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Pn, •- fIT Af I ''' Ar V aHla 1m iSSnum Volume 57 - Issue 2 Campus observatory opens for public celestial viewings Uyii— ■ ’ IBHr jHN - Iff I K r _ ,-bE ' w | _ IF/JB Bfe’Afl i/EUg 1 f %' Hlb w **~* :: ?*f{ SllC'tvS Ph<ttos b\ Terrance Hushin By Lary L. Peel News Editor I peel / @my.westga .edit Who says you have to go to Hollywood to star gaze? Certainly not Dr. Robert Powell, director of the UWG Observatory, professor and chair of the Department of Physics. Located off Plant Op Drive on the UWG campus, the observatory is set to give the public amazing Strykers sports bar kicks off just in time for football season By TFacy Ammons Staff Writer tammonsl @my.westga .edit Four young men, one dream—and it just became a reality. Rob O'Brien, Nathan Michalewicz, Adam Michalewicz, and Stephen Lepore recently opened Carrollton's newest sports bar, Strykers Sports Bar and Grill, on Aug. 28. Adam and Lepore recently graduated from UWG; O’Brien and Nathan, both members of Delta Chi, are current UWG students, a junior and a sophomore, respectively. “Adam, Stephen, and I came from the same subdivision in Alpharetta” Nathan said. “We all grew up together and came here to UWG, and then I met Rob, and we all used to be roommates.” O’Brien is a Fayetteville native. The guys have had their hearts set on a sports bar. “Since I was a freshman here, I’ve always wanted a place where I could go and watch a game and have an option of what I want to watch,” O’Brien said. “Me and my brother— actually, my whole family— are huge Cowboy fans,” Nathan said. “When we came here to Carrollton, we spent about two hours trying to The West Georgian views of the celestial sphere that has inspired scientists and dreamers alike since the dawn of humanity. With the fall skies offering clearer views than the smog infested summer, the observatory will offer incredible views of the stars, moons and planets that share our solar system. But Powell warns against believing the emails circulating the web that promise a great find a place where we could watch the Cowboys game on Sunday. And we couldn’t find one without going all the way to Douglas ville.” Strykers is located on Maple Street; it was formerly known as Z’s. Zubeyde Yucel owned the Z's restaurant, but she is now leasing the building to O’Brien and his friends with an option to purchase. The young men hope to eventually buy the building, but declined to disclose the leasing costs. Yucel also owns the cluster of buildings surrounding Strykers: the Red Dtx>r Saloon, El Jalepeno, and the Maple Street Car Wash. O’Brien was a cook for Yucel at Z’s, and his hard work lead to this business opportunity. “Between this and the other building she owns, she was running Z’s by herself, so she didn’t have time for anything else,” O'Brien said. “She had mentioned before that if she found a good offer for someone to take over she would be OK with it. So I sat down and talked with her and within a couple of days she made up her mind and we made a contract.” The nearly 4,000 square foot building has undergone some renovations since the guys began their lease term June 1, many of which In News ‘Rush'ing for the Greek life. WWW.TII EWES I GEORGIAN.COM view of Mars. “As the skies clear this fall, Jupiter w ill be the featured celestial object, but beware of the Mars hoax," Powell said. “Mars was relatively close to the Earth in August 2003.” “Every two years, e-mail has suggested that it will be that close again. Mars will not be unusually close to the Earth this year.” The observatory features a Cassegrain were done themselves, and with help from friends and family. In fact, the only jobs that required a contractor was fixing the bathrooms to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards and routing audio/video 9 UHifIMHSfIBnUB 1 11 1J ! ! STRYKERS l SPORTS BAR i GRILL ! A ■> w ■ V * r J i/,f. BBjyffjli A ' J mmmmmmmmt ’Jfl* 4t Vo f 4 •’vVt ? ~ * ** T ■ V i Photo by Tracy Ammons cables for the new televisions and speakers. All the walls have been repainted, and they will be dressed with sports memorabilia. The partners also removed the tile from the dining area. “We wanted to go with a rougher look,” O’Brien said. All televisions that were on the inside of the In Opinion 1 B ii T he hopeless romantic returns. telescope with a 14 inch diameter mirror, offering amateur astronomers the chance to gaze far beyond the limits of standard offerings of home tripod viewing. For more information on the observatory or to schedule a special viewing for a group or organization, contact Powell at 678-839- 4095 or send an e-mail to bpowell®westga. edu. restaurant were affixed to the outside patio, and new flat screen TVs were added to the inside—for a total of 20 televisions. “We weren’t supposed to go with 20 televisions to begin with,” Nate said. “We were supposed to hit 13 and be done with it. But my brother Adam, and Stephen, pushed it a lot. Plus we got a great deal on all our TVs and DJ equipment.” “We went with DirecTV and got every sports package they offer,” O’Brien said. “Because there are some bars around here that do push sports a little more, but wanted a real sports bar. It’s not quite what you would In Sports Wolves football optimistic for opener. Possible viewing opportunities The Moon at apogee around September 17 Venus on October 30 Mars on November 24 and February 24 Mercury on March 10. 2008 The Moon at perigee Oil April 21,2008 Lyrid meteors on May 5. 2008 get in a huge sports bar in Marietta, but eventually we would like to add enough TVs—up to 50 is our goal.” “We’re gonna have every single college football game that’s televised in here, and every single NFL game each Sunday,” Nate said. The guys proceeded to rave about baseball, hockey, and a multitude of other sports that will grace their televisions. They built anew DJ booth, with the help of friend Mike Shenker, giving the entire restaurant a total of 6,000 watts of sound. Strykers will have three house DJs to pump music on a regular basis. The guys detached all the booths from In Entertainment Superbad is a super good film. WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 29. 2007 the walls so they can easily be moved to create dance floor space. “ We’ve had a lot of help from friends and family— w e tried to do all the painting and ripping out the tiles ourselves,” O’Brien said. “Otherwise, we’d have three or four months left at least— we'd be so far behind.” The kitchen, now upgraded with new equipment, will serve a variety of bar foods— specialty buigers. wraps, gyros, wings, chicken tenders, and the like. But the guys are adding a few special items to the menu, such as New England clam chowder, potato cream soup, some alfredo pastas, and a bison buiger. They are hoping to serve alcohol for the first few days of business, but they are still waiting on the state alcohol license. “We’ve already done the background checks and everything .they claim they ’ re really backed up right now so the paperwork is taking a little while,” O'Brien said. After a few weeks to adjust to the flow of business, the guys look to start doing nightly events such as trivia and poker. Hours of operation will be Monday through Saturday, 11 am. to 2 am., and Sunday 11 am. to 10 pm.