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First copy free i Volume 54 lssue 29 “The Student Voice at the University of West Georgia since 1934" Wednesday, April 25. 2006 Printer ink refill service available at bookstore ? mr- I Photo h\ Hrum Crews Blaine Brown fills out a form at the University Bookstore to get his ink cartridge refilled. Nontraditional student adjusts to college life By Bobby Burgess Guest Writer burgess_bobby@yahoo.com The life of a college student can seem difficult at times. Most students go to college full-time and also have either a part-time or a full-time job. But. what if you were blind and had to get around in a wheelchair? Life would certainly be a lot more difficult. This is just the case for Atlanta native Edwin Powell. “I have to go to a dialysis machine at five in the morning three times a week for four hours,” Powell said. Powell is a commuter student from the University of West Georgia majoring in Mass Communications. He suffers from diabetes that caused him to go blind in 1999. At 17, Powell’s doctors said that he was diabetic. He has to use a wheelchair because he lost his legs after he contracted disseminated intravascularcoagulation. DIC caused blood clotting to occur throughout his body instead of one particular injured area. Yet, he fails to let his health problems keep him down as evidenced by his charming sense of humor. “I jokingly blame the Atlanta Falcons for the loss of my sight,” Powell said, because he lost his sight around the time that the Falcons went to the Super Bowl in January 1999. Powell started at the UWG in 2000. He started college just to have something to do to fill his days. But. he has decided to finish his education. Clemens, a former public speaking instructor at UWG, served as an inspiration to him while she was his teacher. Powell says that she was his favorite teacher and that she got him interested in becoming a Mass Communications major. Now, his life calling is to replace Neal Boortz on the radio. “I can do everything that a sighted person can do but drive a car,” Powell said. A trained labrador dog gets Powell around college and answers to his every command. The two have been inseparable since they first met each other three years ago. Powell does not tell the name of his dog because it is a major safety issue for him. If someone knew the name of his dog, that individual could call the dog and the dog would leave Powell alone. Powell receives all of his books in Microsoft Word. A home computer reads to him so that he can study his lessons. When the time comes for his exams, he has an assistant read him the See STUDENT, page 2 Omega Week! 1..- V " .. ■■ ../ir ~7; Igl HQ* 'Ww s - '* &!%% ' '-‘Tk '’-■&*/ I! -■ V WjEF fi v ' r aiL'ifiC ■ Hi * -. K? • vw hh^ Photo by Brian Crews Omega Psi Phi fraternity members Mikey Jones and Kevin Strickland help Kenya Raaid fill out a voter registration form. By Kelly Williams Copy Editor kellyuwga@bellsouth.net In the recent spirit of Earth Day, the University of West Georgia’s bookstore is offering a new service. Customers can bring in their empty ink cartridges for refills at a nominal charge. The cost for a black ink cartridge refill is $lO, and for a tri color ink refill the charge is sl2. Tax is not included. The refilling service is a two-day process. There are envelops available at the bookstore for customers to drop off empty cartridges. The envelopes are then picked up and taken to be refilled. According to Regina Farmer, employee at the bookstore, they have had one refill completed since their start. They started offering the service roughly two weeks ago. “I think more will take advantage of it when the word gets out,” said Fanner. Refilling inkcartridges rather than purchasing new ones can be very beneficial to one’s wallet, and can also benefit the environment. The average ink cartridge is $35. The charge for refilling is almost one third of that cost. Farmer commented on the costs saying even she thought about bringing her own ink cartridges to be refilled once they run out of ink. The website Freerecycling.com said a student will use six to ten ink cartridges per school year. For UWG that could mean anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 cartridges a year. Cartridges that will more than likely end up in the trash when they run out of ink. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, ink cartridges account for 3,400-3,900 tons of plastic discards annually. Refilling a cartridge up to the potential three to four times could greatly cut down on the number of plastics being placed in landfills each year. The UWG bookstore encourages students to come by and take part in this new service. The university bookstore offers a 100 percent customer satisfaction money-back guarantee. For more information, call the bookstore at (678) 839-6523.