We are a journalism class and the class ended yesterday. The Fountain must end with us. It will return in the fall semester with a new staff. 

We had humble goals and expectations when we put our site on the Internet with the publication of our Declaration of Principles on Feb. 5. We wanted to learn how to do journalism online and this was our class project. It turned into something much bigger. 

We had more than 31,000 page views and almost 8,000 visits from 31 countries. We were particularly popular in Canada. People there visited our site 27 times. We had 14 visits from the United Kingdom, six from Australia and three each from Poland and Germany. We also had multiple visits from such places as Italy, Egypt, Switzerland, Mexico, Malaysia and Brazil. 

Domestically, we were visited by readers from 42 of the 50 states. We were most popular in Arkansas. No surprise there. The vast majority of our visits, about 80 percent, came from Conway. We also had 844 visits from Little Rock, 63 from Russellville and 44 from Fayetteville. In all, we got visits from 52 Arkansas towns. 

Texas liked us, too. We had 251 visits from there, second only to Arkansas. We had 204 visits from California and 106 from Georgia. New York made 56 visits, Illinois made 46 and Missouri made 32. 

The Fountain staff

We leave you with this list of the 10 most popular stories we published this semester. Thanks for reading us. Have a great summer. 

1. Student Arrested for Child Porn – This story registered 475 views. Our site was visited a record 300 times that day.
2. Tuition Hike to Hit 600 Students – This was our most popular story for most of the semester until the child pornography story was published. This story got 391 views.
3. Tunnels Under Campus? It’s True – We couldn’t believe it either when we discovered this. Our audience felt the same. The story got 352 views and it’s still growing.
4. Reality Show Crews Harass Students – We were the first in the world to publish this story. The Conway newspaper called us for information after reading our story. Our story got 333 views.
5. Who Makes What at UCA? – This was a little investigative reporting on our part. The story got 276 views and still gets read daily.
6. Lu Hardin Buys Naming Rights – The ex-president still has a presence of campus. This April Fool’s Day story got 231 views.
7. Meadors “Never Liked Purple” – Another April Fool’s story. This one got 164 views. We know a couple of people who actually believed this story.
8. Cabaret Wows Most, Offends Others - Our Aprille Hanson writes the best art and theater reviews in Arkansas. This one got 148 views.
9. Student Film Showcases State Beauty – One of our longer stories. It included the trailer for this student-produced film. The story got 141 views.
10. Free Cats – Another piece of investigative reporting, this time about feral cats living on campus. This one got 138 views.

There’s a beaver living in the creek that runs through campus. We have proof. That’s a photo of him accompanying this story. Need more?  Here’s a video of him swimming around in the creek.

The creek, commonly known as Stone Dam Creek, has been transformed several times since the campus was built 103 years ago. Originally a free-flowing stream that was used as a water source for livestock on campus, the university has continued to build over the top of it. Now, it is mostly covered and emerges in a concrete culvert on the south end of campus.

The creek has always provided draining for much of the campus and most of the original downtown section of Conway. Today, it also provides drainage for a waste water treatment plant and eventually empties into Lake Conway.

The beaver swimming in Stone Dam Creek

Here is a Channel Six story about the creek.

• Student Cabel Quinn Bales, 22, of Roland, was trapped in his room in State Hall. Bales was on the telephone about 7:14 p.m. when he heard a loud bang on his door. When he checked the door, it was jammed shut. Police estimated damage to the door at $500.

There are no current plans to add the fast-food favorite to the campus fare but Aramark says it is listening. Aramark wants to give us what we want, according to Jim Nabors, senior food service director. Aramark has been interviewing students, faculty and staff  and has set up chat rooms.

The process is called MarketMatch and Aramark conducts the in-depth survey at eight campuses each year.

Students have asked for a Taco Bell in the surveys and discussed it in chat rooms. Some have suggested that it would replace Java City in the Student Center. The coffee shop has had competition from Starbucks since the chain opened in Torreyson Library last year.

Nabor said there are no plans to replace Java City.

The MarketMatch report will be presented to the university administration in May. Aramark will discuss any changes to its campus operations at that time.

Gossage, known as one of the greatest closers in the history of baseball, will be in town for a series of events through Saturday.

The first chance to see him is at 6 p.m. today at a tailgate party and silent auction at Bear Stadium. Admission is $20 and includes live entertainment, free food and the opportunity to meet Gossage. Items in the silent auction include autographed Yankees memorabilia and tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals game.

On Friday, Gossage will throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Bears baseball team’s series against the Northwestern State Demons. The game begins at 6:30 p.m. and the first 200 people to enter the stadium will get a free Goose Gossage T-shirt. Gossage also will be signing copies of his book, The Goose is Loose. There is a fireworks show after the game.

Gossage will attend the Breakfast of Champions at New Life Church, 633 S. Country Club Road, Saturday. The event starts at 8 a.m. and tickets are $30 for one adult and one child. Each additional child is another $10. Everyone under the age of 14 will receive a gift bag with an autographed baseball, coupons and other small items. Gossage will speak about his experiences as a professional baseball player.

Rich "Goose" Gossage

Gossage played for 22 seasons with nine teams, including the New York Yankees. Gossage was a nine-time all-star and finished his career with 310 saves, 1,502 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.01. He was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Tickets for the events can be purchased by calling 501-450-3150.

• UCA police officer Chris Humphrey reported about 4:20 p.m. that someone hit his car with eggs in the Bear Village parking lot. No further details were given.
• Student Derek Wyatt, 21, of Magnolia, Texas, was arrested about 1:45 a.m. for public intoxication and drinking in public after “stumbling around” in the north overflow parking lot. Wyatt was unable to answer any questions and his speech was slurred.

But, that’s not the case, according to Velton Daves, assistant director of the Physical Plant. There are 6,486 parking spaces on campus and at any given time there are between 200-400 empty spots. Most of the student complaints are based on parking being too far away from the class buildings, not an actual shortage of spaces, he said.

The perimeter parking lots were added during the 1990s when the university administration decided to make the campus more pedestrian friendly. Putting the parking lots at the edge of campus diverted traffic off the campus, he said.

The addition of the new College of Business building eliminated one of the larger parking lots on campus but that lot was never intended to be permanent. The land was acquired with the purpose of adding the building, Daves said.

A UCA parking lot

There has been discussion about building a parking deck, Daves said, but the administration has decided that the campus doesn’t need one. A parking deck would be too expensive, he said. A flat parking lot costs about $1,000 per space. A parking deck costs about $15,000 per space, he said. He dismissed rumors that the campus is too wet and too low to build one.

If you can’t find parking, there’s always the free, on-demand shuttle system that runs from the softball complex behind Lewis Science Center and Bear Village apartments to Alumni Circle. Daves suggests that you arrive early for that.

Here is a Channel Six report on this.

Through 9 p.m. today, Stromboli’s will donate $2 to the fund for every order of Garlic Knots that people buy. There also will be a donation box. People who donate can sign a guest book that will presented to her family. Stomboli’s is a family-owned Italian restaurant at 2662 Donaghey Ave.

Olive Hilliard

Hilliard, 52, died suddenly Feb. 24. She had been a faculty member at UCA since 2003 teaching oral communications in the Department of Speech of Public Relations. She was buried March 2 in her hometown of Texarkana.

• Student Meredith Floyd, 21, was arrested for public intoxication and student Amber Carson, 20, was arrested for public intoxication and fleeing about 9:15 p.m. after a confrontation with university police at the Sigma Phi Epsilon annual crawfish boil fundraiser. About 9 p.m., an officer noticed Floyd stumbling toward a group of people and that her eyes were bloodshot and watery. When the officer asked her how much she had to drink, she replied, “Probably too much.” While the officer was talking to her, Carson approached Floyd and tried to pull her away. The officer stated that she, too, was obviously drunk because she was stumbling and smelled strongly of alcohol. The officer told them that they had to leave the fundraiser, stand outside the fence and call a friend to come pick them up. At 9:12 p.m., the officer noticed both Floyd and Carson back inside the fence, high-fiving each other. He asked them to follow him outside where he told them they were being arrested. As he was handcuffing Floyd, Carson began to walk away. The officer told her to stop and she began running down the sidewalk. The officer caught and handcuffed her. Carson told the officer that she didn’t hear him say she was under arrest for public intoxication.
• Nonstudents Aaron Love, 24, of Jonesboro, and Matthew Beals, 24, of Judsonia, were arrested about 10:45 p.m. for public intoxication and drinking in public after officers found them drinking in the north overflow parking lot. They were both wearing armbands from the Sigma Phi Epsilon crawfish boil being held that night.
• Student Kort Kennedy, 19, of Uniontown, was arrested about 9:40 p.m. for disorderly conduct after an officer found him urinating in the north overflow parking lot.
• Students Teris Barker, 20, Jack Massanelli, 20, and Landon Hardin, 19, all of Pine Bluff, were arrested at about 8:30 p.m. for drinking in public and possessing alcohol. An officer noticed a black ford truck, owned by Hardin, parked in the grass by the softball complex and made contact with the three, who were standing in the truck’s bed. As the officer approached the tailgate of the truck, he saw that all three were holding plastic cups and had about 15 empty beer cans next to them. They also had a cooler in the back of the truck.
• Students John Hillman, 19, and Joshua Johnson, 18, were arrested about 7:45 p.m. for possessing alcohol and drinking in public after an officer found them drinking alcohol from plastic red cups in Hillman’s gray Dodge Charger, which was parked in the north overflow parking lot.
• Student Adam Murphree, 19, was arrested about 7:10 p.m. for DWI after an officer saw Murphree driving his black Jeep Cherokee down Donaghey without wearing a seatbelt. Murphree failed field sobriety tests and was arrested.
• Faculty member Gregory Brown, 56, reported at about 8:55 p.m. that his Apple MacBook Pro and his 500GB Western Digital external hard drive had been stolen.

You can pick up your free copy of the Scroll during X-period today in the courtyard outside Starbucks. It’s the area on the north side of Torreyson Library with the tables and the jumbotron.

The release of the new yearbook includes a party with free music and free food. Townsend and Brad Cash will be performing.

This year’s edition of the yearbook uses a “green” theme. Ten percent of the paper is made of recycled material and every six pages of the book includes a “how to go green” tip or fact. About 2,000 copies of the yearbook are available.

“Every student actually pays for a yearbook, maybe unknowingly, because it is included in our tuition in a $6.50 publication fee,” said Emily Gassman, editor-in-chief of the Scroll.