Untitled Document

Thursday, November 9, 2006

NOTE ON FORMATTING: When stories are transferred from the Web, certain punctuation marks and other marks in this report don't carry over and result in symbols and other formatting errors. To see or print the story in full without these translation errors, simply click on "full story" at the end of each item."

Total Clips: 13

	Date	Outlet
Trustees to discuss construction	11/09/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
AU students get creative with non-perishable food	11/09/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Auburn's Golden Eagle To Retire	11/09/2006	WAGA-TV (Atlanta)
Miles grant aims to attract science students	11/09/2006	Birmingham News
Students trash campus for recycling	11/09/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Post-tenure review plans move ahead despite concern	11/08/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Musical performance tells story of Holocaust inmates	11/08/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Volatile U.S. cattle market expected to continue in 2007	11/08/2006	Western Farm Press
Persistence Pays Off- Auburn University Will Light A Christmas Tree This Year	11/08/2006	Montana News Association
Auburn to retire golden eagle during Georgia game	11/08/2006	Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Robotics competition set for Saturday at Mississippi State	11/08/2006	Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
No special favors for AU athletes	11/08/2006	The Birmingham News
Entrepreneur Get Lessons On Starting A Business	11/06/2006	WTVM-TV (Columbus)


Trustees to discuss construction 11/09/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
This story is about an item of discussion for this week's AU Board of Trustees' meeting. Construction isn't expected to cease anytime soon on the Auburn University campus as members of the Board of Trustees will consider today a number of requests for additional renovations to existing campus buildings or replacing equipment in them. Although several improvements were completed by the start of the football season at Jordan-Hare Stadium, AU officials have discovered a need to replace the public address system and the south video/scoreboard system. They have worked well for eight years, but both systems have come to the point that the sound and visual quality is nearly gone. Another plan calls for renovations to certain areas inside the Athletics Complex, which has housed the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics for 15 years. Changes would not only update the areas but improve security and efficiency in the workplace. The board approved a plan in June to build a new swimming pool facility where the Luther Young Tennis Center is located at a cost of approximately $1.6 million, but officials are requesting the budget increase by more than $600,000 because bids received for the project exceeded the initial estimate. The revised budget would be for about $2.2 million. Board members will be asked to approve a recommendation by President Ed Richardson for the architect for the ancillary projects to the new student center construction, including the Green, Loop Drive and pedestrian concourse, and Donahue/Duncan pedestrian concourse. Cary Hall needs to be renovated to accommodate public clinics that are now housed in the Haley Center. Construction of the student center has removed traffic and parking from that area of campus, making it difficult for the public to reach those clinics in Haley. Committee meetings start at 9 a.m. today with the full board convening Friday at 9 a.m. in The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center.
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AU students get creative with non-perishable food 11/09/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
Students at Auburn University generally support the annual Beat Bama Food Drive because it's a chance to feed a need at the East Alabama Food Drive while beating that other state university in something other than sports. But for the students in the AU College of Architecture, Design and Construction, it's also a chance to have a little fun. Wednesday marked the third year students in the college have participated in AU Can, a design competition using non-perishable food items. Laura Clark, a fourth-year architecture student, said the contest is the "most fun way" to participate in the drive. "It utilizes the creativity of the students," said Whitney Skinner, a graduate of the college and chair of the Committee of 19. "We are a creative college but there is nothing creative about putting items in a box." Skinner said the contest started in 2004, the same year AU joined the United Nations World Food Programme in an effort to raise awareness among college students about the fight against world hunger. The Committee of 19 was with representatives of all the colleges and seven major student organizations to educate the university community about world hunger. AU Can was an ideal way for students to help battle hunger locally, she said, while still fighting the global fight. The event itself may not have grown over the years, but Skinner believes awareness of hunger has. Coral Blanche, a junior in industrial design and organizer of this year's event, said students were more than willing to shell out whatever cash they needed to purchase cans and other food items to build something that would stand out. She bragged on a team of her classmates who used packages of rice, Ramen noodles, spaghetti and spice drops to create a California sushi roll, complete with wasabi and chopsticks. Clark was one-fourth of a team of architecture students who relied more on their collective creativity than vast building knowledge to design what they called "solar effect." They lined each can of green beans and corn on a slight angle along a portion of the brick walls throughout the Dudley Hall courtyard. A tap on the last can and they fell down like dominos until the last one fell off, onto a bed of rice and beans. Each can also deliberately faced south. Team members believed if they were kept outside long enough, the food would cook. "It doesn't have to be interactive," she said. "We just wanted it to be." While other teams finished their design well within the 45 minutes allotted, Clark and her classmates worked up to the last second. Some members of the team let out little girl-like screams when a gust of wind toppled nearly all the cans with less than a minute to spare. They were able to reassemble it almost as quickly as it came down, plenty of time for them to win the "Most Creative" award. Auburn is currently leading the drive but with only about 7,000 pounds collected, it is far from its goal of 120,000 pounds with only a week left. Alabama has generated less than 5,000 pounds. Donations can be made at the Student Government Association office, East Alabama Food Bank or online at www.beatbamafooddrive.com
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Auburn's Golden Eagle To Retire 11/09/2006 WAGA-TV (Atlanta)		Return to Top
This story was also broadcast on WHNT-TV, WALA-TV, WAFF-TV and WSFA TV. After 20 years of representing Auburn University's school spirit, golden eagle Tiger is retiring. University officials will retire the bird in a ceremony that is to begin 25 minutes before kickoff at Saturday's football game against the University of Georgia. Her successor as War Eagle Seven will be presented at halftime. Tiger has served as War Eagle Six since 1986 and has flown before home football games since 2000. She also flew before the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Earlier this year, Auburn veterinarians diagnosed Tiger with skin cancer. A tumor was removed from her right leg in June, and she also received local radiation therapy. Tiger was rescued from an illegal breeding operation in Missouri by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service in the mid-1980s. In 2005, she was honored for her contributions to Auburn and the state of Alabama by being inducted into the Alabama Animal Hall of Fame.
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Miles grant aims to attract science students 11/09/2006 Birmingham News Thomas Spencer		Return to Top
AU is part of a grant program aimed at encouraging minorities to pursue study and careers in the sciences. Miles College has received a $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to boost enrollment of minorities in the sciences. The four-year grant will help Miles to improve its science and research equipment and offerings, to hold summer institutes for talented high school students, and to create academic bridges with Lawson State Community College and graduate schools at four-year universities. Osman Bannaga, a professor at Miles specializing in immunology, said the grant is aimed at encouraging minorities to pursue study and careers in the sciences, where they are underrepresented. According to the most recent figures available from the foundation, blacks account for 7.4 percent of the students in science and engineering graduate studies, though they make up 13 percent of the U.S. population. Bannaga said Miles will be working with local school systems to identify promising students for a summer academy and institute at Miles, which will offer intensive courses in physics, chemistry, math, writing and English. "What we are trying to do is create a pipeline of high-achieving students and propel them into college and graduate school," he said. Miles also will be working to improve the flow of promising students from Lawson State to Miles and from Miles to graduate programs including those at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Auburn University, Tuskegee University and the University of South Alabama. Money from the grant also will be used to pay for continuing faculty education and improved laboratory facilities. Miles has been working for several years to land the grant.
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Students trash campus for recycling 11/09/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
This story is about promoting a recycling program on the AU campus. Donny Addison really didn't need any props or gimmicks to draw attention along the Thatch concourse Wednesday. All he needed to do was stand in the middle of one of the highest traffic areas between Foy Union and Cater Hall on the Auburn University campus and announce plans to offer more recycling initiatives throughout campus. Students who tend to walk briskly through the area, listening to iPods or talking on cell phones, will stop and listen. Within minutes of mentioning he planned to send a petition about recycling to AU administration, students began to line up to sign it. The willingness of AU students was a promising sign to Addison, the university's recycling and solid waste coordinator. He organized "Landfill on the Lawn" Wednesday as the first attempt to get attention about the waste problem on campus. Addison and student volunteers spent part of Tuesday collecting and sorting through dumpsters of trash from the Quad and Hill residence halls and the Draughon Village. They found approximately 65 percent of the 230 pounds of waste was recyclable materials, such as paper and drinking containers. The trash was placed on the Cater lawn to visually illustrate the problem at AU and its solution - recycle. "Most people would recycle if they had some where to put it," proclaimed Andrew Purnell, a junior in environmental science. Currently there is no recycling program to offer throughout the AU campus, while studies show the average college student produces 640 pounds of solid waste a year. Last year, AU started to address this problem by starting a deskside recycling program, as well as a gameday recycling program. With containers in more than 30 office buildings throughout campus, an average of 16,000 pounds of recyclable materials are collected each week from 25 designated dumpsters. More than 300 bins placed around campus on gamedays collect 26,000 pounds of plastic and aluminum drink containers. Nearly 100,000 pounds of trash is collected on gamedays as well. Addison said the efforts have started to reduce the amount of waste on campus, but only by 3 percent. He'd like to see it drop by 30 percent in the next two years. Putting recycling containers in the residence halls would be a start in his plan, he said. He's also like to see recycling cans next to every trash can on campus. He claims AU takes about 10 million pounds of garbage to the city landfill each year. The addition of various recycling programs on campus would reduce that number and save the university money. The programs started last year saved the university more than $15,000 in one year, added Addison. "If it saves the university money and there is student support for it, I don't see why they wouldn't do it," Purnell said.
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Post-tenure review plans move ahead despite concern 11/08/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
Post-tenure review continues to be a hot topic on the Auburn University campus as officials move forward with plans to test it this school year despite faculty opposition. Members of the University Faculty at their Oct. 10 meeting overwhelming disagreed with the idea of another review for tenured or promoted professors, as well as a policy that calls for a pilot test before it is fully implemented by 2007-08, and yet, Provost John Heilman remained adamant about ensuring AU had a post-tenure review practice like other institutions across the nation. Heilman insisted afterward some of the concerns about the wording of the policy would be addressed. Two days after the faculty meeting, the University Senate leadership discussed those concerns further with Heilman, President Ed Richardson and other senior administrators. Dr. Rich Penaskovic, chair of the University Faculty and Senate, told all faculty via e-mail that although the review will be tested this year, an alternative proposal will be developed addressing concerns from the faculty. "Comments made at the general faculty meeting were heard," Heilman said at Tuesday's meeting of the University Senate. More of the same concerns came out of the senate meeting, including the time frame required for faculty to rectify their standing after receiving an unsatisfactory review. The proposed plan calls for signs of progress within a year. Professor Gary Martin said the strict time schedule creates a "quick-fix mentality" instead of giving the instructor adequate time to correct the problem. Professor Rik Blumenthal said the one-year time frame should be used as a benchmark rather than a deadline. Evidence in some areas under review like research can’t be shown in such little time. Penaskovic himself raised concerns with current review practices. If all annual reviews in the various departments, schools and colleges and student evaluations were up to par, he believes the university would get a better picture of the performance of its faculty, Penaskovic called for a special meeting of the University Faculty Nov. 28 for members to discuss their options concerning post-tenure review. The Auburn chapter of the American Association of University Professors will decide its response to the proposed policy Monday following its annual fall reception.
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Musical performance tells story of Holocaust inmates 11/08/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Donathan Prater		Return to Top
There's a saying that states that life sometimes imitates art. But for classically trained pianist and composer Claudia Stevens, it just might be the other way around. Today Stevens' musical works will be featured at Auburn University's Goodwin Hall with the performance of "An Evening With Madame F," an internationally acclaimed musical drama chronicling the experience of The Holocaust through the firsthand accounts of some of the women inmates (whose parts are played by actors) who survived imprisonment in concentration camps such as Auschwitz. The American-born daughter of Holocaust survivors, Stevens attended college at Vassar, the University of California at Berkeley and Boston University, where she earned a doctor of musical arts degree in piano. Today's visit by Stevens to the AU's campus will actually be her second trip to The Plains since she performed at the Telfair Peet Theatre in 2004. Stevens' "An Evening With Madame F" uses the medium of music to explore the physical struggle and ethical dilemmas that faced the women who lived through The Holocaust, some of whom survived through musical performance. It's both the internal and external struggles of the women who endured The Holocaust that Ruth Crocker believes Stevens is attempting to capture in "An Evening With Madame F." "Stevens discusses whether someone can make suffering the subject of art, but her goal is to produce something beautiful from the horror of The Holocaust," said Crocker, director of the Auburn University Women's Studies Program. "An Evening With Madame F" is sponsored by the AU Women’s Studies Program.
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Volatile U.S. cattle market expected to continue in 2007 11/08/2006 Western Farm Press Paul L. Hollis		Return to Top
Walt Prevatt, AU Extension economist, is the source of information for this story. Uncertainty will continue to rule the 2007 U.S. cattle market, and farmers should continue to monitor the many factors that can cause significant price swings, says Walt Prevatt, Auburn University Extension economist. Prevatt presented his market outlook during the 2006 Southern Region Agricultural Outlook Conference held in Atlanta. "Cattle farmers should monitor several factors, including the length, extent and severity of the drought, growing supplies of broilers and pork, export and import sales of beef, broilers and pork, and consumer beef demand," says Prevatt. "The cattle markets could experience some volatile movements with abrupt changes in any of these factors or a combination of these factors." The U.S. net beef supply, he says, is expected to show some significant changes during 2007 compared with 2006. "Domestic beef production is forecast to increase by 0.8 billion pounds or 3.1 percent, beef and veal imports are expected to post a minor increase of 0.1 billion pounds, and beef and veal exports are expected to increase by about 0.4 billion pounds. Assuming these increases are realized, the U.S. net beef supply during 2007 will increase by about 0.6 billion pounds or 2 percent," says Prevatt. Assuming there's a stable domestic consumer beef demand, the combination of an increase in the U.S. net beef supply coupled with increases in the net broiler supply and the net pork supply will pressure farm-level beef cattle prices lower during 2007, says Prevatt. "Any changes in production and/or export and import levels of these three competing meats could cause major movements in beef prices," he says. "Each industry is very capable of significantly altering production levels and is subject to wide changes in export and import levels." The highest average prices for all classes of cattle, says Prevatt, are expected during the first quarter of 2007. The lowest average prices are expected during the third quarter for choice slaughter steers and during the fourth quarter for all other classes of beef cattle, he adds. For 2007, USDA has forecast that choice slaughter steers (Nebraska basis) will post an annual average in the low to mid-$80s per hundredweight. Alabama feeder steers (750-pound) are expected to average between $98 and $104 per hundredweight, Alabama feeder steer calves (550-pound) between $110 and $115 per hundredweight, and Alabama boning utility cows in the mid-$40s per hundredweight. Breeding heifer, cow and bull prices are expected to show minor decreases of between 3 to 6 percent as herd rebuilding continues, says Prevatt. "The simultaneous increases in the supplies of beef, broilers and pork are expected to pressure meat prices lower during 2007. Driving the increase in net beef supply includes an increase in cattle inventory, heavier carcass weights, and larger levels of beef imports. "U.S. cattle inventories are expected to increase through 2010, with total cattle inventories expected to increase between five to seven million head. During this same time period, these increases are expected to increase domestic beef production by about 3 to 4 billion pounds and reach about 28 billion pounds of beef production by the end of the decade. These higher levels of beef production most certainly will result in lower beef prices," he says. Additionally, a significant factor in the net beef supply during the next several years will be the beef balance of trade or beef exports minus beef imports, says Prevatt. "In 2006, U.S. beef exports are expected to total about 1.1 billion pounds while U.S. beef imports are expected to total about 3.2 billion pounds. This results in a beef trade deficit of about minus 2.1 billion pounds. Thus, as U.S. beef production totals grow over the next several years, it is extremely important that we realize significant improvements in U.S. beef exports if we want to avoid burdensome levels or net beef supplies. It would be highly advantageous to cattle farmers if we could grow our beef export levels similarly to the expected increases in domestic beef production," he says. "The opening of beef trade with Japan and South Korea during 2006 offers added opportunities to increase U.S. beef exports in 2007. But future export growth is expected to be gradual. It may take three to five years to reach pre-2003 levels. However, the increase in U.S. beef export levels should help provide price support during a time of expected increases in U.S. beef production. U.S. export levels of beef and competing meats likely will have a significant impact on U.S. beef prices during the next couple of years." As should be expected, the 2007 cattle market has the potential for some big price swings, says Prevatt. "Abrupt changes in the levels of any of these factors we've discussed could add much volatility to cattle market prices in 2007. However, cattle market prices should remain cyclically strong and average at 3 to 6 percent below 2007 prices."
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Persistence Pays Off- Auburn University Will Light A Christmas Tree This Year 11/08/2006 Montana News Association		Return to Top
After two open forums held over an eleven-month period, the Auburn University Student Government Association (SGA) announced that the former "Holiday" tree lighting event will now be called "Holiday Celebration featuring the Lighting of the Christmas Tree." The event had been called the Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony since its inception in 2000. The former president of College Republicans, Laura Steele, started a petition to rename the event shortly before last year's tree lighting ceremony. Liberty Counsel worked closely with Ms. Steele to support the effort she spearheaded. According to the Associated Press, over 20,000 e-mails were received over the issue. Thanks to the efforts and persistence of Laura Steele and other student leaders, the stir caused the SGA to review the event, as well as the entire program. "I am so happy that the SGA has decided to call the tree what it is, a Christmas Tree," said Laura. "They have the support and thanks of the thousands of students, alumni and fans that joined the effort to bring the name Christmas back to this wonderful University. We are all very happy to have this resolved and thrilled that we can continue to positively promote Christmas and the real meaning of the season this year at Auburn." Wes Bonds, spokesman for the celebration committee, said the SGA wanted to make sure the tree was called a Christmas tree. "We wanted to find a name that included everything going on," Bonds said. George Stegall, president of SGA, said he believes the new name is more accurate. "There's no holiday tree. Something had to be done about calling a Christmas tree a holiday tree," he said. "I think it will definitely be well received by Auburn University and the Auburn community," he said. The new celebration will include the lighting of the Christmas tree, as well as the lighting of a peace candle and possibly the lighting of a menorah. Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, commented: "There has been a disturbing trend toward censorship of Christmas celebrations, but people all across America are fighting back to help save Christmas. Everyone knows that a green, pointed, prickly tree we decorate in December is a Christmas tree. Renaming a Christmas tree to a "Holiday tree" is hypocritical political correctness run amok. Christmas IS constitutional. The Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign is stirring millions of Americans to help save Christmas and to preserve our religious freedom before it is lost forever." Liberty Counsel, a nationwide, public interest civil liberties law firm, launched its fourth annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign and is experiencing another active season defending attacks on Christmas celebrations.
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Auburn to retire golden eagle during Georgia game 11/08/2006 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Associated Press		Return to Top
This AP story also appeared in The Journal Gazette and The Tuscaloosa News. Posted on Wed, Nov. 08, 2006 email this print this Auburn to retire golden eagle during Georgia game Associated Press AUBURN, Ala. - After 20 years of representing Auburn University's school spirit, golden eagle Tiger is retiring. University officials will retire the bird in a ceremony that is to begin 25 minutes before kickoff at Saturday's football game against the University of Georgia. Her successor as War Eagle VII will be presented at halftime. Tiger has served as War Eagle VI since 1986 and has flown before home football games since 2000. She also flew before the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Earlier this year, Auburn veterinarians diagnosed Tiger with skin cancer. A tumor was removed from her right leg in June, and she also received local radiation therapy. Tiger was rescued from an illegal breeding operation in Missouri by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the mid-1980s. In 2005, she was honored for her contributions to Auburn and the state of Alabama by being inducted into the Alabama Animal Hall of Fame.
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Robotics competition set for Saturday at Mississippi State 11/08/2006 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Associated Press from the Starkville Daily News		Return to Top
This story mentions AU's hosting the regional BEST competition and was also carried by: The Clarion-Ledger, The Daily Comet, The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, The Houma Courier, The Sun Herald, The Memphis Commercia Appeal, The Thibodaux Daily comet, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Sun Herald, KPLC-TV, WLOX-TV, WATC-TV and KLFY-TV. Robotics competition set for Saturday at Mississippi State Associated Press STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State University will host a robotics competition Saturday, featuring high school teams from Mississippi and Louisiana. The top two teams from the 2006 Bulldog BEST competition will advance to the South's BEST regional competition at Auburn University in December. The Mississippi teams are from high schools in Cleveland, Louisville, Long Beach, Decatur, Southaven, Batesville and Ocean Springs. Capitol High School of Baton Rouge, La., represents Louisiana. MSU officials said the teams collaborated to build a remote-controlled machine that is able to perform fundamental tasks, which are determined prior to the competition and vary from year to year. This year's task, dubbed "Laundry Quandry," is to remove dry laundry from a clothesline by remote control and replace it with wet laundry to be dried. The competition recognizes excellence in engineering, technology, design and creativity. The annual contest exposes high school students to the concepts of engineering and technology through a fun, educational robotics competition. The sponsors of the competition are MSU's Bagley College of Engineering, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Igus Inc., a manufacturer of industry-leading cable carriers. Igus donates materials for the competition, officials said.
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No special favors for AU athletes 11/08/2006 The Birmingham News		Return to Top
THE ISSUE: An in-house report found the abuses that led to allegations of easy grades for athletes in independent-study courses were there for all students to benefit from. It turns out Auburn University athletes received no special favors in directed-studies programs in sociology and adult education. This, according to an Auburn-issued report last week that concluded the irregularities in those programs were the result of a lack of oversight. There were no special favors, because the abuses that led to allegations of easy grades for athletes were there for all students to benefit from. Far more nonathletes took the courses, the grades awarded for nonathletes and athletes were virtually the same, and the courses were open to everyone on campus, the report concluded. That should comfort Auburn football fans, in particular, after The New York Times in July reported that 18 members of Auburn's undefeated 2004 football team took almost 100 hours of criminology and sociology courses that didn't require attendance or very much work and led to better-than-usual grades for the players. The implication was that Auburn athletes were being steered to courses to pump up their grades and keep them eligible. That no such thing occurred is welcome news for fans, but it's little comfort to those who worry about Auburn's academic reputation. The good news in the report is that the abuses were limited to Thomas Petee, a sociology professor, and James Witte, program coordinator for adult education. The professors, in taking on an excessive number of independent-study courses, "were overly accommodating to all students," as the report put it. It sounds as if they were overly generous in their grading, as well. The report said 66 percent of Witte's students made A's, compared to 59 percent of athletes. Of Petee's students, 52.8 percent made A's, compared to 48 percent of athletes. Fortunately, Auburn already has taken concrete steps to provide more oversight for independent study courses. In August, Auburn established a university-wide policy limiting faculty to teaching no more than three independent-study students each semester (both professors at times taught many more). Students can take no more than nine credit hours of independent study. Petee and Witte were stripped of their administrative duties, as well. The report found that the two professors "demonstrated poor judgment to a diminution of the academic integrity of Auburn University's programs in sociology, criminology and adult education." The positive changes Auburn has made as a result of its investigation should help restore that integrity.
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Entrepreneur Get Lessons On Starting A Business 11/06/2006 WTVM-TV (Columbus) Brock Parker		Return to Top
This broadcast segment is about a program of AU's Small business Development center. The Auburn-Opelika area is nationally known as one of the best small cities to start your own business, and Auburn University is helping many discover their entrepreneurial skills. Auburn's Small Business Development Center is helping people get their dreams off the ground. One of the most important pieces of information that's passed along is know your customer. "It's not that we have a product to sell to someone. We have a need to fill," said Dr. Jackie DiPofi, SBDC director. That certainly rings true for Harris Asbury at Alabama Office Supply in Opelika. His store has been in business for 60 years because of the relationships he's built. "We've been here a long time. We've been in Kiwanis Club with them, and we go to church with them. We do everything like that. You know people, and if they know you, they'll give you first shot at the business most of the time," said Asbury. Great customer service is just part of getting a business started. "The most important thing is to plan, and make sure that you have enough financing to carry you through the start-up period when you're not going to have as many customers as you're going to need down the road," said DiPofi. Asbury said most people work for someone else before starting their own company, and that's when the expenses hit home. "All of the sudden, they are going to have to pay all their Social Security and half of the Social Security for everybody that works for them. They got a payroll every week, and they got rent every month. They got all these expenses, and they just don't have enough business to carry them," said Asbury. DiPofi said a small business that can survive for two years is a success, and one that lasts for at least seven years is going to make it for the long term. The SBDC has workshops all over east Alabama, and they're free and open to the public. If you'd like to attend one, you can call (334)844-4220.
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