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Show WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013 Features WWW.WSUSIGNPOST.COM WSU alumnus faces city politics BY SPENCER BOYCE features reporter | The Signpost Brogan Fullmer, a graduate from Weber State University, is running for West Point City Council for the third time in an election taking place on Nov. 5. At 24 years old, Fullmer is the youngest candidate on the ballot. "I got clobbered the first time. I didn't really know what I was doing, and I was pretty young," Fullmer said. "The second time we had an incredible turnout, and I lost by only 72 votes." Fullmer was 18 when he first ran for city council, and now his third time at the polls has seen scandal. An opponent of Fullmer's accused him of illegal practices in order to get him taken off the ballot. The city had already cleared Fullmer of any wrongdoing. Eric Braegger, one of the original candidates for the West Point City Council, said he was approached and asked to make a complaint against Fullmer. "He told me, 'ff f am the only one that makes a complaint, they won't do anything, but if you complain, they will look at the case, and you could get back on the ballot,'" Braeg ger said. Braegger, a Draper City police officer, has since posted videos that detail the improprieties of the election on his website. "The reason f did it was because f felt like people were going to go out and "I want to save things. A place I used to play as a kid is now the mayor's house." BROGAN FULLMER West Point City Council candidate vote, but I have intimate knowledge as to what was happening and the whole process, and f felt it was important that people know what happened so they could be informed," Braegger said. There are currently two open seats on the West Point City Council. Fullmer was among five candidates running for one of those seats. Under state law, primaries were to be held in order to narrow it down to four candidates. Braegger was the fifth incumbent and did not make it past primaries. "The scandal is that a candidate tried to co-opt other candidates to get another candidate removed from the ballot," Fullmer said. "I was hurt by it. ft was dirty, heinous, and f hate to say it, but malicious." Fullmer said that despite these issues he has faced, he remains optimistic about the elections and just wants to make his mark. A resident of West Point his whole life, Fullmer said he has aspirations to keep the smalltown feel. "I want to save things," Fullmer said. "A place I used to play as a kid is now the mayor's house." Fullmer said he wants to keep farming alive in West Point and preserve some favorite childhood locations, but would also like to see industries the citizens want come into West Point. Fullmer said many of the skills he has that are necessary to be a councillor can be attributed to his time spent at WSU. A graduate from the Goddard School of Business & SOURCE: BROGAN FULLMER Brogan Fullmer, a Weber State University alumnus, is running for the West Point City Council for the third time. Fullmer graduated from WSU's Goddard School of Business & Economics. Economics, he said he felt his teachers really cared about him. He also said he believes many of his business classes have helped him develop a strong sense of self and enabled him to be a better candidate for the people of West Point. "fn my mind, if you really want to make a difference in the world, politics is where you do it," Fullmer said. "Where better to start than in your own community?" Comment on this story at wsusignpost.com 0HK Ogden teens publish online magazine BY THAINA OLSON features editor | The Signpost lack Williams, a junior at Weber High School, said he always knew he wanted to pursue a future in journalism, but what he didn't know is that his ambitions would be realized much sooner than he had expected. Williams is the editor- in-chief and co-founder of Blown Magazine, an independent online magazine that just released its fourth issue. The magazine was founded and is put together and published entirely by teens from Weber High. "It's crazy, because honestly, we've tried very little," said Noah Wilcock, a writer and co-founder of Blown Magazine, "it's crazy that people are liking this. This is just what we do for fun." The first issue of Blown Magazine was printed in Tune, and the staff is currently working with Only in Ogden to possibly begin a print edition of the magazine. The magazine currently publishes a monthly issue, but the contributors are looking into the possibility of printing biweekly issues in response to the popularity they have seen the magazine gain. The idea began when Williams and a few friends were discussing the possibility of putting together a book with their literary and artistic pieces. Amber Truett, who is now a photographer for Blown, suggested that a better outlet for these works would be a magazine. "It's crazy that people are liking this. This is just what we do for fun." NOAH WILCOCK writer, co-founder of Blown Magazine "So we created Blown," Williams said. "We do poetry and creative writing and photography, art, basically anything creativity-driven that people want to see." Presently, all of the material for Blown Magazine is created by a close-knit group of seven Weber High students. However, Williams said they are just now starting to open up spots in the magazine for anyone who has something to contribute. "Everything is really in the works right now," Williams said. "We've never really taken a very serious business approach to this, and so far it's worked fairly well." Among the group, Wilcock is the one with a business mentality. Wilcock said he thinks the magazine has potential to eventually become a profitable business for those involved. "You got the demographic there. This is new stuff written by young people for young people," Wilcock said. "I knew it was going somewhere from a business standpoint; I just didn't think it was going to go that fast." Ian Casey does all of the graphic design work for the magazine. Casey said his only previous experience in this area was working for his father as a photographer for Zoo Audio. Besides that, he's learned most of what he knows from photography and graphic design classes. "Blown gives me the motivation to go take See BLOWN page 10 SOURCE: IAN CASEY The cover of the fourth and most recent issue of Blown Magazine, an independent magazine founded and self-published by students at Weber High School. Employee Wellness welcomes new coordinator BY THAINA OLSON features editor | The Signpost On Aug. 15, the Employee Wellness program brought in a new coordinator, Raeanna lohnson. lohnson said she hopes to continue programs already in place and reach out to the faculty and staff to better know what programs they would like to see. "I want the faculty and staff to know that I'm here and we are always open to ideas and input," lohnson said. "My goal as the coordinator is to try to get out more and meet with faculty and staff to get their input on what they would like to see and make this more of their program, and not necessarily just a program that is being offered to them." Employee Wellness seeks to offer programs that improve the overall physical, mental and emotional health of WSU employees. The program most employees take advantage of is the comprehensive health assessments, lohnson said. Employees who participate in comprehensive health assessments are rewarded through an incentive program called Wellness Pays. The incentive program encourages participation in the assessments as well as physical fitness and stress management activities. "We're really lucky to have this kind of program," said Tim Ruden, the coordinator of human performance and part of a committee that helped introduce Employee Wellness to WSU. ". . . A wellness program allows individuals to lead a healthy life. There have been countless studies that have found that employees that participate in wellness programs are sick less See WELLNESS page 8 |