wyatt anderson Journalism Photography

Midland College employee's family involved in traumatizing accident during the holidays

wyatt_76 — Thu, 4 Dec 2014 08:34:00 GMT

Photo courtesy of Finley family Go Fund Me account

By Wyatt Anderson

MCP Staff Reporter

Just one day after Thanksgiving, Midland College Career and Technical Coordinator Dawn Finley received the news every mother fears to hear in the Permian Basin.

“I got a call from the hospital saying there was an accident, and I needed to come pick up the baby” Finley said.

Finley was in the middle of preparing a lesson for her sunday school class when the unexpected call from the hospital reached her. Yet Finley had no idea that the accident involved her son, wife, and kids until she reached the hospital.

“I really had no idea what was going on until I got to the hospital and realized I was picking up my grand baby” Finley said.

Friday Nov 28, Jake Finley and his wife Summer were returning home from Black Friday shopping with two of their three daughters, when tragedy in the form of another vehicle permanently shook their lives.

The driver responsible for the accident allegedly lost control of his automobile hitting the highway median, causing the vehicle to go airborne. The Finleys became the victims of the outcome, resulting in a head on collision.

Consequently, Jake Finley suffered from two broken ankles, a rib and shattered nose. His 6 year old daughter received a broken wrist, and a deep 4 inch gash on her head. Finley’s wife was critically injured during the impact, ensuing a major concussion and trauma to her brain causing internal bleeding. Yet thankfully the Finley’s 11 month old daughter was only bruised with minor scratches.

According to Dawn Finley, her son’s family is now in recovery making improvements. Finley’s 6 year old grand daughter is now out of the hospital with stitches in her laceration to the head, and cast on the wrist. After having surgery on both his ankles and nose, Finley’s son Jake is still aguishly in pain from the after math. Finley’s daughter in-law Summer is still suffering from internal bleeding to the brain, yet hope has sparked as she has waken up from the coma calling for her children.

“Both of my grand daughters are now fine and out of the hospital, but still Jake is in recovery, he is still in a lot of pain after his surgery on his nose” Finley said. “Summer woke up from her coma this morning asking for her kids, so we take that as a sign that she is doing better.”

Finley says its only a miracle that they are alive and gives all credit to God for protecting her family. She believes God definitely has a plan for her family’s future.

“When I saw the pictures of the accident, I knew it was only a miracle they are still alive. all glory goes to God, He has a plan for them,” Finley said.

Donations to the Finley's recovery can be made at http://www.gofundme.com/i3bato Their goal is to raise $10,000 or more. As of right now the donations total at $8,000.

The ADHD Universe

wyatt_76 — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 23:58:00 GMT

By Wyatt Anderson

MCP Staff Reporter

I’ve been through so many jobs, it embarrasses me. Many times my former bosses would come up to me and tell me,“You’re a kind person but your too slow…You have good people skills but you’re lazy and inefficient at your tasks…” Every time I tried to explain the reasons as to why I had a hard time doing as they asked, some bosses would say, “ADHD isn’t real!”, others would ignorantly state “Everyone has a little ADHD in them.” Never once would they allow me to explain how I process instruction, and my job would either end with“We’re still friends don’t worry” or “You insult my intelligence.”

Yes, I have been, in the classroom setting, where my sixth grade math teacher tried as hard as she could to move me into the “Special Ed” classes. “You dream too big. You are in your own world too much to succeed in life,” she would say to me. Yes, math was, and is to this day my hardest subject to learn. In math classes, its like my dyslexia is amplified when I see so many black numbers crowding a white piece of paper, only to find one little numerical factor. Everything flips and flops, backwards and forwards, up and down. Headaches squeezed my brain, as my mind would purposely go into a daydream to ease the stress and pain. Yet, my math teacher never considered that the student she called worthless, had more potential than she, within many aspects.

Whenever I told a teacher or boss, I need more details, it meant, I NEED DETAIL! Bosses would give me a task to work such as, “organizing the shop” and leave me to it alone. Every interview that I had, organization was the first thing on my list of downfalls. Sure, I could organize anything, if the boss or teacher would write it down in detail how it was to be done. I am a man with the mind of detail. Where do you want stuff? What shelf level? How do you want this task to be carried out? When do you expect a finish time? This would consist of a simple five minute explanation, yet most of my former bosses considered it a “a waste of time” to explain any instruction in detail. It was as if they would intentionally scratch the surface of instruction. Most bosses or teachers never appreciated the work I did, when putting all head-aching effort into doing their monotonous tasks. Their constant response to my effort was always nothing more than, “You took too long”.

Through the battle of dyslexia with numbers and words, I found my detail hungry mind eagerly bringing to me a desire to write. I discovered writing had become my escape from the insults of teachers, bosses, and my insecurities of every day life. I do everything I can to describe every detail I take note of. Thinking of my own original full length stories within a matter of seconds, comes natural to me, because my mind is moving that fast! And sorry to say for my sixth grade math teacher, I can still remember every little detail about her. That squeaky voice, stiff black hair with so much starch, and the crooked witch like nose on her wrinkly face.

For others who have truly been diagnosed with ADHD, you’re not alone with that unappreciated feeling, when others who think they are smarter than you, are looking down on your performance. When it feels like no one appreciates your work, or the insecurity, of constantly wondering and trying to conclude what others are thinking of us. Those restless nights when we have a bright idea, and cannot sleep because our minds our traveling at the speed of light, with the many options and plans in witch to bring our dreams to life. Our bodies screaming sleep, but our minds shouting think! The high and low, the Ritalin and Adderall gives us with the sour stomachaches and zombie like feeling, as our true God given personalities are being sucked away, for hours at a time by the medication.

What the many ignorant bosses and teachers don’t realize about us, is that we, ADHDers have the greatest potential to become the biggest assets in their companies and classrooms. Yet, they overlook our strengths writing us off with a mental disorder or just plain laziness, because we are different that than the rest. We don't think in the same manner they do, therefore we are incapable of contributing to society in their narrow minds.

What they don't want to admit is that they need us. They don't want to admit that they feel so comfortable in a boxed in, walled up brain, to think outside and see the bigger picture, like we do. Their minds are like people on a planet, confining them to the things that only make sense to them wherever they go, while we are the astronauts of their world! We hate confinement, the feeling of limited space. Our minds are always moving like an exploring spaceship! Our imaginations desperately need the vast, endless space outside the box, to keep up with our mind’s constant, nonstop movement! Our minds thrive richly in that endless space. We see their planet from above, and infinite unexplored space beyond! We have the intelligence to relay new discoveries and ideas back to their confined space port “on earth”. They need our detailed minds to “hunt and gather”. They are the lazy ones! We do all the work for them because they want to be so logical about their surroundings.

When a boss accused me of being lazy or seeming to walk in circles, little did he know, I was taking note of every detail around me. My mind has constantly moves with no brakes, because it doesn’t know how to do anything else. When something really targets my interest, I can fire a laser focus so powerful it can extract anything.

We are the investigators of the world, the risk takers, and foreseers of the future for mankind. We brought human flight, horseless wagons, lightbulbs, and atomic bombs into their world, when they told us over and over, in their “logical” boxed in minds, it was completely impossible and illogical. They are the ones living in the prison while we freely roam the unknown, bringing them back luxury, and safety, and doing it freely in our leisure at that. We are their entertainers, the court jesters, while they unknowingly sit in their comfortable enclosed, jail cell like world, laughing at us. When in “reality” logic is their prison holding them back. All they see is their comfortable wall, believing that trapping us in a box makes us smarter people like them. However, it only hurts us like a mangled dove in a snare.

Our curiosity makes us the mechanics and artists that paint their logical world with detail and color. Everything outside the box captures our attention and curiosity. We put our God crafted senses to use more than anyone else. Yes, we learn more artistically than the narrow minded, logical teacher in the classroom. We have to see it, touch it, feel it, smell and taste it, to understand why and how, when and where. So we blast off at the speed of light to go discover new things, that absorb our interests.

Some of us know numbers, some of us know words, some of us know art, and some of us know it all of the above! When we combine into one and take it all out of the box to, explore…excuse me, day dream the unknown, we expand knowledge. The knowledge they claim we don't have because, our minds work much different than theirs.

So yes, the world may see our downfalls like inattention, impulsivity, hyperactivity and un-organization, but fact remains that our tasks are spread out so we can see the full picture. This is how we connect the dots. We make great writers and journalist, actors and doctors, and when it comes down to complete and total chaos, our emergency response senses are what bring others to the hospital during times of emergency. They can thank our multitasking minds and laser focus for that ability.

The next time a boss or teacher tries to impound that spaceship mind of ours within a boxed in gate, blast off and let them know that they cannot fashion us into something we were not created to be. We were meant to wander the frontiers of the unknown discovering new logic and bringing the illogical into reality. We were intelligently designed to go hunt the dangers and risks many logical people fear to track down. We are the hunters and gatherers, the curious investigators of this world. We can accurately predict and see cause and effect from the other angle, above and below, inside and out.

Photos: Random

wyatt_76 — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 23:50:00 GMT

exactly why the title says.

Midland College hosts Cancer Walk for patients and loved ones

wyatt_76 — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 21:39:00 GMT

Photo by Wyatt Anderson

By Wyatt Anderson

MCP Staff Reporter 10/28/2014

The Cancer Society of America hosted a remembrance walk in honor of those who are fighting or lost their battle to cancer. Spread out on the lawn near the bell tower, where nearly a hundred people set up booths raising money for family member who were battling cancer.

The evening progressed as children played football in the center of the lawn, music played, and speakers took the stand to recite poems.

Hundreds of white paper bags lined the sidewalk, bearing the names of the deceased in remembrance. The solemn atmosphere of loss and sadness filled the night as people gathered to remember their loved ones. When the main lights were shut off for the walk releasing the yellow glow of candle light from the paper bags lighting the sidewalk. Many people began a slow pace walk as the music played, holding hands in tears. Families held each other close as they made the walk together.

There wasn't a dry eye as the people made the walk in silence, every paper bag glowing along the way.

The American Cancer Society reports that one in ten people are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Women are not the only victims of this tragic disease either. There are many men diagnosed every year as well. Once the diagnosis is made, it not only effects the patient physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. The families suffer many physical and spiritual effects along with their loved one, according to the many speakers that took the stand that evening.

Yet one thing most people had in common was that this tough sickness helps the families grow closer to each other. According to Chris Kelly faith in God has been her strongest point in her battle with breast cancer.

“My husband and family have been with me every step of the way since I was diagnosed nine years ago,” Kelly said. “But God has been my everything through all of this.”

Kelly agrees that this is a hard disease to cope with, but explained that even in the middle of something so horrible, God is able to come in and mold this tragedy, into something so beautiful. Kelly went on to explain that He is her everything, and nothing will ever hinder that.

“God has taken my horrible disease and crafted this into something beautiful. My husband and I have grown closer, and so has our family. This cancer has helped me grow closer to God," Kelly said. "Nothing will hinder my relationship with Him. God is my triumph in the middle of this.”

Kelly and her husband later made their walk together, that night. Holding each other close, as one of the sponsors later remarked, that this was more than likely their last walk together.

Chaparrals start the season strong

wyatt_76 — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 18:20:00 GMT

Photo by Wyatt Anderson

By Wyatt Anderson

MCP Staff Reporter

MC Chaps got off at a rough start missing three of their first four shots during hoops action last week.

However with the senior leadership of Torren Jones and Mourice O’Field came back to defeat ranked Seward County Community College of Kansas, taking home another victory at the Al G. Langford Chaparral Center.

The boys were coming just coming off a win over Tohono O’Odham Community College Jegos, from Sells Ariz. Who were a very structured team with a lot of athletic advantage, from its American/Alaskan Indian heritage.

The Chaps put the feather in the hat over the Jegos at 112-101. They battled Tohono O'Odham in a dogfight Friday evening with a home game advantage before coming out on top.

The Chaps did a good job upon converting their free throw attempts, which helped them gain a demanding lead over the Saints. Even though the Saints' defense put pressure on the Chaparral guards, the fighting Chaps led to an overall triumph for Midland last saturday.

Freshman Tyler Whitehead Went down with an injury to the knee during the second half of the game. Luckily Whitehead’s injury was’t season threatening, and it is probable that he will return for the next game.

Overall, the Chaps held the lead the whole game which molded into to a smashing victory when senior Naquavious King sealed the Chaparral conquest with 10 three-point shots.Consequently this sent the Saints back home in "holy" defeat.

The final score resulted in 78-67 win by the Chaparral supremacy.

Midland Chaparral head coach, Jordan Dreiling says he believes that the players did a better job Saturday in contrast to Friday's game against the Jegos.

“We had too many turnovers, (on Friday) made some adjustments, and felt like we did better Saturday” Dreiling said. “All eight did well”

Coach Dreiling also believes it was a team win and gives credit to the spectators for attending Saturdays overthrow of the Seward County Saints. He appreciates the support.

“I’de say it was a team win but the people who came to support us, student athletes and student support was great,” Dreiling said.

With this early victory agains the ranked opponent Seward County Community College, the Chaparrals are closer to being ranked by mid season.

Even though this was a tightly congested match, the Chaps managed to win without a number of players who were out due to injuries and ineligiblities.

Shooting guard, Sajae Pryor (#23) was out with a foot injury. Freshman foward, Tyler Herron (#34) and sophmore foward Kenan Guzonjic (#25) were both out with leg injuries. None of these injuries are severe allowing these downed teammates to return within the next few games.

the Chaparrals are now 4-1 for the season.

MCP Staff Reporter, Brian Roberts, also contributed to this story.

Former Midland College Director sentenced to prison

wyatt_76 — Wed, 19 Nov 2014 16:55:00 GMT

Photo by Wyatt Anderson

By Wyatt Anderson

MCP Staff Reporter

A former Midland College Director was convicted for fraud, and sentenced to 12 months in Federal prison on Oct. 29

Former Director of the Commercial Transportation traininng program, Michael Daniel Sanchez was found guilty, after a year long investigation.

Sanchez cheated Midland College out of $60,000 within a two year span, allowing students to believe that payments for their class were being transferred from the Advanced Technology Center, (ATC), to the Midland College cashier.

However this was not the case. According to MC Campus Police Chief, Richard McKee, suspicion began to rise during the fall semester of 2013, when Campus Police received word that Sanchez had taken cash payment from several students who had not paid the college.

“We had info that Sanchez was taking cash from students who were paying, without paying Midland College” Chief McKee said.

It wasn't long after the Campus Police Department received this information, that an investigation began. On Nov. 13 an investigation took place over Sanchez’s alleged crime and the evidence promptly started to unfold. Financial records from the Transportation Department were discovered missing.

“We opened the investigation on November 13 last year, and found out through the paperwork that several financial documents from the Transportation Department, were gone,” Chief McKee said. “The more we looked into it, the deeper it got.”

The investigation led to a discovery that students who were enrolled in the transportation program, were never officially enrolled through the college. Yet Sanchez had been charging students through cash and money orders, telling them they were enrolled through MC.

After this discovery, Chief McKee handed the evidence retrieved by his investigation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As soon as the evidence for accusation landed on the FBI’s desk, the investigation advanced at the Federal level.

“We also found that there were many students who had taken Sanchez’s classes without enrolling through the college, and were directly paying Sanchez through money orders,” Chief McKee said. “So we turned the investigation over to the FBI.”

The FBI conducted their own investigation discovering falsified receipts that Sanchez had sent to students by email. This rapidly constructed a “white-collar” case against Sanchez, briskly following his arrest. In March of 2013, the FBI took Sanchez’s case to a Federal Grand Jury that indicted him for fraud.

Sanchez awaited trial in federal court for over a year with the odds of serving up to 20 years in prison. However he was only sentenced to 12 months in prison, with a restitution charge of a little more than $30,000 to Midland College.

“He was convicted in Federal Court on the 29th of October with the possibility of spending twenty years in prison, but only got a year and one day.” Chief McKee said.

Sanchez’s arrest came as a shock Vice President of Administrative Services, Rick Bender. He said that no-one expected Sanchez to cheat Midland College.

According to Bender, Sanchez appeared to be an honest man, with a good personality. Bender also added that the Transportation program seemed to be doing a great job under Sanchez’s direction.

“Mike Sanchez had not worked for us long,” Bender said. “He was a nice man, with a salesman mentality, and it’s a sad situation because he was a likable guy. The program did well under him.”

According to Bender, Sanchez had a clean criminal record, meeting the minimum requirements to be considered for the Director of Transportation.

“We did all the screening necessary when he was hired” Bender said. “Nothing on his background check gave any indication of ineligibility.”

Because the ATC programs differ from the original classes on campus, The first contact students would have for ATC classes would be the Director, not a counselor on campus. As to the reason many students were never transferred to the enrollment at Midland College. Consequently, due to the large number of un-enrolled students who were taking transportation, Sanchez racked up nearly 60,000 dollars worth of tuition.

“Sanchez was the first contact the students had, so thats why he took close to 60,000 dollars.” Bender said. “He abused the power given to him.”

Midland College President agreed that Sanchez was a nice man and would not have expected Sanchez’s actions. For a man with a clean record before it disappoints Dr. Thomas to now say that Sanchez is ineligible for re-hire.

“I knew Mike and it was a shock” Dr. Thomas said. “He is a felon now and it disappoints me to say he ineligible for hiring because he was a nice man.”

A former Midland College Director was convicted for fraud, and sentenced to 12 months in Federal prison. MC Director of Commercial Transportation, Michael Daniel Sanchez was found guilty on October 29 of last month, closing a full year investigation. Sanchez cheated Midland College out of nearly 60,000 dollars, within a two year span, allowing students to believe that payments for their class were being transferred from the Advanced Technology Center, (ATC), to the Midland College cashier.

“We had info that Sanchez was taking cash from students who were paying, without paying Midland College” Chief McKee said.

It wasn't long after the Campus Police Department received this information, that an investigation was started over Sanchez’s alleged crime. On November 13, 2013 an investigation took place, and the evidence promptly began to unfold itself. Financial records from the Transportation Department were discovered missing.

“We opened the investigation on November 13 last year, and found out through the paperwork that several financial documents from the Transportation Department, were gone” Chief McKee said, “The more we looked into it, the deeper it got.”

The investigation led to a discovery that students who were enrolled in the Transportation Program, were never officially enrolled through the college. Yet Sanchez had been charging students through cash and money orders, telling them they were enrolled through MC. After this discovery Chief McKee instantly handed the evidence retrieved by his investigation to the federal level. As soon as the evidence for accusation landed on the FBI’s desk, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took over.

“We also found that there were many students who had taken Sanchez’s classes without enrolling through the college, and were directly paying Sanchez through money orders” Chief McKee said, “So we turned the investigation over to the FBI.”

The FBI conducted their own investigation discovering falsified receipts that Sanchez had sent to students by email. This rapidly constructed a “white-collar” case against Sanchez, briskly following his arrest. In March 2013, the FBI took Sanchez’s case to a Federal Grand Jury that indicted him for fraud.

Sanchez awaited trial in federal court for over a year with the odds of serving up to 20 years in prison. However he was only sentenced to a mere 12 months in prison this last October, with a restitution charge of a little over 30,000 dollars to Midland College.

“He was convicted in Federal Court on the 29th of October with the possibility of spending twenty years in prison, but only got a year and one day.” Chief McKee said.

Sanchez’s arrest came as a shock Vice President of Administrative Services, Rick Bender. He said that no-one expected Sanchez to cheat Midland College. According to Bender, Sanchez appeared to be an honest man, with a good personality. Bender also added that the Transportation program seemed to be doing a great job under Sanchez’s direction.

“Mike Sanchez had not worked for us long” Bender said. “He was a nice man, with a salesman mentality, and it’s a sad situation because he was a likable guy. The program did well under him.”

According to Bender, Sanchez had a clean criminal record, and met the minimum requirements to be considered for the Director of Transportation.

“We did all the screening necessary when he was hired” Bender said. “Nothing on his background check gave any indication of ineligibility.”

Because the ATC programs differ from the classes on the main campus, the first contact students would have for ATC classes would be the director. Not a counselor on the Midland College campus. Consequently, Sanchez scheme racked up nearly $60,000 worth of tuition.

“Sanchez was the first contact the students had, so thats why he took close to 60,000 dollars.” Bender said. “He abused the power given to him.”

Midland College President Steve Thomas agreed that Sanchez was a nice man and would not have expected Sanchez’s actions.

“I knew Mike and it was a shock” Dr. Thomas said. “He is a felon now and it disappoints me to say he ineligible for hiring because he was a nice man.”

President Thomas admitted that $60,000 was the proven ammont that Sanchez stole, yet there are stil large numbers of financial records missing, from unenrolled students to this day. This leads President Thomas and the staff to believe that Sanchez made off with over $100,000 of tuition. However President Thomas would be relieved if Sanches pays the restitution of $32,000 back to Midland College.

"The news only reported $30,000 stolen, our records prove atleast $60,000," Thomas said. "but there are still so many unenrolled students and undocumented records that we (the staff) believe Mike stole more than $100,000 but I'll be greatful if he pays back the $32,000 restitution he now owes the college."

Photos: Photography

wyatt_76 — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 13:53:00 GMT

Pictures from my experience as a student journalist. I am studying Mass Communications in college right now planning to have a successful career in Journalism and Photography. Someday I hope to work as journalist and photographer for National Geographic. Yet after I graduate, I will take my own expedition from the South Western states of the United States, trekking down to the southern tip of South America.

Student Journalism Photography

wyatt_76 — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 08:17:43 GMT

I am college student studying journalism and photography. My passion is to expose the detail of the world around me. Photography along with descriptive words, is a work of art unlike any other. Someday I plan to work as a journalist and photographer for National Geographic. World Culture, and nature have always captivated my entrust and enthusiasm since I was a young boy. My goal has always been to share the love and fascination of the detailed world around me.