the daily reveille - april 25, 2012
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News, Sports, Entertainment, OpinionTRANSCRIPT
On Wednesday and Thursday nights, a dull classroom comes to life with the fast footwork, grace-ful arms and swaying hips of the University Ballroom Dance Club.
A group of 15 to 20 students gather twice a week to practice and learn new dances, said Philip Taylor , agriculture business senior and president of the organization .
The talented crew has placed fi rst at the beginning level for the past two years in “A Gumbo of
Ballroom,” the annual national qualifying competition held in Baton Rouge.
“We produce quality danc-ers,” Taylor said. “People come from all over the country to com-pete in this event.”
Taylor said he placed fi rst in all of the competitions he entered.
“It is a little scary at fi rst be-cause there is a ton of people,” Taylor said. “But once you start dancing, it becomes second na-ture.”
The club was founded in 2007, and the instructors are stu-dents.
“The founders had been ball-room dancing for about eight to 10 years,” Taylor said. “Every so often, we get a chance to visit a
professional instructor.”Club members learn the
waltz, tango, foxtrot, cha-cha, rumba and East Coast swing, Taylor said. Members spend one night learning the basics of ball-room dance and the next focusing on teaching members the techni-cal aspects of ballroom dance and how to compete.
Taylor said he had no back-ground in dance when he joined, and now he is teaching his peers.
He said ballroom dancing is a unique experience.
“You get to meet a lot of good people through it,” Taylor said. “It’s a social thing and some-thing to look forward to during
Editor’s note: This is the third in a three-part series detailing
the state of the University’s aca-demic buildings, which have not been evaluated since 2005.
As the University continues to be vigilant of its ever-fl uctuating budget, fi nancial hardships from 30 years ago are still taking their toll on campus facilities.
In the 1980s , the state saw a comparative budget shortfall, and the University was required to push back funding for several operat-ing systems in academic buildings across campus, like the electrical and mechanical systems that were in need of repair.
President Barack Obama is doing everything he can to ensure student loan interest rates won’t double in July, he told college journalists in a Tuesday conference call from Air Force One.
Today, interest on student loans is 3.4 percent, but the rate will double to 6.8 percent on July 1 if Congress does not take action.
Obama said he urged Congress to pass legislation that would pre-vent interest rates from doubling and called it an economic priority for his
administration.Obama , who was on his way to
speak with students at the University of Colorado at Boulder , said he will “take
the issue to every part of the country” until Congress passes leg-islation to counter the
matter, which he called a “tremendous blow” to students.
“I’ll be going to schools to talk to students directly about the critical importance of the possibility that 7.4
Reveille� e Daily
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 • Volume 116, Issue 132www.lsureveille.com
Football: SEC coaches answer questions in teleconference, p. 6
Baseball: Cotton’s steady pitching bests hitters, p. 5
Legislature: Talking on the phone while driving could be banned, p. 3
ORGANIZATIONS
Building repairs deferred since ’80s
Students master the ballroom
Claire CaillierContributing Writer
Kevin Thibodeaux Contributing Writer
CATHERINE THRELKELD / The Daily Reveille
University Ballroom Dance Club members practice the waltz April 19 in Allen Hall.
LOAN DEBT, see page 4REPAIR, see page 4
BALLROOM, see page 4
Future of audits seems uncertain
Dance club studies diverse styles
Assessing Our BuildingsA three-part series
Obama urges Congress to prevent the doubling of student loans
Kate MabryStaff Writer
Get a columnist’s take, page 8.
7.4 million
$1,000
$870 billion
$85 million
$19,000
$25,000
students with federal student loans who will see their interest rates
double on July 1 unless Congress steps in to keep them low
the additional debt the average student will rack up on these loans for each year Congress allows the
rate to double
amount of student loan debt in the third quarter of 2011, reported by
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
balance of past-due student loan debt, which is around 10 percent of the
national student loan debt burden, as estimated by the New York Fed
the average amount of debt that students graduated with in 2006
the average amount of debt that students graduated with in 2010
Sources: White House Of� ce of Communications, U.S. News & World Report
STUDENT LOANS BY THE NUMBERS ‘Higher education
cannot be a luxury’
photo by CHUCK LIDDY / The Associated Press
President Barack Obama speaks to students Tuesday during his visit to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Matthew Jacobs • Editor-in-ChiefChris Branch • Associate Managing EditorRyan Buxton • Associate Managing Editor
Bryan Stewart • Managing Editor, External MediaAndrea Gallo • News Editor
Morgan Searles • Deputy News Editor & Entertainment EditorKatherine Terrell • Sports Editor
Mark Clements • Deputy Sports EditorKirsten Romaguera • Production Editor
Clayton Crockett • Opinion EditorBrianna Paciorka • Photo EditorTyler Daniel • Multimedia EditorSteven Powell • Radio Director
Annabel Mellon • Advertising Sales Manager
� e Daily Reveille
CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
The Daily Reveille holds accuracy and objectivity at the highest priority and wants to reassure the reporting and content of the paper meets these standards. This space is reserved to recog-nize and correct any mistakes which may have been printed in The Daily Reveille. If you would like something corrected or clari� ed please contact the editor at (225) 578-4811 or e-mail [email protected].
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INTERNATIONAL NATIONAL STATE/LOCAL
Nation & World Wednesday, April 25, 2012page 2
China’s promise of leadership in electric car industry elusive
BEIJING (AP) — China’s leaders are fi nding it’s a lot tougher to cre-ate a world-beating electric car in-dustry than they hoped.
In 2009, they pledged billions of dollars for research and called for annual sales of 500,000 cars by 2015.
Today, Beijing is scaling back its ambitions, chastened by techno-logical hurdles and lack of buyer interest. Developers have yet to achieve breakthroughs and will be lucky to sell 2,000 cars this year, mostly taxis. Measles deaths have plummeted over a decade, down 74 percent
LONDON (AP) — The number of measles deaths worldwide has ap-parently dropped by about three-quarters over a decade, according to a new study by the World Health Organization and others.
Health offi cials estimate about 9.6 million children were saved from dying of measles from 2000 to 2010 after big vac-cination campaigns were rolled out more than a decade ago. Re-searchers guessed the number of deaths fell during that time period from about 535,300 to 139,300, or about 74 percent.
Edwards insults pregnant mistress, funnels secret money to woman
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — John Edwards’ fi rst reaction when he learned his mistress may be pregnant was to downplay the chances he was the father, calling the woman a “crazy slut,” his for-mer close campaign aide testifi ed Tuesday.
Later, when the former presi-dential candidate came to realize he was the father in the midst of his campaign, he asked the aide, Andrew Young, to claim paternity and hatched a plan to funnel mon-ey from rich friends to provide the woman a monthly allowance, even though Young said he doubted it was legal.First person arrested in BP oil spill; former engineer deleted evidence
HOUSTON (AP) — The fi rst per-son arrested in the BP oil spill is being released on $100,000 bail.
The former BP engineer, Kurt Mix, is accused of deleting more than 300 text messages about the amount of oil fl owing from the blown-out well and the company’s failed attempts to plug the gusher in 2010.
If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison, a judge told Mix at his hearing.
Lawmakers reject proposal to allow gay, other couples to adopt
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A pro-posal that would allow gay couples and other unmarried couples to adopt children together in Loui-siana was defeated Tuesday by a House committee.
Similar measures have been repeatedly rejected by lawmakers in recent years, and the House Civ-il Law and Procedure Committee voted 9-2 against the idea this time.
As proposed by Rep. Jared Brossett, D-New Orleans, the bill would have allowed adoptions by people who aren’t related to a child by blood but live in the same home and establish a relationship with the child.
WeatherTODAY
6384
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THURSDAY
Miss. Bar dimisses complaints about ad tied to killing of La. priest
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Bar has dismissed a complaint against Attorney Gener-al Jim Hood over a political ad tied to the killing of a Louisiana priest.
Attorney Brian Alexander of Bay St. Louis fi led the complaint last November. It alleged that Hood’s ad tainted the prospective jury pool by referring to Jeremy Wayne Manieri as someone who “murdered a 70-year-old priest in cold blood.”
Swiss scientists demonstrate robot controlled by paralyzed man’s mind
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss scientists demonstrated how a partially paralyzed person can control a robot by thought alone.
On Tuesday, the team used a simple head cap to record the brain signals of Mark-Andre Duc, de-coding the electrical signals emit-ted by his brain when he imagined lifting his paralyzed fi ngers almost instantly by a laptop at the hospi-tal. The resulting instructions were then transmitted to a foot-tall robot.
DIEU NALIO CHERY / The Associated Press
People participate in a demonstration against bull� ghting Tuesday in Mexico City. Mexico is one of a few countries, including Peru and Venezuela, where bull� ghting remains legal.
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Offi cers arrested 19-year-old pre-education student Nicholas Ryan Darnell on April 18 for possession of marijuana with in-tent to distribute.
LSU Police Department spokesman Capt. Cory Lalonde said offi cers were called to Tay-lor Hall on Wednesday, April 18,
at 5:52 p.m. in reference to com-plaints about the smell of mari-juana coming from a dorm room. Lalonde said offi cers made con-tact with Darnell, the resident in the room where the smells origi-nated, with a permanent address of 3985 Fruitvale Ave. in Oak-land, Calif.
After speaking with Darnell , offi cers investigated his dorm room and found 88 grams of
marijuana , along with a digital scale. Lalonde said Darnell ad-mitted to distributing drugs.
He was arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
Proposed legislation would make the sale of live dogs and cats at certain locations unlawful.
The bill, which was received by the Louisiana Senate on April 16, prohibits the sale of dogs and cats at public locations. HB 231 specifi es where it would be illegal to sell these animals.
According to the bill, the sale of a dog or cat is banned on any high-way, right-of-way, fl ea market, com-mercial or retail parking lot, public park, public playground, public swimming pool, other recreational areas and adjacent property to these locations.
A highway is defi ned in the leg-islation as the entire width between the boundary lines of every way maintained and open to the use of public vehicles, including bridges,
causeways, tunnels and ferries.Rep. Tony Ligi, R-Metairie,
sponsored the legislation but was not available to comment as of press time.
Humane societies, animal
welfare groups, animal-control agencies and nonprofi t organizations sponsoring animal adoption events are exempt from the legislation.
The sale of dogs or cats would be legal by licensed breeders or
within private residences, retail pet stores, raffl es for fundraising events for a natural conservation organiza-tion and the confi nes of a cat or dog show.
Those who violate the bill would be fi ned up to $250 for a fi rst offense. Second-time offenders would face up to a $1,000 fi ne.
Companion Animal Alliance Director Debbie Pearson said this legislation is vital because casual and careless breeding is one of the root causes of the huge population of homeless animals at the shelter.
“There is the attitude that pets are somehow casual possessions that one may simply dispose of in any convenient way when no longer wanted,” Pearson said.
Pearson said committed breed-ers would never sell animals in a parking lot or even a pet store. She said many of the roadside ani-mals are purchased on impulse and
disposed of just as quickly. “There are absolutely wonder-
ful animals in shelters including any breed, age and type of cat or dog,” Pearson said. “A rescued animal can give back with boundless devotion and love. Until our community be-comes more educated and aware of the issues and acts in more respon-sible ways, animals will continue to wander, languish and die as dispos-able items.”
She said this legislation will make it more diffi cult for “back-yard breeders” to carelessly breed pets. Pearson said she hopes the bill will decrease the profi t motivation for those who sell dogs and cats in this way.
A bill in the state legislature may make it illegal to talk on the phone while driving, but many stu-dents believe cell phone use behind the wheel will continue.
Rep. Regina Barrow , D-Baton Rouge, introduced legislation that would make it illegal to talk on the phone while driving, and the bill will soon be introduced to the House of Representatives for debate.
On April 13 , the House Com-mittee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works passed Barrow’s legislation in a 9-to-7 vote .
Barrow was inspired to intro-duce this bill after she was involved in a car accident.
“I was in an automobile accident with a young lady who admitted that she was on the cell phone and did not see that the light was still red when she actually plowed into the back of my car with me and my children in the back,” Barrow told NBC 33 TV.
David Sobek , political science assistant professor , said the bill will likely pass.
“This is something a lot of peo-ple can understand the dangers of and support,” he said.
But Sobek also said the bill may not affect many drivers.
“I imagine a lot of people will continue to talk on the phone, unless
[police] are ticketing frequently,” he said.
Psychology sophomore Kather-ine McConnell agreed, but she said cell phone use isn’t the distraction leading to many car accidents.
“People won’t follow it,” she said about the proposed bill. “Talk-ing on the phone isn’t really the problem. Music can have the same effect as talking on the phone.”
But McConnell did say she has seen negative effects of driving while talking on the phone.
“One of my friends was talking on the phone and rear-ended some-one,” she said. “Another one of my
friends in the backseat had to see a chiropractor for a year.”
But undeclared freshman Chris-topher Calkins said the proposed bill may make the roads more dangerous.
“People are going to be trying to hide the fact that they’re talking on the phone now, too,” he said. “It’s just one more thing that will distract them.”
� e Daily Reveille page 3Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Monday: $14.99 All You Can Eat Wings and $3 Specialty DrinksTuesday: $3 Margaritas and Mexican Beers....Kids Eat FreeWed: $4.50 34oz Mother Plucker Mugs....Live Trivia at 8pm
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LEGISLATION
CAMPUS CRIME BRIEFS
Senate bill could prohibit roadside sale of dogs and cats Lauren DuhonStaff Writer
Contact Lauren Duhon at [email protected]
Contact e Daily Reveille’s news sta� at [email protected]
Contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]
ALYSSA SIRISOPHON / The Daily Reveille
Two dogs wrestle with each other Tuesday evening at the Raising Cane’s Dog Park at City-Brooks Community Park.
Student arrested for possession of 88 grams of marijuana in dorm
STATE
Phone ban while driving proposedKate MabryStaff Writer
See student opinions, pg. 9
�e Daily Reveillepage 4 Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Tony Lombardo, executive director of Facility Services, said many of the systems in today’s buildings are the same ones on which maintenance had to be de-ferred three decades ago.
“That’s why these budget situ-ations are so devastating, because we’re climbing out of a hole, not moving the University forward,” Lombardo said.
The state has its own category of funding to combat this deferred maintenance, detailed in House Bill 2, which deals with the alloca-tion of capital outlay. This funding is tied to a statewide conditions assessment, or a document that de-tails the state of all public facilities.
But that assessment hasn’t been updated since the buildings’ initial evaluation in 2005.
The VFA, an international facilities assessment and consult-ing firm, was hired by the state that year to assess all state-owned buildings, including those at the University, and to compile a report ranking the buildings’ facilities on a scale of 1 to 5.
The VFA did so and listed items in need of repair, a suggested action dates for maintenance and an estimated cost for repairs. But this “to-do” list has since remained stagnant, allowing problems to fes-ter and estimated maintenance bills to grow.
The assessment report indi-cates the University would have to fork over more than $255 mil-lion to bring all of the buildings up to current standards. That cost increases annually with the infla-tion of construction materials and the continued deterioration of the buildings.
Ken Courtade, manager of Long Range Planning at the Uni-versity and former member of the state’s office of Facility Planning and Control, said the state contract with the VFA expires in June, but the state still isn’t sure whether it wants the specific detailed infor-mation the VFA report offers or another more general assessment.
“The more detailed plan gets
down to more what the students are affected by — furniture, fixtures, finishes, carpeting, wall painting, windows, ceilings, floors,” he said. “It’s the smaller things that really are the aesthetics of the building and not just the operating systems.”
If the state used a systems audit for the basis of funding, Courtade said some of the smaller projects may go unfunded since state funding is tied to a statewide conditions assessment.
Michael DiResto, state direc-tor of communications and stra-tegic initiatives, said in an e-mail that Facility Planning and Control is still trying to figure out which information is most vital to the fa-cilities.
He said most facilities weren’t using the specific detailed data ob-tained through the report. The new contract would possibly allow indi-vidual facilities to pay for this de-tailed information if they wanted to use it, according to DiResto.
Regardless of what happens, Courtade said a change is needed.
Every year the total cost need-ed to update the buildings increases by about 5 percent, he said, and the state doesn’t give the University funding to combat this inflation.
That means by 2016, the University’s total cost of deferred maintenance will total about $322.4 million without any state assistance, Courtade estimated, not including roofs or non-assessed structures.
But DiResto argued Gov. Bob-by Jindal’s administration has in-vested more than $600 million for repair and construction projects for higher education facilities across the state since 2008.
“For LSU’s Baton Rouge cam-pus alone, infrastructure and con-struction investments have totaled close to $43 million,” DiResto said in an e-mail.
DiResto said it is up to the in-dividual institutions to determine which projects to submit for capital outlay funding requests.
However, Lombardo said the University’s funding request goes through a number of changes after the University submits it.
“You never know whether or not our priorities get funded until House Bill 2 comes out,” Lombar-do said.
Courtade said the University hasn’t received funds from the state for deferred maintenance in a number of years. He’s unsure if this year will be any different.
In order to make up for finan-cial shortfalls, the University must compensate in other areas to keep the University’s mission intact, according to Robert Kuhn, associ-ate vice chancellor of Budget and Planning.
Kuhn said many budget cuts get pushed onto Facility Services
to prevent tuition increases or cuts to faculty and classes offered.
“It’s just like in your home,” Kuhn said. “If the roof falls in, then you fix the roof. Unfortunately, that’s how deferred maintenance moves to the top of the list.”
If the condition of the facili-ties goes unchecked, then it could potentially shut down the Univer-sity, according to Kuhn. If a build-ing were uninhabitable, classes wouldn’t be able to be held there, leaving nowhere else for the class-es to be taught, he said.
Courtade said he doesn’t fore-see the problem being resolved any time soon. He expects the
University will have to prioritize which buildings to fund.
“There are programs that are part of the Flagship Agenda that the University has deemed them to have a certain importance to the mission of the University,” Courtade said. “You have to focus more on the facilities that service those, as compared to a program that’s not part of that. And that’s an unfair thing to say.”
million student loans will double unless Congress will step up and do what is needed to do,” Obama said.
Obama will visit the Universi-ty of Iowa today, but he also spoke with students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday.
“I don’t want this to be a coun-try where a shrinking number of Americans are doing really, re-ally well, but a growing number of people are just struggling to get by,” Obama said at the UNC-Chapel Hill. “That’s not my idea of America. I don’t want that future for you; I don’t want that future for my daughters. I want this forever to be a country where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing by the same set of rules.”
During the conference call Tuesday, Obama said the issue of doubling interest was “complete-ly preventable,” and he hopes to make higher education available for all students.
“We can’t cut our way to pros-perity,” he said. “Students need to speak up and be heard. The time to act is right now.”
Obama said he and the first lady can personally relate with stu-dents on paying off loans.
“We had enormous debt that took a lot of years to pay off,” he said. “With working families ow-ing this much money, higher edu-cation is out of reach for their chil-dren. In America, higher education cannot be a luxury.”
Obama said his administration has taken several steps, including extending federal grants and al-lowing children to remain on their parents’ health insurance plan un-til age 26, to aid graduates in their debt.
Obama said he also hopes to increase the number of work-study jobs available.
Contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]
LOAN DEBT, from page 1
Contact Kevin �ibodeaux at [email protected]
REPAIR, from page 1
the week.”Ballroom dancing has be-
come popular because of the tele-vision show “Dancing with the Stars,” according to Lane Barry, the club’s advisor and a script
writer for Uni-versity Rela-tions.
“It is great exer-cise,” Barry said. “You are working your body as well as working your mind.”
The club performs at different events on campus, including the holiday Candlelight Celebration and Fall Fest, Barry said.
“They do a great job and they wow the crowd,” he said.
Brian Strand, political sci-ence senior and member of the club, said he joined because of his friends.
“I regret I didn’t start earlier,”
Strand said. Jared Eppley, geology junior
and member of the organization, said the club helped him come out of his shell.
“Freshman year, I went to class and went straight to my room,” Eppley said. “Because of the club, I am a completely
different person. It is the best experience that could have hap-pened to me.”
‘It is a little scary at �rst
... but once you start dancing,
it becomes second nature.’
Philip Tayloragriculture business
senior, club president
Contact Claire Caillier at [email protected]
BALLROOM, from page 1
CATHERINE THRELKELD / The Daily Reveille
University Ballroom Dance Club members practice the waltz April 19 in Allen Hall.
Just one pitch from a double-header sweep at No. 2 Florida (42-6, 19-3 Southeastern Con-ference) on Tuesday, the No. 23 LSU softball team returned to Ba-ton Rouge with a 1-0 victory and a heartbreaking 2-1 loss.
In game one, LSU (33-16, 14-8 SEC) nearly took the lead in the top of the fifth inning when sophomore pinch runner Alex Boulet tagged up from third base and raced home on a fly ball in left field foul territory.
Boulet slid into home plate safely, but Florida coach Tim Walton argued Boulet left third base early, and the umpire called her out on the play.
LSU’s lead-off batter reached in all but the third and fourth in-nings, but it took until the seventh frame for the Tigers to capitalize.
Senior right fielder Ashley Applegate drew a lead-off walk and was sacrificed to second by sophomore third baseman Tam-my Wray. Freshman pinch-hitter Kailey McCasland came in and delivered with a single through the right side.
Applegate rounded third and scored from second base, diving headfirst just out of reach of the tag, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
After dropping two hard-fought games in a top-five matchup against No. 2 Kentucky in Lexing-ton last weekend, No. 4 LSU (32-9) is determined to close the season on a strong note.
They’ll get started on that mis-sion at 6:30 p.m. tonight against Southeastern Louisiana (28-13) in Alex Box Stadium.
“It’s hard to find a lot of fault with the kids and the way they’re doing it right now,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “We talked last week about being the best we [can be] down the stretch. ... We’ve still got some big games ahead of us.”
In order to do that, LSU is looking to iron out some wrinkles in its game.
High on the list would be a bounce-back game from sopho-more second baseman JaCoby Jones, who Mainieri hopes got a wake up call in LSU’s 7-6 loss in the Ken-tucky series finale.
Mainieri pulled the embattled second base-man after the third in-ning, when Jones’ lack of effort on a tough ground ball was followed by a two-out, three-run rally by the Wildcats.
After batting .338 with four
home runs and 32 RBI in his de-but season, earning Freshman All-
American and Fresh-man All-Southeastern Conference honors in the process, Jones has scuffled along in his sophomore campaign.
Jones’ batting aver-age fell to .245 after the Kentucky series, during which he went 0-for-8 with three strikeouts and was moved to the bottom of the order.
While he removed Jones from the game and the top of the order, Mainieri insisted that he hasn’t
SportsWednesday, April 25, 2012 page 5
SOFTBALL
No. 23 LSU wins one, loses one at Florida
Scott BransonSports Contributor
SOFTBALL, see page 7
BASEBALL
Tigers aim to �nish season strongLuke JohnsonSports Writer
BASEBALL, see page 7
CATHERINE THRELKELD / The Daily Reveille
LSU sophomore catcher Ty Ross prepares for the pitch April 18 during the Tigers’ 5-4 win against Lamar University in Alex Box Stadium.
100 percent Cotton
BRIANNA PACIORKA / The Daily Reveille
LSU junior pitcher Chris Cotton (58) throws a pitch during the Tigers’ 10-8 victory against Mississippi Valley State University on March 2, 2011, at Alex Box Stadium.
Soft-throwing lefty pitcher emerges as dependable reliever
Junior pitcher Chris Cotton has never cracked 90 mph.
Against Kentucky last weekend, he hit 89 mph, respectable for the soft-throwing lefty, but not quite the number he wants to reach. His teammates were quick to point that out, encouraging him on Twitter to get that extra digit added to his pitch speed.
Even though Cotton doesn’t light up the radar gun, his speed hasn’t hindered him from experi-encing his most successful season at LSU. Through 41 games, Cotton has set career highs with 22 appearances, four victories and 20 strikeouts. His 2.11 ERA ranks No. 2 among relievers with more than 10 appearances.
His change of pace and illusive breaking pitches shield him from hitters
teeing off on his leisurely fastball.“He throws all of his pitches for
strikes,” said senior utility player Grant Do-zar. “You can’t just sit on a certain thing, because he’s deceptive. He throws that off-speed stuff, so that 88-mph fastball looks a lot harder than 88.”
For left-handed hitters, Cot-ton is especially tough. The pitches come from a different angle than hitters are used to seeing. A left-handed slider starts inside to a left-handed batter, then breaks away, something those hitters rarely see.
Cotton retired the first 28 left-handed batters he faced this season before allowing consecutive RBI-
doubles to lefties Sunday against Kentucky.“I noticed it, but I didn’t think about
it,” Cotton said of his success against left-ies. “It’s tough giving up those hits. They were good hitters, but I didn’t get ahead. I ended up throwing the pitches right down
the middle, and they got a hold of them.”After joining the Tigers as a walk-on
before the 2010 season, Cotton never re-ally stood out among the other arms in the bullpen. He had a 4.62 career-ERA after his first two seasons, and many expected him to be just another face in the LSU bullpen this year.
Cotton took advantage of the opportu-nities he received early in the season. He only allowed one run in his first eight ap-pearances, many times coming in to face opponents’ left-handed hitters.
But LSU coach Paul Mainieri doesn’t consider Cotton a lefty specialist.
“He’s very capable of pitching a couple of innings,” Mainieri said. “He’s not go-ing to strike a lot of guys out, but if he’s getting his pitches over, and he’s chang-ing speeds, they don’t usually make solid contact against him.”
Hunter PaniaguaSports Writer
COTTON, see page 7
‘If I crack 90,
that will be the day.’
Chris CottonLSU junior pitcher
Next up for the Tigers:
Who: LSU (32-9) vs. Southeastern Louisiana (28-13)When: 6:30 p.m. tonightWhere: Alex Box StadiumWatch or listen at home: 98.1 FM
Fico, Mack have gutsy performances
Twelve national champion-ships and 10 Southeastern Confer-ence titles in eight years have put the LSU relay teams into the ranks of the track elites and made Baton Rouge home to one of the most prestigious programs in the nation.
“It’s always great to be a part of a program like this,” said senior sprinter Barrett Nugent. “This is probably one of the best programs in the country. It always has been in the past. ... They’ve always had great relays. But if you’re on one of these relays you can’t just expect to go out there and run it. You have to be one of the best.”
The program, led by LSU coach
Dennis Shaver for the past eight sea-sons, has played host to some of the sport’s top athletes. Muna Lee, Xavi-er Carter and Esther Jones have all passed the baton for the purple and gold.
In 2005, the men’s 4x400 team of Reggie Dardar, Kelly Willie, cur-rent LSU sprints coach Bennie Bra-zell and Carter won a national title with a time of 2:59.59. The time set the collegiate record for the event, which still stands unbeaten.
“Each [team] has been unique,” Shaver said. “We’ve had teams that I thought they really only ran just hard enough to win the NCAA title, and then we’ve had teams ... and maybe they didn’t win, but I thought they ran well together.”
Looking back to 2003, LSU’s
outdoor program has earned 47 top-three finishes for the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relay in either the na-tional or SEC championship meets.
Many of today’s athletes look back to the former Tigers for moti-vation to push themselves to their full potential. Nugent cites former hurdles standout Eric Reid Sr. as the source of his inspiration.
“Looking at someone like Mr. Reid, coming up here it was a big goal of mine to push to be like [him],” Nugent said. “Without him, I wouldn’t have had that push, and he was my push.”
On any given Friday night, LSU baseball fans flood Alex Box Sta-dium and are dazzled as sophomore ace Kevin Gausman makes opposing hitters look silly.
The same fans will flock to Tiger Stadium in the fall to watch sophomore receivers Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. leave defen-sive backs in the dust.
But once the final out is made or time expires on the gridiron, fans have no trouble following their fa-vorite players off the field.
And it’s all in 140 characters or less.
Twitter following among LSU athletes has exploded in recent months, particularly with the LSU baseball and football programs.
“It’s pretty neat to read it and have people you don’t even know telling you good job after a game or good luck heading into a big week-end,” said junior outfielder Mason Katz.
Both football coach Les Miles and baseball coach Paul Mainieri acknowledged that Twitter won’t disappear anytime soon, and both agreed it must be addressed with their teams.
Miles said during Tuesday’s Southeastern Conference coaches teleconference that his biggest qualm with Twitter is the identity his play-ers assume.
“It’s an opportunity for alter egos,” Miles said. “When I click on, I’m going to be a different cat [than on the field].”
Although out of the loop with Twitter, Mainieri said he cautions his players to be mindful of what is put in the public light.
“I let them know that they shouldn’t be airing things publicly that are internal within our team,” Mainieri said.
While adhering to their coaches’ warnings, athletes can either hype up
fans through Twitter or leave them scratching their heads.
Landry and Beckham teamed with junior receivers Kadron Boone and James Wright and senior receiver Russell Shepard to form the Twitter-fueled “fab five,” promising gaudy numbers and a return to the national championship game next season.
Off the diamond, LSU base-ball players admit to not taking their Twitter accounts seriously. Except for Gausman, that is.
“Gausman is the team tweet leader, the swag tweeter,” said junior outfielder Raph Rhymes.
Both Rhymes and Katz derided Gausman’s propensity to hashtag the word “swag” after any and all of his tweets.
“Twitter is just kind of my ran-dom thoughts that I have, and I have a lot,” Gausman said. “If I was to go to the mall and get some shoes, it would be #AirForceOneSwag.”
Gausman said although his Twitter account may be a random as-sortment of thoughts, it provides fans a unique glimpse into his life.
“They kind of get to know us on and off [the field],” Gausman said. “We get to share our lives with them.”
�e Daily Reveillepage 6 Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Chandler RomeSports Contributor
SOCIAL MEDIA
CATHERINE THRELKELD / The Daily Reveille
LSU freshman sprinter Samantha Levin (right) hands the baton to freshman sprinter Montenae Roye-Speight (left) on Saturday during the 4x400-meter relay at the LSU Alumni Gold Meet at Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
TRACK AND FIELD
Michael GegenheimerSports Contributor
Contact Michael Gegenheimer at [email protected]
Relay teams attain prestige through years of excellence
There’s never a dull day in Southeastern Conference football, and Tuesday was no different as league coaches conducted their spring teleconference.
The SEC streamed the ques-tion-and-answer event live for the first time and welcomed two new coaches into the loop, as Kevin Sumlin and Gary Pinkel lead Texas A&M and Missouri to the new-look league this fall.
ARKANSAS HIRES SMITHThe man behind the teleconfer-
ence’s hottest topic didn’t even par-ticipate in it.
After former coach Bobby Petrino’s scandalous exploits with a female athletic department employ-ee got him fired, Arkansas found his temporary replacement.
The Razorbacks hired for-mer Michigan State and Louisville coach John L. Smith on Tuesday to a 10-month contract as interim head coach.
Coaches around the league weighed in on the sudden news with largely positive feedback.
“The fact that they’re keeping the staff intact is important,” said Alabama coach Nick Saban. “And John L. has a lot of great experience as a coach. I still feel they’re going to be one of the most toughest teams in our division.”
Smith, Arkansas’ special teams coordinator for the last three years, is 132-86 in 18 seasons as a head coach. Athletic Director Jeff Long said he will have a chance to earn the job permanently.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCKTuesday’s teleconference was a
mild housewarming party for Mis-souri and Texas A&M, the SEC’s new blood.
For the Aggies, the conference won’t be the only new thing next fall.
A&M is also ushering in Sum-lin, the former Houston coach, as its new head football coach while re-placing quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who is off to the NFL.
Sumlin said four quarterbacks are battling for the starting gig. He mentioned sophomores Jameill Showers and Johnny Manziel as po-tential frontrunners.
But Sumlin was audibly ex-cited as he discussed the Aggies’ schedule.
“There’s a big buzz here about our first home game against Flori-da,” Sumlin said.
Pinkel, who is 85-54 in 11 sea-sons at Missouri, echoed those sen-timents as the Tigers enter the SEC East, saying they have something to prove.
“It will be mammoth here,” Pinkel said of the SEC opener against Georgia. “Any time you’re the new kid on the block, you have to earn respect.”
LSU travels to Texas A&M on Oct. 20 but will avoid Missouri in the regular season.
FOOTBALL
Chris AbshireSports Writer
Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected]
Coaches react to Arkansas hiringTwitter o�ers fans new access to players
Contact Chandler Rome at [email protected]
“We’re getting timely hits,” said LSU senior pitcher Brit-tany Mack on the postgame ra-dio show. “That was always our thing. We could get a bunch of hits, but they would be every in-ning.”
Down to the last strike in the bottom of the seventh , the Ga-tors’ right fi elder Ensley Gammel homered to right fi eld , tying the game and forcing the Tigers to extra innings.
A one-out RBI double down the left fi eld line got the job done for the Gators in the bottom of the eighth , spoiling junior pitcher Rachele Fico’s bid for her 16th win.
“We defi nitely were down, but not for long because we knew we had that game,” Mack said. “We knew if we can outplay them then, we can outplay them again.”
In Tuesday’s nightcap, the Tigers took an early 1-0 lead .
Applegate tripled to deep right-centerfi eld with one out in the second inning , and junior catcher Lauren Houston drove her in with a two-out RBI single up the middle.
Mack got the start in the circle in game two and said she was especially thankful the Tigers pushed across a run early in the game.
“That was defi nitely so much easier on me, but it also made me buckle down,” Mack said on the radio show.
Mack went on to allow just four hits while striking out eight and walking two .
Florida threatened to tie and take the lead in the bottom of the sixth after loading the bases with one out .
After a meeting in the circle with LSU coach Beth Torina ,
Mack buckled down and induced a pop-up in foul territory and a ground out to second base to es-cape the inning with the shutout in tact.
“[Torina] was just telling me to do your thing, come back and get this,” Mack said. “She just told me to get the fi re in me and get it.”
Mack did the same in the bot-tom of the seventh , striking out Florida catcher Sami Fagan with two runners on base to hand the Gators their second home loss this season.
“After her fi rst at-bat, we knew what we wanted to go at her with,” Mack said. “If I’m go-ing to get her, it has to be a good waste pitch. Luckily I threw it low enough and she chased it.”
given up on him.“JaCoby Jones has the capa-
bilities to be an excellent baseball player. He’s as physically gifted a player that we have on our team,” Mainieri said. “Sometimes he’s his own worst enemy. When he has the right frame of mind, and he’s mentally tough and he cares about the right things, that talent shines through.”
Mainieri said he thought Jones’ struggles at the plate have trans-ferred to the fi eld. When asked if he was going to give Jones some more time away from the fi eld, Mainieri was quick to respond.
“I hope the six innings he sat out in [Sunday’s] game might’ve served that purpose,” Mainieri said.
Joining Jones in pursuit of
redemption is starting pitcher Joe Broussard (4-0, 4.15) , who turned in a couple of uninspiring innings in last week’s 5-4 win against Lamar.
Lamar touched Broussard for a two-run homer in the fi rst inning , and he was pulled after two innings with the score tied at two .
“I’d like to see us get off to a good start. Let the team get into a good comfortable feeling in a ball-game where they don’t start press-ing,” Mainieri said. “Sometimes in these games, you fall behind early and the kids start to press. I just think we need to pitch better at the beginning of the game.”
Mainieri toyed with the idea of starting junior Brent Bonvillain (2-0, 3.10) instead, but his left arm may be needed in the upcoming weekend series against Georgia, and Mainieri said he didn’t want to
overextend him.Southeastern isn’t likely to go
down easy against Broussard . The Lions are led offensively by junior infi elder Brock Hebert , who is hit-ting .401 this season and has speed to burn with 30 stolen bases .
Similar to LSU, Southeastern doesn’t boast a true power hitter in its lineup — the team has only socked fi ve home runs this season — but it comes into the game with a .275 team batting average and more than doubles its opponents in sacri-fi ce hits [53-to-25] .
Senior right-hander Josh Jan-way (2-2, 2.95 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Lions.
As the season has progressed, Cotton has evolved into one of the more consistent arms in LSU’s pitching arsenal. The reason is simple: He throws “the best pitch in baseball” — a strike.
“Chris has always been a strike thrower,” Mainieri said. “That’s the thing that endeared him to me right from the start, his awesome ability to just throw it over the plate.”
To Mainieri, that consistency trumps speed, but if Cotton con-tinues to progress, he may have the velocity to go with the accu-racy. Since going under the tute-lage of pitching coach Alan Dunn, Cotton has seen his pitch speed increase.
Cotton has his velocity knocking on the 90 mph doorstep thanks to a steady workout rou-tine with emphasis on the legs and core,
“If I crack 90, that will be the day,” Cotton said. “It’s been a fun season so far, and hopefully in succeeding I’ll maybe touch 90.”
Cotton paused and added one more detail about that hypotheti-cal 90-mph pitch.
“As long as it’s a strike,” he said.
� e Daily ReveilleWednesday, April 25, 2012 page 7
“A man who stops advertisingto save money,
is like a man who stops the clock to save time.”
-Henry FordWe can help. 225-578-6090
BASEBALL, from page 5
SOFTBALL, from page 5
COTTON, from page 5
Contact Hunter Paniagua at [email protected]
Contact Scott Branson at [email protected]
Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]
In electing our leaders, we willingly subject ourselves not only to the whims of their ideals but to the shortcomings of their character.
We pay out of pocket for their successes and failures.
With the revelation of this state’s blatant mismanagement of infrastructural decay at the Uni-versity, we catch a glimpse of the disorder our leaders are capable of.
In 2005, international consult-ing fi rm VFA, under contract with the state, assessed the extent of de-cay in the state’s public facilities — a process meant to take place routinely as a means of gauging and planning statewide renova-tions.
The University is counted among those assessed public facili-ties.
A full assessment has not been undertaken since, and after seven years of further deteriora-tion — and paying the VFA more than a quarter of a million dollars for nothing — the price of disarray has added up.
The infl ation-adjusted price to bring our University’s infrastruc-ture up to safety standards in 2005
was $255 million, which is approx-imately 24 percent of the original cost of the buildings themselves, according to the VFA’s 2005 report as detailed by The Daily Reveille’s investigation.
Put simply, the price to repair these buildings cost nearly a quar-ter of the buildings’ worth.
According to Ken Courtade, a former member of the state’s offi ce of Facility Planning and Control and current LSU Facility Services manager of Long Range Planning, the typical ratio of renovation cost to the price of bringing buildings up to date hovers around 15 per-cent nationwide.
The University’s 24 percent, however, doesn’t factor in roofs, roads, sewers or sidewalks. Includ-ing those would boost the estimate of $255 million closer to $500 mil-lion, according to Courtade.
But the issue doesn’t neces-sarily lie in these staggering prices from 2005.
Over the past seven years, the state has indeed managed to ad-dress a number of the issues listed on the VFA’s 2005 assessment.
The problem is that policy-makers have made it unconstitu-tional to allocate renovation funds to projects not listed on the as-sessment, so any degradation that has occurred over the years but was not mentioned in 2005 is unapproachable.
And without the VFA’s moni-toring and consultation, the state is left unaware of problems occur-ring after 2005 until it’s too late — such as when concrete begins to fall from derelict University build-ings, as it did from Hill Memorial Library in February.
One question seems obvious: How can the University continue to support new projects when our renovations have fallen so far be-hind?
The fi rst answer is that most of the funds for new projects come from private donations and capital outlay, or money set aside for spe-cifi c purposes which cannot be al-located elsewhere.
Considering that any and all renovation money must be tied to a project on the 2005 assessment, however, it may be that it’s easier for the state to fund new projects given the unconstitutional nature of funding unreported renovations.
In most cases, it seems, the state’s hands are tied.
We put all of the state’s rotten eggs into one basket and handed that basket to the VFA consult-ing fi rm — which subsequently dropped the basket and walked away while we continued to pay them.
We also decided that we could only fund what the VFA said need-ed funding. All we have to go on, however, is a 7-year-old report,
leaving us blind to new infrastruc-tural problems until systems fail.
It has been said a man will push his broken-down car until the last wheel falls off before he con-cedes to visit a mechanic.
Our policymakers have pushed that car and paid for noth-ing for seven years now, and even-tually something big will force it to organize.
Robert Kuhn, associate vice chancellor of Budget and Planning, put it best: “It’s just like in your home. If the roof falls in, then you fi x the roof. Unfortunately, that’s how deferred maintenance moves to the top of the list.”
The state’s blindness to its own problems is disgraceful.
We signed a contract with the VFA and constitutionally ensured that we follow their word alone. When they ceased to provide their services, we did nothing.
Had we addressed it then, we could point the fi nger at a fi rm which violated a contract.
After seven years, though, the blame and the risk are ours.
Clayton Crockett is a 20-year-old international studies sophomore from Lafayette. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_ccrockett.
� e Daily Reveille
Opinionpage 8 Wednesday, April 25, 2012
� e Daily Reveille The Daily Reveille (USPS 145-800) is written, edited and produced solely by students of Louisiana State University. The Daily Reveille is an independent entity within the Manship School of Mass Communication. Signed opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, paper or University. Letters submitted for publication should be sent via e-mail to [email protected] or delivered to B-26 Hodges Hall. They must be 400 words or less. Letters must have a contact phone number so the opinion editor can verify the author. The phone number won’t be printed. The Daily Reveille reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for space consider-ation without changing the original intent. The Daily Reveille also reserves the right to reject any letter without noti-� cation of the author. Writers must include their full names and phone numbers. The Daily Reveille’s editor-in-chief, hired every semester by the Louisiana State University Media Board, has � nal authority on all editorial decisions.
Editorial Policies & Procedures Quote of the Day“Washington is a city of Southern effi ciency and
Northern charm.”
John F. Kennedy35th President of the United States
May 29, 1917 — Nov. 22, 1963
Editorial BoardMatthew Jacobs
Chris BranchRyan Buxton
Bryan StewartAndrea Gallo
Clayton Crockett
Editor-in-Chief
Associate Managing Editor
Associate Managing Editor
Managing Editor, External Media
News Editor
Opinion Editor
Compiled by KATE MABRY
eanutThe
GalleryP
A new bill seeks to ban talking on the phone while driving. What do
you think?
‘Wireless devices like Bluetooth
make driving safer. Some cars even
have adaptors that let you talk on the
phone.’
Christopher Calkins
undecided freshman
‘How dangerous it is depends
on the person.’
Gabrielle Scotttheatre sophomore
‘People still talk on the phone.
People don’t care.’
Khanh Nguyenengineering junior
‘Talking on the phone could be
dangerous if you’re a bad driver.’ Georgia Williams
psychology sophomore
‘The norm has always
been to talk on the phone
when you drive. It would
be hard to implement
the law.’
Andrew Warrenpolitical science
sophomore
THE NEWFRONTIERSMANCLAYTON CROCKETTOpinion Editor
Contact Clayton Crockett at [email protected]
Policymakers’ disorganization inhibits crucial renovationsIn shambles
photos by CATHERINE THRELKELD and LAUREN DUHON / The Daily Reveille
[Above] Wires and circuits are exposed in the hallway of the Studio Arts Building. [Right] An electrical � re started from this outlet inside the Old Forestry Building. The building has been condemned.
What happens in Colombia is supposed to stay in Colombia.
As we all know, Secret Ser-vice agents were recently in Cartagena, Colombia, before President Obama’s arrival at the Summit of the Americas.
After a long day of work, the agents decided they needed a night out on the town and headed to the strip club for a well-de-served celebration.
Several bottles of vodka lat-er, the agents found themselves back at their hotel room with a small soviet of high-class call girls.
The next morning, an argu-ment erupted between an agent and one of the prostitutes over the price of the noche caliente.
The story got out, and now many of the agents involved are facing resignation, retirement or termination.
I feel bad for these guys. The life of a Secret Service agent doesn’t allow for many social oc-casions. In many cases, it doesn’t allow for a spouse or family, ei-ther.
These individuals work seven days a week for most of the day, and they can always be called in, even when they’re off.
Most of them are also grown men with grown men’s needs. Since they are constantly work-ing and traveling, many aren’t married.
Secret Service agents have earned the right to mingle with
las hermanas de la calle after a long, hot Colombian afternoon.
This is how I imagine the agents in question spent their evening:
They are in sexy Colombia, night has fallen, the President hasn’t arrived yet. They have the night off.
One of them suggests the strip club, and his sug-gestion is confirmed by an
orchestra of grunts. At the strip club, they are ap-
proached by a number of prosti-tutes. Prostitution is legal in Co-lombia, and I can’t imagine it’s difficult for them to figure out who the rich Americans are.
Drinking heavily as they were reportedly doing, the agents stumble back to the hotel room with their newly acquired escorts for the evening, and
the inevitable ensues. The next morning, it’s fair
to assume one of the agents, in a drunken attempt to communicate with a Spanish-speaking prosti-tute, likely thought the prostitute was not a prostitute and mistook her for a fellow female patron who was genuinely interested in him.
This would explain why the fight broke out the morning after.
The agent tried to give the prosti-tute $30, which in his defense is a very generous cab fare.
It’s also the amount a male would give to a female suitor to ensure she got home safe after a night of regrettable decisions with a south-of-the-border pro-phylactic.
If he knew she was a pros-titute, he probably would have found an ATM the night before and gotten that money. When a gorgeous Colombian woman comes up to most intoxicated men and puts affordable sex on the table, he will find that ATM.
Let’s also keep in mind these agents weren’t breaking any laws.
The Secret Service has long been an agency which prides it-self on discretion. John F. Ken-nedy’s security attache helped him sneak around to cheat on his wife. They also snuck women in and out of the White House.
Over the years, agents have managed to keep even the most foul and perverted political se-crets safe from the public — save Bill Clinton.
Is it so much to ask for the White House to return the favor?
Parker Cramer is a 21-year-old political science junior from Houston. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_pcramer.
Legalization of illicit drugs is a touchy subject for college students.
We often bear the brunt of jokes about the topic as major media outlets usually character-ize proponents of legalization as young hippies or crazy libertar-ians.
But what happens when those yelling loudest for a new plan for drugs are your neighbors on the world stage?
The Summits of the Ameri-cas is a series of summit meetings to discuss regional issues among the nations of North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The last sum-mit took place April 14 and 15 and was hosted in Cartagena, Co-lombia.
The U.S. and Canada found their backs against the wall as
several Latin American leaders called for a debate on the decrim-inalization of drugs in the region.
It was a stark and surprising challenge to the status quo, but it was hardly unreasonable.
Drug trafficking and vio-lence plague Latin America. These countries host the cartels that keep the illegal drug trade alive.
In Mexico alone, the Drug War has killed 50,000 people since 2006, and the situation in countries such as Guatemala and Honduras is not any better.
Forced to deal with the harsh realities, these countries are look-ing to the U.S. to consider new ways to deal with the War on Drugs. Latin American leaders have already discussed decrimi-nalizing the growth of coca and marijuana plants in order to deal with this issue.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Guatema-lan President Otto Perez Molina have emerged as leaders in the movement to address drug policy
in Latin America. The surprising aspect of this is that Santos and Molina are two of Latin Ameri-ca’s most conservative leaders and staunchest opponents to drug cartels.
This is a sharp paradigm shift. These leaders have essen-tially lifted the taboo of legaliza-tion talks and sparked a discus-sion in Latin America over new approaches to the War on Drugs.
However, President Obama continued to defend U.S. poli-cy at the summit and said there would be no change in sails any time soon.
“I know there are frustrations and that some call for legaliza-tion,” Obama said. “For the sake of the health and safety of our citizens — all our citizens — the United States will not be going in this direction.”
Obama’s latest drug control report repeated this call to con-tinue long-standing policies and even went so far as to suggest more workplace testing and na-tionwide zero-tolerance laws.
There are myriad reasons why drugs should be legalized, and I support all of them.
There are the standard eco-nomic gains that are usually pre-sented in legalization arguments, an increase in civilian liberty and responsibility and the potential decrease in crime if the War on Drugs ends. But arguing for le-galization because it could help fight the cartels and facilitate cohesion with Latin America is something entirely new.
The issue is essentially about how to deal with the global com-modities market that the drug trade has become.
The U.S. is the world’s larg-est consumer of illegal drugs, and where there is a demand, there will always be someone to supply. By continuing the policies of the War on Drugs, the U.S. ensures that its drug market is only open to those who don’t mind having to break the law in order to make a buck. Legalization would open the market to legitimate business and force the cartels to compete
with legal sellers.Addressing legalization and
decriminalization of drugs could also help improve our relation-ship with Latin America, a region that knows the U.S. best for its intervention, coups and drug war policies.
The War on Drugs has been under way for decades, but these policies have failed in not only the U.S. but also the Latin American countries that it affects most.
Maybe changing course is the best decision for the future.
David Scheuermann is a 20-year-old mass communication and computer science sophomore from Kenner. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_dscheu.
�e Daily Reveille
OpinionWednesday, April 25, 2012 page 9
Legalizing drugs to curb cartels is worth consideringMANUFACTURING DISCONTENTDAVID SCHEUERMANNColumnist
Contact David Scheuermann [email protected]
SCUM OF THE GIRTHPARKER CRAMERColumnist
Contact Parker Cramer at [email protected]
Secret Service agents were just having well-deserved fun
LACYE BEAUREGARD / The Daily Reveille
� e Daily Reveillepage 10 Wednesday, April 25, 2012
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GREAT HOURS! GREAT PAY! Texas Roadhouse is currently hir-ing!! Come by 10360 N. Mall Dr, M-T, between 2 and 4 pm for an interview. Hope to see you soon!
225.293.0144
ICCESSORIZE is looking for an energetic, dependable, and sales
oriented person to add to its staff. Must be able to work some nights and some weekends. Please send
resumes to [email protected]
YMCA CERTIFIED LIFE-GUARDS NOW HIRING:. Flex
schedules. We will train you! Cer-tifi cation classes offered starting May 2012. Apply at any YMCA
branch location:A. C. Lewis (ask for Abby)
C. B. Pennington, Jr. (ask for Erin)Paula G. Manship (ask for Billie)
Southside (ask for Jessica)ExxonMobil (ask for Toni)
Dow Westside (ask for Kayne)
EARN $1000-$3200 A month to drive our brand new cars with ads.
www. AdCarPay.com
ZEELAND ST. MARKET HIR-ING for all positions for breakfast
and lunch. Open from 7am til 2:30pm Monday through Saturday.
Apply within.2031 Perkins Road 225.387.4546
WEB DESIGNER Advanced student to help revise pro web site
225.272.8345
EDITORIAL & SALES IN-TERNSHIPS BIC Media Solu-tions is expanding our custom
book division. We are looking to add freelance writers and part-time
sales trainees to work on several upcoming projects. If you would like to gain hands-on experience
and earn some extra income, we would like to hear from you. Please submit rÈsumÈ and work
samples to Wendy Landry at [email protected]. For in-
formation about sales, contact Earl Heard or Brandy McIntire at (225)
751-9996. 225.751.9996
CAN YOU SAY WHAT YOU NEED to say (awesomely) in 140
characters or less? Doyou dream up fantastic, power-
ful Facebook posts? Utilize your creativity
and gift of gab at LSU Student Media! Management position
available, sendresume to [email protected] or stop by B34 Hodges Hall
to fi ll outan application toda
CASEMANAGER NEEDED Entry level position for recent college graduate with Human Service degree. Must be orga-nized, have excellent computer skills, and possess an outgoing
and pleasant personality. You will provide casemanagement for 30 individuals with developmental disabilities. Salary is $26,000.00 year. Send resume and references
to : [email protected] 225.216.1199
COOKS, BUSSERS AND HOSTESS at Ruth’s Chris Steak
House Baton RougeCome fi ll out an application be-
tween 2pm-4pm Monday- Friday4836 Constituion Ave.
225.925.016
GRAPHIC DESIGNER NEED-ED for t shirt printing business. Knowledge of Illustrator a must. Flexible hours, close to campus.
Dream Silk Screens 225.383.8914
NOW HIRING Business is Good!
DRURY INN & SUITES PART-TIME FRONT DESK
Starting @ $ 9.50 /hr. Customer Service Experience
Preferred 225.766.2022
NICHE RESTAURANTnow hiring servers & bartenders,
apply within. 225.300.4916
DENTAL OFFICEP/T assistant/receptionist needed. Great opportunity for those inter-ested in the dental/medical fi eld.
Fax resume to 225-766-2122.
YMCA FRONT DESK AT-TENDANTS Summer Part-time fl ex schedules - must we willing to work 3-5 days/week including
nights & weekends. Customer ser-vice, multi task, computer skills.
FREE membership! Apply in person: C. B. Pen-
nington, Jr. YMCA, 11550 Old Hammond Hwy. Baton Rouge, LA
70815. 272-9622
FINANCIAL/MARKETING COORDNATOR
Dental offi ce, Part Time, Tues.-Fri. Perkins/ Bluebonnet area Fax resume to 7694896 or email: ap-
PARKVIEW BAPTIST PRE-SCHOOL
Preschool Afternoon Teachers needed
3-6pm fl ex days.
no degree required.
Please email your resume to [email protected]
STUDENTPAYOUTS. COMPaid Survey Takers Needed In
Baton Rogue. 100% Free To Join! Click On Surveys.
BURGIN APARTMENTS 1br/1ba, $589/$500dep. 175 Bur-gin Ave, 10-unit building 2miles from LSU on bus route. No pets.
225.252.3163
LEIGH’S COVE CONDO 2/2, $1200/mth, very nice,
close to campus, w/s inc, gated 504.975.6745
3-3 BEDROOM CONDOS FOR RENT AT Brightside Estates Near
LSU/ Brightside and Nicholson. Amenities: Gated, Spacious
living, pool,&beach volleyball. email [email protected] or call
225.266.9063
NICHOLSON LAKES 4bdrm.,2ba, washer/dryer$1500.
mo 504.717.5188
STORE YOUR STUFF STU-DENT SPECIAL
Get fi rst month FREE. Climate
� e Daily Reveille page 11Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Sponsored By:
SLOPPY
Campus Crossings LSU Career Services Northgate Apartments LSU Offce of Parking Traffc & Transportation
Pi Beta PhiDelta Delta Delta Kappa DeltaLouie’s Cafe
Geico Local Offce First Year Experience Mellow Mushroom College of Humanities & Social Sciences
April Is Alcohol Awareness Month
Control of LA Self-Storage and Stor-It Mini Warehouses. 3147
College Dr. just past the RR tracks. Enter thru College Creek Shopping Center (FedEx store). Various sizes, covered loading, video cameras, and alarms. 24/7 service with our Insomniac kiosk
(rent a unit, make a payment, buy a lock) - very cool. We Love
Students. 225.927.8070
$AVE $ WALK TO LSU!LARGE 1 BR APT. 769-7757 /
266-8666 / 278-6392
LAKE BEAU PRE LEASE 3Bdrom 2bath w/d dw all appli-
ances 2car gar. Near Tiger stadium 1700/mo avail May 15
[email protected] 410.703.8742
FOR RENT- Fully furnished apartment for short-term rental.
$650/ mos includes utilities, basic cable and high speed Internet.
Very close to campus. Available May 1- July 31. 985.634.1290
3 BR 2 BA HOUSE FOR RENT Meadowbend Subd. Near LSU.
Pets welcome.$1100. Mo. $500. dep. Call
985.688.2757
SUMMER APARTMENT? Sub-let apartment for June and July.
Near campus, on bus route, pool. $535/month with $200 deposit.
Text me. 318.455.1684
LUXURY CONDOS Spacious 1 & 2 BDRMS gated, courtyard w/
pool,granite, wood fl oors & more - Jr’s,
Sr’s & law students welcomed $795 to $925 225.756.8355
HIGHLAND CRK $1400. MO. 3bdrm 2ba very nice home.avail
june 1st 504-201-4170
HOUSES 3/1 814 Geranium $995
2/1 836 W. Garfi eld $550Apts. studio $395 2/1 $495-$595
[email protected] Properties 388-9858
FOR RENT 2 bedrooms in 4b/4ba Campus Crossings
Brightside, fully furnished, wash/dry, all utilities (except electric-
ity) included, females only, $535/month, available June 2012-July 2013, [email protected]
337.368.6115
RESERVE NOW FOR 2012-2013 3 Bed/3 Bath @ $1650/
Month, Free Optional Monthly Maid Service!
Brightside on LSU Bus RouteArlington Trace & Summer Grove
CondosParking for 3 & All Appliances
Included Fantastic PoolAvailable for 1 Year Lease Begin-ning June 1st, July 1st & Aug 1st.
[email protected] 310.989.4453
GREAT CONDO FOR RENT2bd/2ba Condo off College Dr.
1100 sq.ft. Furnished
$1500/ month
(includes water, cable, WiFi)
Available June 1st225.696.0105
2BR 4119 BURBANK $650 You’ll love Goodrich. Walk or bike to class on path across the
old golf course. Near Walk-Ons, Mello-Mushroom, Izzo’s & Taco
Bell. LSU bus route. No pets. $400 dep. www.lsubr.com for
pictures/fl oor plans. [email protected] for more info.
TWO BEDROOM UNITS AVAILABLE FOR NEW SE-MESTER $950 T0 $1100 PER
MONTH 225.413.9800
3 BR, 3 bath gated townhome. Near LSU. $1500/mo. (225) 752-
8842. 225.752.4825
IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY 3BR/1.5BA. $300/month+utilities.
No deposit. 2 Rooms available. 10 minutes from LSU campus.
FEMALE ROOMMATE NEEDED ASAP 2BR Tiger
Manor $525/mo to take over 1yr lease in August or sooner amei-
I’M A TALL, HANDSOME guy looking for a fun-loving,
attractive Christian girl to take walks, watch movies, and take
day trips with. Email me at [email protected]
THIS LITTLE PIGGY went to the market because he was
feeling all alone. He found a lot of gumbo, but of friends he saw none. Looking for a few good pals to hang around the barn-yard with on Friday! Contact:
INTELLECTUAL NICE GUY looking for a female friend to do
things with. (i.e. texting, getting lunch, hanging out...) Emphasis on person to person activities. Not looking for anything fancy just someone to talk to while
getting lunch or over coffee or just hanging out when there is
nothing better to do. I understand people are busy so not looking
for something everyday but every once in a while would be nice to actually have someone to hang out with. SERIOUS offers only please. If interested or have any questions, contact me at [email protected]. Put personal
ad or something to distinguish your email in the subject line in
case it goes in spam.
BORED So let’s be friends. Text me
225-334-8828
NEED MORE FRIENDS? Did you move far from home? Do your current friends suck? Do you just wish you knew more
people? We are currently taking applications for new friends to be enlisted among the ranks of our own. Do you think you are
worthy? email us at [email protected] and fi ll out our application to see if we fi nd
you suitable to be our new friend. No guarantee on the amount of
spots available.
�e Daily Reveillepage 12 Wednesday, April 25, 2012