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Show MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2008 Life • THE COLLEGE TIMES B3 Oh, behave! Observing visitor behavior in Zion National Park Ray Cheatham Life wr irer One of the most interesting activities to do while in the outdoors is to "people watch." There is something about being outdoors that changes the behavior of some individuals. Behavior that is considered unacceptable in most settings is somehow acceptable when outdoors. Strangely, the behavior goes mostly unnoticed by the general public. On March 20-22, students in the visitor behavior class traveled to Zion National Park in southern Utah to witness visitor behavior first hand. There they met with park rangers to learn what is being done by the Park Service to deal with visitor behavior and manage 2.7 million visitors every year. The visitor behavior class is taught by Scott Williams of the Physical Education and Recreation Department. The purpose of the class is to teach students how visitors behave in recreation settings and help them understand how agencies such as the National Park Service monitor and manage visitor behavior in order to protect the resources of the area. During the first evening in camp, students observed visitors proudly carrying armfuls of tree limbs taken from a nearby hillside even though the gathering of firewood is strictly prohibited. On the trail, students observed visitors ignor- ing warning signs and trail markers, thus putting themselves, others, and the environment at risk. Discussions with park rangers at the visitor centers in Zion Canyon and nearby Kolob Canyon focused on how the Park Service has used facility design, a transportation system and backcountry permits to manage the large number of visitors that frequent the park every year. One does not need to be a student in the visitor behavior class to go to Zion National Park. The park is located approximately 250 miles south of campus, northeast of St. George, Utah. Whether it is a weekend or weeklong trip, there is plenty to do in Zion National Park. The Park is It' s brawling time Jon Poole Life writer Longtime Nintendo fans look back to the days of the Nintendo 64 as the dawn of a gaming golden age. In this period of time, a little more than 10 years ago, gaming mechanics and innovations were invented that are still used as a default by the industry at large. For instance, fans of the Grand Theft Auto series owe quite a bit to Mario 64 and The Legend OfZelda: Ocarina Of Time for their demdtiorjs oJ(fairJjyiQn-linear,T fnje-roarning experiences that, quite frankly, had no equal in their day. Halo buffs have Nintendo to thank for the first-ever inclusion of an analog stick, instead of a directional pad, a control scheme that greatlyfacilitated movement in a three-dimensional environment. £ Aside from? gameplay mechanics, several major franchises were also retooled to make the jump to 3-D, and new intellectual properties were designed in order to take advantage of the aforementioned improvements in gameplay. One of these was the almost-universally popular Goldeneye. Another? The original Super Smash Bros. The Smash Bros, series is built upon the premise of Nintendo's most popular characters from various franchises, beating the crap out of one another in order to determine who is the greatest of them all. After the first game sold just less than 5 million copies on the Nintendo 64, the inevitable sequel made its way to the GameCube in 2001, under the title Super Smash Bros. Melee. Melee went on to become the No. I-selling game on the GameCube, at last count, selling more than 7 million copies. The latest entry in the 'seriesTnow available for the Nintendo Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, is a chip off the old block for all the right reasons. Aside from beefing up the roster of playable characters, Brawl continues the Smash Bros, tradition of fantastically frantic slugfest gaming that the series is known and loved for. Although Brawl contains a serviceable single-player mode, the story doesn't really make any sense and only serves to throw iconic Nintendo characters together that really have no business being in the same universe at all. To put what this means to a Nintendo fanboy into perspective is a little hard to explain; it would be like Optimus Prime and Jack Bauer teaming up to take down a terrorist group made up of a resurrected Hans Gruber and Darth Vader. Crazy? Yes. Awesome? Totally. However, as ridiculously over-the-top as the single-player mode is, multiplayer is where Brawl really shines. After choosing one out of 36 uniquely balanced, playable characters, gamers can duke it out with as many as three other people, CPU opponents, or both. Fans of the series will be thrilled to learn that Brawl supports some p n h e meatiest, rhulti-player;OTllne's(Opport that has ever been seen on a Nintendo console. Friends can compete in mini-games, tackle the story mode as a co-op adventure, or just whale on each other. Although this sounds simple enough on paper, a four-player game of Brawl is anything but straightforward. The controls are deep, the power-ups are plentiful, and the gameplay varies wildly, depending not only on the characters, but the stages, as well. From fighting on top of a plain platform, to a magmafilled cavern that intermittently fills with hot lava, to a pirate ship where other ships shoot cannonballs at your avatar. Brawl's locales See BRAWLING-85 BEAUTI Ray Cheatham Students near Kolob Canyon in Zion National Park. them from the Virgin River at the bottom of the canyon to amazing views up to 3000 feet above the canyon floor. Trails take them past waterfalls, pools, and hanging gardens of wildflowers. Some adventurous visitors bypass the trails and ascend the red and orange cliffs using ropes and harnesses. Visitors who venture into home to some of the most spectacular outdoor recreation activities in all of the Western United States, and visitors return year after year to experience all that makes Zion unique and wonderful. Besides an incredible visitor center and a human history museum, visitors to the park enjoy dozens of developed trails that lead the cool and shadowy slot canyons known as "the narrows" return with stories that never grow old. Information about Zion National Park, including trail maps, explanations of fees, and weather information, can be found at online at http://www.nps.gov/zion Alcohol tsunami floods Provo with fear, unease Greg Wilcox Life writer UVSC student, Adam Nelson, was walking back to his apartment last Tuesday afternoon when he saw a metal glimmer that caught his eye. "I wondered what it was, so I went and looked, and lo and behold: It was beer," Adam said. Shocked by what he saw, Adam immediately notified the apartment manager. "I told him, and he got a sort of disgusted look on The hidden stash. his face and said he would do his best to find the culprit," Adam continued, "It's just weird. You expect this sort of thing in New York, sometimes even Salt Lake City, but never Provo." A local forensics unit is on the case right now, conducting fingerprint scans and analyzing other potentially incriminating evidence that might lead to the guilty beer consumer. "We can't really talk much about it, but suffice to say, our. search is narrowing," said a spokesman for the forensics unit. Apartment residents have been questioned to see if they have seen any suspicious activities that could lead to an arrest, and some were even interrogated. This led to some potential leads, according to Provo authorities, but as of yet, no arrest has been made. Police are denying the alleged use of waterboarding to obtain information. Apartment resident John Stephensen had an interest- he is kind of annoying. But it's sad, really." But the question we have to ask ourselves is "Why?" Why beer? Some say it's because of the alcohol content. Others don't know. Local human behavioral analyst Sheryl Strawn said, "The fundamental reason why someone would do this is because they are trying to escape reality. Instead of dealing with his or her reaj problems, this person has decided to sink into alcoholism. It's a downward slope more slippery than an armada of banana peels." Still, others are skeptical. lIts not a big deal," said Provo resident Danny Clayton. "Its just fun to drink sometimes. This hype is ridiculous". This may be true, but if the "apartment drunk" is apprehended, he or she will nonetheless be penalized or Greg Wilcox possibly even evicted. If the culprit attends BYU, then a worse situation is at hand. ing account to share. "I was Police are asking everygoing to my car, and I saw body in the area to keep a another fellow acting some- lookout for the criminal, and what strange, and thought report any suspicious activthat he might be 'drunk.' ity, such as jovial laughter, He was slurring his words aggressively slurred speech, — jumping around all crazy. crude language or puking. I think 1 would know, be"I think it was Derek," cause I used to drink beer said apartment resident sometimes." Still, John Ryan Tapper. Yet, after thought nothing of it, until looking into it, authorihe found out the news. "I ties found out that Derek came home from work, and hooked up with Ryan's ex, first thing my roommate and his accusation was only tells me was this. I was made in spite. like, 'Dude, no way!' Then Happy April Fool's I went to my room because Day. 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