january 21, 2013 issue of the vanguard
DESCRIPTION
News including a Collar lawsuit update, campus warning system and SGA stipend news as well as much more in Life, Sports, Left of Center and Opinion.TRANSCRIPT
“If it matters to the USA family, it matters to us.” VOL. 52, NO. 2JAN. 21, 2013
VANGUARDTHETHE
In this Issue: Life, Page 6
Sports, Page 9Opinion, Page 12
fi nd us on Facebook “Facebook.com/“Facebook.com/
TheVanguardUSA”TheVanguardUSA”
Check out our digital edition thevanguardonline.com
See ALERT ALERT Page 4
Alawsuit filed by the parents of Gil Collar is currently
being contested by the University and USAPD Chief Zeke Aull. Col-lar, an 18-year-old freshman, was shot and killed by a USAPD officer in October 2012 after an altercation at USAPD. Allegedly, Collar ap-proached USAPD nude and struck a window with his fist. The officer involved, Trevis Austin, responded and reportedly felt threatened by Collar and responded with a gunshot to Collar’s chest, killing Collar out-side of the USAPD office. Toxicol-ogy reports have not been released, although Collar reportedly ingested LSD at Mobile’s popular concert Bayfest according to the Mobile County Sheriff ’s Office.
The lawsuit filed by the Beasley Allen law firm who is widely known for its work with civil litigation is seeking an unknown amount of money from the University. The law firm hasn’t commented on the re-quest by Chief Aull and USA to dis-miss part of their civil suit.
The plaintiffs in this case are su-ing Chief Aull for negligence in his training of USAPD Officer Austin who fatally shot Collar after the late
USAPD seeks Collar lawsuit droppedUSAPD seeks Collar lawsuit dropped INSIDE
Opinion: page 13.►
Life Spotlight: page 6.
Picklefi sh is about more than pizza; see how it gives back to USA students.
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Sports: page 9.
The basketball team is mak-ing strides for progress amidst coaching change.
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By STUART [email protected]
Likely unbeknownst to many students on campus, inside
the USA police station is a highly so-phisticated weather alert system that is manned by a dispatcher 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. When-ever weather emergency situations arise on campus at the University of South Alabama, USA Weather and Emergency communications are swift to utilize this system to alert everyone on campus through out-door sirens, automatic emails, and opt-in emails, text messages and
phone calls. There are six towers on campus
that emit the siren sound, spread strategically throughout campus to cover every area. They can be sirens, preset or ‘canned’ voice messages, and custom text to speech messages. The method used depends on the specific circumstances of the emer-gency.
The name Keith Ayers is prob-ably a familiar sight to any student at USA who actively checks his or her university email account. In the past, whenever there has been any type of severe weather warning or watch, Keith Ayers, head of Public Relations at South Alabama, has sent
a campus-wide email to all student and faculty email accounts.
According to Ayers, more than a few of his emails are met with any-where between 500 and 1000 replies, more than a few of which come
from students asking not to be sent such emails for a severe weather or tornado ‘“watch” when no “warn-ing” has been issued. As generally defined by the National Service, a
USA officials altering weather alert proceduresUSA officials altering weather alert procedures
How will Lance Armstrong be remembered?
Stuart Sox | Staff WriterThe campus warning center within USAPD.
night October incident. The plaintiffs are also suing for
negligently failing to provide Austin and all USAPD officers with Tasers.
According to the court document the plaintiff ’s lawsuit is based off the following: Plaintiffs’ sole tort claim against Chief Aull is set forth in count three.
Plaintiffs allege that Chief Aull, in concert with University of South Alabama, negligently breached his duties to the “general public” by: (1) failing to provide adequate training to Officer Austin and other officers
“not to use force greater than that necessary to effectuate an arrest and/or to use the least damaging or deadly means of force as the situa-tion presents;” (2) failing to provide adequate training to Officer Austin and other officers “to use physical and verbal means to control a sub-ject who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs or who is mentally unstable, or, only when appropriate, to use his baton or pepper spray to control a situation;” (3) failing to provide adequate training to Officer Austin and other officers “to call for
and wait for assistance from other officers, employees of the Univer-sity or citizens in order to effectuate an arrest without the use of deadly force;” and (4) failing to provide Of-ficer Austin and other officers with tasers and adequate training in the use of tasers “to assist with arrest-ing subjects who are under the influ-ence of drugs or alcohol or who are mentally unstable.”
Plaintiffs further allege that, as a result of Chief Aull and University of South Alabama failing to provide
By JAYSON [email protected]
PR Director Keith Ayers emotionally issues a statement on Collar’s death to the media in october. Chief Aull stands behind him.
See LAWSUIT LAWSUIT Page 4
As the South Alabama Student Government Association get
settled in the new year, SGA President Parker Chastain and Treasurer Will Pearson want to make students aware of a few important dates and deadlines.
All complete appropriations re-quests from student organizations are due January 25th by 5 p.m. at the SGA offi ce in the Academic Support Center on Jaguar Drive.
Also, students wishing to learn how to apply for appropriations and fi ll out an appropriations packet are encour-aged to attend the Organization In-formational Meeting, which will take place at the SGA offi ce on January 22nd from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. At these
By STUART [email protected]
SGA SGA revises revises bylawsbylaws
See SGA SGA Page 5
VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 20132
3VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 2013
“University of South Alabama’s Student Voice”
Editor in ChiefCopy Editor
Life EditorOpinion Editor
Sports EditorLeft of Center
Senior ReporterWeb Editor
Cassie FambroAlyssa NewtonJake HowellNoah LoganPatrick HerringJT CrabtreeJayson CurryMatthew Strickland
Editorial
Distribution Manager
Bobby FaulkDistribution
Advertising Manager
Advertising Graphic Designer
Wesley Jackson
Mohammad Al-Zarrad
Rex McKay
Advertising
Advising
Accounting
J. SellersJ. AucoinKathy Brannan
Management
MissionThe Vanguard, the student-run
newspaper of the University of South Alabama, serves its readership by re-porting the news involving the campus community and surroun ding areas. The Vanguard strives to be impartial in its reporting and believes fi rmly in its First Amendment rights.
PAGE three
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Twitter: StormTeam4g9wxFacebook: Facebook.com/StormTeam4Gamma9Wx
Weather for Jan. 21-27Weather for Jan. 21-27
See Something suspicious? See Something suspicious? Report it to USAPD.Report it to USAPD.
Blotter1/14/2013
13:13- The Grove. Traffi c Offense.
Arrested on multiple warrants and driving
on a suspended license.
11:17-Coastal Resources and
Resiliency Center. Theft of Property
Third Degree. 35mm digital camera.
1/13/201323:22- Stanky fi eld. Duty Upon Striking
an Unoccupied Vehicle.
1/12/201314:10- Gamma
Parking Lot. Unlawful breaking
and entering a vehicle.
12:07- Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority
House. Unlawful breaking and
entering a vehicle.
1/10/201310:21-The Grove.
DUI-Alcohol.
USA Police BlotterUSA Police Blotter 251-460-6312251-460-6312
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VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 20134
Contact the SGA at [email protected]
“adequate training and equipment to Austin, Gilbert Collar was shot and killed.”
The University and Chief Aull’s argument for this lawsuit to be dis-missed come from precedent that a person cannot be sued in their of-ficial capacity as a representative of the state and is protected by sover-eign and state-agent immunity.
The University and Chief Aull’s legal team cited multiple cases simi-lar to the Gil Collar case in which state employees were given immuni-ty. “This absolute immunity extends to arms or agencies of the state...” Moreover, “‘not only is the State immune from suit under § 14, but ‘the State cannot be sued indirectly by suing an officer in his or her of-ficial capacity...’” Alabama Dept. of Transportation v. Harbert Interna-tional, Inc. Article I, section 14 is a “bar” that “prohibits ‘actions against officers, trustees, and employees of state universities in their official ca-pacities.’” Vandenberg v. Aramark (Educational Services, Inc.).”
According to the court document there are exceptions to section 14 which allows immunity. This in-cludes “Actions brought to compel officials to perform their “legal du-ties” to enjoin the official from en-forcing an unconstitutional law and “where it is alleged that they had acted fraudulently, in bad faith, and beyond their authority or in mistak-
en interpretation of the law.”
There is also no law requiring a University to give extra training to an officer who has passed their po-lice academy and no law requiring a University or police chief to equip his or her officers with tasers. And according to the court document there have been no cases that held the chief of police has to select cer-tain weapons like tasers for their of-ficers in the state of Alabama.
Now that Chief Aull and the University have requested a dis-missal of part of the lawsuit filed by Beasley Allen, it is up to the plaintiff to prove that the defendant acted maliciously for the lawsuit not to be dismissed.
In cases like this, the United States Supreme Court has “stressed the importance of resolving immu-nity questions at the earliest possible stage in litigation.”
A judge has set February 8 as the day to hear about the dismissal re-quest.
A request for comment from Chief Aull and the University of South Alabama was turned down be-cause “it is University policy to not comment on ongoing litigation.”
Austin is still on paid administra-tive leave pending the results of the investigation.
USA wants part of Collar lawsuit dismissed Cont. from page one
“watch” means conditions are fa-vorable in the area for potential bad weather. A “warning,” often used in the case of tornados, means that severe weather is highly likely or im-minent in the immediate area.
“I’ve gotten emails from students saying things like ‘why are you need-lessly scaring me with all of these watch emails? Please only notify me when there is a true warning,’” Ayers said. “That caused me to wonder at what point they will see my email and say, ‘It’s just another watch,’” Ayers added.
One crucial point Ayers wants to make to students is that the Office of Public Relations and USAPD are concerned about a phenomenon called “warning fatigue,” which is over warning people about some-thing so often that they do not pay attention to alerts. “If you say too much too often it tends to cause de-sensitization,” Ayers said.
Based on this feedback from the South Alabama community, Ayers and others involved with the Weath-er and Emergency Communications are, as of this semester, implement-
ing a policy that will focus on weath-er warnings instead of watches.
“We’re going to evolve our policy toward deferring alerts of watches to the National Weather Service, which is their job, and we’re going to protect our campus by conveying warnings to students and faculty us-ing all of our systems,” Ayers com-mented.
The greatest change resulting from this modification in policy will be a significant decrease in alert emails and communications. When these emails and communications are released, however, they will be of greater importance and seriousness.
“I would rather let the National Weather Service and media talk about general conditions and let us be more reserved about what we say… but when we do say it that students realize, ‘I’ve got a weather message and they wouldn’t be send-ing it to me if it weren’t important,’” Ayers said.
According to Ayers, more aggres-sive communication used more rare-ly will have the best effect on the USA community. “We’ve got to put
a little bit of healthy fear into this process so that people will respond to it,” Ayers added.
Urgent warnings and alerts to the campus community, such as tornado warnings and emergency bulletins, will be broadcast primarily through the campus wide loudspeaker sys-tem. When appropriate, other meth-ods will be used. All active faculty, staff and student Email accounts are already set up to receive warnings when it is determined that email is a proper alert method.
To sign up for severe weather warning alerts through your person-al text message, phone call, or Email to a non-university address, visit the South Alabama homepage and click the Emergency Weather Informa-tion button in the lower right-hand corner of the page. USA’s complete Weather and Emergency Communi-cation policy is located there as well.
This week, Keith Ayers and the Office of Public Relations will be releasing the updated Weather and Emergency Communications policy via email and on the Emergency Weather Information website.
Weather alert system alteredCont. from page one
www.facebook.com/thevanguardusa
5VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 2013
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Campus Quarters towing process feels like a scam
Dear Editor,
I was recently visiting my buddy in campus quarters over the holiday and my vehicle was towed. I thought this was kind of strange because there was nobody parked in the parking lot and I thought it would be okay for a few hours.
I thought wrong. Knowing I was an idiot for not reading the signs posted on the gate I know I had a hefty fi ne to get my vehicle back. So the next morn-ing I called the front desk to see who the company was and to get the phone number and address. I found out it was Anytime Towing a business from Ir-vington Alabama. My fi rst thought was thats really far for a towing company to come. I then found out the fee. 250 dollars to transport my vehicle forty fi ve minutes up the road.
That's pretty sketchy in itself, but I then found out the money transaction is cash only ( aka probably doesn't
pay taxes). So being the conformist and desperate need of a ride college student I am I decided to go get my car. The man said I had to be there be-tween 3 o'clock and 3:30. Which is a pretty strange time to convince myself with.
So while I wasted my day waiting on my 30 min time frame I called the company and asked them how much to tow a car from airport to half mile road ( a mile from where their business was) they replied they do not that kind of towing and gave me a number of someone who does.
I then asked that business how much it would cost. They replied 75 dollars, then asked if from private property. I said yes then they said that would be $150.
I thought that was strange too. As the day went by my mom drove me to the business that towed my car . When I got there I was pretty disappointed. It was basically a trailer park with a lot of
cars and a giant electric fence around it.
The man rudely told my mom to stand outside his electric fence until I could get my vehicle. My mom doing nothing wrong asked him why and told him that’s pretty messed up.
He then told her to leave the prop-erty and he was calling the police. This pissed me off pretty bad. He then took me in his offi ce I paid his wife (who took a few tries to count to 250) then was given a Walmart style receipt. I then asked him for their Federal Identi-fi cation Number to send them a 1099.
The man rudely told me to leave and told me "I done paid my taxes". I might not be the smartest person in the world, but this seems like a little racketeering to me.
Gregory [email protected]
meetings, SGA Treasurer Pearson will discuss budget packets and budget rules and regulations. He will also an-swer budget-related questions and as-sist organizations in fi lling out budget packets.
SGA will approve appropriations at the fi rst budget meeting of the new se-mester, which will take place on Feb-ruary 4th at 8 p.m. in the conference room at the Fresh Food Co. In order to have allocations approved, a repre-sentative of the organization must be present at the budget meeting.
A second round budget meeting will take place on February 18th at 8 p.m. in the conference room at the Fresh Food Co. Appropriations will continue at this meeting until the SGA meets its budget cap. Appropriations requests will be considered and ap-proved on a “fi rst complete, fi rst ap-proved” process. Only incomplete requests and absences from the fi rst budget meeting are appropriate rea-sons for funding at this meeting.
At the SGA meeting on Monday, January 14th, revisions and rewording of the SGA bylaws were presented and discussed.
One important change noted at the meeting was revision to the Student-at-Large offi cer position. Provided that the revision is passed, the Student-at-Large will be able to have a vote and participate in senate discussion. The current Student-at-Large is Alex Wiles, a senior and Pre-Med Psychology ma-jor at South Alabama.
Another important revision dis-cussed at Monday’s meeting was an increase in the SGA stipend amounts.
Should this revision be passed, each SGA offi cer will receive a $75 increase in his or her monthly stipend. Addi-tionally, semester stipends for Senators will be doubled, the Associate Justice will begin receiving a stipend, and the Student-at-Large will receive the same stipend amount as each Senator. These stipend revisions will, however, not take effect until June 1st, 2013 at the beginning of the summer semester when new SGA offi cers and senators begin their terms.
“It has been 11 years since the SGA got a raise and cost of living has gone up,” noted Senator Traegde at the meeting.
“If each offi cer does work in the offi ce for six hours per week, we do not even make minimum wage,” SGA Vice President Wolf commented. “We are just trying to bump it so that you’re getting the benefi ts of work you do,” Wolf added.
All SGA bylaw revisions will be voted on by the Senate at the next SGA meeting on January 28th at 8 p.m. in the Fresh Food Co. Students that wish to know more about the revisions to the SGA bylaws are encouraged to attend this meeting.
All South Alabama students are en-couraged to attend weekly SGA meet-ings to fi nd out about weekly campus events and have a voice in SGA deci-sions as part of the student forum. SGA meets on Monday nights at 8 p.m. in the conference room in the Fresh Food Co. near the residence halls. The SGA will, however, not meet on Monday, January 21st due to the MLK Day of Service.
SGA update; bylaws revisited, stipends will be doubled Cont. from page one
Send a letter to the editor to The Vanguard.
Email [email protected] with your issue.
See it in print. Effect change.
The giraffe is irrelevant.
6th annual JagRun promises food, fun and more6th annual JagRun promises food, fun and more
How do you make a restau-rant unique? For starters,
you give it a unique name. For the last twelve years, Pickle-
fi sh, located on Old Shell Road across from the University of South Alabama campus, has had students scratching their heads, wondering where the name came from.
While the origin of the name is still a mystery, it becomes a mere af-ter thought from the moment you step in the door.
The atmosphere is very welcom-ing. There are fl at screen televisions to watch the latest game on.
If the beat up wooden bar could talk, it would tell stories of delicious meals, drinks with friends and inter-esting conversations.
On warmer nights, the outdoor patio invites you to pull up a seat, re-lax, and soak in the ambiance.
According to Mike Williams , who has worked at Picklefi sh since Feb-ruary 2011, Picklefi sh is known for its homemade food, especially their
New York style homemade pizza. There are several signature gour-
met pizzas that the restaurant has to choose from and their menu also in-cludes standard fare, such as soups, salads and a variety of appetizers. Each item is handmade from quality ingredients.
As a local business, Picklefi sh works hard to support its commu-nity, particularly USA.
The restaurant is involved in working with the sororities and fra-ternities on campus for philanthrop-ic events and they frequently sponsor
events, sporting games and fundrais-ers both on and off campus.
In fact, students might have seen one of their banners hanging up at a basketball or baseball game at South.
“If I could say one thing, I would tell students to support local, inde-pendent businesses, like Picklefi sh,” said Williams.
“There are many great chain res-taurants in Mobile, but only with a local business are you going to be able to enjoy a true sense of com-munity,” Williams added.
Hunter Harper, a junior criminal justice major, agrees. “Hands down, Picklefi sh is the best dive in the area. The food is great and they offer an excellent selection of beer.”
Indeed, Picklefi sh offers many specials for USA students.
For example, Tuesday nights of-fer $2.00 well drinks and $2.00 slices of pizza for students.
Saturday night is Karaoke Night, and patrons can enjoy 50 cent wings and $2.00 domestic drafts.
Students can also bring their Jag Card at any time to enjoy a 10 per-cent discount on their meal.
VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 2013 6
JAKE HOWELL, JAGLIFE [email protected]
By KARIE [email protected]
WEEKLY LOWDOWN
9 a.m. - MLK Day of Service events at the Dumas Wesley Community Center. Pre-register at www.caslce.org/now.
6:30 p.m. - Men’s Soccer Club mandatory meeting in the Student Recreation Center.
1 - 3:30 p.m. - SGA Appropriations Organization Informational Meeting in the Academic Support Center, Room 1363.
All Day - Relay For Life Fundraiser at Buffalo Wild Wings. Relay will recieve 10% of the profi ts from each meal. More information can be found at www.facebook.com/relayforlifeusa.
USA Outdoor Adventrues: The ABC’s of Kayaking. This event will be held in the Student Recreation Center Pool. $5 for students and $10 for faculty and staff.
7 p.m. - USA Sustainability Council will be screening the fi lm, “The Yes Men Fix the World” in the library auditorium. Free admission.
Monday, Jan. 21
Tuesday, Jan. 22
Wednesday, Jan. 23
Thursday, Jan. 24
Saturday, Jan. 26
Want your event featured in the Weekly Lowdown? Email the name, date, time, price, place and a brief tagline (under seven words) to [email protected]
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ALDYN MILLER | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Patrons can enjoy the homemade pizza, drinks, and atmosphere while watching the latest game on the fl at screens.
By ALDYN [email protected]
Picklefish offers more than good food to studentsPicklefish offers more than good food to students
ALDYN MILLER | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The next time you are debating where to go for lunch or dinner, grab your Jag Card and your friends and head on over to Picklefi sh for some delicious, homemade food.
Feeling a little lazy? Picklefi sh of-fers deliveries too!
On Saturday, January 26, the Student Alumni Associa-
tion’s, Students Today Alumni To-morrow (STAT) will be hosting its 6th annual JagRun and FunRun.
This event benefits a scholarship given yearly to a STAT member who shows “leadership, community and campus involvement and most im-portantly, need.”
“The JagRun is an on-campus, certified 5K that will begin and end at the SGA Pavilion at the Intramu-ral Fields on the USA Campus,” ac-cording to STAT President, Trent Wilkerson.
The FunRun will be shorter, ap-proximately ¾ of a mile, and will be held in the same place.
This is a family friendly event that will include food, drinks, games for kids and prizes directly following the race so bringing the entire family is encouraged.
Registration can be done online at active.com/running/mobile-al/
jag-5k-spirit-run-and-fun-run-2013. The deadline to pre-register is
January 24th at midnight. Participants can also register in
person, however, on the day of at Alumni Plaza from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m.
Prices to participate in the run are as follows:
5K Adults - $15 for pre-registra-tion; $20 on race day
5K Children 12 & Under - $10 for pre-registration; $15 on race day
Fun Run - $10 for pre-registra-tion; $15 on race day.
Knowing that the idea of a 5k can be daunting, Wilkerson had advice
MAELYNN LA | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
This steak and queso soft taco from Smokin’ Gringos is a prime example of the delectable and fresh menu items available.
for anyone who’s never participated in or experienced a race such as this.
“Know that about 80% of the people who come out are coming to have a good time and the other 20% will be so far ahead you’ll probably never see them,” Wilkerson said.
“We are all coming together as Jaguars to help support a cause, get a little exercise in, and enjoy each oth-er’s fellowship so let 2013 be the year you try something new!” he added.
Wilkerson highly credits STAT’s Board of Officers - Julie Hoang, Erika Tumulak, Chris Stansbury, Darcy Kaul, Kristina Truong and Nick Lawkis – for this event, saying, “They have been working for the past year to organize JagRun and it would not happen without them.”
Those who come out on January 26th to show their support are guar-anteed to have a great time.
For directions or information about the race, call the office of Alumni Relations at (251)460-7084, and ask for Nick Lawkis or Trent Wilkerson.
9:45 p.m. - Jaguar Produc-tions CheapDate Movie: “The Gangster Squad” at Holly-wood Theater.
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4:30 p.m. - What’s on Wednes-day: Student Leadership Fo-rum in the USA Main Library, Room 181.
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VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 20137
Into the downtown scene in Mobile?
We need a Scene writer.
Bars, clubs, and night life articles are welcome.
Have bad service at a local restaurant? Excellent service?
Tell us! Write about it and let your peers know.
Email [email protected]
Opinion and Sports need writers too, and you can email [email protected] to fi nd out how to get involved.
Build your resume.
Raise your voice.
Make a difference.
HEY YOU.
‘Zero Dark Thirty’ lives up to they hype, awards buzz‘Zero Dark Thirty’ lives up to they hype, awards buzz
The movie “Zero Dark Thir-ty” is based off the ten year
struggle to find and kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The director, Kathryn Bigelow, also directed the Academy Award winning “The Hurt Locker,” so it’s no surprise this movie was superb in its realistic and believable represen-tation of this very important event in American history.
Since premiering in wide-release on Jan. 11, “Zero Dark Thirty,” has grossed approximately $38,344,757 domestically, according to boxoffic-emojo.com.
The movie focuses primarily around CIA officer, Maya, as we follow her through interrogations, trying to piece together where bin Laden is.
The actress that played Maya, Jessica Chastain, did a wonderful job showing a strong woman that can get down to business.
Maya proves herself to be very intelligent and determined to do her job well.
By KATELYN [email protected]
I really liked her character, and her fighting spirit. She stayed true to her convictions and found bin Laden.
Dan, played by Jason Clarke, is the CIA operative with the task of trying to ‘coax’ answers out of bin Laden supporters.
At first, it appears that Dan is a hardened CIA officer, but as the movie progresses the audience sees that Dan is a normal guy.
My favorite scene of Dan was af-ter a torture scene when Dan is shar-ing his ice cream cone with the pet monkeys on the base, one of the monkeys steals the whole ice cream cone, and Dan just looked like a disappointed child that lost his ice cream.
It shows a very human side to Dan, which I think was crucial to making him not seem like just a sol-dier who tortures people for a living.
That is his job, not who he is as a person. And those monkeys are pretty darn cute.
The special effects were particu-larly spectacular, I actually jumped a few times in the theater because it looked and sounded so real.
Although the movie has received an incredible amount of praise, in-cluding five Academy Award nomi-nations, there was also some contro-versy about the torture scenes in the movie.
I can understand why people had a problem with the torture scenes as I also found them difficult to watch.
Fortunately, the film isn’t just made up of torture scenes, most of what I saw was the CIA trying to fig-ure out Osama bin Laden’s location.
The CIA members made me think instead of Sherlock Holmes with their intelligent reasoning, with a splash of “Where’s Waldo?”
For some reason, when they found bin Laden in the movie it re-minded me of the Toby Keith song, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue”, especially the part where he sings, “This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage. And you’ll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.”
It’s just the kind of movie that makes you appreciate the people that serve our country and understand more about the hardships they en-dure for our safety.
KATELYN GAINES | CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“Zero Dark Thirty” has entertained a great deal of controversy over the im-plication that torture was used to locate bin Laden.
In total, this movie is one of those films you should at least watch once because this is our history. Al-though it was a Hollywood spin on real events, it’s still an important movie to watch.
‘The Raven Boys’ conjures spellbinding adventure‘The Raven Boys’ conjures spellbinding adventureBy JAKE [email protected]
Blue Sargent is the only mem-ber of her small town Vir-
ginian family who isn’t psychic, yet when she accompanies her visiting aunt Neeve on a yearly excursion to a decrepit, abandoned churchyard, she sees her first spirit.
In Maggie Stiefvater’s “The Ra-ven Boys,” the supernatural and mundane are woven into a story that takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride of spirits, psychics, trees that speak Latin, sleeping kings, and death.
The story begins with the line: “Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she’d been told that she would kill her true love.”
Each of the psychics in Blue’s family has told her the same thing, over and over again: If she ever kiss-es her true love, he’ll die.
Blue’s life is only complicated further by her seeing her first spirit in that churchyard at the beginning
of the novel. She and Neeve are there to ob-
tain the names of those who will die within the year, for on St. Mark’s Eve those spirits walk along the Corpse Road which runs through the ruins of that abandoned church.
As Neeve explains, “There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve. Either you’re his true love...or you killed him.”
When the living counterpart of that spirit, a boy named Gansey, makes an appointment for a reading with her mother, Blue’s life is altered forever and their journey begins.
Along the way, Blue and her “Ra-ven Boys” discover a magical forest, uncover a murder and embark on a quest to find the sleeping Welsh king, Glendower.
“The Raven Boys” is only the first of the four-book series, “The Raven Cycle,” and it serves as a re-freshing introduction to the world of Henrietta, Virginia.
Stiefvater is, very plainly, an ac-complished wordsmith. Her com-mand and usage of the language is both beautiful and entertaining to read.
From the very beginning, the reader is able to picture the forested hills of the Virginian countryside or the psychic-packed house, 300 Fox Way, with its giant beech tree.
Stiefvater uses those images to bring an underlying sense of creepi-ness to the world she’s created, a sense that not everything is what it seems in this little town.
Despite its importance to the overall plot, Stiefvater doesn’t dwell on or throw romance at the reader’s face. Instead, the budding relation-ships between Blue and her new friends (Gansey, Adam, Noah and Ronan) feel entirely organic as they develop throughout the story.
Perhaps this reviewer’s favorite aspect of this novel, however, is the subtle use of the supernatural.
Unlike other Young Adult nov-els whose supernatural or fantastical elements seem to explode onto the page heralded with choirs of sing-ing wizards, the magic contained within Henrietta seems to slowly be revealed, seeping into the pages of the story.
Rather than a story about psy-chics and spirits, this is a story of people; people who have real prob-
lems and real flaws. The magic and spirits are all just
extra icing on the cake for this story. This reviewer gives “The Raven
Boys” five stars for Stiefvater’s dis-tinct style and five stars for the oth-erworldly content.
JAKE HOWELL | JAGLIFE EDITOR
“The Raven Boys” serves up such a sweet and entertaining narrative that Stiefvater’s characters and setting leap off the page.
Style:Content:
8VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 2012
Go home truck, you’re drunk - USA Parking ProblemsGo home truck, you’re drunk - USA Parking Problems
Does this spot make my butt look big?This is what happens when you don’t learn to color inside the lines. Kin-dergarten is important poeple!
Some men just wanna watch the world burn. Hey, who moved the lines? I swear I was inside them when I got home from the club.
Mini-Cooper is such a hipster: Parking badly before it was cool.
Come to the JagLife side
We drink coffee
Just send a writing sample to [email protected]!
You can be on your way to publishdom!
Interested in writing for the JagLife Section?
PATRICK HERRING, SPORTS [email protected]
9VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 2013
Rubit prowls the glass for the Jaguars
Rubit drives against a ULM defender in the Jaguars’ victory Thursday night.
By RYAN [email protected]
BY BOBBY MCDUFFIE|USAJAGUARS.COM
Clank! An errant Jaguar shot caroms off the rim. Two
Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks leap for it, but the man that comes down with the ball is wearing South Alabama white and what could best be described as “salmon-colored” basketball shoes.
After a quick shot fake, Augustine Rubit jumps towards the rim and banks the basketball off the backboard and into the hoop, with one defender underneath him and another trying desperately to swat the ball from behind.
It’s an excellent scoring play, but one that has become routine for the junior swingman from Houston, Texas.
“That’s the thing I’ve been best at since I started playing basketball,” Augustine says through a smile after the game, “I might have had 5 points and 17 rebounds when I fi rst started so [getting rebounds] might be the most important part of my game. Plus, it gets you points if you get the ball back.”
Rubit made a name for himself almost as soon as he stepped on the court for the fi rst time as a redshirt freshman with his rebounding, leading the Sun Belt in that category on the way to earning Sun Belt Freshman of the Year honors. He followed that performance up by leading the conference in rebounds again last year and stands poised to repeat the feat for a third straight year, currently topping the standings in that statistic.
Aug, as many people in the program refer to him, is one of basketball’s most cherished archetypes, the glass-crashing ironman that shows up every day to work and to win. Rubit has yet to miss a game in three seasons at South Alabama and was the only player to start in all 29 of the Jaguars’ games
last year. What really sets him apart from
most other players is his well-rounded skill set. His point totals have increased signifi cantly each year, and he is currently second in the Sun Belt in scoring, which Rubit credits to hours spent in the gym working on the basics and maturing in the game as a member of the South Alabama squad.
“Coming in, I was like the third or fourth option for us on offense, so it forced me to rebound to get points,” Rubit said.
His skills in those two facets of the game have led to him becoming a double-double machine for the Jaguars, notching more than thirty of them so far in his career.
Perhaps the most vigorous praise of Rubit comes from his coach, Jeff Price.
“The fans don’t see him show up every day, and he’s a very hard
worker. Obviously, you see his hard work in the game, but you don’t see how he comes to practice every day and works hard and prepares and gets up free throws and gets up shots and takes care of his body, his attention to detail in the game and people just don’t get to see the time he puts in,” Price said. “He’s just a tremendous person. People who watch him don’t normally get to know him as a person, but if they did, they’d just see the qualities of a great person.”
The future is bright for Augustine Rubit. As a junior, he is currently 11th all-time in scoring at South Alabama, and recently scored his 1,000th point for the program. If he continues scoring at his current pace of 19.5 points per game, he’ll fi nish the regular season at number six on the all-time list.
Also, he ranks second in total rebounds behind Terry Catledge, who spent eight seasons in the NBA,
and is arguably the best player the school has ever produced. If Rubit stays healthy, the record is easily within his reach.
As he makes the run for both individual records and team championships, the big man is thankful for the support of the fans that come to the Mitchell Center to watch the team play.
“I just want to say thank you for the support,” Rubit said. “I feel like they’ve really supported me and I try to do my best for them. I just want to say thank you, to all of them. When they get going, we get going. It’s a team effort.”
As the stat sheets fi ll up and the Jaguars drive towards a Sun Belt Conference title, there are sure to be more and more cheering supporters for this team—as well as its salmon-colored-shoe wearing, board-grabbing, basket-scoring star—to draw their energy from.
Manti Te’o has been dragged across a bed of nails by his toes this week by social media. We’ve all seen the memes joking about Te’o holding his imaginary girlfriend Lennay Kekua and others have taken suit by hugging empty chairs and calling it “Te’oing.” Te’o was allegedly “catfi shed” by an online persona created by a fake person.
The ruse went as far to involve the fake girlfriend dying from cancer. It re-mains to be seen if Te’o had any knowl-edge that Kekua never existed. Confl ict-ing reports have arisen including that Te’o had met Kekua and his father even confi rmed that account; however, Te’o recounted the claim further adding to the unbelievable drama unfolding in the col-lege athlete’s career.
Te’o says he hid the revelation as not to defer from the national championship game in early January that Notre Dame played against Alabama.
Most heartbreaking about the situa-tion is that Teo’ says the perpetrators led him to fall for Kekua by insinuating her father died and that she was on a venti-lator that the hoaxers would hold up to the phone for him when he called. They told him that she would breathe faster be-cause she recognized his voice.
Then came the lie that she had Leuke-mia and her subsequent death which he was told about in the Notre Dame locker room. He spoke about the girlfriend as if her loss deeply affected him, and this doesn’t sit well with many following the story.
If Te’o was a young fool in love, then what a travesty this has done to his self-esteem and trust in other people. If that turns out not to be the case and he knew that she wasn’t real, then the amount of emotion that Te’o inspired his fans to have on his behalf is indicative of an ath-lete with severe mental illness.
What it truly brings to light is the amount of confi dence we put into ath-letes. This is a twenty-something with his whole life ahead of him and he will for-ever be known for this incident.
What a pedestal we put athletes on when we judge them in their entirety for what an entire MTV show is dedicated to showing exists.
If it comes out that Te’o was truly in the dark, he deserves a second chance and it should not hurt his career. But if he had anything to do with the hoax, he de-serves every meme of every empty chair. And good luck fi nding a real girlfriend.
Manti Te’o: One extreme or anotherBy CASSIE [email protected]
Want us to follow you? Tweet us @USAVGSports
@USAVGSports
VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 201310
Brittany Fowler @FowlerPower6:Infi elder
It’s always a huge dance/karaoke party in the softball locker room before practice lol #gojags
Matt Calcagnini @MCalcagnini56:Offensive Lineman
1 vision, 1 goal, 2013 Conference Champions! Don’t sleep on us! #JagNation
Robby Campbell @Robbman23:Infi elder
Just got the worst haircut in 21 years! #hightopfade I just wanted a trim!
Emily Hundt @emilyhundt15:Setter
Delivery Chinese food has to be the best idea anyone ever had. #props
James Elliott @JDElliott54:Offensive Lineman
Density training for lower body, con-ditioning test, yoga, badminton and muscle toning... I literally miss regular classes #hurtinbad
RusHendricks @_RusHen_:Tight End
My hand writing looks like a second grader’s. Doctor Status.
Drew Dearman @DrewDearman:Offensive Lineman
Stiffer than a 2x4 after that squat workout. Walking to glass will be an actual struggle today
Kolton Peavey @OmgItsPeavzilla:Quarterback
Both classes canceled?! Time to sleeeeeep!
Want live play-by-play tweets of USA basketball games and other sports info?Follow @USAVGSports on twitter and like USA Vanguard Sports on facebook
After being tied 27-27 at halftime, the Jaguars used
a 13-2 run to open the second half to coast to a 71-56 victory over the Warhawks of Louisiana-Monroe. South Alabama (9-8, 6-3) only trailed for four minutes and twenty seconds of game clock on the night, all of which came in the first half. With the win, the Jaguars hold on to second place in the SBC East, trailing only Middle Tennessee (7-1) in conference victories.
The Warhawks (3-11, 2-6) often double- and triple-teamed junior Augustine Rubit, leaving a little extra space with which the perimeter shooters could work. Senior Freddie Goldstein took advantage of the room he was given and sank 5 three-pointers, a career high at home.
Louisiana-Monroe made several pushes to get the game back within reach, coming to within 5 points four times in the second half.
The strong second-half play of the Jaguars is something interim
Men’s basketball uses strong second half to down ULM 71-56 By PATRICK [email protected]
head coach Jeff Price has been looking for since taking over the team.
“I’ve just talked so much at halftime, like I do before the games, that we have shooting droughts and we have to find a way to manufacture points,” Price said. “It was a glaring difference in the second half with our defensive intensity. We’re capable of doing that every night if we just get our mind to it.”
The Jaguars final ten points of the game came on dunks. The dunkfest started with back-to-back alley oops thrown to senior Javier Carter from juniors Dre Conner and Antoine Allen respectively. Two minutes later Rubit slammed one in from the paint. And with the final two Jaguar possessions of the game, sophomore Mychal Ammons dunked on an assist from Conner, got the steal on the ensuing Warhawk possession and threw down a windmill dunk that caused a deafening roar from the crowd.
Rubit led all scorers on the night
with 23 points, 15 of which came in the second half. He also grabbed nine rebounds, one shy of recording his tenth double-double of the season.
Price had high praise for Rubit after the game.
“Regardless of the double teams, we keep going at him and that’s what we need to do because he continues to get better at kicking it out, and we rotate one over and get shots,” Price said. “It happened several times in the first half with plus-ones. We just have to get those shots. He’s just a warrior. Aug battles and battles. He gets slapped and hammered and grabbed and just keeps going after it. He had a huge 3-point play in the second half where he just bullies his way to the basket. He’s just doing a great job and we just need to continue to play off of him.”
The Jaguars shot 49 percent from the field, including a 37.5 percent effort from beyond the arc in the second half.
Goldstein scored 16 points on 5
of 10 shooting, all of which were 3-pointers, including a buzzer beater from the left corner to tie the game going into halftime. He also went 1 of 2 from the free-throw line. Allen and Ammons each tallied 10 points for the Jags.
Conner dished out a career-high 9 assists on the night, finishing with more than the entire ULM team (8). He also added 6 points.
Carter pulled in a career-high tying 10 rebounds and blocked a shot for the tenth straight contest.
Marcelis Hansberry was the leading scorer for ULM with 16 points. He was the only Warhawk to reach double figures in any statistical category.
The Jaguars will continue their three-game home stand on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. against the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky. The game will be at the Mitchell Center and it will be televised on ESPN3.com and the ESPN Full Court package.
Women’s basketball bounces back with 61-51 win over WarhawksBy PATRICK [email protected]
The Lady Jags were all over the boards Wednesday
night, pulling down a season-high 50 rebounds against ULM en route to the 61-51 victory.
South Alabama (11-7, 4-5) scored 27 of its 61 points on second chance opportunities. The Warhawks fall to 3-14 and 1-7 in the SBC.
“I was really disappointed in how we started the game,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “We got a basket right out of the box and I thought that would catapult us, but our defensive energy wasn’t where it needed to be. That bothered me.
It took us a while before we got it revved up to where it needed to be.”
The Jaguars’ 50-rebound effort was its fi rst since grabbing 56 against Arkansas State in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament last season.
Senior guard Mansa El led all scorers with 16 points in 35 minutes, to go along with a career-high 9 rebounds. She’s scored in double fi gures four of the last fi ve contests.
The South Alabama bench was also crucial in the victory, outscoring Louisiana-Monro 23 to 9.
Junior guard Meghan Dunn scored 12 points off the bench on 50 percent shooting from beyond
the arc, where all of her points came from. She had one more three than all Warhawks combined. Dunn also chipped in 2 rebounds and 2 assists.
Another junior, forward Ronneka Robertson, totalled a team-high 11 rebounds. It was her fourth double-digit rebounding effort of the season.
Freshman forward Brianna Wright also produced off the bench, scoring 8 points and grabbing 6 rebounds and a team-high 4 steals. She also had as many blocks (2) as the entire Warhawk team.
Ashleigh Simmons recorded a double-double for Louisiana-Monroe with 13 rebounds and 14 points on 6 of 17 shooting. She did, however,
turn the ball over a game-high seven times.
Jasmine Shaw was the only other Warhawk in double fi gures with 10 points. She fell one rebound shy of a double-double.
The Lady Jags are back in action on Wednesday night when they take on Western Kentucky at the Mitchell Center. Tip-off is at 7:05 p.m.
The Hilltoppers come into the game with a 14-3 record, including a 7-1 record in the Sun Belt.
It will be the fi rst of two meetings between the two teams this season as the Jaguars will travel to Bowling Green on Feb. 27, in their penultimate game of the regular season.
11VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 2013
Tommy Pery, seen here coaching up the running backs on the sideline, left USA to take a position on the staff at former confence rival North Texas.
Departure of assisstant coaches highlights football program’s success
By JT [email protected]
Running backs coach Tommy Perry is the latest to leave South Alabama
BY BRIAN WRIGHT |THUNDERJAGS.COM
The South Alabama football coaching staff continues to
undergo a facelift with assistant coach Tommy Perry being the latest to leave.
It was announced on Jan. 16, that the Jaguars’ running backs and special teams coordinator will be leaving for the same positions at former conference foe, North Texas, whose football program left the Sun Belt for Conference-USA at the end of this season. Coach Perry is from Texas and graduated from Texas A&M University in 2003.
“Tommy has been an integral part of building our program,” said head coach Joey Jones. “We appreciate all that he has done for us at South Alabama.”
Perry is the third coach to leave for a job elsewhere this offseason. Former defensive coordinator Bill Clark left after four seasons with the Jags to become head coach of Jacksonville State, his alma mater. Defensive backs coach Duwan Walker followed Clark to the Gamecocks after spending the last four years with the Jags. Walker
and Clark have coached together since 1999, both having come to USA from Prattville High School in 2009.
So far, the Jags have only fi lled one of their coaching vacancies, with Kevin Sherrer being hired as the new defensive coordinator. Sherrer comes to South Alabama from the University of Alabama where he has served as Director of Player Development since 2010.
The Jags have achieved success as a football program in a short amount of time. It wasn’t until 2009 that the Jags played their fi rst ever football game. This past season, only their fourth, the Jags picked up their fi rst ever FBS and Sun Belt Conference win against Florida Atlantic.
Much of this success can be attributed to the coaching staff.
With so many coaches leaving the program for other opportunities, it’s obvious that other programs around the country have recognized the program’s success. It can also be said that programs around the country want to be a part of the growing success that South Alabama has positioned itself to achieve, as seen by Sherrer leaving his
position at Alabama for South, even after coming off back-to-back national championships.
In theory, the Jags are laying the footwork for other programs to continue their own success.
Even before South Alabama had played a game, there were impressive names coming to be a part of the program. Mississippi State offensive coordinator Les Koenning was the fi rst ever offensive coordinator in South Alabama history, but left for the Bulldogs before the Jags ever played a game in 2008. Koenning previously coached at Texas A&M (2003-07) and Alabama (2001-02) as offensive coordinator.
While it is sad when you lose a member of the Jaguar family to another program, it also shows just how far the program has come, and how far many think they are going to go.
“You’re always happy for someone in this profession to move up and get a job they want,” Jones said.
It also shows that South Alabama is an up and coming football program, and they are coming quickly, and the nation is taking notice.
Tight end Hollinger won’t return in 2013 By PATRICK [email protected]
Hollinger, left, running out before a game against the Arkansas State Red Wolves. In the contest, he hauled in fi ve catches for 30 yards and the game’s fi nal touch-down on a pass from quarterback Ross Metheny.
BY PATRICK HERRING |SPORTS EDITOR
According to sources close to the football program, tight
end Greg Hollinger has played his last down for the Jaguars. He is not currently enrolled in classes at the university, and he will not return.
On Friday afternoon Hollinger tweeted, “The devil has tried many times to keep me down but mark my words one day everybody will know my name...(peace sign) It’s been fun south.”
After catching just four passes for 76 yards during his junior season, Hollinger was moved to tight end this Spring. He gained the starting role and made the start in 9 of the Jaguars’ 13 games this season.
He racked up 321 yards on 22 catches this season, an average of 14.6 yards per reception. He also caught two touchdowns, one each against Mississippi State and Arkansas State, two of South Alabama’s tougher road games.
With his departure, the starting tight end role will likely fall to sophomore Wes Saxton. This season Saxton caught 26 passes for 336 yards and one score. After him, there isn’t much depth, as no other Jaguar tight end recorded more than 2 receptions this season.
Are you a student at USA?
Do you love sports?
Do you love to write?
Do you want to build your resume?
If you answered yes to these
questions, we want YOU to
write for the Sports section! Just
send an email with some kind of
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could be in an issue of
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THIS SEMESTER!
JT CRABTREE, LOC [email protected] OF CENTERLEFT OF CENTER
12VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JANUARY 21, 2013
Rugby is a club sport at South Alabama that is looking to
grow.After nearly beating one of the top
ranked rugby teams in the south region last year, the USA Rugby team is look-ing to get bigger and better.
“We’re excited to get started this sea-son,” head coach Wes Darwin stated. “But will need new players to increase our depth in several positions.”
Darwin also believes the Jags rugby team can hold their own against some of the bigger names in the college land-scape. “I feel like this club is very capa-ble of playing rugby with D1 teams like Alabama, Auburn, LSU, and Florida St,” Darwin said. “Last year we lost to FSU 19-18 in the last seconds of the match.”
The team is looking for men who aren’t afraid of getting a little down and dirty to join the growing team. Cam-eron Douglas, a member of the team, talked about a special aspect of the game. “After the game there is a social where everyone gets together and eats, drinks and has a good time,” Douglas said. “That’s why it’s called the gentle-
man’s game, we beat each other up then go have fun.”
The season starts at home on Satur-day, January 26 at 2 p.m. with the Jags playing against the University of South-ern Mississippi at the lower intramural fi elds.
But it’s not too late to get involved with the team. On Tuesday, January 22 and Thursday, January 24 the team has open practices at the intramural fi elds at 6:30 p.m. for anyone interested in play-ing. There, you can sign up and get any paperwork that is needed to play.
Douglas added advice to those who are interested in the sport, “You can’t be afraid to get hurt; broken bones and pulled muscles are a common scenario in every game,” Douglas said. “You can’t be afraid. There are no pads, there’s that fear factor of getting hit and that what seems to drive people away from it. But the main thing is to have fun. We can teach anyone how to play, whether you are the biggest person or the smallest person on the fi eld, you can learn to play and we will have a place for you.”
This year the South team plays
teams such as Spring Hill, LA Tech, Troy University, and Florida State. If Rugby isn’t really your thing but you would still like to show your support, you can buy merchandise and learn more about the game on their website-southalabamarugby.com. If you are in-terested in playing you can contact Wes Darwin or go to their Facebook South
By ALYSSA [email protected]
Rugby taking root at South AlabamaRugby taking root at South AlabamaMen’s club sport growing quickly, both in number and competitiveness
COURTESY OF WES DARWINRugby during the 2012 season
South Alabama junior guard Xavier Roberson was suspended
indefi nitely for a violation of team and departmental rules on Dec. 29, but now it has been announced that Roberson will not return this season.
“Xavier Roberson will not return this season,” Athletic Director Dr. Joel Erdmann told AL.com. “He is not currently enrolled at the university. What his future may be with the school and the basketball program is undetermined.”
Dr. Erdmann did not say what led to Roberson being suspended in the fi rst place.
Roberson was considered the best perimeter shooter on the Jags, shooting 44 percent from behind the arc while averaging 13.6 points a game, second only to Augustine Rubit, who averages 19.5 points per game.
Last year for the Jags, Roberson played in eight games before breaking his foot and missing the remainder of the season. He was awarded a medical redshirt, meaning the 2011-12 season did not count against his eligibility.
Roberson came to South Alabama as a JUCO transfer from Paris (TX) Junior College in 2011. Roberson played one season at TCU in 2010, where he averaged 4.0 points per game.
The Jags currently stand at 9-8, and are second in the Sun Belt with a 6-3 conference record. They play SBC rival Western Kentucky on Thursday, January 24 at 7 p.m. in the Mitchell Center.
Jags Jags guard off guard off
teamteamBy JT [email protected]
Alabama Rugby Club and contact the club via message.
The Rugby team would enjoy having everyone interested to come out and ex-perience one of the most historic sports of all time. They would also like to col-lectively remind everyone who tries out, “If you fail at rugby, there’s always foot-ball.“
Roberson against Texas A&M-CC
usajaguars.comCOURTESY OF WES DARWIN
VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 2012 13
NOAH LOGAN, OPINION [email protected]
OpinionOpinion
JagPulseWhat are your solutions for adjusting your sleep What are your solutions for adjusting your sleep schedule for your new class schedule?schedule for your new class schedule?
Alex Jarrod Layton: Be an adult and go to bed at a decent time
Ana Zane Zapata: stay up for 48 hours and then crash at eight the night before.
Andrew Lipske Setting my alarm earlier and earlier the week before to get used to my schedule
Chase Whatley: In bed every night by ten but I will miss my afternoon naps. I no longer can stay out all night then go to class or work because I am getting too old.
Ian McLendon: Stay up till one in the morning studying and ready yourself for the sudden end of the miserable caffeine headaches you have suffered over the break due to
the the withdraw.
Joshua Stevens: Online classes. Sleep schedule same as last week!
Jessica McAfee: No need to adjust, being an adult and working all break long helps with that.
Hunter King: Schedule? What is this you speak of?
thevanguardonline.com
Some of us have been writing for The Vanguard for years and some of the same topics seem to resurface like clock-work every single semester. It’s our job to hold people accountable and get an-swers and this time, we have to hold the people we represent responsible. Driving on campus is an absolute nightmare and there’s an easy fi x. Pay attention.
Bikers and pedestrians have the right of way no matter what dumb way they choose to cross the street because a two ton car will always win against a human body and people need to remember that. While bikers and pedestrians need to take their earphones out and be more cogni-zant of their surroundings on a daily ba-sis, drivers need to hold themselves extra accountable. No matter how inconceiv-able their actions may be, they’re still hu-man lives. You probably don’t want to be sued for wrongful death and have to ex-plain to Jenny Sue’s parents that you killed her because you had to answer a “wyd” text. That can and should wait.
Backing up requires looking behind you fi rst. Turning requires the same movement of your eyes to check for passersby. Stop signs mean stop and yield does not mean stop, it means yield to oncoming traffi c. Speed tables are not ramps. The rain is not where you go God mode in in imaginary USA video game
where you just throttle it and let Jesus take the wheel across campus. Lives are at stake and people seem to easily forget that. Fender benders occur every single day and they could be avoided if drivers used those amazing lights that are activat-ed by a lever just by your steering wheel.
That’s right, there’s such thing as a sig-nal to alert others where you’re going. Just fl ick it either right or left!
If you can’t see the person’s tires in front of you, we hope you enjoy the shade of their car’s paint on the front bumper of yours. That’ll be your fault, too. Stopping next to each other in a parking lot and talking is fabulous, we all love bonding at college.
But you’re really going to have to move if someone is coming because we all have somewhere to go. The Jagtran chicken race is also frowned upon. You’ll lose because their insurance is way better than yours. In essence, no one wants to be in a car accident or kill or injure any-one.
We’d rather save the money for food and the heartache for a breakup. Keep in mind that no matter where you’re going, it’s better if you follow the cliché and end up there alive. Even the strictest profes-sor would prefer your life over tardiness. Keep others in mind this week on the roads, USA.
Much has
been said and many teeth have been gnashed over the prospect of Presi-dent Obama issuing a plethora of his famous
executive orders to combat what he sees as a problem with our country’s gun control laws. It is true that the President’s rhetoric since the New-town massacre has been emblematic of his reactionary, reason abusing, heavy-handed style of rule.
It is also true that his ghastly and unseemly use of children from around the country as props at the announcement ceremony was an-other in a line of immature, cynical ploys to cheaply appeal to the emo-tions of the American people. But on the charges of dictatorship levied at his administration, the President is, in this case, not guilty.
A cursory glance of the list of ex-ecutive orders the President be-queathed on the country Wednesday reveals a list of changes that fall within his duties as the leader of the Executive branch of our government (charged with enforcing the nation’s
laws), are harmless, and/or are things that pro-gun advocates should be pleased with.
The orders issued included mea-sures to remove barriers to getting some aspects of mental health into the national gun databases, making it tougher for people with mental health issues to get access to fi re-arms. This included an order calling for tougher enforcement of certain sections of HIPAA; again, within the President’s powers.
Also in this category were orders appointing a director of the ATF, hopefully streamlining federal law-enforcement’s efforts to prevent and respond to incidents like the kind that occurred in Newtown, and a di-rective to strengthen punishment for crimes committed with a fi rearm.
In the harmless category come dictations that are couched in the usual meaningless nonsense that permeate liberal policies and gov-ernance. These include orders to “Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health” and “Launch a na-tional safe and responsible gun own-ership campaign”.
While these all sound positive, they ignore the central problem with gun-control legislation, namely that, as NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre so succinctly put it, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Regardless, as useless as some of the orders were, the very least the rest of us can be thankful for is that they are also meaningless.
Finally, there are a couple of the orders that responsible gun-owners should regard as positives. These in-clude the instructions to strengthen the viability and availability to law-enforcement offi cials of the national database on weapons buyers and in some cases individual fi rearms.
After all of the hype over mass killings in the last few years, it has never been more important to draw a sharp distinction between respon-sible gun owners and the relatively miniscule number of criminals who use guns to commit crimes. Mea-sures to make it tougher for dan-gerous criminals and the mentally unfi t to acquire fi rearms should be enthusiastically supported by those who support the legal ownership of fi rearms as mandated by the Second Amendment.
I realize that there is a certain negative connotation that comes with the words “executive order,” but that doesn’t necessarily mean un-Constitutional. While there is much that is distasteful about the Obama Presidency, there is very little to be found here. These directives should be received at face value, and atten-tion turned instead to the coming legislative battles to be waged over guns in the next few months.
Ryan [email protected]
Obama the ReasonableObama the Reasonable
By RYAN WALLACE
TheTheEditorialEditorialBoardBoard
Editor in Chief Opinion Editor Life Editor Sports Editor LOC Editor
Cassie Fambro >Noah Logan >Jake Howell >
Patrick Herring >JT Crabtree >
Despite the overwhlemingly negative response to the President’s Executive Orders, a quick looks reveals innocenct and meaningless actions
The Vanguard The Vanguard ViewpointViewpoint
Don’t drive like JagIdiots
VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 201314 OPINION
POINT COUNTERPOINTHow will Lance Armstrong be rememberd? How will Lance Armstrong be rememberd?
Editor’s Introduction: Few athletes have effected as many lives as Lance Armstrong. After a long and drawn-out fi ght the the USADA, Lance Armstrong fi nally admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs. He went as far as to say his “mythic, perfect story” was “one big lie.” Will his ruined cycling legacy overshadow his efforts of Livestrong and cancer research or will Lance Armstrong forever be remembered as a cheater and a villian?
Point:Point: Lies and deceit leave no legacyLies and deceit leave no legacy
I’ll be looking forward to watch-ing this interview Thursday and Friday night, because I want to see if he will be confessing his betrayal to me and the rest of the people in the world who looked up to him.
This Cinderella story has turned into a Cinderella nightmare, and those of us who followed Lance have been dreaming this same pathetic dream with him. If you can’t tell by now, I feel deeply betrayed.
Most of all, I feel bad for the unfortu-nate people who have cancer and looked up to him. I feel bad for the aspiring athletes who looked to Armstrong as a reminder to stay strong. I’m sad for this nation, the lost pride and glory in having an American caught doping on one of the grandest stages. The Livestrong foun-dation will never be the same again. The man who created it resigned from the committee, and though they represent an extraordinary cause, the foundation will always have the stains of this scandal.
Unfortunately, this takes away from the fact that Lance Armstrong was actu-ally able to beat terminal cancer. We can all be outraged at what he has done, on the lie that he led us on, however, the tru-ly sad thing is that no one will remember Armstrong as the man who overcame the odds to beat cancer but as the hero who got caught doping.
Counterpoint: Counterpoint: 2.5 million still don’t care2.5 million still don’t careNo one will remember Armstrong as
the man who overcame the odds to beat
cancer, but as the hero who got caught
doping.
“”Michael Mascalo Noah Logan
When I was in 2nd grade, I asked my father what a hero was. He sat me down, and told me the story of a man who was inches away from certain death.
He told me the story of how this man refused to give up, how this man fought back to win the most challenging biking race in the world seven times. This man my dad spoke of was Lance Armstrong.
Throughout my entire life, I always wished that I could have the attitude, per-sonality, and the tenacity that he showed the entire world.
When he was accused of doping back in the early 2000s, I denied any and all of the allegations, just like most Americans did. We stuck by his side, and defended him at all cost. At one point, you couldn’t go an entire day without seeing someone with the “Livestrong” bracelet on.
We grew to embrace this man, em-brace what he stood for, commended him for giving back to the world with his Armstrong foundation, and admired what he accomplished.
No USDA report could change my opinion of this man, because from 2nd grade on, this man had my complete ad-miration and trust. However, a few days ago, Armstrong sat down with Oprah and confessed. Confessed the lies, con-fessed the doping and confessed the cheating.
Lance Armstrong deserves nothing in terms of his cycling legacy. Armstrong pretty much ran an American cycling team doping system that was on a larger scale than any ever seen in sports history.
While his athletic career might for-ever be tarnished, it is still okay to look up to Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong made a lot of mistakes. A LOT of mis-takes. However, those mistakes do not take away his positive community force, his philanthropic efforts or his battle for his life with cancer.
No matter how much dope he took, many people have a better life because of Lance Armstrong. To be specifi c, the 15-year-old cancer research company, Livestrong, has helped 2.5 million people. 2.5 million people and $500 million in cancer research funds later, I refuse to turn up my nose up to this man.
Unfortunately, Lance Armstrong will suffer the same fate as Bill Clinton. They both hold tarnished legacies and when their names are brought up, the fi rst thoughts to come to people’s minds will be the bad moral judgment of character instead of the literal millions of great things they did.
Characters of such elite public status like Clinton and Armstrong risk massive infamy if they let their moral character drop once despite the positive traits that
caused each man’s fame. In our society today, the more famous a person is, the less room he or she has to slip up and that is not fair. “But when they continued ask-ing him, he looked up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw the fi rst stone at her.”
Also, no amount of testosterone could have made Armstrong’s will and determination to beat cancer and get back on a bike not courageous. Again, Lance Armstrong deserves to have all of his 7 titles stripped away from him. UCI (Union Cyclists International) did not shy away from Armstrong at all. He said at a conference in Geneva, “Armstrong deserves to be forgotten in cycling now.”
However, I can honestly say I didn’t know the Union Cyclists International existed before then. I didn’t know what the Tour de France was before Lance Armstrong and I cannot tell you the name of another cyclists before or after Armstrong.
Lance Armstrong was always and will continue to be a cyclist secondarily in my view while being a world class philanthro-pist, a cancer survivor, and a direct aide to 2.5 million people around the world primarily. This is why it’s okay to still look up to Armstrong with the “hero” status.
What is more of a priority, parking or landscaping?What is more of a priority, parking or landscaping?By MICAH [email protected]
Everyone knows it is about as easy as fi nding a needle-in-a-
hay-stack as it is to fi nd a parking spot on the USA Campus. With hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on landscaping, which we all enjoy, the question remains why no parking has been added?
Could it be possible to add even thirty paved parking spots to the resi-
dence area so they don’t have to park in the gravel overfl ow?
In the 2012-2013 academic year over 11,000 students have and will be pursuing their educational goals here at the University of South Alabama. With such a large amount of students fl ooding the campus, daily onsite parking is a nightmare.
In the residence area students are lucky to fi nd even a single paved park-ing space during the mornings and
early evenings. With more and more students moving on campus with their personal vehicles little has been done to convert old space or create new space to paved parking areas.
With so many students now living on campus what will the USA admin-istration do to combat the new issue of parking? Will they expand parking lots already in existence or will they create new parking areas?
According to spending.southala-
bama.edu, from October 2011 through September 2012 the Univer-sity of South Alabama has spent more than $526,769.06* on landscaping. This includes $42,296.49* on trees, and $70,421.39* on pine straw.
Yes, pine straw. In the same time frame the Uni-
versity of South Alabama has spent a little over $9,727.99* on paved areas, this includes roads. The difference is over $517,041.06*! This total would
add approximately $20.00 to each stu-dent’s tuition per semester just for the landscaping.
Maybe they should focus a little more on the needs of students than the pleasures of students. Over all I believe that the University of South Alabama should invest a little more funds into parking over adding a new sidewalk or tree to the grounds.
While his athletic career might for-
ever be tarnished, it is still okay to look
up to Lance Armstrong.
“”
AMAZON.COM
LIVESTRONG WEBSITE
AMAZON.COM
15VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 2013
For Student Health appointments, please call 460-7151For Counseling and Testing, please call 460-7051
Student Health Sudoku Weekly Quotable QuoteVery few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all: the conscientious historian will correct
these defects. ~Herodotus
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VOL. 52, NO. 2 / JAN. 21, 201316