the spectator online edition, september 26, 2013
DESCRIPTION
The online edition of the Spectator, September 26, 2013.TRANSCRIPT
September 26, 2013 W W W . V S U S P e C T A T O R . C O M VOLUMe 85 iSSUe 6
Inside This Issue- OPiNiONS: “leave your guns off campus”
- FeATUReS: “Free your blazing spirit”
- SPORTS: “Josh Sparks takes talent overseas”
On the Webwww.vsuspectator.com
Who am i? - a seminar
meant to help you define “who
you are” and create your
own identity through self-
awareness. the event will take
place from 4 to 5 p.m. in the
counseling center conference
room, second floor of Powell
Hall.
supreme Court and
VotinG riGhts - a political
science and history faculty
roundatble presents the history,
impact and fallout of the
Supreme court’s ruling on the
Voting rights act in Shelby
county v. Holder. the event
takes place from 7-9:30 p.m. in
the Uc theatre. refreshments
are available.
habitat for humanity -
those interested in joining
Habitat for Humanity may
attend the meeting at 6:30 p.m.
in Nevins Hall room 1061. For
more information, email
KaraoKe - Natural High is
hosting another Karaoke Night
at 8 p.m. in the odum library
auditorium. the event is free
and snacks are provided. For
more information, call
259-5111 or email
Today at VSU
Weather
84 H 61 L
Today
84 H 60 L
Friday
58 L83 H
Mostly
Sunny
Saturday
Check out Anthony Pope’sstory on National Hazing
Prevention Week!Learn more about Josh Sparks, page 5Learn more about Josh Sparks, page 5
Mostly
Sunny
Partly
Cloudy
Find Us
Online
Follow
The Spectatoronline for more!
TWiTTeR:@vsuspectator
FACeBOOK: The Spectator
CHeCK OUT OUR
WeBSiTe:vsuspectator.com
Today in
History
First
Kennedy-Nixon
debateSeptember 26, 1960
The first debate
between major party
presidential candidates
was aired on TV.
Source: History.com
congressman austin Scott,
who represents Georgia’s 8th
district, which includes Val-
dosta, came to VSU to speak
to the community at a meet
and greet.
Scott spoke to a packed
Ballroom a about what was
going on in Washington, the
differences between congress
and the Georgia general as-
sembly and his stance on key
issues such as intervention in
Syria.
“this country cannot af-
ford to inject itself into every
civil war that happens
throughout (the world),”
Scott said. “We can’t police
the whole world.”
Scott explained that a pres-
idential administration should
follow two guidelines for go-
ing to war, one being “broad-
based international support
for any action that you carry
out,” and “broad-based sup-
port from the american pub-
lic.”
“i’ll tell you, i’ve been
around long enough to know
we didn’t have international
support,” Scott said. “and we
didn’t have support from the
american citizens.”
Scott also spoke about the
controversy regarding student
loan interest rates.
“that’s something, quite
honestly, that (students)
should never have been
caught in the crosshairs,”
Scott said. “the resolution
that we got, that was passed
by a republican house,
signed by the President, and
passed by a democratic sen-
ate; i think it will work well.”
that resolution involved
connecting interest rates of
student loans to financial
markets—where rates would
increase with an economy
improvement, with a set
maximum cap.
“if i had my way, the pri-
vate sector would be brought
back into the student loan
system as well,” Scott said.
Scott, however, expressed
concern with what he viewed
as “the federal government
getting into the management
of our university institu-
tions.”
“i think they run much bet-
ter without the federal gov-
ernment telling them what to
do, from the standpoint of the
federal government and what
our role can and should be in
that,” Scott said.
this was part of what was
a very busy day for the con-
gressman, who spent the en-
tire day in and around Val-
dosta. Nick Buford, a mem-
ber of the college republi-
cans, helped to put the ap-
pearance together.
“We started setting this up
for today about two weeks
ago with his tifton staff,”
Buford said. “that’s where
his closest district office is.”
the meet and greet was the
fifth event of the day for
Scott around the Valdosta
area, starting off with a visit
to the local YMca in Moul-
trie and then a luncheon and
Q-and-a at the Holiday inn
in Valdosta. that was fol-
lowed by a tour of South
Georgia Medical center and
then a dinner with state sena-
U.S. Rep: ‘We
can’t police the
whole world’
Joe AdgieS o c i a l M e d i a
e d i t o r
Blazers win 41-0
photo contributed by Dowling payne and Blazer pride
Check out page 5 for more on Saturday’s game.
ritsuki Miyazaki / The SpecTaTor
Raquel Payne, female illusionist, was one of many
attendees at South Georgia Pride, hosted in John W.
Saunders Memorial Park Saturday. The event had
activists, allies and LGBTQ community members from
across Georgia. The event lasted from noon to 7 p.m.
Despite the rain, the festivities continued through the
evening with food, vendors and live
entertainment.
South Georgia Pride
undeterred by rain
VSU College
Republicans hosts
meet and greet
with Austin Scott
This country
cannot afford to
inject itself into
every civil war that
happens throughout
(the world).- ConGressman
austin sCott
“
”
See SCOTT , page 2
a speaker came to Mon-
day’s SGa meeting to speak
about upcoming legislation
that would legalize concealed
carry on college campuses,
while an organization had its
funding removed due to in-
ternal issues.
the organization is the
Film and Video Society, who
had asked for $450 during
the previous week’s meeting
for a screening of the movie
“land of Higher Peace” and
a visit from the maker of the
film, Mark ezra Stokes.
on Monday, SGa presi-
dent Will Jimerson reported
that the funding was in dis-
pute.
“it seems to be that the
presentation was done with-
out permission of the depart-
ment, so funding may or may
not be granted,” Jimerson
said.
on tuesday, the screening
and the appearance by Stokes
was cancelled.
in an email sent to mass
media students on tuesday,
Jason Brown, assistant pro-
fessor of communication arts,
cited “recent events” for the
reason of the cancellation but
noted that the event “may be
rescheduled.”
Kathryn Grant, a represen-
tative of the campaign to
Keep Guns off campus, gave
an update on Senate Bill 101,
a bill that would legalize
concealed carry of firearms
on college campuses. Grant
remarked that the bill will be
on the agenda for when the
Georgia general assembly re-
turns to session in January.
“it will pass unless you
raise opposition and exercise
your right as a participant in
our democracy and say ‘no,’”
Grant said.
Grant explained that her
organization is looking for
people to voice their opin-
ions and remarked that the
University System of Geor-
gia, law enforcement agen-
cies and many educators are
opposed to the idea.
“there is no data that sup-
ports the idea that guns in a
school or on college campus-
es are a good idea,” Grant
said. “i know that might not
be necessarily what you hear.
there are a lot of people that
talk about the Virginia tech
incident that say ‘if i were
Homecoming 2013MondayUntil noon: Sidewalk chalk contest – palms Quad
Until noon: Student organization Spirit Sheet Sign contest – Main campus
7:30 p.m.: residence hall Video competition – Langdale/Georgia courtyard
Tuesday
Noon – T-Shirt exchange – Behind West hall
Wednesday
6-11 p.m.: VSU Students Night at Wild adventures
Thursday6-7 p.m. – president’s cookout – reames Field (Next to pe complex)
7-8 p.m. – “Blacklight with the Blazers” pep rally– pe complex
8 p.m. – Battle of the Bands – pe complex
Check out Cole Edward’s story on page 4 for more info!
See SGA , page 2
Joe AdgieS o c i a l M e d i a
e d i t o r
There is no data
that supports the
idea that guns in a
school or on college
campuses are a
good idea.- Kathryn Grant
“
”
SGA pulls funding, speaker
discusses guns on campus
Blazers defeat Shorter Hawks Saturday
Cameron Olds defends Andrekay Askew-Wyatt during VSU’s 41-0 win.
Infographic by Sarah Turner / The SpecTaTor
�� ������������������������� �������� ����� ��������� ������ �������������� ��� ���������� ������� ������ ���������������������� �� �� ���� ������� ��������� �������������������������� ������������������������������ ���� ����������������������������������� ���������������� ��������������������������������� ���� ����������������������������������� ���������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ���� �����������������������������
���� �������� ��
���
� � ��
�
�
��
��
�
�
The Spectator prints free
classifieds for stu dents of
Val dos ta State Uni ver si ty
only. These must be no
more than 40 words, or a
$8.00 charge will apply.
Clas si fieds for fac ul ty,
staff, stu dent or ga ni za -
t i o n s , s t u d e n t - o w n e d
busi ness es and the gen er -
al pub lic cost $8.00 for up
to 40 words. Ads should
be sent to The Spectator or
de liv ered to our of fice in
1238 Hopper Hall. The
dead line is Mon day at 5
p.m. If payment ap plies, it
should be sub mit ted in a
sealed en ve lope at the time
the ad is placed. Ads must
be ac com pa nied by the
name and phone num ber of
the per son sub mit ting the
ad. Ads must be re sub mit -
ted each week, as nec es -
sary. The Spec ta tor ad -
dress is: 1500 N. Patter-
son St.,Valdosta, GA
31698. Our email address
The Spec ta tor re serves the
right to reject any clas si -
fied ad. All ads are sub ject
to standard ed it ing pro ce -
dures. The Spec ta tor is not
re spon sible for mis takes
due to a sub mit ted er ror.
The cat e go ries for classi-
For Rent
AVAILABLE NOW!$100.00DEPOSIT @ TREELOFT.3BR/2BA $725-775,1BR/1BA $450-475, 3 blocks from VSU, cathe-dral ceiling, pool & laundryfacilities, water & garbageincluded. 229-561-0776
For Rent
MAKESOME
$$$Sell your
Text-books,
Clothes &stuff
for FREEHERE
Services
Verizon White i5 16gb &extra chargers, 2 Otterbox-es & holster clip, 2 earbuds with microphones,etc.$425 229-200-3061
For Sale
244-TAXI (229)244-8294
Any Place, Any Time... BACK to SCHOOL SPECIAL!!
10% OFF Your Trip
*Must Present To Driver At Beginning of Trip.
For Sale
fieds in clude: For Sale,
Want ed, Room mates and
Help Wanted.
PaGE 2 | vSUSPEcTaToR.coM N e w s SEPTEMBER 26, 2013
The Classifieds
Sep. 19
A OneCard was reported
stolen to the University Po-
lice Department.
Sep.20
A text book was reported
stolen from Odum Library.
Kameron Myers, 18, was
arrested and charged with
misdemeanor possession of
Marijuana and Underage
Possession of Alcohol. Three
other citations were given
out in the arrest.
Sep.22
A theft was reported at
Centennial Hall.
Sep.23
A bicycle was reported
stolen from outside Hopper
Dining Hall
Sep.24
Christopher Barton, 18,
was arrested for Theft by Re-
ceiving Stolen Property.
A report from North Cam-
pus alleged that wiring was
being stolen from the cam-
pus.
Sep.25
University Police respond-
ed to a report of car break-in
at the University Center.
Police Briefs
tor and VSU alumnus Tim
Golden and VSU President
William McKinney.
Scott has represented Val-
dosta in Washington since
the start of 2013 but has held
his seat since 2010. Valdosta
was moved into the 8th dis-
trict as a result of the 2010
census at the start of the year,
coming from the 1st district
and Representative Jack
Kingston.
SCOTT
Continued from Page 1
Sep. 28
The Mainstream Madness
Benefit Fashion Show will be
held at 6 p.m. in the Student
Union Ballroom. Bring
canned food or a child’s toy
for admission.
Media Arts Geniuses is
throwing a Dodgeball Tour-
ney on the Front Lawn at 4
p.m.
Sep. 29
The VSU Sociology Club
will host an event at Buffalo
Wild Wings from 11 a.m.-
midnight. Proceeds will be
used to repair a playground.
Sep. 30
Space Jam will be shown
at 6 p.m. at the Student
Union Theater. Snacks will
be provided!
Oct. 2
Gwen Williams will host
“Assertiveness basics” at 4
p.m. in the Counseling Cen-
ter Conference Room in
Powell Hall, floor 2.
Upcoming Events
there, and if I had a gun, I would have
been able to stop that shooter.’”
Grant told the story of Colin Goddard,
who was shot multiple times in the Vir-
ginia Tech massacre and was one of the
17 people that were wounded but sur-
vived the shooting.
“Now, he’s been there,” Grant said.
“He’s been on the other end of a gun. He
has dedicated his life to making sure that
guns stay out of college campuses, ex-
cept in the hands of trained law enforce-
ment officers. That’s the most com-
pelling reason I think there is if you lis-
ten to someone who has survived what
is still the deadliest shooting in U.S. his-
tory by a single gunman, and the 17 stu-
dents say, ‘Guns on campus isn’t a good
idea.’”
According to Grant, legislators were
not listening to their constituents.
“It’s frustrating to me and sad that you
all haven’t been asked how you feel
about it,” Grant said. “Somehow the
lawmakers are drawing lots of conclu-
sions here without asking the very peo-
ple who this policy is going to affect
most.”
NOTES:
The SGA budget stands at $19,578.31.
SGA
Continued from Page 1He’s been on the other end
of a gun. He has dedicated his
life to making sure that guns
stay out of college campuses,
except in the hands of trained
law enforcement officers. ds
of trained law enforcement of-
ficers. That’s the most com-
pelling reason I think there is
if you listen to someone who
has survived what is still the
deadliest shooting in U.S. his-
tory by a single gunman,-Kathryn Grant
“
”
HAPPY
‘TATOR
DAY!
Let’s not kid our-
selves. We live in a
very high-stress en-
vironment here at college.
Between the pursuit of
grades that serve as the offi-
cial yardstick for whether or
not we’re worth people’s
time or not and the various
obligations that all of us
must serve to on top of that,
it’s a lot to handle and
maybe too much for some.
On more than one occa-
sion, we—and we’re not just
speaking as editors of the
Spectator here, but rather
VSU students—have seen
students completely snap.
They collapse under the
pressure of the college life
and sometimes in very ex-
plosive, dramatic and violent
ways.
And incredibly, some law-
makers in Atlanta want to
make it legal for students to
conceal firearms on their
person on college campuses.
Here at the Spectator, that
scares us. A few of us can re-
call a time just before class
one morning where a student
suffered a full-blown ner-
vous breakdown. That stu-
dent, who shall remain
nameless, started to throw
chairs, scream at everybody,
drop the class while in class
and storm off in tears.
Now, what if that normally
sane person was armed?
What would have happened
then?
A good number of us
probably wouldn’t be here
right now, and the front page
of the Spectator would have
told the tragic tale of the stu-
dents going into class just
like any other day when
someone completely lost it,
and nowhere near in his right
mind, he took the lives of
several innocent college
kids—kids with tremendous-
ly bright futures.
But he would have been
fully within his right to car-
ry.
There are those that will
contend that “of course oth-
ers would be armed, they
would have stopped him be-
fore he could have taken
anybody out.”
This, of course, assumes
that everyone will remain
calm and in their right mind
when one of their classmates
is shooting at them and
could possibly end their
lives.
This also assumes that
we’ll actually hit our target
that we’re trying so hard to
aim at. Considering that the
New York Times pegged the
New York Police Depart-
ment’s accuracy rate at 34
percent in 2008, that doesn’t
really bode well for the gen-
eral population trying to de-
fend ourselves.
If individuals trained to
use a firearm only hit their
shots, on average, one third
of the time, what does that
say for us?
This isn’t Call of Duty.
This isn’t Half-Life. This is-
n’t Grand Theft Auto. This is
real life. There’s a good rea-
son that every school presi-
dent in the University Sys-
tem has stood up against
this. There’s a good reason
you see people like Katheryn
Grant standing up against
this. There’s a good reason
it’s being discussed in the
SGA meetings, and there’s a
good reason we’re against
this.
Put guns in the hands of
students and you’ve got a
terrible atmosphere of fear.
Could that person walking
by me have a gun? Is he on
the verge of a nervous break-
down?
That’s no atmosphere suit-
able for a learning environ-
ment, and we here at the
Spectator surely don’t want
to report about an avoidable
tragedy that occurred be-
cause someone who ab-
solutely should not have had
a firearm had one and exer-
cised their second amend-
ment rights on several inno-
cent human beings.
septemBer 26, 2013 vsuspectator.com | page 3
This editorial was written by Joe Adgie ([email protected]) and it expresses the general opinion of the editorial staff.
Our point of view...
Leave your guns off campus
OpiniOns
Opinions expressed in the Spectator other than editorials are the opinions of the writers of signed columns and not necessarily those
of the Spectator and its staff. All rights reserved. reprints by permission of the editors. Views in this newspaper are not necessarily
those of the Valdosta State University administration, faculty and staff.
Contacting Us
Newsroom (229) 333-5688
Advertising (229) 333-5686
Business (229) 333-5686
Fax (229) 249-2618
E-mail [email protected]
VSU Spectator
1500 N. Patterson St., Valdosta, GA 31698Letters must include name, year in school, major, job title or other appro-
priate identification and phone number for verification.Letters should be no longer than 300 words in length. Letters are subject toediting for style, length, grammar, and libelous material. Not all letters arepublished. Letters should be typed and turned in with a disk, or e-mailed as
an attachment by Tuesdays before 5 p.m.
Online at www.vsuspectator.com
Spectator StaffEditor-in-Chief: Jennifer GleasonManaging Editor:Will LewisBusiness Manager: Kristen VarneyAdvertising Manager:Aimee NapierCirculation Manager: Abbie Baggerly Opinions Editor: Stephen CavallaroFeatures Editor: Sarah Turner
Sports Editor: eric JacksonPhoto Editor: ritsuki MiyazakiMultimedia Editor: rebecka McAleerWeb Designer: John PreerCopy Editor: Olivia McLeanSocial Media Editor: Joe Adgie Faculty Advisers: Dr. PatMiller, Dr. Ted Geltner, Keith Warburg
Reporters/Photographers:Abbie Baggerly, JordanBarela, Khiry Clements, essah Cole, Jessica Cooke,Cole edwards, Allison ericson, Neil frawley, OliviaGear, Brian Hickey, VictoriaJohnson, David Lacy, IsaiahSmart, Taylor Stone, ShaneThomas, Alex Tostado, Alexis Waters, Von Kennedy,Hilary Straba
College is always one of
the bigger concerns for voters
when it comes to presidential
elections.
Loan rates remain a con-
stant worry for voters age 18
to 25. President Barack Oba-
ma even went on a college
tour to spread the word about
a new plan to make college
more affordable.
The administration is
proposing a plan that will rate
colleges on a scale of access,
affordability and student out-
comes. As a result, the higher
rated colleges will receive
larger Pell Grants and better-
rated loans.
Here is the issue: Although
this idea sounds good on a
grand scale, it could nega-
tively impact a number of in-
stitutions. Obama plans to
stop providing as much fund-
ing for schools that aren’t
producing “good results.”
What could happen is that af-
ter being rated, colleges and
universities may turn away
students.
Institutions graded on the
negative end of debt levels,
graduation and transfer rates
and graduate earnings won’t
be able to thrive the way a
school such as UGA would.
Who hurts the most in this
scenario is, once again, the
student. Students that can’t
afford to go to a higher-rated
school lose out on
beneficial funding.
Along with the
changes in subsi-
dizing, this pro-
posed plan also
looks to make loan
debt a little more
reasonable by expanding
Obama’s income-based re-
payment plan.
This plan could still work.
With schools being rated on
their output, it would make it
even easier to weed out what
is the best choice for higher
education. Along with that,
students can retrieve an in-
creased amount in Pell Grants
and/or loans with better rates.
Of course it takes away from
other colleges, but at the
same time it pressures those
schools into improvement.
We all want quality educa-
tion, and this regulation push-
es institutions to step it up
and provide refined results.
Although it creates problems
for struggling institutions in
the short-term, the long-term
results aim for an overall bet-
ter quality of American edu-
cation.
Do you feel strongly about
the Obama administration’s
new financial aid plan for
college students? Will the
plan benefit or infring on col-
lege students? express your
opinions by sending the
Spectator staff a tweet at
@vsuspectator.
Obama reveals new plan for studentsIsaiah Smart
S TA f f W r I T e r
The other day in my Islam
class, I was asked an interest-
ing question. What does it ac-
tually mean to be a terrorist?
The term is usually used
when referring to a group of
extremist
Muslims
from the
Middle east
who use vi-
olence to
get their
way politically or because
they believe this is how to
spread Islam, but there is
more to it than that.
for starters, terrorism is
not exclusive to the Middle
east. In a recent Huffington
Post article, writer Matt
Sledge discusses a man who
was sent to prison for con-
spiracy and arson. Daniel
McGowan was living out his
eight-year sentence in a
low-security prison when one
day he was transferred to a
higher-security one.
McGowan asked, why am I
here?
He began to think about his
reputation as an environmen-
tal activist who was “Unre-
pentant in his political identi-
ty.”
“I think what they ‘re try-
ing to do is say, Ok you want
to be a little political prisoner
type, you want to write and
be all active and say stuff,
and get a ton of mail and
everyone thinks you’re
peachy keen?” McGowan
said. “You’re gonna get
crushed.”
So basically, if you don’t
line up with what the govern-
ment wants you to be and fall
in line, you may find yourself
in jail. Now Daniel still holds
his political beliefs, but he is
repentant about the violent
acts that he committed.
Here’s the thing, though:
He did not hurt anyone. Is he
still a terrorist? I say yes. He
committed violent acts to try
and scare people into think-
ing like him. Whether he hurt
anyone or not is irrelevant.
The tactics he used caused
fear and were clearly violent.
So here’s the thing: If you
have to use violence to scare
people into believing what
you believe, what’s the
point? You’re
not allowing
people to
think for
themselves.
It’s hard to
say that any-
one who goes out and scares
people with violence is con-
sidered a terrorist. What is
certain, and hopefully this is
something most people can
agree on, regardless of reli-
gious affiliation, is that vio-
lence to progress any ideolo-
gy, be it political or religious,
is not right. What’s the point
of forcing your beliefs on
someone, when that belief
will only come from fear of
persecution for not sharing
the same beliefs? Perhaps the
definition of “terrorism” is
too broad.
What is a terrorist?David Lacy
S TA f f W r I T e r
Should students be asked their sexual
orientation on admissions applications?
Check out the Video People Poll
online at: youtube.comValdostaSpectator
Since when has success
and hard work in America
ever yielded praise from
President Obama?
By now, it’s laughable to
expect consistency from the
President, but a recent speech
promoting his Student Aid
Plan exists in direct contrast
to everything he has stood for
thus far. This is the first time
President Obama hasn’t
bashed the concept of hard
work and exceptional perfor-
mance without simultaneous-
ly blaming it on greedy busi-
nesses.
Basically, the core objec-
tive of the program is to rate
colleges based on student
performance, allocating stu-
dent aid based on those re-
sults.
In theory, the plan sounds
decent, aside from one glar-
ing piece of solid, constitu-
tional fact: The federal gov-
ernment should not, now or
ever, have any place in edu-
cation! To simply accept this
“nudge” of power will prove
to be toxic for our education
system.
Additionally, every
college and university
is unique, so imposing
a widespread govern-
ment-mandated pro-
gram would without a
doubt negatively af-
fect these institutions.
President Obama’s propos-
al is eerily similar to George
W. Bush’s, “No Child Left
Behind” legislation, which
proposed a comparable idea
that all teachers should be
judged based on the perfor-
mance of their students.
One of the several negative
results of “No Child Left Be-
hind” was that many school
districts were “dumbing
down” the requirements of
the curriculum and the per-
formance of their students to
avoid scrutiny.
As college students, do you
want to see your degree de-
valued as your university
succumbs to reducing intel-
lectual requirements? Do you
want to graduate knowing lit-
tle more than you knew your
freshmen year, in turn, dimin-
ishing the prominence of a
college education? With Pres-
ident Obama’s Student Aid
plan, it won’t matter that you
answered “No” to these ques-
tions because they will be-
come reality.
Ultimately, Congress has
“control of the purse,” so this
would have to be passed
through legislation, but that’s
according to law, which Pres-
ident Obama doesn’t really
like to follow.
Share your thoughts with
us by sending a tweet to
@vsuspectator.
Taylor StoneS TA f f W r I T e r
Congressman Austin Scott
came to visit VSU on Mon-
day and I was in the audi-
ence. He told the audience to
be wary if the information
that you absorb from the me-
dia because it may be a dis-
tortion of the truth. Congress-
man Scott informed us that it
costs $10 billion per day to
run the US government and
that the corporate tax in-
crease that Obama proposed
would generate $200 billion
in revenue. At an additional
20 days of funding, that was
not enough to justify passing
his proposal. I saw many
people in the audience nod in
agreement.
Congressman Scott is a
member of the Agriculture
Committee and voted last
week to pass a farm bill that
will impose time limits for
food stamp benefits. When he
mentioned this, people in the
audience applauded.
Why, yes, thank you for
saving us from those dead-
beats that are eating away our
tax dollars.
He did not mention the
saving generated by this bill,
so I looked it up. Would you
believe that this bill will save
the US government a whop-
ping $10 billion over the next
10 years? This according to
Congressman Scott’s calcula-
tions is .4 days per year of
additional funding.
So let me get this straight,
it is not okay to gain 20 days
of revenue at the expense of
corporations? But perfectly
fine to gain .4 days at the ex-
pense of families that need to
eat. Where have our values
gone!
Congressman Scott, I think
we also need to be wary of
the messages that we are get-
ting from our representatives.
Teresa Lawrence
VSU Student
Letter to the Editor
Congressman’s
message rebuked
If individuals
trained to use a
firearm only hit
their shots, on av-
erage, one third of
the time, what does
that say for us?
PagE 4 | vSuSPEcTaToR.coMFeatures
SEPTEMBER 26, 2013
Get your face paint, blow
horns and school spirit ready,
VsU students. Homecoming
2013 is upon us. events will
begin Monday and will con-
tinue until saturday’s game
against the florida tech Pan-
thers.
in a letter posted on the
VsU website, President
william McKinney wrote that
this year’s Homecoming is
especially important because
it comes at a time that the
school is celebrating its 20th
year of achieving university
status and the 50th year of in-
tegration in the school.
Monday morning will kick
off with a sidewalk Chalk
Contest on the Palms Quad
until noon. student organiza-
tions will create art displays
on the sidewalk that incorpo-
rate the Homecoming theme.
first, second and third place
winners will be chosen, and
prizes will be awarded at the
Homecoming pep rally later
in the week.
there will also be a spirit
sheet-sign Contest on main
campus at the same time.
Like the sidewalk Chalk
Contest, winners will be an-
nounced during the pep rally.
the residence Hall Video
Competition will take place
that evening in the Langdale/
Georgia Courtyard. each resi-
dence hall’s staff will create a
video representing their hall,
and the videos will be
screened for students and
alumni to vote on their fa-
vorite.
On tuesday there will be a
t-shirt exchange behind west
Hall at noon. students are en-
couraged to bring gently
worn t-shirts from other uni-
versities or colleges in ex-
change for a VsU 2013
Homecoming shirt.
VsU student Night at wild
adventures takes place
wednesday evening. students
must present their VsU stu-
dent iD for admittance into
the “terror in the wild” Hal-
loween activities. Buses will
run between the park and
campus starting at 5:30 p.m.
with last pick-up at 9 p.m.
Pick-up will be at the Oak
street lot on the sustella end.
thursday evening brings
the President’s Cookout on
reames field. this is open to
both students and alumni,
who are invited to join the
president and first lady. the
cookout is free of charge, but
registration is required.
this event will be followed
by the “Blacklight with the
Blazers” pep rally at the Pe
Complex with appearances
from the VsU football play-
ers, Blazin’ Brigade, cheer-
leaders and red Hots dance
team. admission to this is
also free and requires no reg-
istration, but attendees are en-
couraged to wear white cloth-
ing to help cheer the Blazers
on to victory against the
florida tech Panthers on Oct.
5.
the pep rally will be fol-
lowed by the Battle of the
Bands in which students, fac-
ulty, staff and alumni will
fight to win the title of best
band on campus with some
impressive prizes. Bands in-
terested in registering should
contact the Office of student
Life at 229-333-5674.
You can log on to the
Homecoming website now to
register for any specific
events you or your organiza-
tion is interested in.
Be sure to grab a spectator
next week to see what the
second half of Homecoming
week has to offer, as well as
photos from the first half.
First half of Homecoming Week to host creativity, competition and a free trip to Wild Adventures
welcome back to ad-
ditive Noise, your
No. 1source for
music you probably haven’t
heard before.
this weekend i went to the
store and traded in some old
video games for credit to buy
new ones. One of the two
that i picked up is trion
worlds’ recent release, “Defi-
ance.” the game is set in a
futuristic earth inhabited by a
combination of humans and
various alien races known
collectively as “Votans.” the
game is based on a tie-in tele-
vision series (which i highly
recommend) that airs on the
syfy channel.
in celebration of my new
game, i decided to spend part
of my week exploring the
“Defiance” series soundtrack.
One track in particular
jumped out at me, but i admit
it’s a little odd.
“terraform my Heart” is a
song created specifically for
“Defiance” by the series mu-
sic composer, Bear Mc-
Creary, who
incidentally
is also the
composer
for “Bat-
tlestar
Galactica,”
“the walk-
ing Dead,” and the brand new
series “Marvel’s agents” of
s.H.i.e.L.D.”
according to his website,
www.bearmccreary.com, Mc-
Creary was “launched into
pop culture with his ground-
breaking score to the hit se-
ries “Battlestar Galactica,”
that was lauded by Variety as
‘the most innovative music
on tV today.’ it ‘fits the ac-
tion so perfectly, it’s almost
devastating: a sci-fi score like
no other’ (NPr). io9.com
ranked McCreary one of the
ten Best science fiction
Composers of all time, and
recently wireD Magazine
declared him one of only five
‘secret
weapons’ of
the televi-
sion indus-
try.”
Having lis-
tened to his
work, i
have to say i agree. “ter-
raform my Heart” is one of
the few songs i’ve heard that
manages to sound both futur-
istic and classic at the same
time, which is perfect for
“Defiance.” it features the
vocal styling of McCreary’s
brother, Brendan McCreary.
Brendan’s band, Young Beau-
tiful in a Hurry, provides sev-
eral of the other tracks on the
“Defiance” soundtrack.
Bear’s wife, raya Yarbrough,
also sings for many of the
tracks.
with a swift and striking
guitar riff and mid-pitch male
vocals, it really sounds like
what would happen if meteor
men decided to do Led Zep-
pelin or twisted sister cov-
ers. the only major differ-
ence would be the whole
half-the-song-is-in-another-
language thing. Oh, did i
mention that? while the cho-
rus and a few sporadic phras-
es are in english, the majori-
ty of “terraform my Heart” is
performed in the made-up
language of irathient, named
for and spoken by one of the
alien races in the game. How-
ever, the song is so seamless-
ly put together than the
change in language could go
mostly unnoticed.
whether or not you speak
irathient or plan to play or
watch “Defiance,” “ter-
raform My Heart” should
definitely make its way to
your next playlist.
Free your blazing spiritCole Edwards
s ta f f w r i t e r
with Becka McAleer
the former VsU student
who created some silly,
senseless park rangers and
gained the attention of over a
million viewers, will be re-
turning his creation for anoth-
er season.
waco O’Guin, 38, will pre-
miere the second season of
his show “Brickleberry” on
Comedy Central this fall. the
upcoming season will have a
total of 13 episodes.
O’Guin received a degree
in digital media from UGa;
however, he was a student at
VsU from 1993 to 1994. He
was also a contributor for the
spectator, where he did a
comic strip called “inebriated
the Koala.”
according to O’Guin, suc-
ceeding in media is not easy,
but persistence is key.
“Get used to rejection,”
O’Guin said. “i have a stack
of rejection letters from every
cable network. Produce your
own stuff and stick it on
Youtube. the more you pro-
duce the better you'll get.”
“Brickleberry” is a 30-
minute, light-hearted comedy
that features executive pro-
ducer Daniel tosh from
“tosh.0.”
O’Guin and his friend,
roger Black, created “Brick-
leberry.” O’Guin’s father-in-
law, woody, was a park
ranger who took his job very
seriously. Black often patron-
ized woody and called him a
“tree cop.” a few years later,
at O’Guin’s wedding recep-
tion, woody put Black’s
thumb in a “park ranger
hold,” and they then decided
to do a show about crazy park
rangers.
the show will air every
tuesday at 10:30 p.m. on
Comedy Central.
Isaiah Smart
s ta f f w r i t e r
Former student’sT.V. series returns
Futurstic meets classical innew video game soundtrack
OddEven
PagE 5 | vSuSPEcTaToR.coMSportSSEPTEMBER 26, 2013
� � �� � �� � �
� � �� � �� � �
� � �� � �� � �
� � �� � �� � �
� � �� � �� � �
� � �� � �� � �
� � �� � �� � �
� � �� � �� � �
� � �� � �� � �
SudokuANSWERS
Josh Sparks slams the ball on a fast break with his new team, U-ST Mobitelco.
Josh Sparks takes talent overseas
More than six months since
his last game in a Blazers uni-
form, Valdosta state’s all-time
leading shot-blocker, Josh
sparks, is ready to test himself
professionally.
sparks, a native of savannah,
Ga., signed with C.s. U-Mobitel-
co Cluj-Napoca in romania’s
first division, Liga Nationala on
July 16.
“the process has been going
well,” sparks said. “it’s a differ-
ent world out here. i’m thou-
sands of miles away from any-
one i know, but it’s definitely a
move that i needed to make.
Getting paid to play basketball is
a once-in-a-lifetime opportuni-
ty.”
sparks became a VsU favorite
with his energetic, above-the-rim
play, which is quickly catching
on with romanian fans.
“Man, the fans here are awe-
some!” sparks said. “they are
passionate about their city and
their team. they have welcomed
me with open arms as though
i’ve been here forever.”
“You can really see how much
the kids love the game and it
feels good to be able to go out
and put on a show for the all the
fans.”
At 6’9” with a 34.5-inch verti-
cal leap, sparks has the size and
athleticism to be a game-changer
for U-Mobitelco, but he insists
there is more to his game than
meets the eye.
“i still rely on my shot-block-
ing and athleticism,” sparks
said. “But, i want to be able to
show off my ball-handling and
passing ability.”
“over here, if i could become
a good small forward, hopefully
i could make a lot of money,”
sparks added. “i’ve been taking
and hitting my jumper more con-
sistently, which comes from
putting work in all summer.”
in his senior season, sparks
helped guide the Blazers to a 19-
10 record and an appearance in
the Gulf south Conference
championship game, averaging a
career-best 13.5 points, 9.1 re-
bounds, and 3.4 blocks.
sparks admits getting accli-
mated to the european game has
been a learning experience.
“the game here is a little
slower,” sparks said. “there is
better spacing on offense. the
defensive rotations are a little
different. Also, the rules for trav-
eling are completely different,
which is something i’ve had to
adjust to.”
For most players going over-
seas, living in a new country can
be a bit overwhelming. But, ac-
cording to sparks, the transition
is getting easier by the day.
“At first i kind of kept to my-
self,” sparks said. “i wasn’t sure
how well everyone spoke eng-
lish. But, it turns out everyone
actually speaks and understands
english pretty well so things
have been going very good.”
Very good, indeed as sparks
has been a difference-maker off
the bench for U-Mobitelco as the
team finished 8-2 in the presea-
son and captured the City Cup.
“overall, we felt it was a good
preseason,” sparks said. “we’re
excited to start our season up
here soon and see how we can
do in the romanian Champi-
onship!”
in his first season as a pro,
sparks wants to continue the
success he experienced with the
Blazers with his focus solely on
the team.
“My goal this year is to try
and put up good numbers in
whatever minutes i get,” sparks
added. “i want to do whatever i
can to help Cluj advance as far
as we can in the romanian
Championship.”
Shane Thomas
s p o r t s w r i t e r
Former Blazers’ playing professionally overseas
Drew Maynard - Trikalla (Greece)
Tyrone Curnell - Palmeiras (Brazil)
Sidney Harris - Atlanta A (USA)
Billy McShepard - Speyer (Germany)
Mike Holloway - Manitoba (Canada)
page 6 | vsuspectator.com
S p o r t Sseptember 26, 2013
Blazers to host Rams
No.1 Valdosta state football
team (2-0) will have a tough
time following up their 41-0 rout
over shorter last saturday.
Coming off the program's first
shut-out since 2011, the defense
looks to keep up their hard-hit-
ting and physical play when An-
gelo state (1-2) comes to town,
but Head Coach David Dean is
still looking for improvement.
“the one thing i'd like to see
us do better is defending the
pass, i don't think we defended
the pass very well. we're going
to face a lot teams that throw the
ball, so we're going to have to
get much better at that,” Dean
said.
AsU brings in a high powered
offense that is 12th in the nation
averaging 523 yards per game.
the rams offense is led by
duel threat quarterback Kyle
washington, who has 859 com-
bined rushing and passing yards
on the season.
“Just about everyone has (a
mobile quarterback), you always
have that plan in your mind of
how are you going to defend a
mobile quarterback,” said Dean.
“this is nothing really new for
us, the whole deal is we contain
him and keep him in the pock-
et.”
Along with washington, the
rams feature a pair of talented
running-backs, Jermie Calhoun
and Blake smith, that both
rushed for over 100 yards last
saturday.
As good as AsUs offense has
been, its offense has stalled in-
side the 20 yard-line, scoring
only 52 percent when in the red-
zone.
inside the red-zone, the Blaz-
ers' defense has been at their
best, as evident from the last
performance that saw VsU force
two consecutive turnovers as
shorter was on the verge of scor-
ing.
“that's kind of been the way
we've been the last couple of
years, we've been a team that
breaks but we get into that 25
yard area we've been pretty good
and don't break. we know teams
are going to get yardage on us,”
said Dean. “we force teams to
be either methodical or patient in
what they do, and a lot of teams
aren't like that, they want that
big home-run, they don't want to
take the four, five yard plays and
when you get down in the red-
zone that's what you have to do”
the rams' defense has had their
issues this year, surrendering 36
points per game and 480 total
yards per game.
VsU's offense should see
plenty of chances to continue
hitting big plays against Angelo
state's defense,who gave up four
plays that went for over 50 yards
last saturday.
“A lot of our scores have been
big plays that are a concern. i
would like to see us eat up some
more clock up and keep our de-
fense off the field, but you're
never going to turn down a big
play. As long as we keep doing
that and winning, i'm fine with-
out sustaining drives,” said
Dean.
this saturday’s game has
been selected as the Gulf south
Conference's “Game of the
week”, and can be seen on
espN3.
Kick-off is scheduled for 7 pm
at Bazemore-Hyder stadium.
Chris Kessler s p o r t s w r i t e r
VSU ready for Tampa regional
Valdosta state Cross Country
both men and women teams are
prepared for their upcoming pre-
regionals tournament, hosted by
the University of tampa on Fri-
day.
they will do their best to
work together and figure out
ways to oust their next oppo-
nents.
Juliana Boehm, a senior from
Kirschberg, Germany, believes
the team has great potential to
win in the upcoming tourna-
ments throughout the rest of the
season.
“i think we are all in pretty
good shape,” Boehm said. “we
just have to stay healthy, do what
coach says, and try to get more
offensive at the beginning of the
races.” the girls have been start-
ing off behind in races, with the
strategy of picking up the pace at
the end to beat opponents. with
a change in pace at the begin-
ning of the races, instead of the
end, the girls should finish victo-
riously, as Boehm hopes. “we
have to stick together. we can do
it” Boehm said, as last year’s
number one runner in the pre-re
gionals tournament at Ut.
Boehm is very positive about
the rest of the season and hopes
this positive attitude pays off at
pre-regions and desires to make
it past this year to regionals, and
even nationals.
with most of the girls being
extremely excited about the tour-
nament on Friday, each of them
are going to try their best to get
awesome personal times, hope-
fully leading the team into the
number one spot.
Coach Clinton Bell is the new
and renowned head coach for
the cross country team.
only have been here for two
shorts months, he is giving all
efforts in guiding his team to the
top.
“i know that i have not been
here too long, but what sets me
aside from coach smoot is that
from what i know, my structures
of practices are different. Coach
Bell does shorter intervals, i
make sure to incorporate longer
intervals with a faster pace. we
have a longer tempo and change
the pace up,” Bell said.
Having practice six days a
week, with only one day in be-
tween for breaks, coach Bell
knows what needs to be done to
provide the helpful push for the
cross country team.
the Blazers head south for
tampa on Friday morning.
Victoria Johnsons p o r t s w r i t e r
&
Julia Armisteads p o r t s w r i t e r
Golf team torches first event
Valdosta state University golf
team wrapped up its first tourna-
ment of the season finishing 9th
at the fourth annual Jay Jennison
Memorial at the palencia Club.
the Blazers shot a collective
26-over par 890 for the three
round event hosted by Flagler
College in st. Augustine, Fla.
the host saints won the team
championship shooting a 1-over
par 865.
Queens University (N.C.) fin-
ished second shooting a 12-over
par 876, then closely following
behind in third was Georgia Col-
lege who finished with a 23-over
par 877 for the event.
Alex weare of Queens (N.C.)
finished with the individual title
for the event after carding a 4-
under par 212.
VsU showed a very promis-
ing debut with four of the five
golfers finishing in the top 42.
Austin McNiell lead the way
with a second round 71, finish-
ing with a 3-over 219 good
enough to finish tied for 15th.
Freshman Florian schmiedel
shot a 72 in the second round
while shooting a 5-over par 221
finishing tied for 22nd.
top qualifier John Fordham
finished the event tied for 31st
with an 8-over par 224, Alex
Jones shot a second round 73
finishing tied for 42nd with an
eleven-over 227.
wheaton Hall rounds out the
Blazers this week shooting a re-
spectful 13-over 229 finishing
him tied for 56th.
the Blazers posted solid
scores the whole tournament
with single round scores ranging
from 71 to 78.
Valdosta state looks to build
upon their early season top 10
next week teeing off next Mon-
day, september 30 at the
Aflac/Cougar invitational.
the event will be held at the
Country Club of Columbus in
Columbus, Ga.
Chris Webbs p o r t s w r i t e r
Photo by Sean Jarnigan
The womens cross country runs in unisen during an event in Oxford, Miss.