Community chalk art contest helps charities

By Janessa Fillingim

Somebody’s Attic thrift store is donating $1,000 to Citizens Against Physical and Sexual Abuse and The Family Place for every applicant that registers for the community chalk art contest held on Oct. 3. The contest is being hosted by Somebody’s Attic to raise awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault in Logan.

Joy Shaw, the store manager at Somebody’s Attic, said that a lot of teenagers like to draw on the walls of buildings with chalk.

“I thought, what a great opportunity for kids to use their art for something really good,” Shaw said.

Her daughter Shelby, president of the Logan High Art Club, organized and promoted the event.

Shaw said if the event turns out well this year they will look into making it an annual affair.

“We’re inviting up to 30 applicants 14 years and older to participate,” Shaw said. “That’s up to $30,000 that will be donated to these charities.”

The donations will be evenly distributed.

Laura Calderone, a receptionist at The Family Place, a child and family support center, said Somebody’s Attic is one of the organization’s biggest financial supporters.

“The donation will go to our Kid’s Place program,” Calderone said.

The program provides children who have been legally taken from their homes with a place to stay while foster situations are being sorted out.

Poor layout of the Logan city library may result in a new building

By Janessa Fillingim

The construction of a new library on Main Street is being discussed by the Logan Library Board and the mayor due to the inefficiency of the current building.

“We aren’t exactly sure where the new building would be built yet but it would be somewhere else on Main Street,” said Robert Shupe, the Logan Library director.

He explained that the current building was not intended for its present use.

“A new building, actually designed to be a library, would be much better,” Shupe said.

Logan Mayor H. Craig Petersen said the estimated cost of building the new library is $10 million.

“The library has a reserve of about $1 million and the city has a few other reserves,” Petersen said. “The rest would come from a sponsor.”

“I think it would be cool if the library got its own building,” said Alyssa Agular, a library card holder.

She said the layout of the current building is a little confusing and she would prefer a better design.

Agular is not the only one with that opinion.

“It has been added onto a bunch of times so now it’s like a maze trying to find where things are,” said Lori Hansen, a librarian at the Logan Library. “It’s not the ideal.”

Hansen and the other librarians have a map they use to direct people to the areas of the library.

“We’re hoping to have a new library built sometime in the future,” Hansen said. “The near future would be better.”

Sports Academy accommodates sudden influx of members

By Janessa Fillingim

Sports Academy and Planet Fitness in Logan are experiencing crowding after the closure of Gold’s Gym on Sept. 1.

According to the Health Spa Consumer Contracts for Health Spa Services law, if such a facility closes, the members are entitled to a full refund for the unused portion of their membership. To satisfy this refund without having to pay each member, the closing business can send their members to another facility within five miles of its previous location. That is exactly what the owner of Gold’s Gym did.

“They asked Sports Academy to service their members,” said Dan Smith, the gym manager at Sports Academy.

Smith said it has been a rough week for the Sports Academy members because they’re not accustomed to the big crowd.

“We have a different membership club,” Smith said. “We have a family.”

Cole Lewis, a Sports Academy member, said he understands why Gold’s Gym members are being serviced there.

“Sports Academy is the only gym comparable to what they had,” he said.

Rochelle Sever, a Sports Academy staff member, said she has had to deal with one or two rude Gold’s Gym members.

“I think they were just confused because they didn’t even know their gym was closing,” Sever said. “They’re just supposed to come to our gym now.”

Negotiations are underway for the building lease of the previous Gold’s Gym.

“There are things that I can’t comment on because they are still being negotiated but plans are in the working for the lease,” Smith said. “If we get it, we will gut the building and renovate it to be a Planet Fitness.”

What’s up next for Aggie Athletics?

Ticket sales have reached a new record this year. According to athletics director Doug Hoffman, 10,784 Aggie football tickets were sold in August.  However, the Athletics Department is still moving forward and thinking about the future. It has plans to keep ticket sales at an increase.

The Athletics Department is pushing for change this seasons. Athletics Vice President Thomas Rogers said that they are promoting more convenient methods for students to acquire tickets. To do this, Rogers stated, “We are promoting tickets on the campus buses and tickets that you can acquire online instead of going into the card office for a small fee.” He also said that they are pushing group tickets for large groups that want to be together at games. Rogers mentioned that the Athletics Department has also tried to motivate student involvement by enhancing game days with fireworks, flame towers and skydivers.

Although students are important to the Athletics Department, they are also targeting an older group. According to Leon Jackson III, the director of ticketing and customer service, the department is reaching out to people between the ages of 24 and 50. Jackson said that they are reaching out by, “offering experiences along with a ticket purchase.” Some of the experiences include: Pregame field access, exclusive season ticket member events, and exclusive team memorabilia. USU students will be able to watch these changes happen as they begin to come to life on campus.