MSU student charged in January murder
Lindsey Rich | Editor-in-Chief

He seemed to be an ordinary 21-year-old college student who liked to go camping and spend time with his friends and family. He ate lunch every Friday at the Church of Christ Student Center, and friends said he liked to talk to everyone. Kristopher Russell’s friends describe him as an outgoing person who was trying to get his life turned around after a troubled adolescence and early adulthood. Russell couldn’t quite get his life back on track, though, and last Thursday police arrested and charged him with the Jan. 5 murder of Samantha Lezark, 28. His former girlfriend doesn’t see him as a murderer, though. “He’s a sweet guy who tried to be a good friend to those around him,” said Lavelle Smellgrove. “He is really active in outdoor activities and loves camping, weightlifting and staying in shape.” Smellgrove, a freshman radiology major, met Russell two years ago and dated him for a couple of months. “We just weren’t right for each other, but he’s a nice guy,” she said. “He had a really difficult life, and I kind of felt bad for him.” Smellgrove said he had just started going back to school after living in Nebraska for a year. He was married there, but Smellgrove said his wife died of unknown causes, and he moved back to Texas in November. Lezark’s body was discovered on Jan. 6 in her Wichita Falls residence by a co-worker from Albertson’s. Autopsy results show that Lezark died from strangulation and, according to court records, detectives believe a fire extinguisher found on her bedroom floor was used to strike her in the head. A fingerprint examiner from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office found fingerprints on the extinguisher and, according to court records, those prints match Russell’s. Court records say that Lezark met Russell on the Internet. Detectives found a note on her computer with his phone number on it. Russell’s friends say he just didn’t behave in a way that would suggest he would be capable of murder. “After his wife died he just was sad," Smellgrove said. “He loved her a lot, and he never had anything bad to say about her. I think it really affected him poorly when she died.” Childhood friend and MSU student Nathan Beaver said Russell seemed like a nice person, and he couldn’t imagine him murdering someone. “He was pretty nice, but when we were kids he was kind of a trouble maker,” he said. “There was one time at youth group when we were kids that he pushed another kid into the wall and left an indention in the wall, but that’s really all, I think.” Beaver said he was Russell’s lab partner in geology, and they were talked about things involving life. “He was really trying to get his life back in order,” he said. “I just never thought he would ever do anything like that.” Russell is currently being held in Wichita County Jail on a $1 million bond.

 

Custodian cleans up pool table
Tracy Simons | Staff Reporter

Jason Palmer | The Wichitan

With several first-place plaques that bear her name behind her, custodian Sue Burk breaks and begins another round on the fast tables at Wayne’s World.

On weekdays, custodian Sue Burk has earned a reputation for making a clean sweep in her wing of the Fain Fine Arts Building. Simply put, it sparkles. On weekends, however, she makes another kind of sweep, but it’s not with a broom. It’s with a cue stick. Burk started playing pool when she was only 13. “I was at a party and had never played pool in my life,” she recalls. “A guy told me to take the stick and hit the balls. I made the eight ball in on the break—I’ve been hooked ever since.” Not only is Burk hooked on the sport, she is a competitor for a local bar every Sunday night in a pool league. Many of the bars on Scott Street have teamed up and started a pool league that plays on Sunday night. Burk plays for one of the two teams for Wayne’s World, a bar on the street. “It’s an exhilarating feeling,” Burk said. “You have so much satisfaction if you win.” Each bar has two teams, an ‘A’ team and a ‘B’ team. The teams consist of five players, three men and two women. They all play each other, so on any given Sunday night each player plays five games. They usually start at about 4 p.m. and they usually finish up about 6 p.m. The league lasts 16 weeks. It usually starts toward the end of October and finishes up before the Super Bowl. The bar that has the winning team gets a plaque and the players can win money individually. The players pay $10 each week before they start to play. “I look at it like a bank,” Burk said. “Knowing that you can win money makes you try harder. The better I play, the more I win.” In addition to winning rounds of pool, players can also get a Top Shooter Award. This is tabulated every two weeks and it adds up all the games the players have won and sees which player is doing the best in the league. “I’ve been top shooter twice, and I was number two for a while. Then I fell a little bit,” Burk said. “But I’m on my way up again now.” For being top shooter a player can win anywhere from $100 to $140. Then they have shootouts where the best players play together. In these matches, players can win up to $80. Burk owns three pool sticks—one custom-made. She totes her stick in a “girly” green case with multi-colored pool balls covering it. A friend gave her the Meuchi stick worth See Pool

 

Wintry weather leaves students shivering
Mindy Lethcoe | News Editor

Ya-Rei Chan | The Wichitan

Senior psychology major Azusa Uehara tries to keep warm in the frigid temperatures that hit Wichita Falls Monday.

“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow,” was the tune on many students’ lips Monday afternoon. With the mercury dipping into the teens and searing winds blowing up to 22 mph, students battled the cold, bundled up and headed for class, despite the blanket of ice covering the campus. But the freezing temperatures and precipitation didn’t dampen spirits. In fact, many were filled with the hope that usually accompanies weather like this. “I was like, ‘this could mean classes are cancelled,’ and that’s a good thing,” said Richard Whatcott, sophomore business management major from Altus, Okla. Classes were cancelled Monday evening because of threatening road conditions, according to Friederike Wiedemann, vice president for Academic Affairs. “Last night, the situation was different in that students would have had to drive in as the situation got worse,” Wiedemann said. “There was no reason to believe that the situation was improving during the time the classes would have been held.” Many students awoke Tuesday morning with hopes rested in the promise of a snow day, but were saddened to discover the administration had decided to press on through the ice and snow. “I was disappointed. Really disappointed,” Whatcott said, “but I was expecting it.” Jodi Becker, sophomore social work major from Wichita Falls, said she was just as hopeful Monday afternoon and just as dejected getting ready for class Tuesday morning. “I was excited because I thought school was going to be cancelled, but I was wrong,” she added disappointedly. Some students and faculty didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. “Cold is relative,” theater professor Elizabeth Lewandowski said. “You get used to it, just like you get used to extreme heat here.” Sophomore Jen Galloway said living in See Snow