The Auburn PlainsmanA Spirit thAt iS Not AfrAid

Thursday, January 17, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Vol. 119, Issue 28, 16 Pages

Jessa PeaseWrIter

Naveenan thiagarajan’s flight aboard NASA’s Vomit Comet gave wings to his ex-periment when it was judged to be the best at the American Society for Gravitational and Space research Conference in New Orleans, Saturday, Dec. 1.

thiagarajan, Auburn doc-toral student in mechani-cal engineering, worked in collaboration with Oregon State University to conduct his experiment at the John-son Space Center in Houston, texas.

the research conducted demonstrates an efficient liq-uid cooling system for space electronics where the liquid is circulated by bubble mo-tion using surface modifica-tions, and not consuming any spacecraft power to cool.

“to prepare for the flight, (thiagarajan) spent nine months building a whole ex-perimental setup,” said Shush-il Bhavnani, Thiagarajan’s dis-sertation advisor and profes-sor. “It was very complicated and it took a lot effort.”

After the flight thiagara-jan’s spent six months analyz-ing the data.

“really that poster repre-sents a year and a half of his life,” Bhavnani said.

Thiagarajan and his group of collaborators flew for two days in Houston on NASA’s aircraft that achieves zero gravity flying in parabolic arcs, or by rising up to 38,000 feet and plummeting down to 1,500 feet in 20 seconds.

“In its downward motion, you start floating in the air-craft and that is when you start feeling zero gravity,” Bhavnani said. “All the data he collected during that flight was presented on his poster in New Orleans.”

the experiment consist-ed of 80 parabolic arcs in two days, 40 arcs per day in a two-hour period. The ride was like a giant roller coaster, with many precautions to take in preparation, Thiagarajan said.

Flying the Vomit Comet takes about one year of prep-aration at least to prepare the experiments because under zero-gravity anything set into motion keeps following the same trajectory.

“So if I do not design the experiments properly, what would happen is something could come loose, and it would be floating around in the air,” Thiagarajan said. “It could be disastrous.”

Logan Strid, graduate stu-dent at Oregon State Univer-sity, worked with thiagara-jan on the project and rode with him on the Vomit Com-et. Strid and Thiagarajan had weekly video conferences where they shared informa-tion.

“He’s really laid-back and easy to work with, but he’s al-ways got something in the back of his mind,” Strid said.

Student researches cooling system in NASA aircraft

Chandler JonesCOmmUNIty rePOrter

As if actually having to fight fire wasn’t enough of a battle, Christopher turner from the Auburn Fire Department has filed several equal employ-ment Opportunity Commis-sion charges of alleged racial discrimination.

turner has filed complaints of both racial and age discrim-ination.

According to the eeOC of-ficial charge of discrimination filed by turner, turner made claims of discrimination on a class-wide basis. turner says there has not been an African American promoted to a su-pervisory position in the last fifteen years.

turner claims he felt per-sonally discriminated when younger white employees were promoted to Lieutenant over him despite his “extensive ex-

perience.”Following the original

charge, turner filed three more additional charges, in-cluding a seperate charge for the retaliation response to his first complaints. turner was demoted from his position of Lieutenant to firefighter and experienced a pay cut of $300 a month.

The fire department refused

to comment on the specifics of turners demotion.

turner is being represented by Julian mcPhillips of mcPhil-lips Shinbaum, LLP in mont-gomery.

“you’ve got a 22, 23-year-old. this man here 47-years-old, and he’s been there. Gave his life,” Dowdell said. “He was 20-21 when he came, now he’s 47. He gave his life to the City of Auburn. This is how we reward him. It’s terrible.”

Dowdell said he met with two retired African American firefighters that support turn-er and his claims.

“Any time there’s a situation like that, because it does in-volve personnel, we can’t com-ment,” said Lee Lamar, chief of the Fire Department.

According to Lamar, pro-motional practices are based out of formal written tests and assessment centers.

The assessment centers at-tempt to evaluate key perfor-mance aspects of being a fire-fighter. The AFD hires an out-side consultant to run the cen-ter and outside personal for evaluations.

“Those who prepare them-selves, sought education, who have learned the business, learned the job and learned professionally,” Lamar said. “either through experience or certification training and edu-cation, those people have pro-gressed much faster in these organizations.”

Lamar first worked for the department in 1980–1984 when he stopped to attend Au-burn University until 1985. La-mar has worked full time for the Department and held ev-ery position since then.

Dowdell is demanding change. He wants to see Au-burn use different hiring prac-

tices.“We’ve got to change Au-

burn, we gonna have to make Auburn look like America,” Dowdell said. “ We got a Black president and still Auburn doesn’t even look like they up in the 70s let alone the 2013. Students, black and white are getting along, they walking to-gether, they going together, and here it is in Auburn we’ve got this old cliché of good ole boy system.”

AFD comes under fire after Turner’s demotion

Lance DavisSPOrtS WrIter

Cam Newton is back on campus, and he’s not playing around?

Newton is enrolled at class-es at Auburn, AU officials con-firmed to WSFA 12 News’ Sal-ly Pitts. He is working toward getting his sociology degree.

Photos of Newton in class made the rounds on social me-dia. Head coach Gus malzahn, who was Newton’s offensive coordinator in 2010, tweeted,

“Happy to see my man Cam back at AU this semester work-ing toward his degree. #warea-gle”

Director of Auburn me-dia relations Kirk Sampson said Newton is focusing on his studies and trying to be a nor-mal student.

Newton attended Florida and Blinn Community Col-lege in texas before enrolling at Auburn. During his one-year stay at Auburn, Newton led the team to its second na-

tional championship in school history and won the Heisman trophy after a record-setting season.

Newton was drafted first overall by the Carolina Pan-thers in 2011, the NFL team with which he still plays. He was named Offensive rookie of the year and was selected to play in the 2012 Pro Bowl.

the Panthers finished 7-9 this season with Newton threw for 19 touchdowns and 12 in-terceptions.

Return to CAMpus

Courtesy of todd Van emst

Cam newton has returned to auburn to complete his degree in soci-ology. newton left in 2011 to pursue his nfL career.

INTRIGUE / B5

CAMPUS / A2

COMMUNITY / A5

OUR VIEW / A7

SPORTS / B1

no pregnanCy poLiCy?

auburn has no policy to accomodate pregnancies.

two students speak out.

former reCon sniper now at

eamCmark drye spent five years in the marines and now he works in

opelika.

in auBurn we trust?

the board of trustees is close to appointing a new member. is there

enough diversity on the board?

reCruiting traiL

Carl Lawson is one of auburn’s top recruits for 2012, but who

else has committed thus far?

Long standing traditionHow long has auburn been

affiliated with oak trees?

dowdeLL

Cam Newton returns to finish degree

Courtesy of naVeenan

naveenan thiagarajan, doctoral student in mechanical engineering, worked with oregon state students to research a cooling system for space electronics.

Acre adds to fine dining downtown

“we got a black president and still auburn doesn’t even look like they up in the ‘70s, let alone the 2013.

—Arthur Dowdell CIty COUNCILmemBer

» See NASA A2» See Acre A2

Chandler JonesCOmmUNIty rePOrter

Auburn’s David Bancroft will bring Auburn its new-est fine dining experience with his new Acre restau-rant.

Acre, located at 210 e. Glenn Ave., broke ground this week.

“Acre restaurant, we went and bought an acre of land downtown. So we named the restaurant Acre,” Bancroft said.

Bancroft’s distinct style of cuisine will be the great-est appeal to Acre.

He graduated from Au-burn in 2006 and began working as executive Chef of Amsterdam Café.

He then moved to the AU Club as their Head Chef in 2011.

Bancroft will use local farm fresh ingredients and will have a seasonal menu based around his garden.

“This Acre is going to be my little sustainable acre downtown,” Bancroft said. “I’m going to have a garden on site. I’m going to have fruit trees and peach trees.”

Acre will also host its own toomer’s tree to bring even more of Auburn to the new Acre.

The capacity of Acre will be 180 people and 4800 sq. ft. building with two pati-os, one facing Glenn and another into a cobblestone courtyard.

The courtyard will face a row of retail shops topped by three condos.

According to Bancroft, they are still in the market for what those shops will hold, but one will be a local coffee shop.

Bancroft is working with the development firm Dil-worth Development.

Courtesy of aCre

the capacity of acre will be 180 people in a 4800 sq. ft. build-ing.

Campus A2 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, January 17, 2013

Jan. 8 – Lakeview DriveHarassment Report

Jan. 8 – East Glenn AvenueAuto breaking and entering between 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Jan. 9 – North Donahue DriveThird-degree criminal trespass be-tween 1 - 1:30 p.m

Jan. 9 – West Magnolia Avenue Third-degree theft of U.S. currency between 4:30 - 11:59 p.m.

Jan. 10 – West Magnolia AvenueThird-degree criminal mischief be-tween 3:42 - 3:48 a.m.

Jan. 10 – North Gay StreetThird-degree burglary of a laptop, Playstation 3, Wii and BluRays be-tween 2:30 - 6 p.m.

Jan. 11 – South College StreetThird-degree criminal mischief be-tween 11:15 - 11:20 p.m.

Jan. 12 – South College StreetThird-degree theft of DVDs, a tooth-brush and Hello Kitty cover between 1:30 - 1:50 p.m.

Jan. 13 – Lem Morrison DriveHarassment Report.

Jan. 13 – West Magnolia AvenueAuto breaking and entering between 2 - 4:30 a.m.

Jan. 14 – Biggio DriveTheft of a cellphone, wallet, debit cards and credit cards between 8 - 8:40 p.m.

Jan. 15 – North College StreetThird-degree theft of property of a necklace between 2:35 - 2:45 p.m.

— Reports provided by Auburn Department of Public Safety

Crime reports for Jan. 8 – Jan. 16, 2013DUi arrests in the City of aUbUrn Jan. 8 – Jan. 16, 2013

■ Ronald Weekley, 67, AuburnTuesday, Jan. 8, 11:42 a.m. on East Magnolia Avenue

■ Morgan McAbee, 19, Winter Park, Fla.Wednesday, Jan. 9, 11:54 p.m. on Aspen Heights Lane

■ Carrleigh Partee, 20, Memphis Tenn.Thursday, Jan. 10, 2:25 a.m. at Cox Street and West Magnolia Avenue

■ Colton Kelley, 21, Colquitt, Ga.Friday, Jan. 11, 12:06 a.m. at South College Street and South Donahue Drive

■ Mary Moreno, 22, Jacksonville, Fla.Friday, Jan. 11, 10:33 a.m. on LCSO

■ William Martin, 41, AuburnSaturday, Jan. 12, 3:45 a.m. on Birch Circle

■ Kaitlin Reed, 21, Cincinnati, OhioSaturday, Jan. 12, 3:04 a.m. on Wire Road

■ Paciano Monje, 52, AuburnSaturday, Jan. 12, 6:58 p.m. on Webster Road

No policy for student mothers available at AuburnBecky HardyCAmPus EdiTor

some students do not just have ex-ams and attendance to worry about.For Lauren Litchfield, recent Auburn alumna and mother of a two-year-old daughter, and Grace Hall, se-nior in communications and moth-er of an 18-month-old daughter, they also have to worry about caring for a young child.

When Litchfield found out she was pregnant the may after her fresh-man year at Auburn, she immediate-ly started planning around the preg-nancy.

“i had to figure that out all on my own and just research,” Litchfield said. “There’s not much informa-tion that you can just find. i just had to pull from a bunch of different re-sources.”

Litchfield was able to pull off grad-uating a semester early because of her academic advisor.

“she was a huge help, generally be-cause she just cared and she was a mom, other advisors are not like that,” Litchfield said.

Although Litchfield got lucky with her advisor, not all expecting stu-dents will have that experience be-cause there is no set policy on stu-dents expecting a child, whether they are the mother or the father.

“i had one teacher that was going by university stuff and she was really strict and wouldn’t doing anything for me,” Hall said.

Hall is currently having troubles getting in the classes that she needs and the university is not making any exceptions for her situation.

“[The university] knows that i have a little girl that i am trying to get out of school for,” Hall said. “i’m not sure if i’m going to get in those classes, and if that’s the case then i’ll have to stay another semester and pay for child-care three or four times a week for an-other semester.”

Although both mothers excelled in their classes before and after their pregnancies, there was no guarantee when they came back, after taking a semester off, that their professors had to understand their situation.

“i’m actually in the process of try-

ing to get some classes medically withdrawn because [the university] wasn’t really accommodating with all of that,” Hall said. “i’m a good stu-dent and i usually make good grades, so i’m trying to get the board to with-draw those classes, but i don’t know if i’ll get it or not.”

Litchfield was on the luckier side when dealing with her teachers.

“When i went to go take one of my finals, one of my teachers said i need-ed to fail the final to get a B and that i deserve not to take the final,” Litch-field said. “it was just one less thing for me to worry about especially since my daughter was in the hospital fighting for her life. The fact that one teacher said taking the final didn’t matter and finishing her class is silly compared to a child that’s two hours away that can’t breathe was amazing.”

The university at this time does not offer any policy or formal support groups for expecting students or stu-dents with children.

if any groups have formed they are all informal.

“People just sit and talk about any number of things like how you get your child to sleep at night,” said donna sollie, assistant provost for Women’s initiatives. “There is not an official advisor, but someone from the women’s resource center will kind of help to facilitate.”

Litchfield and Hall met through mutual friends, but it would have been better to have a formal support group on campus, Litchfield said.

“i love my friends,” Litchfield said. “They were so supportive through the whole thing, but they still don’t have a child, so they still don’t get it. As much as they’re supportive, at the end of the day they don’t understand that i can’t talk to them how i talk to Kath-ryn — another student with a daugh-ter — and Grace.”

Auburn also does not offer marital housing on campus, which could of-fer easier transportation opportuni-ties to student parents.

“it would have been easier campus-wise,” Litchfield said. “[my husband and i] had a situation where on every Tuesday and Thursday we had to lit-erally pick [my daughter] up and go to

his CosAm building, pick him up and drive around campus to then drop me off at class. i was late so many times.”

Auburn’s Women’s resource Cen-ter works with different organiza-tions across campus, including the graduate student organization, Gso, which held a forum on concerns of graduate students.

The list of needs the Gso will try to address for pregnant graduate stu-

dents or graduate students with chil-dren include, insurance policies for children and dependents, parking spots, traveling to school, day care, support groups, making the parent group official, Parent’s Bill of rights and resources.

Although some organizations are taking notice to students with these issues on campus, the undergradu-ate program at Auburn still has noth-

ing to benefit its students with these issues.

“i hate to say to put rules in place, but there should be a policy,” Litch-field said. “my situation’s different because me and my husband were both students. We both had to get the classes. if the guy is supporting the child his schedule is just as im-portant. if a teacher doesn’t want to switch his class that’s a problem.”

KATHERinE MCCAHEy / ASSiSTAnT PHOTO EDiTOR

Lauren Litchfield, pictured with her 2 year old daughter, Ava Hayes, speaks out about the trials and joys of being a mother while attending school before graduating last December. Litchfield graduted a semester early with a degree in marketing.

“He’s always working on something.

When you ask him a ques-tion he’s always got some number or some figure he knows.

“He’s really prepared all the time, but he’s really a personable guy at the same time so it’s really easy to work with him.”

Thiagarajan is a hard working person and remains cheerful when working on research, Bhavnani said.

Thiagarajan has the ideal temperament of a graduate student and research assis-tant, Bhavnani said.

Even if the experiment would have failed, Thiaga-rajan’s would have experi-enced microgravity and zero gravity.

“so that was very inter-esting and i am even hap-pier that the experiment worked,” Thiagarajan said.

“To know that the exper-iment came off good and to go on to present and know that people recognize your work, it is satisfying to say the least,” Thiagarajan said.

“His style for cooking and our style of building are somewhat similar,” Found-er michael dilworth said. “There’s a casualness to it. We use a lot of reclaimed materials and a lot of natu-ral materials, kind of a rus-tic elegance type of flavor to the interior finishes into the style of our construction.”

The bar-lounge will boast a 24-foot vaulted ceiling and use cypress wood from Ban-croft’s family farm.

“We’re using a bunch wood raptors, wood beams and that style,” Bancroft said. “The kitchen is going to be an open floor plan where you can sit at a bar at the kitchen. it’s literally going to be a wrap-around bar that you can sit at and watch the kitchen.”

Bancroft restaurant is designed to cultivate the southern atmosphere of Au-burn and foster the open ex-change found in cooking.

“i want people to see what we were doing,” Bancroft said. “i wanted them to in-teract. seeing us smoking

meats and hanging meats, in the winter times hanging hams. And just kind of bring-ing back some of the culture that has been void.”

Bancroft takes on this en-deavor with his family. They help him with planning, con-tracts and to Bancroft has become a family project.

“All of these people on my team are also Auburn Alum,” Bancroft said. “There are over 14 Alumni in my family from Auburn. Everybody in my family feels drawn and is tugging at their heartstrings to get this project. Because they know when they come back from the games they’ll know they have their place.”

Bancroft hails from san Antonio and draws on his roots in his cooking.

“People that went to my middle school and high school will probably laugh and say he was always cook-ing Texas style barbecue, brisket and smoking ribs, dear meat and sausage,” Bancroft said. “At that point it was a hobby. Before i’d go to baseball practice all day i’d throw a brisket on the smok-er, go to baseball practice, come back four hours later and it’d be ready.”

aCre» From A1

nasa» From A1

The Auburn Plainsman255 Heisman Dr., Suite 1111, AU Student Center

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Thursday, January 17, 2013 The Auburn Plainsman Campus A3

Eva WoghirenWriTEr

For several years now an under-the-radar program called the Adaptive Fitness Program has been offered at Auburn. The exercise pro-gram is for students, faculty and graduates with disabili-ties.

The program is linked to the Department of Kinesiol-ogy, which was first started by Dr. Wang, a biomechanics professor.

Larry Dalrymple, staff member in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pa-thology, has worked with the exercise program ever since it started 14 years ago.

“i find all of the machines to be very helpful,” Dalrym-ple said.

The purpose of the class is to help the students with dis-abilities stay strong and fit despite their disability. Al-though all the machines in the room are not specifical-ly made for students with disabilities they have trans-formed room 1129 to accom-modate the participants.

“There are few machines, such as the NUSTEP bikes that are specifically made for the disabled as well as the hand bike which helps with the shoulders and upper ex-tremity use,” said Ford Dyke, machine assistant.

The participants are not trained, but more assisted by Dyke who recently came to Auburn two semesters ago for his masters in Kinesiolo-gy.

When Dyke asked his advi-sor Dr. Wadsworth for oppor-tunities on campus she intro-duced him to Nancy Gell, for-mer assistant of the program.

“This past summer Nan-cy trained me on how to use the equipment and showed me the ropes and i took over from there,” Dyke said.

Several of the people that take part in this program have been coming for sever-al years now.

“Every once in a while i see someone new come in,” said Linda Barresi, employee in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. “i have been coming on and off

for about a year now.”The Office of Accessibili-

ty at Auburn helps to accom-modate students and staff with disabilities to make Au-burn an easier environment to live in. They also play a part in the people who attend the Monday, Wednesday and Friday workouts.

Newest participant, Bran-don Wilson, said they in-formed him of this opportu-nity.

“From what i have seen i will definitely be in here Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” Wilson said. “i only have an hour so i have to hit it hard.”

Franklin Butts a retired Auburn graduate is a veter-an to the machines in room 1129, working with them for seven years.

“The program has helped me to get around in my wheelchair better by build-ing strength in my triceps,” Butts said.

The group meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5 – 6 p.m. in the Coliseum room 1129.

For Event Information:

www.auburn.edu/UPC

(334)-844-4788 or follow us on

Facebook and Twitter

@Auburn UPC

UPC Presents

Tuesday, January 22

AUSC Starbucks7:00 p.m.

Movie night

Kenan Thompson

Tuesday, January 29Auburn Arena

7:00 PM

*AU Student ID required for entry*

”The Perks of Being a Wallflower”Wednesday, January 23

Foy Auditorium7:00 PM

Open mic night

Thursday, January 245:30 PM

*Must sign up in AUSC Suite 3130 to participate

Cooking workshop

Soups & Sandwiches

New exercise program available to students with disabilities

Katherine mcchaey / assistant photo editor

Jon morris, sophomore, bench-pressing while his friend, Woody thornton, spots him for safety.

Kailey MillerCAMPUS rEPOrTEr

With Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaching, the memory of King’s teachings and service is strong in the hearts of the Auburn community. Thursday, Jan. 17 –Friday, Jan. 25, Auburn is hosting King Week.

“The week-long series of programs are planned to commemo-rate the legacy and leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” said Paulette Dilworth, assistant vice president for access and com-munity initiatives.

Dr. King would have turned 83 on Tuesday, Jan. 15 if he were alive today.

“Now more than ever, we all as members of the national com-munity must take to heart Dr. King’s teachings to work together to achieve this dream,” Dilworth said.

King Week is for students, faculty, alumni and the community.“it is a learning opportunity as well as an opportunity for in-

dividuals to see if they can be a solution to this ongoing dilem-ma,” said Joyce Thomas-Vinson, program administrator for stu-dent engagement and service learning.

This office is responsible for helping to institutionalize diver-sity at Auburn and this will be the seventh year that King Week has taken place.

The week will begin with the AuburnServes Volunteer Fair in the Student Center. Shirley Sherrod, author of “Courage to Hope: How i Stood up to the Politics of Fear,” will be speaking Monday at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center.

There will be a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Scholarship breakfast Monday morning and later that day a community-wide day of community service will be held.

A birthday celebration for King will take place on Friday, Jan. 25. These events have been organized by Thomas-Vincent and her office. Thomas-Vincent expects the turnout to be good, especial-ly for the breakfast on Monday, which typically draws a crowd of

200. Attendance varies for the other events, depending on the day.The committee is already planning King Week for next year. “We try to have it worked out at least nine months in advance,”

Thomas-Vincent said.AuburnServes has a network of 140 non-profit agencies that

work with Auburn students. There will be at least 20 different agencies at the Volunteer Fair

at the beginning of King Week.“Duty to country knows only three colors: red, white and blue,

and those who have worn the uniform of the United States Armed Forces have truly served us all and earned the honored title of ‘veteran’,” Dilworth said. “King never served in the military, but he commanded an army of Americans dedicated to fulfilling our country’s highest ideal that all men and all women are created equal.”

For more information on King Week, visit https://cws.auburn.edu/aci/Kingweek or call 334-844-5042 .

Auburn’s King Week brings recognition to service and history

If watching a college foot-ball game is equivalent to a breathtaking, family filled ex-perience, then an NFL game is watching the family play after they have grown up.

I often hear various mis-conceptions about the NFL,

whether it be friends com-plaining that it’s just a bunch of overpaid athletes or that the passion is lacking because they are paid to simply play a game, both of which I find to be interesting considering the time and effort it takes to even be considered an NFL pros-pect.

Some of us could work out all we wanted, eat right for years and still not be qualified to be an NFL player.

So even if you don’t appreci-

ate the NFL, this weekend can be an exception.

All four teams remaining in the playoffs, the Falcons, 49‘ers, Patriots and Ravens, are certain to showcase every-thing they have left.

With only one game away from arguably the most cov-eted championship in the world, why would a player, or team, not play to the best of their ability?

The Falcons are hosting an NFC championship game for

the first time against the San Fransisco 46‘ers, and regard-less of how much flak Atlan-ta has taken over the course of the season, playing in Atlan-ta is a comfort zone that many teams in the NFL don’t have.

The Patriots are in famil-iar territory however, facing the Baltimore Ravens for what seems like a recurring game for the AFC championship each season.

All four teams will play their socks off, and if motivation to

go to the Super Bowl wasn’t enough,

Falcons tight end Tony Gon-zalez has played in the league for 16 season, but just won his first playoff game last weekend against the Seahawks.

Any idea how bad he wants a ring?

Signs adorning the phrase “Do it for Tony” were clustered throughout the Georgia Dome last Sunday, and it was only fit-ting that Gonzalez made the fi-nal catch to put the Falcons in

field goal range to make a 49-yard attempt and send the Se-ahawks packing.

Moments like this are what the NFL playoffs are known for, and expect many more to come this weekend and in the SuperBowl.

So after church and spend-ing time with the family, watch what the NFL has to offer and ask yourself how you would feel if you were playing for a trip to the SuperBowl.

A7Thursday, January 17, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Opinions

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Our View

Robert e LeeeDITOR-IN-CHIeF

eDITOR@THePLAINSMAN.COM

It is not even Inauguration Day, and I am already disap-pointed.

The citizens of the united States decided to give Pres. Obama another four years to demonstrate some leadership, make a difference and fol-low through on his campaign promises.

Well, we will just have to see how that works out because the indications do not look good.

Obama’s handling of the fis-cal cliff crisis and the legisla-

tion created leave me ques-tioning his true leadership ability.

In dealing with the fiscal cliff Obama displayed the traits of a terrific communi-

ty organizer, but not a leader of the country.

ego and pride appear to have subverted leadership and resulted in a deal that raised the taxes of every single Amer-ican.

As if that were not bad enough, the fiscal cliff deal does almost nothing to curb America’s problem with over-spending.

However, that is not the president’s fault. According to him, it is the Republicans’ fault.

Blaming others appears to

be the standard plan of action for the president and his team. If something does not go their way, they find someone else to blame and go to the media with it. In this case, everything negative about the fiscal cliff situation is the Republicans’ fault.

True leaders do not use blame as a tool to create suc-cess.

True leaders accept the re-sponsibility of making diffi-cult, though often not popular, decisions that will help our na-tion thrive.

True leaders absorb the in-puts and considerations of countless advisors and devise solutions.

True leaders are account-able for their decisions and are

ready to deal with the conse-quences of their decisions, ac-tions and in some cases, inac-tions.

I have yet to see Obama demonstrate any of the quali-ties of a true leader.

In the midst of the fiscal cliff crisis talks, Obama managed to find enough money in this dismal economy to issue an executive order granting raises to Congress, Vice President Joe Biden and other various feder-al officials.

He gave pay raises to the very people who cannot work together to find rational solu-tions while accepting a Fiscal Cliff solution that literally rais-es taxes on every single Amer-ican and does nothing to pre-vent our Nation’s debt from in-

creasing another 50 percent over the next four years.

The pay raises garnered at-tention and disapproval from many, even some in Congress. There is a group of Congress members calling for legisla-tion the removal of the raises.

It appears the president is happy to reward failure while the rest of America must earn their small raises by working hard every day.

Why should government leaders, Democrat and Repub-lican, who appear to be unable to lead our Nation out of debt ever be given a raise?

To top the whole fiscal cliff situation off, instead of sign-ing the deal before the dead-line, Obama decides he would rather fly to Hawaii.

Obama needs to step up and accept responsibility, ac-countability and the conse-quences of his addiction to big spending.

Sadly, it seems like all of our national leaders are happy to ride their big spending train into America’s financial obliv-ion.

During his first term, Obama seemed to blame ev-ery problem in America on his predecessor.

I’m interested to see whom he is going to place the blame on now. The last four years were all him.

Being a leader is easy during good times. The true measure of a leader comes during diffi-cult times, and so far Obama has not measured up.

The odds of a quarter com-ing up with heads just once in seventeen flips are less than one percent. It’s about a hundredth of one percent ac-tually. But Auburn’s board of trustees selection commit-tee managed to do almost just that.

Just one woman is on the short list of seventeen candi-dates for the two opening po-sitions.

Of course, an interview process is not just flipping coins and the odds weren’t exactly 50/50 to begin with.

Of the 101 candidates pri-or to the field being whittled down, 93 were men, which means men were chosen at about a one in six clip, and women, just one in eight.

And although the appli-cation process did not make candidates’ race readily avail-able, a quick online search of the remaining candidates shows each one with photos on their company website or public personal profile is

white. Alabama has the sixth highest proportion of black residents at over a quarter of the population.

Right now one black mem-ber sits on Auburn’s board of 14 trustees.

Because of the recent changes to the nomination process, we do at least have a lot more information avail-able on how the trustees are selected than we did in the not-so-distant past. That was a good move that now has made it easier to shed fur-ther light on the process, but that light will inherently find other areas that need im-provement. Diversity is one of them.

To pass to the final in-terview round candidates had to have their application pulled and recommended by at least one of the five mem-bers of the selection com-mittee, who are all men. The one female nominee, Melis-sa Herkt, had her application pulled by one member. Four

of the other male candidates had their applications pulled by all five committee mem-bers.

Committee member Jim-my Rane said after the field was narrowed, “I’m not run-ning for political office, and I’m not very politically cor-

rect,” following that with “you can make anything an issue.”

We say this is a real issue, not one that is made up by people who are too “political-ly correct.”

Bentley asked the commit-tee about only having one fe-male nominee, “Is that an is-

sue?” to which no one said it was. He said, “We do have a policy in our state of inclu-siveness, and we try to make sure on all boards of trustees that we have diversity, and we already do on the Auburn board.”

If by “we already do” he means that he is satisfied with the one trustee of col-or and the two current fe-male trustees (and these two groups overlap) on the board of 14, then his comment must raise questions of his serious-ness towards inclusivity.

Auburn as a universi-ty and a city stands out in our state for being a place where people from all over the country and world come to learn, grow and work to-gether. People come from places like Turkey, Brazil and South Korea to mold Auburn into what it is. All students, staff and faculty of all back-grounds do their part. It’d be nice if our board of trustees reflected this.

Bored of Trustees

Last Monday, Auburn uni-versity officials announced that 17 applicants were select-ed for the second round of the nomination process to deter-mine Auburn’s next two mem-bers of the Board of Trustees. The list included 16 worthy men and one, yes that’s cor-rect, only one woman. I have an extremely hard time believ-ing that only one female nomi-

nee out of 101 deserved an op-portunity to advance to the in-terview stage of the process.

AL.com reported that Gov-ernor Robert Bentley, himself a conservative, Tea Party can-didate elected in the Repub-lican wave of 2010, asked the all-Caucasian male nominat-ing committee about the lack of gender diversity among the nominees. Gaines Thomas, a

nominating committee mem-ber, responded in part by say-ing “I’m not very politically correct.”

This issue is not about po-litical correctness. Diversity among our Board of Trustees should not be an impediment, obstacle or a technicality. If anything, it should be a point of pride and an opportunity to improve our school. If Auburn

is to continue to maintain its status as a world renowned in-stitution of higher education, then it must have a diverse group of trustees at the helm to lead the university into the 21st century.

At a time when female stu-dents comprise 49 percent of the Auburn university student body and nationwide women outnumber men at nearly all

levels of the academic spec-trum, women must have an opportunity to sit at the gov-erning table. Not for the sake of just having a female, but to enhance and enrich Au-burn university. Diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspec-tives are necessary to govern a broad student body.

I implore the nominating committee to take a second

look at the 101 applications and select highly qualified women to advance to the next phase of the process. In fact, as a student at Auburn university, I demand no less.

Jacob DeanAuburn university Student Government Association Senatorjunior, political science

Sydney CallisCOMMuNITy eDITOR

NeWS@THePLAINSMAN.COM

Board of Trustees needs more women involved

Her View

Obama lacks any effective leadership skills

RAcheL SUhS/DeSign eDiToR

NFL passions ramp up with Super Bowl trip on lineHis View

BREAKING: Brent Mus-burger selflessly volun-teered to find out whether @_KatherineWebb is real or not.

-@DanDrezner

A5Thursday, January 17, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Community

Community

Jordan DaleWriter

Unlike most fine art exhi-bitions, if one reached out to touch the upcoming pieces at the Jule Collins Smith Mu-seum, they would not have to worry about a security guard tackling them.

“Bauhaus twenty-21: An Ongoing Legacy,” which fea-tures the work of photog-rapher Gordon Watkinson, opens on Jan. 25, 2013.

According to Watkinson’s website, the Bauhaus archi-tecture school began in Ger-many in 1919 and endeavored to provide solutions for de-sign problems in urban plan-ning, housing and utilitarian mass-production. Bauhaus, which means house for build-ing, was an influential part of the modernism movement in architecture, and featured de-signs for buildings that em-braced technology with limit-ed ornamentation.

“i try to connect the dots between the past and present, not only as an advocate of the Bauhaus and modernism, but to show how the legacy of well thought out design solutions can influence our everyday life,” Watkinson said.

Watkinson uses his pho-tography as a mediator be-tween the 20th-21st centuries.

A unique feature of the ex-hibition is reproductions of lamps and furniture that the audience is expected to inter-

act with and manipulate. “We’ll have to train the

guards that it’s okay to touch, but they’ll have to relearn to stop people once the exhi-bition is over,” said Dennis Harper, curator of collections and exhibitions at the muse-um.

Auburn University is the first venue in the United States to host the Bauhaus twenty-21 exhibition. More than eight countries have hosted the exhibition since its conception in 2009.

“it was Auburn’s architec-ture and design school’s very fine tradition that drew Wat-kinson,” said Charlotte Hen-drix, print and didgital media producer at JCSM.

Marilyn Laufer, Director of the Jule Collins Smith Muse-um, said she believed that the exhibition would be a good fit for the museum and for Au-burn University.

Harper hopes to engage faculty, students and the com-munity in architecture and modern architecture with this exhibit.

“everything we buy and walk around and touch that is made, didn’t just spring out of the air, it is thought up and designed by artists and engi-neers and designers,” Harp-er said.

While the majority of the audience may be members of the architecture school, or the rural Studio, any photog-

raphers, historians and any-one with an interest in strong design are encouraged to at-tend.

“i already knew the work of the rural Studio, so i was re-ally keen that it worked out,” Watkinson said.

in an effort to replicate Po-lapan film, Watkinson’s pho-tography favors black, white and blue tones with large grain and texture that he uses software to help create. Pola-pan was a film that Polaroid discontinued after its file for bankruptcy in 2001.

the museum will host an opening reception on Thurs-day, Jan. 24, followed by a workshop at 6 p.m. by Wat-kinson.

“With digital cameras to-

day, people think photogra-phy is all about moving your finger up and down,” Wat-kinson said. “Hopefully this workshop will show them there’s more to consider.” The workshop will address how to tell stories visually through photography and discuss the story-telling tactics Wat-kinson uses in his own ex-hibitions. Harper recom-mends that those interested in the worship should rSVP through eventbrite as seating is limited.

“My goal with ‘Bauhaus twenty-21: An Ongoing Lega-cy’ is to start a conversation about the meaning of good design and the legacy of mod-ernism from between the world wars,” Watkinson said.

International photography exhibition Bauhaus twenty-21 makes its home in Auburn

Courtesy of Dam/foto: fritz PhilliP

Gordon Watkinson is the photographer behind Bauhaus twen-ty-21: an ongoing legacy.

Award-winning author to read at Gnu’s RoomAnna Claire ConradWriter

Local author and teacher Marlin Barton will be reading excerpts from his newest nov-el, “The Cross Garden” on Sat-urday, Jan. 19 at 4 p.m. at The Gnu’s room.

According to tina tatum, owner of the Gnu’s room and director of Gnu’s Art inc., events like this reading and other events hosted for the public such as live music per-formances and film screen-ings came about when she took over as the owner five and a half years ago.

“A lot of places just have signings, and they don’t have readings, but we feel that it’s important to engage the folks that come,” tatum said. “Our mission is to provide a venue for these kinds of events for the community.”

tatum said she also pro-motes local art and literature in her store through events such as readings.

“i think that people need to know that there is a lot of tal-ent in our state and especial-ly in this region, and i hope that people take advantage of this opportunity,” tatum said. “[Barton] is an excellent writer, and this will be a great event for the community.”

For the past 16 years, Bar-ton has taught creative writ-ing, fiction and poetry at the Mt. Meigs juvenile facility in Montgomery, Ala.; a career that has heavily influenced his most recent work.

“i know that if i hadn’t taught at Mt. Meigs i never would have written this nov-el,” Barton said.

According to Barton, “The Cross Garden” is about his 16-year-old protagonist James who has been released from a juvenile detention fa-cility, goes back home and struggles to not fall back into old habits.

“One question is if he’s go-ing to stay out of trouble or not,” Barton said. “There’s an-other character that is a fa-ther figure for him who has been dating [ James’] moth-er by the name of Nathan. He tries to keep the boy out of trouble, but, of course, [ James] gets into trouble just

like he did before.”Although Barton drew

most of his inspiration from his own experiences with stu-dents at Mt. Meigs that re-semble the main character in his novel, James is not based off of any one particular indi-vidual.

“He’s an amalgam of a lot of the students i’ve known there,” Barton said.

tatum said she had the stu-dents in mind when she de-cided to host live readings at her store.

“i feel that it would be ben-eficial to the students of the University and members of the Auburn community to come and listen to Alabama authors and get the chance to meet with them,” tatum said.

Diamone Scott, sophomore in graphic design and english, said she enjoys supporting lo-cal artists and authors .

“i think it’s critical for stu-dents at the University to get involved in the arts of this community,” Scott said. “Au-burn has a lot to offer as far as artwork and literature goes, and The Gnu’s room is a great place to become immersed in those things.”

Barton said, college stu-dents will be able to relate to the characters of his novel and its plot.

“My intentions as a writ-er are serious, and i want to explore human nature in an honest way,” Barton said. “i hope college students, partic-ularly english majors or peo-ple in the liberal arts, will ap-preciate the work. Plus, one of the main characters is young, and i think college-aged stu-dents will be able to identify with the challenges he faces.”

Barton also said he hopes “The Cross Garden” will speak to people’s spirits in some way.

“People who read fiction and poetry come to it because they want to be engaged and moved by the story,” Barton said. “i think all good liter-ature helps us explore who we are as people and helps us understand our place in the world. So, if anything i’ve written helps the reader do that a little bit, then maybe i’ve done my job as a writer.”

raye maye / Photo eDitor

JCsm will house “Bauhaus twenty-21” until saturday, may 4, 2013.

New restaurant brings more spice to downtown AuburnSydney CallisCOMMUNity eDitOr

Bringing new spice to Downtown Auburn, tacori-ta is dishing out new fla-vors.

the staff at tacorita worked tirelessly Christmas eve and Christmas, to open-the restaurant Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012.

“it was sad that i didn’t get to be with my own fam-ily,” said Brittney Gayle, em-ployee at tacorita and se-nior in art. “it was cool though because we all have become our own little fami-ly. it was definitely a learn-ing experience.”

Located across the street from Quixotes, tacorita serves a wide variety of ta-cos. The menu features cheesy chicken tacos, fish tacos, bris-ket tacos, tempeh tacos and many more.

Appetizers, soups, salads and a children’s menu are also included in the menu. There is something for everyone at tacorita.

Caleb reeves, a senior in hotel and restaurant manage-ment and ranked second in

the state for mixology, is the bartender at tacorita.

“Most people don’t like margaritas because they haven’t had a good margarita,” reeves said. “They’ve had re-ally bad mixers or just drinks not in balance. Whereas here, we want to make sure every-thing is fresh juice. everything is about fresh juices.”

the bar serves beer, spe-cialty drinks and a variety of flavors of margaritas.

“i came up with my own sour mix recipe,” reeves said. “i worked on it for about six

weeks to get it balanced cor-rectly with the acidity and sweetness.”

reeves said tacorita does not have a freezer because it places an importance on serv-ing all foods and drinks fresh.

“Nothing is ever frozen,” reeves said. “Our market fish rotates all the time. This week-end we did a swordfish. We’ve done seared mahi mahi, tuna and salmon right now. We’ve done a trigger fish and red snapper.”

the seafood is brought in fresh daily and the juices pressed daily.

“it’s all original,” Gayle said. “it’s all good. it’s fantas-tic. even the queso is made in house. i can’t get over how good the food is. i’m kind of obsessed with the food. i go there whenever i’m not work-ing.”

Prices at tacorita start at $2.50. House margaritas are $5 and seasonal specials, which rotate all the time according to reeves, are $6.

“No other place in town can you get freshly squeezed juices for the price that we of-fer,” reeves said. “you might

be able to get a 42-ounce mar-garita at other restaurants. you can’t get that here, howev-er you will get a quality prod-uct that you won’t find any-where else for that price.”

Greg Bradshaw, owner of Mellow Mushroom, always wanted to open a taco restau-rant, reeves said.

“He had an idea that he wanted a quality taco shop with the best margaritas you can get anywhere,” reeves said. “it was his dream project for a long time.”

reeves said tacorita is dif-ferent from other Mexican restaurants in and around Au-burn because they focus on one thing: tacos.

“The other Mexican restau-rants in town, when you go to the kitchen you can get a wide variety of food,” reeves said. “However, it’s not as much about the guest. Here, service is number one.”

The restaurant has its own smoker to make brisket for some of the tacos.

“We will not do a ground beef taco,” reeves said. “it’s against our religion, shall we say. it’s more authentic style

Mexican instead of American-ized.”

Gayle said she thinks people should come expe-rience the food at tacorita because it is different.

“each taco is complete-ly unique,” Gayle said. “All of the sauces, all of the things that we offer are unique. you get a lot of different things to choose from.”

raye may / Photo eDitor

tacorita features a full bar along with various taco flavors.

“each taco is completely unique. all of the sauces, all of the things that we offer are unique. you get a lot of different things to choose from.”

—Brittney Gayle eMPLOyee

Community A6 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, January 17, 2013

Former Marine finds a home in Auburn after serving 5 years in Marine Corps

Abigail O’BrienCOmmuniTy WriTer

Long hours sitting in a snip-er hole in the middle east, starting a mini golf business in Opelika, smuggling Bibles into hostile countries, learn-ing to knit mittens as a new hobby and currently working as an rn in the iCu are just some of things that describe mark Drye.

The 27-year-old from Plain-field, n.H. cracks a joke as he explains how he ended up in the Auburn/Opelika area.

“(i) drove my car,” he said. Before his past few years

in the South, Drye spent five years as a corporal in the ma-rine Corps, some of that time spent as a scout sniper.

Drye has been deployed three times and has been to over 47 countries.

The former marine is third in the line of nine children and grew up homeschooled. He enlisted in the marine Corps after he finished his high school education, months lat-er finding himself deployed to Bahrain.

Adjusting to a new country came easier for Drye because of the way he was raised.

“Growing up home-schooled, you kinda learn to just blend into whatever envi-ronment you’re in, so for me it really wasn’t that big of a deal,” Drye said.

From Bahrain, his military career continued to rise, in-

cluding multiple operations across the Persian Gulf, mid-dle east and Africa.

When he found him-self stateside again at Camp Lejeune, n.C., in 2005, Drye was immediately placed in a leadership position as team leader.

For Drye, being a leader meant coming alongside his men as he directed them.

“Being willing to do the things that you’re asking oth-er people to do – i think that’s imperative,” Drye said. “Be-cause anybody can yell and scream and say, ‘you gotta do this,’ or ‘you’re gonna do this, this way,’ but if you’re not will-ing to do it yourself or you can’t demonstrate how it’s supposed to be done, then you can’t really ever expect those under you to do it effectively or be excited about it.”

About halfway through his five-year commitment to the marine Corps, Drye was presented with the competi-tive opportunity to become a scout sniper.

There are only about 400 marine snipers in the world and the dropout rate from sniper school is 70 percent Drye said.

Despite the fact that Drye had almost failed the rifle range portion of boot camp, barely passing by 1 point, his superiors saw that he could run- a needed skill for a snip-er.

“Because as a sniper, if you get caught, your pretty much only way out is run away, and it doesn’t matter where you are,” Drye said, explaining that sniper training involved running anywhere from 5-20 miles a day.

When overseas operating, Drye’s teams’ responsibilities varied.

“Pretty much our job was

to monitor specific areas or targets just for activity, we’re looking for known targets of interest,” Drye said.

Often, it was a waiting game, a habit he has found hard to get rid of.

“About 90 percent of what we do is watching,” Drye said.

While a scout sniper, Drye was also completing his bach-elor’s degree in business.

He said that while the job was high-stress, he enjoyed the responsibility and honor that came with his position.

“But it was entrusted to us because they knew that we would use it to help other peo-ple,” Drye said. “it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, this is cool. i’m the man, i can do whatever i want.’ They didn’t want people that just did whatever they want be-cause they could. They want-ed people to do whatever they needed to, because they should.”

Adam miller, also a corpo-ral, was led by Drye when he served as his fire team leader.

“A lot of guys in the military that get rank, they use their rank for themselves, but the one thing that mark taught us is that his rank that he earned wasn’t for him, it was for the guys below him,” miller said.

As Drye’s five years in the marines came to a close, he began to focus on other as-pirations, relocating to Ala-bama.

He almost managed a handful of Waffle Houses, but instead decided to take up nursing school while also juggling a newfound passion- smuggling Bibles into closed countries with the organiza-tion Vision Beyond Borders.

Long time friend and fel-low participator in the Vision Beyond Borders work, Dan-iel Solid said that mark has al-ways been able to juggle con-

trast in his life beautifully. “mark has always been de-

liberate in creating a para-doxical lifestyle,” Solid said. “He loves to on the one hand be this sniper that can take out a bad guy at a thousand yards, then on the other hand, i walked over to his house the other night and he was learn-ing to knit mittens for a child.”

Solid said Drye’s motiva-tion behind his passion for people and service is Drye’s faith.

For Drye, at the end of the day, he prefers to be known for his heart for people, not pass-port stamps or military career.

now working as an rn at eAmC’s cardiovascular iCu, Drye said he loves what he

does and that every day is dif-ferent.

“i’d believe that most peo-ple, if they just talked to me for a few minutes and didn’t ask about any of this stuff, they’d probably never think or know that i did most of what i’ve done,” Drye said. “i’m a nurse who works at a hospi-tal. That’s what i do. And that’s good. i like it that way. i don’t ever want some of the things that i’ve done to be who i am. Because if that’s what my life is built on- the fact that i was a marine, the fact that i smug-gled Bibles or the fact that i’m a nurse, then i’m really doing it for the wrong reasons. i just like helping people with what-ever i’m able to help with.”

Courtesy of Mark Drye

Drye was deployed three times during his five years in the Marine Corps.

Courtesy of Mark Drye

Drye is now a nurse at the east alabama Medical Clinic.

Kelsey DavisWriTer

City of Auburn’s Water Works Board will be updating its 10-12 year old software system of billing utilities. The implementation will be-come effective at the end of this month with the bills that are due in February 2013.

updating the software aims to create more efficiency on both ends of the utility paying system. Allison edge, City of Auburn’s Assis-tant Finance Director, explained that the cur-rent software being used for the billing system works separately from accounting and finan-cial software. This means that a large part of operating the system had to be manually done.

“The system we are going to is connected to the same software that our financial account-ing software is,” edge said. “it’s the same con-cept, but it’s all connected to our other ac-counting software so that everything flows, and will take a lot less manual type entry.”

This system update is not the first that Au-burn’s Water Works Board has seen.

“We’ve done some things over time. Just a couple of years ago, we went to a multi-cycle billing,” said David Dorton, City of Auburn’s Di-

rector of Public Affairs. Dorton said that the AWWB used to func-

tion on one billing cycle for the month. The one billing cycle system caused personnel in revenue to have to work particularly strenu-ously during a small amount of time to serve citizens. With the multi-cycle billing system, that crunch period is now more spread out over time.

“The multi-cycle billing was a step, and now this software is a step that should help on our

side and also for the citizens,” Dorton said. After the system is implemented, if a cus-

tomer calls in with a question or complaint, edge said it is going to be easier for the board to get to the information, and look at what they need to know to be able to help the customer.

The new system also hopes to make bill pay-ing more efficient on the citizen’s end. There will be more information available online, such as history on their water usage.

in the future, customers will still be able to pay their bills online, but will also now have the option of using an automated process by pay-ing over the phone.

For citizens, this means more options with how they pay their bills.

“you can still get a bill, write a check, and it back, or the new software has an option to pay online,” Dorton said. “Hopefully it’ll be easier on folks.”

With the new billing system comes some changes for citizens. utility bills will look slightly different than before. Citizens will also be given new customer and account numbers that they will need to be able to utilize to pay utilities.

maggie Waters, a local Auburn resident, is not too concerned about the change.

“i don’t think it will be anything that will re-ally bother us,” Waters said. “i do always appre-ciate the convenience of automated payments, especially in the midst of already trying to re-member so many other things in our day-to-day lives.”

Courtesy of City of auburn PubliC relations

DePartMent

City of Auburn devises new system for utility bills

Alabama government discusses changes to gun controlDaniel Cannaday WriTer

Spurred by the recent Sandy Hook elemen-tary School shootings in newtown, Conn., lawmakers across the country are discussing ways to prevent future tragedies.

These debates cover a wide range of polit-ical topics from gun control to school safe-ty, but it seems that regardless of politics and party lines, everyone agrees some change needs to be made.

This national conversation reached Ala-bama state legislators Wednesday, Jan. 9 in the form of a Joint Legislative Hearing on School Security and Teacher and Student Safety.

“We must also do everything in our pow-er to protect Alabama teachers and students from the traumas and horrors experienced firsthand in newtown,” said Speaker of the House mike Hubbard (r-Auburn) in a press release before the session. “There is absolute-ly nothing more important that the safety of our students and teachers, particularly in a place where they should always feel safe, our schools.”

Though representatives gave many differ-ent opinions during the meeting, according to

rep. Terri Collins (r-morgan), all seemed to have some variation of the nrA’s proposed “national School Shield” in mind.

This proposal, created by nrA Vice Pres-ident Wayne LaPierre, aims to put an armed resource officer in every public school nation-wide. Collins said most state legislators agree with this measure and would even like to see on-staff mental health professionals at every school as well.

rep. mike Ball (r-madison), a law enforce-ment veteran, sees a “tactical problem” with the current proposal.

“The problem is that a gunman who knows the school will target security guards first,” Ball said.

instead, Ball said he believes that well-trained plainclothes volunteers serving in “Air marshal” type roles would alleviate that con-cern.

Bell also said he supports training and arm-ing teachers on a volunteer basis.

Another difficulty with the plan is its cost of execution.

One person speaking out against the cost is rep. Bill morrow (D-Colbert, Franklin).

morrow said he believes the price tag, which he estimates to be around $50 million, is too high and plans to put forward his own bill.

morrow’s bill, unanimously ratified by a col-lection of local law enforcement and school of-ficials on Thursday, would also allow teachers and volunteers to act as armed school securi-ty, but with the caviat that only reserve police officers and military personnel would be able to volunteer.

morrow’s plan also includes a process of screening applicants through the local Sher-iff ’s department and school superintendants.

Though screening, training and equipping this school security force would involve heavy costs, morrow said it would still be less than posting resource officers to every school.

Others, like Collins, disagree with the idea of arming teachers as a first resort.

“We already place a huge burden on our teachers,” Collins said. “Do we want to place that burden, that decision to take another per-son’s life, on top of that?”

This issue hits especially close to home for Collins, whose daughter is a P.e. teacher.

even with details that still need fine-tuning and a deep divide on whether or not to arm teachers, members who attended the session agreed that it was a step in the right direction.

“Overall, it was a very positive meeting,” said Sen. Phil Williams (r-Cherokee, etowah), who stressed the involvement of several ex-perts in law enforcement and education.

it seems that for now, the national School Shield, or variations thereof, will be Alabama’s response to the mass shootings in Connecti-cut.

“

“

there is absolutely nothing more important than the safety of our students and teachers, particularly in a place where they should always feel safe, our schools.”

—mike Hubbard ALABAmA SPeAKer OF THe HOuSe

it’s the same concept, but it’s all connected to our other accounting software so that everything flows, and will take a lot less manual type entry.

Allison edgeAuBuTn’S ASSiSTAnT FinAnCe DireCTOr

Thursday, January 17, 2013 The Auburn Plainsman Community A7

Community A8 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, October 11, 2012

Sports B1Thursday, January 17, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Sports

John BurnsSPortS Editor

Carl LawsonDefensive end «««««Considered the second best player at his position in the class, Lawson is the complete package at defensive end. He has good size, 6-foot-2, 251 pounds and decent speed relative to his position. Lawson ran a 5.11 40-yard dash and has a vertical of 26 inches. An Alpharetta, Ga. native, Lawson committed to the tigers March 24, 2012. Whether the coaching staff change will sway him similar to reuben Foster and dee Liner is yet to be seen, but he is weighing his options. His trip to Clemson last weekend and his visit this weekend to tennessee mean he is seriously considering other schools, but for the time being, Lawson remains an Auburn commitment.

Jeremy Johnson Quarterback «««««

tagged as a pocket passer, this 6-foot-5, 215 pound quarterback from Montgomery can heave the ball, but is also mobile for such a big guy. of course when Auburn fans think of a six and a half foot, more than 200 pound quarter-back, one Cam Newton comes to mind. He’s no Newton. But he is a viable option for the fu-ture of the Auburn quarterback position once he gets his skills polished. Unlike other com-mitments, when Gene Chizik was fired Johnson stuck to his word and will almost undoubtedly join the tigers next season.

Jordan Wilkins Running back «««««

Wilkins, a 6-foot-2, 205 pound running back from Cordovan tenn. who committed to the tigers when Chizik was still the coach. When Chizik was fired Wilkins said he would open his options again, but like Lawson, Wilkins remains with the tigers for the time being. Wilkins is ranked the 233rd overall player in the ESPN 300 ranking system.

Tashawn Bower, Defensive end «««««

one of the top defensive line recruits in the class, Bower shows promise to be a premier out-side defensive lineman in his collegiate career.

This 6-foot-5, 241 pound defensive end runs a 4.89 40-yard dash, so he clearly has excellent size and speed – the perfect combination for his position. That combination makes him a per-fect pass rusher and pursuer of the quarterback on the run. Bower committed to Auburn in the summer, and like many recruits he has consid-ered other options since the firing of Chizik, but it seems likely that he will stick with the tigers. Bower makes an already strong defensive end class much stronger as he is considered the 11th best defensive end according to ESPN rankings.

Earnest Robinson, Wide receiver «««««

robinson is the only true wide receiver for this season’s recruiting class so far and ranks 39th at his position. He is 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, has a 30-inch vertical jump and runs a 4.81 40-yard dash. robinson has confirmed that he is going to remain with the tigers. Wide receiver has been a position Auburn has not had much success with in the previous two seasons and any added depth is welcomed. other schools robinson considered include Alabama, Arkan-sas, LSU and FSU.

Jason Smith, Athlete «««««

Easily one of the speediest recruits Auburn has landed this year, Smith brings 4.47 40-yard dash speed to the tigers. Smith will either be a quarterback or a wide receiver, but it is thought that he would bring more to the table as a wide receiver because of his speed and shiftiness. From Mobile, Ala., this 6-foot-1 athlete is a firm commitment to the tigers because of how well he should fit into Malzahn’s offensive scheme. if Smith does become a wide receiver it will add to the number of different plays and tricks the head coach can throw into the book.

Cameron Artis-Payne Running back «««««

The junior college running back is one of the few commitments who has already signed his letter of intent to play for Auburn. obviously ju-nior college transfers are allowed to sign before seniors in high school. Artis-Payne is the num-ber 2 ranked junior college running back and he raked in 2,048 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns with California Community College Athletic As-sociation last season. tagged as an elusive run-ning back, Artis-Payne is also known for his

hands, which will help the back and team when the ball is dumped off to him in the open field.

Cameron Toney Inside linebacker «««««

Auburn’s lone inside linebacker recruit after Foster de committed, toney is a welcomed addi-tion to the future tiger defense. inside lineback-er is the most important position on defense and the tigers have not had a run-stopper who can cover the middle since Josh Bynes in 2010. This 6-foot-2, 225 pound commit is the perfect size for a linebacker, and he will only get stron-ger and heavier once he is conditioned by Au-burn. He is known as an instinctive run-stopper both inside and outside the box, which means he has the speed to pursue an outside run, an area Auburn desperately needs to improve on.

Brandon King, Outside linebacker, safety «««««

Another well-sized recruit at 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, King committed to Auburn in the be-ginning of January and was the first of a string of junior college recruits to join the tigers. King played safety last season at Highland Commu-nity College, but it is thought that he is well suit-ed for an outside linebacker position due to his good size. Whether he plays linebacker or safety, King’s skill sets are needed to improve last year’s poor defense.

Ben BradleyDefensive tackle «««««

Bradley is a massive defensive tackle who weighs in at 310 pounds and is 6-foot-3. That’s all good news for an Auburn defense that needs to plug up holes in the interior run game. A play-er with his size and strength can force running backs to the outside where, with the additions of Lawson and Bower, the tigers are relatively deep.

Kamryn Melton, Cornerback «««««

The only true cornerback in the Auburn re-cruiting class thus far is listed at 5-foot-10, weighs 170 pounds and is named Kamryn

Melton. oh, he can jump 33 inches in the air, which partially makes up for his smaller height. Melton also runs a speedy 4.45 40-yard dash, ac-cording to rivals.com, which means he has the speed to keep up with many SEC-caliber wide receivers. Melton is another player who was pleased with the hiring of Malzahn, and will in-deed be joining the tigers next season.

Nick Marshall Quarterback «««««

Another large quarterback who can use his arms and legs in and out of the pocket joined the tigers in January. Marshall played at Gar-den City Community College last season and obviously dual-threat quarterbacks like him are more than welcomed in Gus Malzahn’s spread offense. of course, there are now four players who may be vying for the quarterback position, so because Marshall is so athletic, he might be pegged as a wide receiver or a cornerback. Ei-ther way, in Malzahn’s spread offense and de-fensive coordinator Ellis Johnson’s 4-2-5 defense there is always room for more receivers and cor-ner backs.

Devonte Danzey Offensive guard «««««

danzey is the only offensive lineman of this 2013 recruiting class, but if there is anything the tigers have a lot of, it’s young offensive linemen. danzey has more than 300 pounds of bulk on him and signed with Auburn mainly because of Malzahn.

Daniel Carlson Kicker «««««

He’s the number 1 ranked kicker in this class and is almost six and a half feet tall. Carlson will undoubtedly help the Auburn special teams during his time with the team. His specialties are field goals and kickoffs.

Jimmy Hutchinson Punter «««««

Hutchinson is one of the top punting recruits of this 2013 recruiting class. With the addition of Hutchinson, Auburn has recruited two high-ly-rated kickers.

The eaglesare landing

With National Signing Day 19 days away, the new Auburn coaching

staff is scrambling to gain interest from players around the nation, and more importantly, hang on to the recruits they already have

verbal commitments from.Here is a look at the recruits that

have committed to the Tigers:

New coaches talk Auburn footballLance davis SPortS WritEr

When dameyune Craig was the re-cruiting coordinator at Florida State, he noticed fellow Seminoles coaches odell Haggins and Lawrence dawsey had something he didn’t when hitting the recruiting trail.

“i felt like they always had some-thing that i didn’t have,” said Craig, Auburn’s new co-offensive coordi-nator. “They were recruiting for the school that they played for. Those are two great guys, and at the end of the day they can always use that as a sales pitch.”

So when Craig was offered a posi-tion on Gus Malzahn’s coaching staff, he jumped at the opportunity to re-turn to Auburn.

or as he calls it, home.“i’m glad to be home, first and fore-

most,” Craig said. “i’m excited about the season. i’m excited about the pos-sibilities. i feel very comfortable here. i’m looking forward to great things, point blank.”

in addition to being co-offensive coordinator, Craig will coach wide re-ceivers and assume the role of recruit-ing coordinator.

Another new face joining Craig on

the offensive side of the ball is offen-sive line coach J.B. Grimes.

Grimes spent the past season working with Malzahn at Arkansas State.

“We practice and play really fast,” Grimes said of Malzahn’s offensive philosophy. “That was one of the first things i was really impressed with in our first spring practice when we were at Arkansas State. These guys have got to be in great condition. You can’t have a bunch of fat offensive linemen out there running around and playing this system.”

Grimes plans on bringing tough-

ness to the offensive line that will help give Auburn an edge in the run-ning game.

“i’ve always believed that you’ve got to keep a hard edge in the run-ning game,” Grimes said. “You’ve got to keep it physical. Football’s a tough game played by tough people.”

Grimes spent time coaching at Mississippi State alongside three of Auburn’s new hires: defensive coordi-nator Ellis Johnson, co-defensive co-ordinator Charlie Harbison and de-fensive backs coach Melvin Smith.

“We put together a pretty good football team in a rebuilding pro-

cess over there,” Grimes said. “i cred-it those guys for the type of recruiting that they did over there, and we left dan Mullen with some pretty good players.”

Co-defensive coordinator Char-lie Harbison and cornerbacks coach Melvin Smith were together on Mis-sissippi State’s coaching staff in 2007.

Harbison will also coach defensive backs along with Smith, but the two aren’t concerned with clashing phi-losophies.

» See CoaChes, B4

plainsman staffChallenger flies over Jordan-Hair stadium.

Sports B2 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, January 17, 2013

Jessica Fernandez ’07

Auburn graduate Jessica Fernandez was a member of the RDG Planning & Design team who designed the

city of Belle Plaine, iowa, Mainstreet streetscape

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Looking for extracurriculars?Alpha Eta Rho is a Co-ed Professional

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contacts between students and aviation professionals already in the industry, and to encourage a closer affiliation between the students in aviation. If

you’re interested, please come to our informational presentation.

Tuesday, January 22nd in Lowder Room 15 at 7:30 pm

Questions?www.auburn.com/ahp

Bennett Nastbrn0004@auburn.edu

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Follow us on Twitter!

@TheAUPlainsman

Michael HillSTAff wriTer

The women’s basketball coach, Terri williams-flourn-oy began her weekly radio show, “The Coach flo Show,” Monday, Jan.ww 14.

The show began at 6:30 p.m. at Piccolo inside the The Hotel at Auburn University and Dix-on Conference Center.

According to flourney, lis-teners can expect a lot of en-tertainment and fun from the show this season.

The radio broadcast is set to air on Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m. at Piccolo.

“i think you will hear a lot about how our program is go-ing and a lot about how are players going and an opportu-nity to talk to a lot of people,” flournoy said.

flournoy said that her goal

for the show this season is to get as many people as possible in to support it and to then get them in the stands to watch the team play.

According to Andy Bur-cham, host of the show, there has been a coach’s show for a few years now.

“we’re here to promote Au-burn women’s basketball, to hopefully build more of a fans base for games, and we want to bring some folks in to Picco-lo as well and help their busi-ness,” Burcham said.

The show has previous-ly been held at Logan’s road-house, Tino’s Mexican restau-rant and Amsterdam Café.

“Coach flo is great,” said Su-san Nunnelly, former wom-en’s basketball coach and cur-rent public address announc-er. “She has a great personali-

ty and i love her style of play.”Nunnelly said that all you

have to do is come and watch one game and you will be back; the girls play and work hard and it’s a fun game to watch.

Andreas Ana Gnostopoulos, manager of Piccolo, said that they are excited about having the Coach flo Show there this season.

“Having Coach flo, having her reputation and having her talk about the team and the games coming up and past games, bring in a whole new crowd that we haven’t had in here before,” Gnostopoulos said.

“This is an exciting basket-ball team that is being put on the floor and you have to just come out and look at it and it will have you coming back,” flournoy said. “You will see a

lot of pressure, pressure, pres-sure.”

flournoy says that the Au-burn family and the universi-ty have really been good to her and her family.

The Auburn women’s Bas-ketball team is set to take on Tennessee Thursday, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. at the Auburn Are-na. The team is currently 9-0 at home this season.

“ if you haven’t come out to see them this season, you should,” said Matthew Crouch, Associate Director of Media relations for women’s basket-ball. “ They’re a lot of fun.”

“Student athletes work hard; it’s a lot of practice and a lot of time and what better way to show your appreciation than to get the fans out here to watch them play.” flourn-oy said.

The coach Flo show Raye May / Photo editoR

Coach Terri williams-flourney on the air at Piccolo Monday, Jan. 14

Coach Terri Williams-Flourney has her own radio show that is on the air once a week at 6:30 PM on WMXA 96.7 FM or AuburnTigers.com

Thursday, January 17, 2013 The Auburn Plainsman Sports B3

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Andrew YawnSoirTS rePorTer

one week and one meet into the 2013 track and field season, the Tigers seem to have hit the ground running, jumping and throwing as they attempt to follow up a bril-liant 2012 campaign.

The Tigers opened the sea-son Saturday, Jan. 12 with a win at the Crimson Tide in-door opener in Birmingham.

Spry was quick to acknowl-edge the team’s flaws in its season opening victory—namely some lack of effort on the part of unnamed play-ers—but said he won’t know how the team is clicking until the third or fourth week.

Due to the brevity of the in-door season—approximate-

ly two months long—and the perennially difficult SeC schedule, Spry said that, along with good health, the team’s mindset is crucial to its suc-cess this season.

“it’s always going to be a grind, because there’s so much quality,” Spry said. “A lot of times you can be fourth in the SeC and fourth in nation-als. That’s how quality it is.”

in a sport where sprinting is the marquee event, even fifth-year senior sprinter and 2012 U.S. olympic trials final-ist Marcus rowland conced-ed that no matter how quick the start, the season is a mar-athon.

“it’s still early in the year, and we’ve got a lot of atten-tion, but i think that as long

as we stay healthy we’ll be fine,” rowland said. “You know we’ve got the speed, all it takes is just one cold day, one cold practice to mess up a whole six or five months so we’ve just been trying to listen to our body and take it slow.”

The Tigers are not strangers to the adverse effects injuries can inflict on a team.

Last season, Auburn’s women finished 24th and the men finished sixth at the NCAA outdoor Champion-ship, the men’s team’s best fin-ish at the meet since finishing second in 2008.

The men may have cracked the top 5 or even snatched the title, however star sprint-er Harry Adams suffered a knee injury and was withheld

from two key events on the fi-nal day.

This year, the men’s team was ranked No. 11 in the na-tional preseason rankings largely due to the return of rowland and a healthy Ad-ams who was named to the Bowerman Award Watch List for the nation’s most out-standing track and field ath-lete.

of the 10 athletes named to the list, Adams is the only sprinter and is one of only two SeC athletes in the running.

“it’s the Heisman Trophy of track and field,” Spry said of Adams’ nomination. “To even be mentioned in the Bower-man Award clearly says that you’re one of the best hands down. Not just in the sprints,

but in all events.”Spry’s team may seem to

have what it takes to win a na-tional title, but first the team must continue to stay healthy.

“The group i’ve got this year, i feel very confident, par-ticularly on the men’s side, that we can be a real force, but again we have to take care of things like staying healthy,” Spry said. “if we can take care of those things, then we’re go-ing to give ourselves a real-ly good opportunity to have a really good team at the na-tional level.”

Where the men’s team has experience, the women have youth and raw potential.

Auburn’s women’s team was ranked No. 24 in the pre-season rankings, and senior

high jumper and two-time SeC Champion Maya Press-ley said her team is “kind of the underdog” heading into 2013 after losing numerous seniors.

Like rowland and Adams, Pressley is looking to make the most of her final season and fulfill her own potential.

Pressley ended the 2012 season by being eliminated after her attempt to clear 1.83 meters clipped the bar and knocked it from the rack at nationals.

in the season opener, Press-ley cleared 1.8 meters, a ca-reer best opening score.

of course for Pressley, row-land and the rest of the team, the season has only just be-gun.

Tigers race to first week victory over rival Tide

Sports B4 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, January 17, 2013

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“Melvin and I are like broth-ers,” Harbison said. “So any-one think thinks what we do is opposite, it’s not. It takes a special group, special people, special coaches to work hand in hand and work together. It’s easy. He’s my brother, like a hand in a glove.”

“We’re like brothers, and we look after each other,” Smith said. “It’s kind of like two pi-lots on a plane.”

Harbison, also known as “Coach Cheese” for much of his career, will adapt to El-lis Johnson’s 4-2-5 defense, which is geared toward stop-ping spread offenses.

“You’re getting guys on the field that can play in space,” Harbison said.

In terms of what type of player in which the defensive coaches are interested, look no further than former Mis-sissippi State cornerback Jon-than Banks.

Banks, who graduated af-ter last season, won the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s top defensive back. Banks played cornerback for Smith at Mississippi State, de-spite not playing the position in high school.

“I love good football play-ers,” Smith said. “When I’m recruiting a defensive back, I like guys that are the engines of their team. I had a kid that played for me this year – and I’ve been coaching 31 years –

and he won the Thorpe Award as a cornerback, but he never played corner in high school. He was a quarterback/safety.”

Malzahn hired an entirely new staff of his own, yet most of the coaches are familiar with each other.

And the veterans on staff are embracing the younger coaches.

“I got the job Thursday night, I was on the plane head-ed to Orlando,” Dameyune Craig said. “When I stepped on the plane, coach Melvin Smith was waiting on me. He welcomed me with open arms. He just told me how ex-cited he was for the staff to have me, and he made me feel welcome.”

The assistants are excited to see what the team can ac-complish under Malzahn.

“I think he’s very innova-tive,” Craig said. “You got-ta have a plan in life, and you have to be ahead of the curve, because if you’re not you get stuck behind.”

“He’s an excellent coach,” Melvin Smith said. “His de-meanor on the sideline, just the way he hit college football was impressive to me.”

“His vision, number one, is make sure these kids are going in the right direction,” Harbison said. “And he’s a man of faith, and that’s im-portant in any business. And that’s what attracted me to him.”

Jherrica LuckieWrITEr

The Auburn swimming and diving team defeated their ri-val, the Texas Longhorns, Thursday, Jan. 10, during the first dual meet of the spring season at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center.

remaining undefeated, Auburn won 23 of the day’s events. The men outscored the Longhorns 166-132, win-ning 11 of 16 events. The women’s team outraced their opponent 153-145, and won 12 of their 16 events.

“I’m really happy,” said Brett Hawke, Auburn swim-ming and diving head coach. “There’s a long history and a long rivalry here with Texas and Auburn, and it’s always great to get a win against a very accomplished team. I thought our team stood up and performed really well as a unit. I was really happy with the way they backed up races, and it sets us up well for going in to championship season.”

Senior Kyle Owens earned

three individual victories for the men’s team with win-ning times in the 100 back-stroke (47.39), 200 backstroke (1:47:29), and 200 individual medley (1:49:94). The men’s team is now 13-11 against Texas in all-time meetings.

“It was a good meet,” Ow-ens said. “I don’t think I could do it if it weren’t for my team mates pushing me every day in practice. Everyone’s just really coming along. It’s go-ing to be great in a couple of months.”

Owens, along with fellow senior Stuart Ferguson and juniors Marcelo Chierighini and James Disney-May won the first swimming event of the meet, the 200 medley re-lay, in 1:27:41. Ferguson, Ow-ens, and Chierighini all went 4-for-4 on the day.

“We have been working so hard this year, harder than any time I’ve ever worked here in my four years,” Owens said. “To see everything come together like that against such a great team like Texas

puts a smile on my face.” Senior Katie Gardocki

helped lead the wom-en’s team to their fifth vic-tory out of seven all-time meetings against the Long-horns winning three free-style events. Gardocki kicked off the individual events win-ning the 1,000 free in 9:45:06. She also took first in the 200 free (1:48:06) and 500 free (4:49:58).

“I thought Katie Gardocki swam really strong today,” Hawke said. “She’s had some injuries in the past couple of weeks and she came in and performed real well today. She was a standout.”

Senior Hannah rior-dan also finished the day with three wins against Tex-as. riordan won the 50 free (22.85) and the 100 free (49.41) in the individual races and helped secure first in the 200 medley relay alongside her teammates, juniors Oliv-ia Scott and Emily Bos and se-nior Micah Lawrence, with a time of 1.39.07.

Sophomore Fraser McK-ean achieved first place in the 1-meter diving event in the first competition of the day, while his teammate, junior John Santeiu took second.

Sophomore Cinzia Cal-abretta earned two second place finishes in the wom-en’s 1 meter and 3-meter div-ing event.

“My confidence has just gone up so much,” said Gar-docki. “I am excited for Sat-urday to see what’s going to happen.”

The Tigers left the fol-lowing day for a dual meet against Texas A&M in College Park, Texas, Saturday, Jan. 12. The women’s team defeated the Aggies 158-141, and the men’s team out swam Texas A&M 189-111. The men’s and women’s teams remain unde-feated.

Following the victories against Texas and Texas A&M, Owens and junior Ol-ivia Scott were honored with SEC Swimmers of the Week awards.

Will GainesSPOrTS WrITEr

Auburn junior quarterback Clint Moseley has decided not to return to Auburn for his senior sea-son.

Moseley appeared in three games his junior year completing 63.3 percent of his passes for 373 yards and one touchdown.

After battling a shoulder injury during spring and fall practices Moseley lost the starting job, af-ter starting six games in 2011, to Kiehl Frazier, but he returned as the starter in game six against Ole Miss.

He again lost his staring job to freshman quar-terback Jonathan Wallace after suffering an ankle injury against Texas A&M.

Moseley’s shining moment came in 2011 against Florida when he came in the second half, replacing then starter Barrett Trotter, leading the Tigers to a 17-7 victory over the Gators.

He is from Leroy, Ala. and was selected by the Alabama Sports Writers Association as Mr. Foot-ball in Alabama during his senior season at Leroy High School.

Moseley plans to stay at Auburn until he gradu-ates in the summer.

Moseleydone with football

Tigers drown LonghornsAfter hosting the Longhorns and visiting the Aggies last

weekend, Auburn remains in strong, victorious form. Two Tigers earned SEC Swimmer of the Week awards

Katherine Mccahey / assistant Photo editorFreshman yousef hammoud swims the backstroke on Jan. 10, 2013 against the University of texas.

danielle lowe / PhotograPherclint Moseley (left) and Kiehl Frazier (right) talk at practice Friday august 3.

CoaChes» From B1

IntrigueThursday, January 17, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Intrigue

B5

Caitlin WagenseilIntrIgue rePorter

Scott Waters knows music. As a broadcast as-sociate for WegL91.1, he uses his love of music and his knowledge of being in a band himself to work with students and bands in Auburn.

growing up, Waters was always a sports guy. After high school, he picked up music and it has been a passion of his ever since. now, Scott and his wife Ashley make up the local band Low June.

Waters received his undergraduate degree in music production and sound for film from Sa-vannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, ga. Following graduation, he stayed in Atlanta doing audio and video editing before moving to Auburn.

“When my wife came down here, I still worked in Atlanta for about two years, but got tired of driving three hours a day. When the job opened up in Auburn, it was a nice fit,” Waters said.

Additionally, Waters works as an advisor to the students at the radio station and records music for local bands.

“We try to keep it student run, and I try to take a more hands on role,” Waters said. “I help everyone with decisions, putting on concerts and running equipment.”

“I came here wanting to do something that they weren’t doing already,” Waters said. “They

weren’t doing a whole lot of having bands come in and putting on shows so it’s been nice to get in there and start doing these things.”

Waters enjoys having the chance to work

with local bands in Auburn. “There’s a show we do that airs on Fridays

called ‘Live and Local’—the bands will come in and we’ll record an interview with them and

then record some of their music. I’ll take it back, mix it and make it sound nice before we air it,” Waters said.

Although work comes first, Waters said that if the radio station puts on a concert and needs an extra band to play, he and his wife can fill in.

“It’s convenient in a way,” Waters said.Waters does have bigger plans for the future,

however. “eventually I would like to go back to school

and get my MFA [Masters in Fine Arts] so I can teach sound and film at a collegiate level,” he said.

His band Low June will kick off the new Sun-dilla Acoustic tuesday’s Concert Series at The gnu's room on tuesday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m.

neal Kelly, friend and fellow musician, will also be in attendance to open and possibly per-form with Low June.

“He headed up the remodel at the back of The gnu’s room where the coffee shop is, so I helped him out with that, and we share similar interests working in music, so we became pret-ty good friends,” Waters said. “I know he is going to open with some of his original stuff, so if we have time to practice together before the show then hopefully we’ll play with him.”

Low June will perform some new original songs, as well as a few covers.

The concert series will consist of local artists and will take place on the third tuesday of each month at The gnu’s room.

Sydney ConradWrIter

the Brewer family opened Angel’s Antiques and Flea Mall in 2002, creating a comfort-able environment with heart-warming ownership that set them apart from other com-peting markets. the owners incorporated all three major aspects of a good business, in that they have a strong fami-ly focus, a love for all employ-ees and the joy of taking care of customers.

Although this is a fami-ly owned and run business, it is by no means small. Begin-ning in a closed down Wal-Mart building, Angel’s has grown to have more than 400 vendors working out of their property, and 10 to 15 employ-ees that help load and unload the goods. Leo Brewer, father of Bill Brewer (his partner in business), explained the shop as a way of helping others, say-ing that “it is a big help to a lot of folks who are not physically able to do other jobs.”

Angel’s Antiques is the per-fect place for those who don’t have regular jobs, or simply for retired workers. At Angel’s, it is not about making buckets of money; it is about creating a community.

“We had been selling some stuff in other stores in Mont-gomery, but I didn’t like the way the vendors were treated there,” said Leo Brewer.

rising from vendors them-selves to owners of the largest antique shop in the area, the Brewers have provided ven-dors with a trusting work en-vironment.

A very large inspiration to the company comes from the daughter of Bill and Connie Brewer, granddaughter to Leo Brewer. Diagnosed with Down Syndrome at birth, this now 15-year-old girl is the epitome of joy, motivating her family to serve the community through their business.

“We named the store af-ter her, Angel, because she is a very fleet-loving child,” said Leo Brewer with admiration.

Angel Brewer, from which the name Angel’s Antiques and Flea Mall was derived, visits the store often in the summers when she is not in school to greet customers happily. With such a sunny charisma, one would not guess that this child has been through so much.

“When she was a child she went through many heart sur-geries,” said Brewer. Angel went through a major heart surgery and a major bypass surgery before the age of four. However, her kind heart still shines through, demonstrat-ing the essence of Angel’s An-tiques.

not only does the store have amazing service and spir-it, it also has the best prices around.

“You can’t beat our pric-es on furniture anywhere in town!” Brewer said.

With so many vendors rent-ing spaces, there are a wide va-riety of good deals at Angel’s, which makes it the perfect first stop for any college student in need of furbishing.

Located in opelika, its close proximity to the Auburn cam-pus also makes Angel’s An-tiques a good job opportunity.

“We employ several college students, all on a part-time ba-

sis,” Brewer said. With such a heartfelt staff,

Angel’s is ensured to be a good place to work.

to know more about Angel’s Antiques, check out the web-

site at angelsmall.info, or take a trip to the shop, located at 900 Columbus Parkway, ope-lika, AL 36801 and pay a visit to the Brewer family and wel-coming vendors.

Radio broadcaster and wife are all about the music

Angel’s Antiques and Flea Mall creates hub for vintage vendors

Photo courtesy of scott Waters

scott Waters and his wife, ashley, perform together at venues all throughout the auburn area.

raye May / Photo editor

angel’s antiques and flea Mall offers a selection of vintage and antique items from hundreds of vendors.

elizabeth WieckIntrIgue eDItor

Susie Bridges, junior in public re-lations, landed the opportunity of a lifetime as an intern for Walt Disney World’s Disney College Program. Last fall during the six months she was there, she was a tour guide for The great Movie ride, made friends from all over the world, took special in-terns-only classes, spent free time in the parks and learned the inside de-tails of the Disney company.

Bridges is no stranger to Disney world. not counting her six-month stay in the park this past fall, she has visited the parks with her family ten times.

“I loved learning all the behind the scenes Disney stuff,” Bridges said. “I’ve been going to Disney since I was little so it was neat to see a different side of it. A lot of people said it would ruin the magic, but it didn’t ruin the magic for me, it only made it cooler. I got to know how everything worked and it was neat to know people that worked at all the different rides in all the different parks. I really appreciate everything all the cast members put into it.”

It’s important to note that those who work at Disney are not called employees.

“We are called cast members be-cause Disney is a show and our role, not our job, is to be cast members be-cause we are putting on a show. We are not employees. People are called guests, because Disney is our home and we are welcoming guests into it,” she said.

Bridges was relieved when she landed a spot working at The great Movie ride in Hollywood Studios.

“My ride didn’t have as many in-terns, there were about 15 of us, but other rides had 30 or 40. My ride was selective because there are only three rides at Walt Disney World resort where you have to do a spiel, and for-tunately I was at one of those rides because I like acting. It was a big deal for an intern to get a spieling ride,” she said.

This spiel Bridges speaks of is part of the 22-minute ride that she nar-rates as she takes guests on a jour-ney into the movies, with scenes from “Mary Poppins,” “Indiana Jones,” “tar-zan” and “Singing in the rain.”

An upside to working at an inter-active ride was the camaraderie she formed with her fellow cast members.

“I worked not only with college stu-dents, but also with people of all dif-ferent ages,” Bridges said. “It was hard working with different age groups, but thankfully everyone in my ride got along and we became a little fam-ily together.”

occasional long hours during the busy holiday season, could be trying when you have to entertain an ex-pectant crowd.

“My longest shift was 14 hours long. It was on new Year’s until three in the morning,” she said.

Such hard work did have its perks, however.

“I got into the parks for free ev-ery single day,” Bridges said. “So on my days off, I would just go play in the parks, so that was fun. Also just

knowing people in different jobs and different areas of the parks were fun.”

Bridges said she doesn’t regret missing football at Auburn. The fall is a much more exciting time to be at Disney, with the long holiday sea-son full of special events and appear-ances.

“even though it was hard missing football season, it was neat because I got to go to Mickey’s not-So-Scary Halloween party, which is cool be-cause they have all the villains out. I also got to go to the Christmas parties which had snow,” Bridges said.

Despite being so far away from Au-burn, Bridges said she did see plenty of Auburn fans during her internship.

“every time I saw someone from Auburn, we would say ‘War eagle!’, because my name tag says ‘Susie, Au-burn university.’ Auburn people were always so nice. one man hugged me. He was like, ‘You’re from Auburn, I want to give you a hug. I hope you’re doing well.’”

Perhaps the most magical moment Bridges had during her stay was when Johnny Depp, dressed in full costume as Captain Jack Sparrow of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” rode the great Movie ride. At first, she and her coworkers were skeptical.

“They opened a new thing called The Captain Jack Sparrow experience and you go into a pirate ship that has a hologram of Johnny Depp. they were filming for it, and we heard all these rumors that Johnny Depp was at Hollywood Studios that day. We were all like, ‘whatever,’” she said.

upon further thought, though,

Bridges realized that there was a good chance this man was actually Johnny Depp.

“Disney has this huge rule where you cannot dress up as a character and look like them, or they’ll kick you out. So we knew it was not a regular guest,” she said.

“It was so funny, he walked up to me and I almost had a panic attack. It was Captain Jack Sparrow! He even did his drunken walk,” she said.

As far her future goes, Bridges hopes to go back to Disney after grad-uation.

“I would love to work in media re-

lations. They put on the special events and that kind of thing.”

to commemorate a bittersweet end, Disney held a graduation even for interns in the college program.

“You receive a diploma and Mick-ey ears that have a graduation tassel. You get to meet Minnie and Mickey in their cap and gown,” Bridges said. “It’s so worth the experience, and Disney looks great on your resume.”

Those that are interested in learn-ing more information about the Dis-ney college program are encouraged to visit the website, cp.disneycareers.com.

courtesy of susie Bridges

susie Bridges “graduated” from the disney college program on Wednesday, dec. 12 in orlando.

Auburn junior interns at the wonderful world of Disney

Intrigue B6 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, January 17, 2013

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it turns out Auburn has always had a love for oak trees.

The 1897 Auburn class song, found in that year’s Glomerata, was written about an oak tree.

“Little oak, you’re only a wee twig now, You must bend and wave with the breeze; Like us, you must fight your way in the world, ere you take your place with the trees,” it reads.

On the surface, it seems like a song about the Toomer’s Oaks, which are widely believed to be about 130 years old.

But dig a little deeper and you’ll find out the trees weren’t around then.

Research done by Dr. Gary Keev-er, a researcher and professor of horti-culture at Auburn, shows that the trees didn’t come about until the late 1930s.

Debbie Shaw, vice president of Alumni Affairs, is familiar with the findings of Dr. Keever, whom she called “the tree expert.”

“(The song) wasn’t about those Toomer’s Oaks,” Shaw said. “They didn’t come until the 1930s. But may-be the point, in this poem in the Glom

that long ago, was about the signif-icance or emotional part of trees.”

Looking at the 1897 class song indicates Auburn has always been attached to its beautiful oak trees around the campus. And with the health of the famous Toomer’s Oaks getting worse, people are reflect-ing on lifelong memories made at Toomer’s Corner.

For Michael Overstreet, gener-al manager of Toomer’s Drugs, his best memory was bringing his fami-ly to the trees to gather with the Au-burn family.

“it’s probably after the last bowl game in Atlanta where we played Virginia,” Overstreet said. “we woke up my little girl, we got dressed. it was cold outside, but yet we bun-dled up, drove downtown and gath-ered with the Auburn family and rolled the tree.

“we all at that point were aware what happened with the tree, so we just all made sure that we enjoyed the moment and appreciated what we got to do together as a family. Not just the immediate family, but the Auburn family.”

Auburn has long connection with oak trees

Amber FranklinwRiTeR

what’s in a name?every day, students attend class in the Haley

Center, study in RBD, and hear the Fight Song play from the Samford Hall clock tower.

But do students think about what goes into naming the buildings, or why they were named after certain people?

“i know Samford is named after william Sam-ford, who was the 31st governor of Alabama, and Haley was named after Paul Shields Haley to honor his dedication,” said Meagan Camp-bell, a sophomore in business. “But i don’t know a lot about the names of other buildings.”

As a student recruiter, Campbell gives tours of campus and knows interesting facts about many buildings on campus, but she hasn’t won-dered about who the buildings are named for.

“Because i’ve lived on campus for three years, seeing the portraits of all the women that the residence halls are named after, i know they or their families had done something for the uni-versity,” said Lauren Long, junior in hotel and restaurant management. “But i don’t actually take the time to think about the impact they’ve made on the university or why they were cho-sen.”

“There are a number of ways buildings are named,” said Michael Tullier, Manager of De-velopment Communications and Marketing.

“Some are named in honor of particular indi-viduals and some are named after people who have made donations to the university.”

The process consists of many steps, including a proposal with a funding plan, creating private support goals and a Board of Trustees who hold the ultimate authority to decide how to name a building, Tullier said.

Donations are made in a number of ways, such as through the Auburn University Founda-tion, a nonprofit that accepts charitable dona-tions and contributions and manages the fun-draising process for educational programs and interests, Tullier said.

An example of a well-known building that was made possible by a donation is Ramsay en-gineering Hall.

The creation of Ramsay was made possible by the donation of erskine Ramsay, who himself was interested in and successful in financial, manufacturing and mercantile enterprises, ac-cording to Lengthening Shadows.

what students may not always remember when walking through buildings or campus is this donation aspect – someone wanted to sup-port Auburn and its students.

“The ultimate purpose of any building is to meet the needs of the students,” Tullier said. “The message behind the name of any building is that we had an alumni or supporter that be-lieved enough in the students and the purpose

of the building to provide support.”Tullier pointed out that many buildings were

made possible by numerous contributors, and that other components of buildings, such as of-fices, hallways and libraries are also named af-ter donors.

Campbell said she’s never thought about how every building on campus is made possible be-cause of someone’s support or donations.

“i think that’s really cool when you think about it,” Campbell said. “we talk about the Au-

burn family, and that goes right along with that theme, with people continuing to support the university.”

Long said when she takes the time to think about the people behind the buildings, it makes her proud and appreciative that people contin-ue to support Auburn and its students.

“it’s amazing that so many different people from all different kinds of backgrounds want to give something back to Auburn,” Long said. “it’s a true testament to the Auburn spirit.”

The story behind Auburn’s biggest buildings

Raye may / photo editoR

the haley Center is the University’s tallest building.

assoCiated pRess / dave maRtin

auburn students and fans alike celebrate the school’s second BCs national Championship win against oregon 22-19 on Jan. 10, 2011

Thursday, January 17, 2013 The Auburn Plainsman Intrigue B7

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Trent ErwinwriTEr

Take a closer look at a nutrition label because it tells a bigger story. Calories and fat aren’t the only important components of the nutritional value listed on a food or beverage.

Serving size is the first piece of information listed on a nutrition label, and for good reason.

“People have a tendency to look at the amount of calories per serving and would as-sume that’s the amount of calories in a contain-er,” said Shirley whitten, human nutrition, diet and health regional extension agent.

Along with whitten, Jessica-Lauren Newby, a registered dietitian employed by the Universi-ty, and Eric Smith, director of health promotion and wellness services at the University, agree that serving size is the most crucial bit of infor-mation on a nutrition label.

According to these experts, people tend to consume an entire package of food or bever-age and only consider one serving size. Howev-er, most packages contain much more than one serving, multiplying the daily value of nutrients and other componenets.

Following serving size on the nutrition la-

bel is information people are most familiar and concerned with—calories. The FDA and nutri-tionists recommend balancing caloric intake with caloric use, which means matching the amount of calories you consume with activity to burn calories.

The next section of the label, including fats, cholesterol and sodium, is the area of limit. Ac-cording to the FDA, consuming too much of these nutrients can result in chronic health is-sues: heart disease, some cancers and high blood pressure.

“Too much sodium can alter our cardiac health,” Newby said.

Newby also mentioned the vital balance be-tween sodium and potassium in the heart be-cause both regulate heartbeat and overall car-diac health.

Nutrients listed last on labels need the most attention; these include fiber, vitamins, calci-um, iron, etc. The FDA encourages people to consume the recommended daily value of these nutrients because they’re necessary for immune health, energy, bone strength and reducing the risk of disease.

“we’re notorious for not getting enough fiber

in our diets, so we really try to get people to look at that,” whitten said.

when people think about fiber, they only consider bowel movements, but fiber plays a much more important role, Newby said. Fiber is needed for processing cholesterol, movement of things through the gut, which allows the body to get rid of wasteful substances.

Don’t focus on just one section of a nutrition label and only reduce or increase those por-tions, Newby said. Consider the entire label, even the ingredients, and balance each section accordingly.

Nutrition doesn’t stop with a label; it incorpo-rates portion size and routine, two factors Eric Smith said are imperative for students to recog-nize.

“You can get stuck in the same rut and cycle,” Smith said. “From the nutrition perspective, you’re always eating the same thing.”

Smith said students develop routines as a se-mester progresses and may eat the same food on a regular basis, so it’s important for that food to be balanced with each food group and full of nutrients.

As whitten said, “if you’re only eating French

fries, then you need to ramp up the color a bit.” Color indicates nutritional value: the brighter, the better.

“Nutrition is such a small, but super impor-tant part of your overall health and wellness,” Smith said. “it’s one step closer to living an opti-mal, healthy lifestyle.”

Calories, fat not the only important information on nutrition facts

will GaineswriTEr

The new year began without Congress com-ing to a permanent solution to the looming “fis-cal cliff ” issue, and many Americans are won-dering how leaders are planning to lower the United States’ huge economical deficit and what exactly the “fiscal cliff ” is.

The “fiscal cliff ” is an economic effect result-ing from tax increases and government spend-ing cuts in the past years, expanding the defi-cit between what the government takes in and what it spends.

Congress has failed to come up with a solu-tion to the problem. As an alternative, they have came to an agreement to raise taxes on individ-uals who earn more than $400,000 and couples who earn more than $450,000, preventing mid-dle class taxes from rising.

with the majority of the country being mid-dle class, this does not do much to help lower the $14 trillion deficit, meaning the problem will have to be revisited by Congress in the coming months.

richard Pettey, SGA treasurer, thinks the gov-

ernment will regret not taking action sooner. “it startles me because they’ve known for a

year they had to work something out about the impending cliff,” said Pettey. “it just became so political that the Democrats and the repub-licans didn’t want to do anything for the other team, it came down to the 11th hour, and they put this Band-Aid fix on the problem. i think it’s just going to cause more problems and this is just the beginning.”

The main focus of many American’s minds is

how to lower the $14 trillion deficit, although according to Dr. Alexander richter from the Department of Economics, people should not just focus on how large the deficit is, but on the economy’s growth.

“it’s really important for the public in general to understand that it’s not just the value, the $14 trillion, you’ve got to put that value in some kind of context,” said richter.

“it’s not the level, it’s the growth rate. The con-cerning factor isn’t that we are at $14 trillion of

debt. what’s concerning is that given the trajec-tory of Medicare spending we’re on an unsta-ble path. if we don’t make any adjustments to a number of different things, then we are going to reach debt to GDP numbers that we have never seen in the United States,” he said.

So does any of this affect Auburn students? According to Jacob Dean of the AU College

Democrats, this may not affect Auburn students immediately, but will make a difference eventu-ally, and will continue to affect the financial sit-uation of students for many years to come.

“we are going to be the ones to pay the debt. we have a huge debt and it keeps growing by the billions,” said Dean. “whether you are Dem-ocrat or republican, somebody is going to have to pay for that. it affects us, it affects our chil-dren and it’s going to affect the generations to come unless we come up with a way to get this problem under control in a responsible, bal-anced way.”

Congress must now work together to come up with a more permanent solution, which will require tough choices and unprecedented bi-partisan cooperation.

The current ‘fiscal cliff’: what it means to students

Rachel SuhS / DeSign eDitoR

Rachel SuhS / DeSign eDitoR

information source: office of Management and Budget

Intrigue B8 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, January 17, 2013

ACROSS1 Hunger hint5 Shorn shes9 Indonesian island

13 Pinza of “SouthPacific”

14 Pulsate16 Yaks, e.g.17 Endures an

onslaught ofcriticism

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on26 Kind of contact

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33 “Joanie LovesChachi” co-star

34 Like James Bond35 Carpeting

computation37 Cyclist

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source43 “If __ a nickel ...”45 Category46 Use a sun visor,

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bureau55 Greeting card

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briefly32 Rotating machine

parts36 In the sack

38 Activist Guevara39 Nonowner’s

property right42 Commonly long

garment44 __ blues:

Mississippi genre47 “Eat up!”48 Frequent final

soccer score49 Peter who co-

wrote “Puff, theMagic Dragon”

52 Berliner’s eight53 Leave out of the

freezer54 Pacific

archipelago56 Triumphant

cries57 Magazine filler58 Eccentric sort59 B’way hit signs61 Veto62 General linked

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The Oscars, the emmy’s, the golden globes–or any awards show for that matter–are easy to get confused. It’s awards show season, and most quickly approaching is the Oscars.

Before getting into what exactly the Oscars are, here is a quick debrief on the difference in award shows: The grammy Awards award for music, the golden globes award in Motion Pic-ture and Television, the emmys award for televi-sion, the Tony awards in Broadway, and the Os-cars, formally known as the Academy Awards, award in the film industry.

The golden globes and the Oscars appear to be almost the same, but the golden globes are

voted on and given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, where the Oscars are voted on by those who actually make the movies. For example: the best director award will be voted on by other directors.

The Oscars as we see them today and the Os-cars as they were in the beginning are incredibly different. The first Academy Awards presenta-tions were held on May 16, 1929. They took place during a private brunch at the Hollywood roo-sevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, and only about 270 people were present.

Possibly the most gaping change from the first Academy Awards to the Academy Awards of present day is the ticket price. To attend the Oscars in 1929 cost a grand total of $5, quite

different than the costly television production spectacle that they are today.

nominations for Oscar Awards came out last Thursday. “Lincoln” took the lead above all oth-er films, receiving 12 different nominations. Other top ranking films that received multiple nominations include “Life of Pi” with 11, “Les Misérables” with eight, and “Argo” with seven.

From an amateur’s point of view, the nomina-tions didn’t seem to be anything too surprising. Leila MacCurrach, junior majoring in rehab and disabilities, disagrees.

“I couldn’t believe Ben Afleck didn’t get nom-inated for best director. Argo was amazing,” said MacCurrach.

So what do the Academy Awards mean for

viewers? A fun night watching the stars? A changed view on television and film? Possibly nothing?

“I like to watch the Oscars, but it doesn’t re-ally affect what I watch afterwards,” said emma goddard, junior majoring in finance.

Denney Burkholder, junior majoring in soft-ware engineering, has a different take on it.

“I’ll usually watch some of the movies that get nominations or awards. I like doing that be-cause you wind up watching movies that are better than your average box office hit,” said Burkholder.

For those interested in tuning in to the Acad-emy Awards this year, they will be held on Sun-day, Feb. 24.

Oscar nominations offer surprises, disappointments

Sonya LovejoyFreeLAnCe MuLTIMeDIA

with cigarettes being banned from many businesses and communities, smokers are turning to healthier and more flavorful options such as “vaping.”

An abundance of cities across the nation have elected to become smoke free. while these policy changes aim to create a healthi-er and cleaner environment, some citizens be-lieve they should have the right to smoke with-in these buffer zones.

According to the City of Auburn website, Au-burn is considered a smoke-free city. Per City Ordinance, no smoking is allowed in public places, including public buildings and all res-taurants. Smoking is also prohibited within 10 feet of any entrance to a building.

In addition to communities banning ciga-rette smoking, many campuses are also chang-ing their smoking policies. On Thursday Aug. 16, the university kicked off a new smoking policy that requires smokers to be at least 25 feet away from all campus buildings before lighting up.

Smokers have been forced into isolation to puff away while the public casts judgmental glances, or have they?

ed and Marian Prickett, owners of Smokin’ Vapor in Auburn, believe they have a solution. Smokin’ Vapor sells electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) that are considerably cheaper, healthier, convenient and allowed around and in most restaurants and businesses. Smoking these e-

cigs is a common new trend known as “Vap-ing”.

Citizens have become more aware of the dangers of tobacco cigarettes.

“Smoking has a strong link to lung cancer- with so many businesses moving to tobacco and smoke free campuses, we feel strongly that vaping is a non-offensive option. This is be-coming more widely accepted. I puff on mine in wal-Mart!” Prickett said.

Cigarettes contain smoke, tar, nicotine and over 4,000 harmful toxic chemicals. e-cigs are battery powered with a small refillable con-tainer where the vapor liquid is stored. This liq-uid is composed of propylene glycol (a steriliz-ing agent that carries flavor), vegetable glycer-in (creates water vapor that provides a smoke effect), food flavoring and optional nicotine. All of these ingredients are FDA approved and Smokin’ Vapor only carries liquids made in the uSA.

Customers are able to choose from around 60 different flavors including atomic fireball, drunken monkey, watermelon, razzleberry and glazed donut.

Customers are able to try the e-cigs and as many flavors as they like before they even buy the product.

nicotine levels are also mixed in-house. Many customers are reformed smokers, how-ever, some customers choose to smoke e-cigs with no nicotine and simply enjoy the different flavor options.

Jonathon Frost, an Auburn university grad-

uate student, is a non-smoker that has found vaping to be an enjoyable experience similar to the flavor options found in hookah.

“Due to health concerns, I have never been a smoker. with the introduction of e-cigs, those health concerns are all but negated. Due to the nicotine free liquid, I can enjoy the activi-ty of smoking with virtually no health concerns whatsoever, including the danger of addiction,” Frost said.

For reformed smokers, nicotine can come in five different levels, or a dose, depending on the amount of regular cigarettes a customer currently smokes. These doses can be lowered over time to reduce nicotine levels entirely.

In addition to the health benefits of switch-ing to e-cigs, smokers can save money by switching to vaping. Prickett shared said a monthly supply of liquid for a pack a day smok-er is about $22. This compares with an estimat-ed cost of $150 per month if that customer was smoking regular cigarettes at $5 per pack.

Ben Sewell, an Auburn resident, went from smoking a pack and a half a day to smoking about one real cigarette a day.

“It has helped a lot. It has helped my lungs out as well, I can feel the difference between the two. I don’t get get as winded anymore,” Sewell said.

Pricket urges citizens to “stop smokin’ and start vaping.” For more information on Smokin’ Vapor, visit their vapor shop on Opelika road or contact them at smokinvaporauburn@gmail.com.

‘Vaping’ trend replaces cigarette smoking in Auburn

Raye Maye / Photo edtoRed and Marian Prickett encourage students to re-place cigarette habbits with “vaping.”