Traffi c fl ow in Baton Rouge is about to take another step to-ward improvement.

The 22nd project within The Green Light Plan , a transporta-tion program to improve roadway infrastructure and citizen safety throughout East Baton Rouge Par-ish , will add six turning lanes to the intersection of Perkins Road t Stanford Avenue and Acadian Thruway.

The new lanes include a new right-turn lane and an additional left-turn lane to the southbound Acadian Thruway and westbound Perkins Road , a new right-turn lane to the north-bound Stanford Avenue and an additional left-turn lane to the eastbound Perkins Road .

M a y o r -President Melvin “Kip” Holden , District 12 Councilman Rodney “Smokie” Bourgeois and District 10 Councilwoman Tara Wicker announced the plans Thursday.

“This project was designed as a direct response to alleviat-ing current bottlenecks and areas prone to traffi c congestion while

preparing our key roadways and intersections for future growth,” Holden said.

Holden said the Perkins at Stanford and Acadian intersec-tion is one of the most widely used entrances to the

University’s campus.The project will also provide

THE DAILY REVEILLEWWW.LSUREVEILLE.COMVolume 114, Issue 52 Friday, November 6, 2009

Tide’s Mark Ingram playing to Heisman

levels, page 5.

SPORTSAWAY GAME GUIDECheck out lsureveille.com for a list of activities in Tuscaloosa

and information about the Tide.

MEGAN J. WILLIAMS / The Daily Reveille

East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Kip Holden announces Thursday the addition of six lanes to Perkins Road at Acadian Thruway.

Holden: Perkins-Acadian to extend to six lanesPlan aims to ease corner’s traffi c fl ow By Mary Walker BausStaff Writer

BR COMMUNITY

No. 9 LSU No. 3 Alabama

STOP, DROP AND ROLL THE TIDETuscaloosa, Ala.

LSU secondary looking to put stop on ’Bama receiving corps

By Rachel Whittaker • Chief Sports Writer

It’s no secret Alabama sophomore running back Mark Ingram is an integral part of the Crimson Tide of-fense, with 1,004 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns — eight rushing — in eight games this season.

But the Alabama wide receiving corps provides a balance to the unit. Junior quarterback Greg McElroy has completed passes to 17 different receivers, and reign-ing Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year Julio Jones remains a threat to opposing defenses.

McElroy and the Crimson Tide passing game will face a rejuvenated Tiger secondary on Saturday in Tusca-loosa, Ala., in a top-10 showdown in Bryant-Denny Sta-

dium between No. 9 LSU (7-1, 4-1) and No. 3 Alabama (8-0, 5-0).

The LSU pass defense is No. 24 in the country and tied for No. 17 nationally with 11 interceptions, already surpassing their total of eight in 2008.

LSU sophomore cornerback Patrick Peterson said he requested to guard Jones on Saturday. Jones, a 2009 preseason All-American, caught a 24-yard pass against Peterson to set up Alabama’s game-winning touchdown against LSU last season.

“[Jones] is a talented guy, but we’re probably the

photos by MAGGIE BOWLES and GRANT GUTIERREZ / The Daily Reveille

[Left] LSU senior safety Chad Jones. [Above] Alabama sophomore wide receiver Julio Jones.

‘‘‘This project was

designed as a direct response to alleviate current bottlenecks.’

Melvin “Kip” HoldenEBR Parish mayor-president

TRAFFIC, see page 11

PASS DEFENSE, see page 11

lsureveille.comLog on to see the Tigers’ progress this year on the Season Tracker.

Not making the trip?Watch the game on CBS in Baton Rouge. Kick off

is at 2:30 p.m.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

In the Nov. 5 article titled “‘No Shave November’ popular-ity growing nationwide,” the pull-out quote misidentifi ed renewable natural resources sophomore Matt Wyatt.

In the Nov. 5 article titled “‘Underground’ art on display,” the photo caption misidentifi ed Marc “Never Rotten!” Fresh and his piece “Untitled.”

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 Com-munication. A single issue of The Daily Reveille is free. To purchase additional copies for 25 cents, please contact the Offi ce of Student Media in B-34 Hodges Hall. The Daily Reveille is published daily during the fall and spring semesters and semi-weekly during the summer semester, except during holidays and fi nal exams. Second-class copies postage paid at Baton Rouge, La., 70803. Annual weekly mailed subscriptions are $125, semester weekly mailed subscriptions are $75. Non-mailed student rates are $4 each regu-lar semester, $2 during the summer; one copy per person, addition-al copies 25 cents each. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Daily Reveille, B-39 Hodges Hall, LSU, Baton Rouge, La.,70803.

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Log on to lsureveille.com to see pictures of cats lurking around the State Street area.

Nation & World THE DAILY REVEILLE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009 PAGE 2

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Hurricane Ida rips into Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Hurricane Ida ripped into Nica-ragua’s Atlantic coast Thursday, destroying homes, damaging schools and downing bridges be-fore losing steam and becoming a tropical storm.

Ida clocked 75 mph (125 kph) winds when it struck land around sunrise in Tasbapauni.

Chinese activist risks jail with letter to Obama

BEIJING (AP) — Thousands of people will send letters to Presi-dent Barack Obama this year. Few besides Yang Zili are likely to risk jail by doing so.

A Chinese dissident recently freed after eight years in prison, Yang said Thursday he is seeking Obama’s help in gaining medical parole for two friends who were jailed with him for forming a po-litical study group.

Army: 12 die, 31 wounded in Fort Hood shooting

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A sol-dier opened fi re at a U.S. Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, unleashing a stream of gunfi re that left 12 people dead and 31 wound-ed. Authorities killed the gunman and apprehended two other soldiers suspected in what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. mili-tary base.

The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said at a news conference. He said all the ca-sualties took place at the base’s Sol-dier Readiness Center.

Medical marijuana shops abound in California

SEBASTOPOL, Calif. (AP) — The surge in medical marijuana in California has left many com-munities scrambling to regulate the free-for-all, while others are trying to ban the drug altogether. The issue took on greater urgency

after the Obama administration announced looser federal mari-juana guidelines last month.

Some local governments are looking to take an approach similar to Sebastopol, where of-fi cials welcome the business as a strong source of tax revenue dur-ing the recession.

First lady praises employees at Energy Department

WASHINGTON (AP) — On a visit to the Energy Department on Thurs-day, fi rst lady Michelle Obama quizzed middle-school students about red blood cells and nanotech-nology during a practice science quiz competition.

Mrs. Obama also praised depart-ment employees during her 13th stop on a tour of the federal bureaucracy.

“You don’t often get the thanks that you deserve,” she said. “Some-times you get a lot of the blame and none of the credit for the progress that has gone on in this country.”

Pennington to receive about $6M to study exercise, age

(AP) — The Pennington Biomedi-cal Research Center is getting about $6 million over the next two years to study whether a specifi c exercise program can stave off disability in older people.

The LSU campus and seven other universities each will enroll about 200 people who cannot walk a quarter of a mile.

Half will get education about healthy aging. The rest will get train-ing in stretching, balance, leg exer-cises and walking.

The University of Florida’s In-stitute on Aging in Gainesville is in charge of the $29.5 million program.

Researchers will evaluate whether it helps daily living activ-ity and thinking, and avoids injuries from falls and of major walking dis-ability. They will also assess the in-tervention’s cost-effectiveness.

Pennington Biomedical Re-search Center is located on Perkins Road.

State high school Graduation Exit Exam to end

(AP) — The state is about to re-place its high school exit exam.

Under existing rules, high school students have to pass the Graduation Exit Exam and meet other course requirements to earn a high school diploma.

But that system, which won praise for narrowing the achieve-ment gap, is about to be scrapped in favor of end-of-course tests.

Southern Democrats cast wary eye at election results

WASHINGTON (AP) — South-ern Democrats who watched the trouncing of their party’s guber-natorial nominee in Virginia this week are starting to worry that a rising anti-Democratic tide in the South may reverse their hard-fought gains from the last two na-tional elections.

BSU Presents the 2009 Fall Gala: “A Sophisticated Night in Harlem”

Friday, Nov. 6 @ 7-11pmin the Student Union Cotillian Ballroom

ONGOING IN NOVEMBER

DO YOU HAVE AN OCCURRENCE?Call Andrew at the Student

Media Offi ce578-6090, 9AM- 5PM or

E-mail: offi cemanager@lsureveille.com

Follow The Daily Reveille on Twitter:@TDR_news, @TDR_sports and @lsureveille.

Find The Daily Reveille on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsureveille.Find The Daily Reveille on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsureveille.

7:20 a.m.

8:20 a.m.

Noon

3:20 p.m.

4:20 p.m.

5:20 p.m.

East Baton Rouge Parish resi-dents will vote next Saturday on Mayor-President Kip Holden’s bond issue, a $901 million tax package a full year in the making.

With only about a week left be-fore the vote, supporters and detrac-tors of the largest Baton Rouge pub-lic improvements campaign since the ’60s have been rallying support to each side.

If the measure passes Nov. 14, East Baton Rouge Parish would see a new half-cent sales tax and a 9.9-mills property tax, about $41.5 mil-lion and $31 million per year, respec-tively.

Those funds would go to new public facilities in downtown Baton Rouge — like new parking garages and a Public Safety Complex. They would also go toward parish-wide projects, including drainage and a new parish prison.

Some of the newest supporters of the bond include Sen. Mary Lan-drieu, D-La., and Lieutenant Gover-nor Mitch Landrieu, who announced their support Tuesday.

Rannah Gray, a political and media consultant for Holden’s office, said the issue has been supported by both the Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce and multiple labor

unions.“It tells you how this issue has

serious support when business and labor can come together and accept this will be good for everyone,” Gray said.

Civic leaders of Baker also en-dorsed the bond Tuesday, including support from the mayor, police chief and fire chief.

The new parish prison proposed in the bond would be built just west of Baker and garnered support from the Baker police department for the vote.

Baker officials also said the city would benefit from the proposed drainage and sewage projects the parish desperately needs.

Gray said it is important to con-vince the areas outside Baton Rouge to support the vote. She said resi-dents of Baker, Central and Zachary could all benefit from improvements to the Baton Rouge economy.

Zachary’s mayor Henry Mor-ton said he still does not support the proposal because it lacks attention to many parish-wide issues in favor of focusing on downtown Baton Rouge.

“When I know something is right, I support it. And when I know it’s not, I don’t,” Morton said. “I still don’t believe this bond issue is right for the parish.”

Morton also said the unstable economy makes voting on an expen-sive, long-term project ill-timed.

The grassroots organization Progress Is formed last year to support the bond issue and has

continued supporting the program throughout the debate.

Todd Teepell, a founding mem-ber of Progress Is, said the young people who make up much of his organization are investing in Baton Rouge by supporting the bond.

“Our opinion is that Baton Rouge is a good city but is nowhere close to reaching its potential,” Tee-pell said. “For some people, it’s a test to see if they can really influence the direction of the city.”

Teepell said Progress Is will continue to deliver information to local residents and dispel misinfor-mation through canvassing and live meetings until the Nov. 14 vote.

Though they support infrastruc-ture improvements downtown, The Baton Rouge Tea Party has spoken out against the bond because of the ALIVE campaign, a proposed edu-cational and informational facility that would be funded by the bond.

“There is no private investment willing to come in and take the risk for the project,” said Dwight Hud-son, legislative action chairman for the BRTP. “That should be a red flag for voters that the proposal is too risky.”

Hudson said BRTP might be more willing to support the taxes if they were separated into different is-sues. As it stands, the bond vote re-quires people to vote yes or no on a large package of proposals.

Undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences are getting hands-on research expe-rience through the Arts and Sci-ences Program in Research, or ASPIRE.

Through ASPIRE, founded last year by former dean Guillermo Ferreyra, undergraduates submit a topic of research interest, and Ja-net McDonald, associate dean and head of ASPIRE, pairs students with professors in similar fields of research, with the ultimate goal of attending a conference where the students will present research findings.

“The idea is to get you as an undergraduate beyond the class-room experience,” McDonald said. “Going to class is great, but one of the best ways to learn something is to learn by doing it.”

McDonald said the pilot pro-gram last year proved successful, and the program’s funding now supports room for [20 students and advisers.] Currently, 18 stu-dents are enrolled in the program.

The program is funded by

grants from the Board of Regents and the College of Arts and Sci-ences totaling $65,000 for two years, McDonald said.

The professors do not get paid for participation in the program, but some become co-authors on the research project.

ASPIRE pays for the student, as well as the mentor, to attend the conference, plus expenses equal-ing up to $1,000.

“That’s the unique and re-ally fantastic part about ASPIRE

because most undergraduate stu-dents do not get the opportunity to go to such a conference, let alone present at it,” McDonald said.

McDonald said conferences can range from regional, national and international. Last year, one student traveled to Dublin, Ire-land, for his presentation.

Christina Gary, communica-tion disorders senior, will present her research findings at the Amer-ican Speech-Language-Hearing Association on Nov. 21 in New

Orleans.Gary said she is glad ASPIRE

will fund her trip because confer-ences can be expensive.

Gary said Brittan Barker, communication disorders pro-fessor, supervises her work on a project entitled “Mothers’ speech to infants with and without Down syndrome,” where Gary analyzes recordings of mothers playing with their infants and tracks if there is a difference between how mothers communicate with chil-dren with Down syndrome and those without it.

“These conferences are very competitive,” McDonald said. “So far, all of our students have been accepted in their conferences because they are doing good work and are being mentored really well.”

McDonald said the presenta-tion is a great way for the students to network, and it will give them an advantage when applying to

graduate school.“It’s very unusual to have ei-

ther a conference presentation or publication as an undergraduate, so if you’re interested in going to law school, medical school or graduate school, that’s going to make you stand out and let you get looked at seriously,” she said.

Charlotte Gates, psychology senior, traveled to Minneapolis in September to give a poster pre-sentation on her research on the neurocognition of schizotypy — the genetic risk for developing schizophrenia.

“It’s the best thing I’ve done academically to prepare for grad school,” she said.

Applications for the ASPIRE program are available at the Col-lege of Arts and Sciences’ Web site.

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 3FrIDAy, novEmbEr 6, 2009

SHAINA HUNTSBERRY / The Daily Reveille

Charlotte Gates, psychology senior, talks on Nov. 5 about her September trip to Minneapolis, Minn. where she presented her research on the neurocognition of schizotypy.

ACADEMICS

ASPIRE to create undergraduate research opportunities

By Sarah EddingtonContributing Writer

Program to give students advantages

Contact Sarah Eddington at seddington@lsureveille.com

BR COMMUNITY

By Adam DuvernaySenior Staff Writer

Parish residents to vote on $901M tax package

Contact Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@lsureveille.com

Public speaks out about bond

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 4 FrIDAy, novEmbEr 6, 2009

Student Government hosted Chats with Mary Parker on Thurs-day in Free Speech Alley, but only one student noticed.

Typically, Chancellor Mi-chael Martin is guest of the Chats series. Today Martin was replaced by Mary Parker, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions and Student Aid, because SG officials wanted to give students a chance to speak with a student aid official.

Although Parker stood in Free Speech Alley for an hour, only one student who was not associated with SG noticed and asked a ques-tion about his finances.

And while students passed Parker’s table and didn’t ask her about anything, Parker told The Daily Reveille she disagrees with LSU System President John Lom-bardi’s comments to the Post Sec-ondary Education Review Com-mission regarding an overhaul of the TOPS program.

Lombardi suggested TOPS be changed to a one-time merit award due to the amount of students who qualify for TOPS despite demon-strating no financial need.

“The best scenario would be to leave TOPS alone,” Parker said. “The impact of a cap on TOPS would drastically impact enroll-ment.”

Parker said if the program has to be streamlined, the specifications for qualifying for TOPS should be raised to be less inclusive.

Parker said this remedy would keep TOPS as a completely merit-based award as it was designed to be and also give high school stu-dents more incentive to reach the higher qualifications.

Members of SG either frater-nized with passing friends or at-tempted to attract attention to the free scantrons, rather than inform-ing students who the nondescript University official standing behind the SG table was.

When SG members did point out who Parker was, students said they didn’t have questions.

As the 2009 hurricane season draws to a close, Tropical Storm Ida threatens to enter the Gulf of Mexico and end the below-average season with a bang.

Ida, which hovered over Nicara-gua on Thursday, is expected to travel over Honduras where it will encoun-ter mountainous terrain, which could possibly break up the storm, said Louisiana State climatologist Barry Keim.

However, if it survives its pas-sage through the mountains and emerges in the Caribbean Sea, it could remain a tropical storm for three or four days and possibly make its way into the Gulf of Mexico on

Monday morning, Keim said. Assuming Ida makes it into the

Gulf, the National Hurricane Center forecasts its landfall in southeastern Louisiana, which would mark the first recorded hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana during November and the end of the hurricane season.

Keim attributed the “relatively quiet” 2009 hurricane season to El Niño, a weather pattern during which years occur when there are unusu-ally warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

At present, this hurricane season has only had nine named storms. A typical hurricane season has 10 — but he said most years since 1995 had above average hurricane activity, including the 2005 hurricane season with 28 named storms, one of which was Hurricane Katrina.

Nan Walker, professor and director of the Earth Scan Laboratory,

said El Niño events occur every two to seven years, and we are currently experiencing a “weak” El Niño.

During years when there are a lot of hurricanes in the North Atlan-tic Ocean, particularly in the Western Atlantic, Walker said there are not many in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. She attributed this relationship to El Niño.

“Generally, whenever there’s an El Niño in the Pacific, we have fewer hurricanes than normal,” Walker said.

In addition to experiencing few-er hurricanes, Walker said El Niño years are also marked by lower tem-peratures.

“El Niño, in terms of weather here in Louisiana, tend to create rela-tively cool and wet winters,” Keim said. “More than likely ... we can ex-pect a wetter [winter].”

The southeastern portion of the United States is forecast to have lower than normal temperatures,

while the southern coastal area is forecasted to have more precipitation than usual, according to Climate Pre-diction Center forecasts.

For instance, Keim said the most recent “intense” El Niño was in late 1997 and into early 1998 when Loui-siana saw a “whopping” 15.43 inches of rain in January. Other recent El Niño years include 1991, 1992 and 1993, when Louisiana received about 10 inches each January.

A normal January, like 1994 through 1997, saw about six inches of rain each year, Keim said.

However, the estimated 12 inch-es of rain that drenched Baton Rouge during October should not be attrib-uted to El Niño, Keim said. Past El Niño years did not see its effects in October but in December, January and February.

THE DAILY REVEILLEACADEMICS

Parker: ‘Leave TOPS alone’By Xerxes A. WilsonStaff Writer

Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at xwilson@lsureveille.com

WEATHER

Tropical Storm Ida to possibly move into GulfEl Niño blamed for idle hurricane season

By Lindsey MeauxContributing Writer

Contact Lindsey Meaux at lmeaux@lsureveille.com

Another obstacle looms in front of the LSU soccer team’s quest to become the school’s most successful team.

Just as No. 16 LSU (13-4-3, 8-2-1) has failed to get past Flor-ida in the regular season, the Ti-gers have also fallen in the South-eastern Conference tournament’s

semifi nal round in back-to-back years.

“Hopefully, we’ve been bat-tle-tested,” said LSU coach Brian

Lee . “With this group of seniors, it’s one last chance to get through the semifi nals and hopefully win [the tournament].”

The Tigers get another crack at advancing to the champion-ship round tonight against Auburn (10-7-3, 6-5-0) . The SEC’s other Tigers defeated Ole Miss, 2-1 , Wednesday night, setting up a rematch with LSU, who defeated Auburn, 2-0 , on Oct. 4.

“We watched them play last night,” Lee said. “We’ve both

The regular season schedule still has seven matches remaining, but the No. 19 LSU volleyball team is treating each match like it could be its last.

“We’re pretending like we’re already in the fi rst and second round [of the NCAA tournament],” said freshman libero Sam Delahoussaye . “We’re doing this to help us get pre-pared.”

LSU coach Fran Flory has taken preparation for the postseason matches a step farther. Flory gave each team member a laminated card with the NCAA tournament logo and an inscription that reads, “First and Second Round participant,” following the team’s practice on Wednesday .

“The staff thought this would be a good way to keep the team focused through the end of the sea-son,” Flory said. “Also, this will help them practice to play in the NCAA tournament because there are so many factors that come into play.”

But the postseason mentality is not just for matches. Flory has implemented a practice regiment that mimics what the Tigers will do once the NCAA tournament begins roughly one month after LSU (18-5, 12-2) takes on Ole Miss (8-16, 2-12) and Arkansas (11-14, 5-9) this weekend.

“We’re practicing like it’s the practice leading up to [the postsea-son match],” Flory said. “Friday night is the fi rst round against Ole Miss, and the second round will be Sunday against Arkansas.”

Sports THE DAILY REVEILLE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009 PAGE 5

When the LSU football team takes the fi eld Sat-urday at Bryant-Denny Stadium to face the Alabama Crimson Tide, lining up opposite the LSU defense at running back will be sophomore Mark Ingram.

The Flint, Mich., native fl irted with Michigan State and Iowa be-fore eventually committing to Ala-bama.

“I wish he would have stayed in the Midwest,” LSU coach Les Miles joked. “He’s certainly a great player for them.”

Ingram rushed for 12 touch-downs as a true freshman and is having a Heisman-trophy caliber season as a sophomore. He has been mentioned as a Heisman candidate by several media outlets including ESPN.com.

Ingram, much like the way he runs, is aggressively focused when trying to help his team to victory.

Ingram’s teammates describe his running as “de-termined.”

ON THE MARKAlabama running back Mark

Ingram enjoying breakout sophomore season

By Amos MoraleSports Contributor

ED REINKE / The Associated Press

[Above] Alabama sophomore running back Mark Ingram (22) celebrates with junior quarterback Greg McElroy on Oct. 3 after a touchdown run against Kentucky in Lexing-ton, Ky. [Left] Ingram (22) runs past Mississippi defenders Oct. 10 in Oxford, Miss.

INGRAM, see page 7

SOCCER

LSU to face Auburn in semis

Tigers take on postseason mentality

VOLLEYBALL

By Rob LandrySports Contributor

Team has never advanced to fi nalsBy David HelmanSports Writer

REMATCH, see page 7

MENTALITY, see page 7

‘‘‘[LSU and Auburn] have

developed into traditional rivals — usually it’s

either us or them to win the [SEC] West.’

Brian LeeLSU soccer coach

ROGELIO V. SOLIS / The Associated Press

MAGGIE BOWLES / The Daily Reveille

LSU sophomore midfi elder Kellie Murphy drives the ball away from Mississippi State sophomore midfi elder Kim Pettit on Oct. 18 during the Tigers’ 4-0 win.

‘That’s what his mindset is — make the other guy ... not

want to play against him anymore.’Javier ArenasAlabama senior defensive back

THE DAILY REVEILLEPAGE 6 FrIDAy, novEmbEr 6, 2009

Two LSU teams will be in Tuscaloosa this weekend, but one will be taking the pool instead of the gridiron.

The LSU swimming and div-ing teams will face Alabama at 3 p.m. today. Following the meet, they’ll get back on the bus and head east to Tallahassee, Fla., for a dual meet against Florida State at 1 p.m. tomorrow.

The teams left at 9 a.m. Thurs-day and will spend a lot of time on the road during the next few days.

“As soon as we finish ’Bama, we’re getting on the bus, and we’re driving straight to Tallahassee,” Junior Clint Hallum said. “We’re hoping to get there by 1 a.m. for a midday meet against FSU.”

Hallum said the team knows it will be a tough two days, so two things are necessary for this week-end.

“First, we’re not holding back against Alabama, our first meet on Friday,” Hallum said. “We have to go all out in every event we’re swimming because we’re going to have to do that to win. If we’re not 100 percent against ‘Bama we’re going to run the risk of losing that meet.”

Hallum said the second thing the team needs to do this weekend is to properly recover and warm down from each event.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time on the road,” Hallum said. “We need to do all of the necessary

steps so that each time we’re on the blocks, we’re 100 percent recov-ered and ready to swim.”

Hallum said the team swam double meets his freshman year.

“I remember it’s tough, and we didn’t respond as well as we should have ... in that second meet,” Hal-lum said.

Hallum said he hopes the up-perclassmen can use experiences from that meet to help the under-classmen.

Spring practice for any colle-giate football program is a time to start rebuilding the team, from re-vamping a defense or offense or re-placing key position players.

For LSU’s gymnastics team, fall practice this season is a time for the Tigers to replace former standout gymnast Ashleigh Clare-Kearney, an All-American and two-time national champion.

But senior all-arounder Sabrina Franceschelli isn’t too worried about having to replace Clare-Kearney be-cause she knows the team returns four All-American seniors to this season’s roster in hopes of making a third-consecutive Super Six appear-ance.

The process of starting new with

fall practice began Sept. 20.“The four of us are trying to

build a leadership,” Franceschelli said. “We’re trying almost to not re-place Ashleigh at all but get to that standard at the beginning of the year. She was one of the higher-scoring gymnasts, but now we feel like we have four high-scoring gymnasts.”

One important aspect of the Tigers’ fall practice has been condi-tioning.

Senior Summer Hubbard said fall practice has been useful in get-ting the team into what she believes is the best physical shape in which it has ever been.

Hubbard added fitness training now will help the team be able to compete at a high level come the end of the season.

“Our fitness level is a lot bet-ter this year,” Hubbard said. “We are progressing a lot earlier and a lot faster than we were in the past, so we are in a great spot.”

Another thing taken care of in the fall is floor routine

choreography.Jewel Fourrier — daughter of

LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux — is unable to help as much as in the past with music selection and routine choreography because of the recent birth of her second child, pushing Clare-Kearney and former gymnast Paige Cipolloni to help make rou-tines.

LSU senior gymnast Susan Jackson said while the freshmen are getting routines in place, some up-

perclassmen may make small chang-es to routines to correct mistakes from last season.

“We have to perfect the small things that we had trouble with last year,” Jackson said. “For me, it’s lit-tle things like perfecting hand-stands on bars and sticking landings. All my skills will be the same, but I just want to perfect them. I’ve also got a new floor routine.”

Through two intrasquad meets, Jackson said she feels four or five

spots have been solidified in each apparatus for the Tigers’ lineups.

Breaux said the upperclassmen have been competing well, but she is worried about the middle of the lineup for her team.

“The depth of our team is going to have to come from kids with little or no experience,” Breaux said. “As they gain experience and confidence, the team is going to get better and better.”

But the future is looking bright for the Tigers, as both Breaux and Hubbard said they have been im-pressed with how well the freshmen have been competing early in fall practice.

“The freshmen are progressing well,” Hubbard said. “We have awe-some freshmen that are meshing well with the team. It’s all a new experi-ence for them, but they are doing a great job of pushing through it.”

There is an adage that reads, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

After winning two individual single titles earlier in the year at the Hoosier Classic in Indiana, the LSU women’s tennis team will push for a strong finish in its last tournament of the fall season today at the Har-vard Invitational in Boston, Mass.

The Lady Tigers’ four fresh-men will get their first look at indoor courts this season, as the four-team

tournament begins with doubles competition at 9 a.m., followed by singles action.

Harvard, Cornell and Brown — all members of the Ivy League — will compete with LSU in the three-day, round robin tournament.

This weekend will serve as a checkpoint for LSU women’s coach Tony Minnis’ squad, with the indoor season beginning in January.

“It helps from a recruiting standpoint when you’re recruiting kids in the [Northeast] area and also helps get experience playing indoor tennis because we’re going to face that a lot in the early part of the spring season,” Minnis said. “Hopefully it will serve both pur-poses well.”

LSU started hot in September

as senior Nicole Kantor and fresh-man Ebie Wilson took home singles trophies in Indiana, winning the Flight 1 and Flight 3 Champion-ships, respectively.

Wilson and fellow freshman Kaitlin Burns’ play has impressed Minnis..

“Everybody has made some re-ally nice strides,” Minnis said. “But they played pretty well considering it’s their first semester.”

The duo has only a combined singles record of 7-10 in the fall, but Minnis likes the effort and the way the pair has been competing.

GYMNASTICS

Freshmen impress Breaux earlyBy Andy SchwehmSports Writer

Tigers look to replace Clare-Kearney with four seniors

KRISTEN M’LISSA ROWLETT / The Daily Reveille

The women’s gymnastics team stretches during fall practice Nov. 3. The team prepares to replace former standout gymnast Ashleigh Clare-Kearney.

Contact Andy Schwehm at aschwehm@lsureveille.com

SWIMMING AND DIVING

LSU to take on Alabama, FSUBy Katherine TerrellSports Contributor

TENNIS

Team to play on indoor courts By Sean Isabella Sports Contributor

Lady Tigers to travel to Boston

Contact Katherine Terrell at kterrell@lsureveille.com

Contact Sean Isabella at sisabella@lsureveille.com

Team to compete in dual meets this weekend

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 7FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009

Even though the team is pre-paring as if it’s the postseason, the Tigers realize there are still regular season goals left to accomplish.

One of those goals, winning the Southeastern Conference West-ern Division championship, can be reached with one more SEC vic-tory.

“The fi rst goal we can reach is winning the West,” Flory said. “You have to win the West before you can have a chance to win the overall conference championship.”

LSU will face an Ole Miss squad Friday night that has been reeling as of late.

The Rebels have not won a match since a 3-0 victory against Arkansas on Oct. 14 .

The Tigers have also won fi ve consecutive matches against the Rebels , including a 3-0 win in the PMAC earlier this season.

But Flory said Ole Miss is a bet-ter team than its record indicates.

“We have a lot of respect for Ole Miss,” Flory said. “They’ve struggled recently, but they’ve had just a rash of injuries throughout the season. From what I hear, though, their team will be back in tact for this weekend.”

This weekend, the Rebels will see the return of sophomore outside hitter Katie Norris . Norris has been out for the past two weeks with an ankle injury.

Sunday afternoon, LSU will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to take on Arkansas.

The Razorbacks are another struggling team and have lost fi ve of their last six matches, but they are not playing as if their season is lost.

“[Arkansas] feels like if they win out they have a chance to be in the NCAA tournament,” Flory said. “Those kinds of teams can be dan-gerous.”

Following last weekend’s performances against Auburn and Georgia , LSU senior middle block-er Brittnee Cooper was named the Collegiate Volleyball Update Na-tional Player of the Week .

Cooper has recorded 287 kills this season. Her hitting percent-age is .384, and she averages 1.39 blocks per set, which ranks No. 14 nationally.

“I was very surprised to hear I won the award,” Cooper said. “My teammates helped me out a lot. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have won that honor.”

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played eight or nine games since then, and it looks like both teams are better. These two teams have developed into traditional rivals — usually it’s either us or them to win the [SEC] West.”

That assessment seems fi tting. LSU’s win against Auburn was the fi rst of a three-game Auburn los-ing streak, but Auburn has won fi ve of its last six games heading into tonight’s match.

“We are playing LSU, and they are a very dangerous team with a very offensive attack,” said Auburn sophomore midfi elder

Katy Frierson . “We have to match them. We have to play with the same intensity we have had in the last three games.”

Auburn notched its fi rst goal just three minutes into Wednes-day’s match against Ole Miss. Auburn freshman forward Mary Coffed and sophomore midfi elder Julie King both found the net off assists from Frierson , who leads the team with 10.

“One of our keys to the game was to come out early and come out strong with a lot of physical-ity. It was really important to get on the board fi rst,” Coffed said . “We like to get the ball up the

fi eld as fast as we can. Katy gave me a perfect cross, and I was able to place it far post, so lots of the credit goes to Katy .”

LSU has taken an easy ap-proach to the showdown, even with a two-game semifi nal losing streak on the line. Lee said some players caught a movie Thursday, while other caught up on school work.

“We had a good little training session,” Lee said. “Some of the players are studying, some are go-ing to the movies, and we have a study hall tonight.”

A win tonight would send LSU into uncharted territory —

the SEC tournament fi nal. The Tigers have dropped their last two semifi nal appearances to the tour-nament’s eventual champion — Florida in 2007 and Tennessee in 2008.

Lee said a tournament

championship would come as nice consolation after fi nishing just short of the regular season championship.

REMATCH, from page 5

Contact David Helman at dhelman@lsureveille.com

MENTALITY, from page 5

Contact Rob Landry at rlandry@lsureveille.com

“He’s the type of guy you don’t want to play against,” said Alabama senior defensive back Javier Arenas . “That’s what his mindset is — make the other guy quit and not want to play against him anymore.”

LSU senior defensive tackle Charles Alexander said Ingram is a “hell of a runner.”

“The more I see him run, he reminds me of a player that once played here — Alley Broussard,” Alexander said.

Ingram said one of his personal goals was to rush for 1,000 yards this season. He’s already accomplished that goal even with four games left on the schedule.

“All you can do is try to make improvements,” Ingram said. “You can never be satisfi ed — you’ve got to try and get better.”

Alabama junior linebacker Ro-lando McClain said facing Ingram in practice is not too bad but not be-cause Ingram does not give his best

effort.“We have somewhat of an

agreement — I won’t try to kill him every time I hit him, and he won’t try to run me over,” McClain joked.

Ingram has rushed for 1,004 yards, including a game where he tallied 246 yards on the ground with just 24 carries against South Caro-lina . He was also the Tide’s leading receiver in the 20-6 victory Oct. 17 with two catches for 23 yards.

Ingram has tallied the second-most rushing yards in the Southeast-ern Conference, and his eight touch-downs are good enough for second in the league. Ingram also averages 6.6 yards per carry.

Alabama senior offensive line-man Mike Johnson said he believes

Ingram’s ability to break tackles is why he has been able to gain so many yards on every carry.

“It’s really a treat to block for guys like that,” Johnson said. “We’re not going to be able to block everybody. The running backs have got to be responsible for one or two guys down the fi eld.”

Alexander said the Tigers are focusing on Ingram’s ability to break tackles.

“We’ve just got to go out there, wrap him up, tackle him and bring him down,” Alexander said. “You can’t go out there and arm-tackle Mark Ingram. He’ll run straight through you.”

Ingram’s play has Alabama tied for the conference lead with 17

rushing touchdowns . Though he’s had his name mentioned in Heisman talks, Johnson said the running back has stayed grounded.

“He’s getting a lot of attention this year, and the attention is war-ranted,” Johnson said. “He’s a great player, and he’s just been a pleasure to block for. Nothing has gone to his head.”

Ingram said he would vote for McClain for the Heisman. McClain said he’d vote give his Heisman vote to Ingram or Florida senior quarter-back Tim Tebow .

INGRAM, from page 5

‘‘‘You can’t go out

there and arm-tackle Mark Ingram. He’ll run straight through

you.’Charles Alexander

LSU senior defensive tackle

Contact Amos Morale at amorale@lsureveille.com

OpinionPAGE 8 FrIDAy, novEmbEr 6, 2009

THE DAILY REVEILLEThe 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 Communi-cation. 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 opinion@lsureveille.com 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 Reveil-le reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for space consideration without changing the origi-nal intent. The Daily Reveille also reserves the right to reject any letter without notification of the author. Writers must include their full names and phone numbers. The Daily Reveille’s editor-in-chief, hired ev-ery semester by the Louisiana State University Media Board, has final authority on all editorial decisions.

EDITorIAL PoLICIES & ProCEDUrES QUoTE oF THE DAy

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”

Oscar WildeIrish author and playwright

Oct. 16, 1854 — Nov. 30, 1900

Editorial Board

THE DAILY REVEILLE

NICHOLAS PERSACJERIT ROSER

ELLEN ZIELINSKIMATTHEW ALBRIGHT

ERIC FREEMAN JR.MARK MACMURDO

EditorManaging Editor, ContentManaging Editor, ProductionOpinion EditorColumnistColumnist

FREKE FRIDAY

Capra’s ‘Mr. Smith’ remains relevant 70 years laterTo protest the dearth of avail-

able options at the multiplex, I de-cided to raid the vault and watch one of those highly touted films from way back. I ended up seeing director Frank Capra’s 1939 film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

“Mr. Smith” is a Washington-themed morality play starring Sena-tor Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) fighting for good and Senator Har-rison Paine (Claude Rains) batting for evil.

The film opens as the credits roll to the strains of “Yankee Doo-dle Dandy,” and “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.” The first shot is a close-up of a reporter yelling into a phone, “Senator Samuel Fuller is dead.” The next shot shows Paine waking up the governor, who in turn calls on Jim Taylor, his political boss, for advice. The third and fourth scenes already expose the balance of power in the state. The governor is in bed, while Taylor is cashing chips with his friends. The Masters of the

Universe do not sleep.Paine had snuck in a bill to

build a state dam on private land. Taylor owned the land and planned to sell it to the state once the bill was passed. Count-ing on the po-litical naiveté of Smith, the gov-ernor appointed him to the office. Unfortunately, even the best laid plans of men are nuked by mere chance. Smith also wants to use that same piece of land for a Boy Scouts recreation park. These com-peting interests set up a magnetic political conflict which will reso-nate with even today’s audiences.

The main reason the film re-tains its power is superb acting by Stewart and Rains. Stewart, as seen in “Vertigo” and “Rear Window,” usually played the average man

laboring with impotence, who hides an undercurrent of steel beneath the “aw-shucks” demeanor. But never had this tension been put to greater effect than in his metamorphosis from neophyte to quick-witted ora-tor.

Rains provides able opposition with his depiction of Paine. As an idealist who had yields to corrup-tion and the influences of power in Washington, we watch him ditch his nobility and enter the senatorial ring like the seasoned gladiator he is.

“Mr. Smith” gushes with sin-cerity and bromides like “a man must stand for his ideals regardless of the opposition” or “one man is capable of making a change.” But is that the behavior we expect in our politicians? While all fights are im-portant, not all are worth dying for. The prudent politician knows the difference, which is why he argues for compromise (partisans of all stripes will disagree with that as-sessment).

It seems Capra’s veneration of ideals fosters quietism among the populace. “I won’t run for public office, lest I be corrupted,” says one person. His neighbor replies, “I won’t vote. Those people in Wash-ington are beholden to special inter-ests.” But in truth, we are all special interests.

The film also exposes the dif-ficulty of identifying the opposition in a democracy. During his filibus-ter, Smith promises to vacate the floor if the people of his state tell him to do so. Several baskets of mail urging him to quit are brought to Senate, but he doesn’t back down. One could argue the people’s voices were stifled by the political machine and if they were allowed to express their opinion it would be in Smith’s favor. Even if that were granted, it leaves me wondering how we could tell the difference. We watch the news and read about the Tea Partiers rising to take their country back. These groups claim

to know the pulse of the country, but how can we tell they aren’t simply a vocal minority? Not much has changed from President Bush’s transition to President Obama’s. Is it possible these protests are simply fevers stoked by invisible puppet masters like Jim Taylor?

So some might disagree, like I do, with the thesis presented by “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” But 70 years after its release, the fact we are still thrilled by its David v. Goliath struggle and elated by the success of the underdog is a testa-ment to how a film can transcend the milieu in which it was made.

Freke Ette is a political theory graduate student from Uyo, Nige-ria. You can follow him on Twitter @TDR_fette

Freke etteColumnist

Contact Freke Ette at fette@lsureveille.com

EAT LESS LEARN MORE

Louisiana should consolidate its college systemsMassachusetts, Maryland, Colo-

rado, Connecticut and New Jersey all have two things in common.

First, none of them have a col-lege football program ranked in the top 25. Second, 33 percent or more of each state’s population 25 years or older have a bachelor’s degree as of 2006. These states are, respectively, the top 5 in the nation for this sta-tistic.

The statistics could be affected by college graduates who move into or out of the states, but they are still reflective of the knowledge pos-sessed by large portions of the states’ populations.

College degrees are becoming more and more important in this day and age. After all, knowledge is power, right?

I would make a joke about where you think Louisiana might fall in these rankings, but everyone knows our state has a well-deserved terrible reputation when it comes to education. The great state of Louisi-ana places 45th on this list. Surpris-ing, right? I expected 50th, too, but we can’t forget Kentucky, Missis-sippi, Arkansas or West Virginia.

What’s my point? Louisiana needs a drastic change. Why? If Louisiana wants to compete with states like Massachusetts, its uni-versities need to produce more and

better college graduates, according to the National Governors’ Associa-tions’ Center for Best Practices. I’m assuming the majority of the popu-lation doesn’t want to be poor or dumb.

In working on improving any-thing, one commonly uses a success-ful example as a model.

In this practice, Louisiana fails with a passion.

These top states have one, uno, un, eins, state university or college system. Louisiana has three: the Uni-versity of Louisiana, Louisiana State University and Southern University Systems.

In August, State Treasurer John Kennedy recommended to the Com-mission on Streamlining Govern-ment the state eliminate all three systems and defer jurisdiction of the systems to the Louisiana Board of Regents. A bunch of bureaucratic discussion ensued, and the Chair of the commission deemed the recom-mendation inappropriate to the focus of the commission. He said the Post-secondary Education Review Com-mission (PERC) already exists, and the move would be under its scope for examination.

The minutes of the PERC ses-sions following the treasurer’s rec-ommendation have not yet been released, but the agendas for the

meetings are available. It mentions discussion of recommendations, but the press release from the session in-dicates no progress of the concept.

I can only speculate about why politicians want to maintain the administra-tive nightmare that is Loui-siana’s three higher education systems.

It could be Louisiana is full of cultures “steeped in tra-

dition,” and the universities around the state represent the inability of their “old, traditional” communities to change.

Maybe it’s just because Louisi-ana is “slow” when it comes to prog-ress. We’ve all seen what happens to the “slow” gazelles on Animal Planet — cheetah snacks.

It could be possible the ugly race monster has reared its head because one of the systems is composed of historically black colleges and uni-versities.

I’d like to think race plays the role in 2009 equivalent to that of Paris Hilton in life, but I know better than to be so naïve.

Consolidating the school sys-tems would enable the Board of Re-gents to raise the standards of lacking Louisiana universities. The schools that can’t meet the standards would lose state funding which would pro-vide spare money to spread around to the thriving universities.

Congress needs to put higher education on the forefront of its dis-cussions, not pass it around between different committees and commis-sions, or Louisiana will remain in the lower ranks of any of statistic worth mentioning.

Louisianians need to get smart if they want an economically competi-tive state. The first step is consolida-tion, so contact your representatives and “recommend” it.

Matthew Lousteau is a 20-year-old mechanical engineering junior from LaPlace. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_mlousteau.

BEST AND WITTIEST

cartoon courtesy of KING FEATURES SYNDICATE

Contact Matthew Lousteau at mlousteau@lsureveille.comMatthew

LousteauColumnist

OpinionFrIDay, november 6, 2009 PaGe 9

THE DAILY REVEILLE

WEB COMMENTSThose commenting on our Web site, lsureveille.com, have had a lot to say about the columns appearing in The Daily Reveille this week.

Commenters had this to say about opinion editor Matthew Al-bright’s Nov. 2 column, “Vatican, Catholic priests should stop be-ing politicians”:

“I wish you would under-stand this is about eternal salva-tion not something so insignifi-cant as politics. I pray you will come to repent and beg for God’s mercy.”

-Andrew

“What Mr. Albright does not seem to realize is that the Vati-can was actually responding to a request made by a large number of disaffected Anglicans, who said “we want in.” For example, the Wikipedia entry for the Tra-ditional Anglican Communion mentions them making such a re-quest back in 2007. So this is far from being a sinister plot hatched in Rome to take advantage of An-glicanism in its weakened state - one could argue that Rome actu-ally took its time before giving its answer. And given that these re-quests were coming from all over the world, it is quite normal that they were handled at a universal (i.e. papal) level.

Mr. Albright portrays this as a plot to gain numbers for the Catholic Church. This argument is not credible: even if 500,000 people were to come over under this provision, that represents less than 1% of the global Angli-can population, and 0.05% of the global Roman Catholic popula-tion. Not much of a growth curve there.

The real interest in this story, one that is much more positive, is that the proposed new structure will mean the formal inclusion of the Anglican spiritual heritage in the wider Roman Catholic fam-ily.”

-Father Thomas Dowd

“About 1% of the American population is Anglican/Episco-palian. Even if every single one of them entered the Catholic Church, it would have less effect on the US Catholic population than the annual Hispanic immi-gration from across the border.

Why are Protestant and secu-lar sources so upset about such a miniscule event? Perhaps they don’t like the fact that the Catho-lic Church is right, is generous, and is available seven days a week to receive anyone back into the arms of Christ.”

-Thomas Kellmeyer

Commenters had this to say about columnist Nathan Shull’s Nov. 2 column, “Families hav-ing too many children should be taxed”:

“Mr. Shull, obviously you do not think of children as children,

but only in terms of cost and resources and how they affect our planet, as if they were a prob-lem to be dealt with. You need to get your head out of your ass and see the truth: Children are human beings, not numbers on a chart. What’s wrong with a man having more than two children? Noth-ing. What’s wrong with birth control? It deliberately prevents a life from being created because it is deemed “inconvenient” or may cause more carbon emissions according to your article. Your “unique angle” does not treat people as human beings, rather it portrays us as animals that cause problems for the planet. Once we think of ourselves as expendable, we’re already doomed, and it wont be because of global warm-ing or carbon emissions, it will come from our own selfishness and refusal to recognize human lives as lives.”

-Wade

“Mr Shull, What you are sug-gesting is an infringement on my rights to have as many children as I can support. I think the issue should be putting a stop to people who have chidren they cannot support i.e. welfare babies... If the government regulated its fi-nancing of government supported children better then there would be a surplus of extra money that

could be allotted to reducing our carbon footprint...”

-Cain Chiasson

Commenters had this to say about columnist Stephen Schmitz’s Nov. 2 column, “All that partying you’re doing really will help you”:

“If drunken idiocy can be a satisfactory - even superior - sub-stitute for stimulating the mind (as opposed to the gag reflex), then God help us all. Those with 2.9 GPAs may have social and networking skills, but they con-tribute nothing at all to the bet-terment of society. Having a job doesn’t necessarily make you an asset to the world at large. There is nothing wrong with having some fun, but the degree to which LSU students party (and party hard) is appalling and has little to do with future job prospects.”

-Publius

“Last time I checked, busi-ness negations required a knowl-edge of diplomacy, competency in written English and/or for-eign languages, etc., which you learn about in supposedly useless classes. Don’t fool yourselves by thinking your ability to play beer pong well will prepare you ‘socially’ for the business world. College is not high school. “So-

cialization” is NOT the objective of higher education.

Just because others choose to study on a Friday night does not mean that they are by exten-sion ‘judging you’ because they have other priorities. Finally, the Baton Rouge nightlife scene is atrocious, and most students who have been to places outside of East Baton Rouge parish realize they aren’t missing anything.”

-Samuel Gipson Wilson

Commenters had this to say about columnist Daniel Mor-gan’s Nov. 4 column, “Overseas troops are not protecting your freedom”:

“As a veteran who has fought on both fronts I will say that you do have the right to say what you want when you want. Now after saying that, you are very wrong. You haven’t the slightest idea of what we do, but if you don’t think we protect the interests of this country then move. See how free the rest of the world lives. Better yet, enlist in the service and find out for yourself the truth of how we deal everyday life so you can sit and whine about how bad your day is.”

-Z

“I believe you should read some history to go with your

economics courses if you tru-ly want to learn how soldiers fighting overseas and on our soil have given their lives for your freedom.”

-Joe Vergo

“This is absolute garbage. You can criticize the military without insulting the troops, and you can disagree with the mili-tary’s policies without disrespect-ing the men and women who risk their lives fighting overseas. This is absolute garbage. You can crit-icize the military without insult-ing the troops, and you can dis-agree with the military’s policies without disrespecting the men and women who risk their lives fighting overseas.”

-meg

All the columns that appear in the Daily Reveille can also be found on our Web site, lsurev-eille.com. Every column and article you find in our print edi-tion is available online and is open for comments. So log on today, and let your opinions be known!

Contact The Daily Reveille’s opinion staff at opinion@lsureveille.com

BEST AND WITTIEST

cartoon courtesy of KING FEATURES SYNDICATE

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best secondary in the country,” Pe-terson said. “His potential is good, but come Saturday I don’t think it will happen.”

Jones, who has caught 20 passes for 229 yards and one touchdown this season , did not play in Alabama’s game against North Texas on Sept. 19, but Alabama coach Nick Saban said the Crimson Tide’s second-lead-ing receiver is back to his normal self.

“Julio [Jones] was hurt earlier in the season and played a couple of games where he wasn’t 100 per-cent,” Saban said in a teleconference. “The last game against Tennessee and with the bye week, he’s 100 per-cent healthy, playing faster and more confi dent. He’s a guy that needs to make plays for us.”

Alabama senior kick returner Javier Arenas said Jones’ best foot-ball is still ahead.

“People scheme to try and shut him down, and with an injury, that can be tough for a player as far as being competitive out there,” Arenas said. “He’s always been the same

threat, and he’s going to come out full stride this last stretch.”

Another wide receiver LSU will have to contend with Saturday is sophomore Marquis Maze. Maze leads Alabama with 15 catches for 280 yards and two touchdowns.

LSU junior cornerback Jai Eu-gene said Maze brings a different force to the receiving corps than Jones.

“Maze is more of a deep threat than Julio,” Eugene said. “Julio is a bit stronger and runs a lot of comebacks ... I know they have a run game, but as corners we play pass fi rst.”

Alabama se-nior left guard Mike

Johnson said he could not emphasize enough the importance of a diverse offensive attack, especially against a top-10 team like LSU.

“One of the goals we had com-ing into the year was to have more explosive plays, especially in the passing game,” Johnson said. “We had a lot of explosive plays and play-action down the fi eld early in the year, and we’ve got to get back to that. There is a lot to be said about SEC defenses that can come in and stop the pass.”

Saban said the Alabama wide receivers against the LSU secondary will be a “key matchup” Saturday.

“LSU has a really good second-ary, very athletic,” Saban said. “They have two really nice size, good phys-ical safeties. They play a lot of close coverage, and our guys are going to have to get away from them and give the quarterback an opportunity to throw the ball.”

The LSU defense ranks No. 4 in the country in red-zone defense, allowing opponents to score on 14 of 21 opportunities this season. The Alabama offense is tied for No. 46 nationally in red-zone offense, con-verting on 32 of 38 trips — 16 touch-downs and 16 fi eld goals.

LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis described Alabama’s offense as “very complicated,” with several personnel packages LSU has to be prepared to face.

“Their offense doesn’t just line up and get three yards and a pile of dust,” Chavis said. “They’ve got a tailback that can carry the load and great receivers who are good enough that if you load the box on them, then you’re going to pay the price outside.”

THE DAILY REVEILLE PAGE 11FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2009

push-button pedestrian cross-walks and handicapped ramps at each corner.

“By the year 2030, this inter-section is projected to have an av-erage daily traffi c count of [more than] 75,000 [vehicles] … [which is] a projected increase of 30,000 vehicles per day from today’s cur-rent volume,” Holden said.

The construction, which will begin at the end of November , will cost $2.4 million and is an-ticipated to be completed in May 2010 .

Holden said lane closures necessary to construction on Per-kins at Stanford and Acadian will be limited to nighttime and off-peak hours.

John Snow , spokesman for The Green Light Plan , said the money for this project will be funded by a series of bonds, which are backed by a 2005 half-cent sales tax .

Baton Rouge Police Chief Jeff Leduff said the current con-gestion at this intersection affects the response times of his depart-ment, and The Green Light Plan’s improvements will help with that issue and the congestion seen af-ter LSU football games .

Holden said seven projects within The Green Light Plan are complete with another 14 under construction . He said last week marked the midpoint in the plan.

The Green Light Plan has improved traffi c-congested areas such as Burbank Drive at North Harrell’s Ferry Road , Burbank Drive from West Lee Drive to Bluebonnet Boulevard , Coursey Boulevard at Sherwood Forest Boulevard , Foster Drive at Gov-ernment Street and the Veterans Memorial Boulevard Extension .

Current projects include the construction on Brightside Drive .

TRAFFIC, from page 1

Contact Mary Walker Baus at mwbaus@lsureveille.com

SAHIR KHAN / The Daily Reveille

LSU sophomore cornerback Patrick Peterson tackles Florida sophomore running back Jeffrey Demps on Oct. 10 during the Tigers’ 13-3 loss to the Gators in Tiger Stadium.

PASS DEFENSE, from page 1

Contact Rachel Whittaker at rwhittaker@lsureveille.com

‘‘‘[Julio Jones’]

potential is good, but come Saturday,

I don’t think it will happen.’

Patrick PetersonLSU sophomore cornerback

THE DAILY REVEILLEFrIDay, november 6, 2009 PaGe 12