drug Stores.
“Some women cannot afford the exam or the prescription,” said Emily Grieser, sophomore neuroscience major.
To obtain a prescription for the pill, women must get an annual pelvic exam. During these exams, a physician or nurse practitioner may detect early signs of cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. Patients are also given breast exams and checked for high blood pressure, Behl said.
“Sometimes these mandatory annual exams are the only time that some women will see a doctor,” she said.
If the drug could be obtained over-the-counter, many women would not be motivated to get their annual exams, said Mary Beth Walker, director of the Harris School of Nursing Learning Center.Though she favors annual exams for women, Walker said getting a prescription for oral contraceptives should not be tied to a Pap smear, one of the specific tests performed during the annual exam.
“A Pap smear tests for cervical cancer,” she said. “The pill does not cause cervical cancer.”
Jasbir Ahluwalia, a Dallas gynecologist, said without an annual exam, some women may not recognize the slight symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia until they are advanced. Undetected advanced chlamydia can eventually lead to infertility, he said.
Ahluwalia said a major concern with women having access to the pill without a prescription is that certain women should not take oral contraceptives. Female smokers over the age of 35, women with uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, a history of blood clots or migraines and women with ovarian cysts may be at a greater risk of having a heart attack, stroke or other complications, he said.
“If a woman has a mass on her ovaries, high doses of estrogen from certain oral contraceptives may be the last thing she needs,” Walker said.
Hatcher said the pill is safe.
“If a woman is able to use an estrogen-containing pill, she can use any low-dose pill,” he said.
According to a press release from Planned Parenthood, only 13 states have laws requiring health insurers to provide comprehensive coverage of oral contraceptives. Texas is not one of those states.
Elise Rambaud
e.j.rambaud@student.tcu.edu
Argentine governor touts rise in economy
Speech highlights improvements to province
By Yvette Herrera
staff reporter
Adolfo Rodriguez-Saa, governor of Argentina’s San Luis province, spoke Thursday afternoon to students and faculty about economic improvements in San Luis since his government came to power.
“San Luis is the most competitive province in Argentina,” he said.
Rodriguez-Saa said not only has San Luis’ unemployment rate gone down and exportation increased, but the number of students attending public schools in San Luis has also almost tripled since 1983.
“When I started as governor in 1983, there were 36,000 students in school,” Rodriguez-Saa said. “Today, there are 98,000.”
Rodriguez-Saa said San Luis is striving to better educate youths by improving technology in classrooms and providing 100 financial aid grants.
Since 1992, San Luis’ budget has more than doubled, which has given Rodriguez-Saa the opportunity to build inexpensive housing and provide better health care.
Rodriguez-Saa attributed the economic growth in his province to greater exportations of wheat and grain to the United States and Europe.
“We have increased our exporting level from practically nothing to 4.7 percent with the North American Free Trade Agreement and 17.1 percent with Europe,” he said.
Chairman of Spanish and Latin American studies Lee Daniel said because globalization is the future, Rodriguez-Saa’s speech gave students the opportunity to meet a leader from another part of the world.
“There is no distinction between them and us anymore,” Daniel said. “We are all Americans.”
Larry Adams, associate provost for academic affairs, said Latin America needs ethical leaders who are educated and involved with the community.
“(Rodriguez-Saa) has a clear vision for his state, country and Latin America,” Adams said.
Delia Pitts, director of international education, said two San Luis students are currently in the Intensive English Program and intend to continue their studies in the graduate program at TCU. One of the students plans to study Ranch Management at TCU.
Rodriguez-Saa is on a two-week visit to Fort Worth and will meet with 46 business and civic leaders from Argentina. Adams said the visit is sponsored by the government of the State of San Luis and was coordinated by the Office of the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs. They will return to Argentina Saturday.
“(They) have been working on new techniques in economic development and law enforcement,” Adams said.
Regan Boxwell, a senior Spanish and English double major, said she was impressed with the governor’s speech.
“It’s impressive how much he’s been able to turn the economy around,” Boxwell said. “The rest of Argentina can learn from his example.”
Yvette Herrera
yvebex@yahoo.com