The Auburn PlainsmanA SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID

Thursday, May 16, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Vol. 120, Issue 2, 8 Pages

This week’s question:

Online

News A5

Sports A7

INDEXNews A2

Opinion A6

Sports A7

Damek Tomscha

wins SEC player of

the week

How one group of students

puts trash to good use

Baseball vs. Ark.

Visit

ThePlainsman.com

for game updates

Opinions A6

Andrew YawnNEWS EDITOR

On Thursday, May 16, al-leged University Heights shooter Desmonte Leonard will appear for a status confer-ence at the Lee County Justice Center.

Assuming they remember to bring him this time.

The hearing was original-ly scheduled for March 20, however, Leonard was forgot-ten in Montgomery where he is being held and the confer-ence was delayed due to his absence.

At Thursday’s hearing, Judge Jacob Walker is expected to se-lect a date for Leonard’s trial.

Leonard is allegedly re-sponsible for shooting six peo-ple, killing three, at University Heights June 9, 2012.

On August 27, Leonard was indicted by the grand jury for one count of capital murder for allegedly killing Demario Pitts and former Auburn foot-ball players Ladarious Phillips and Ed Christian.

He was also indicted on two counts of attempted mur-der for allegedly shooting at Turquorius Vines and former player DeAngelo Benton in ad-dition to first and second de-gree assault charges for gun-shot wounds to John Robert-son, Xavier Moss and then-football player Eric Mack.

Leonard’s attorney Susan James, who orginally helped bring Leonard into custody following the shooting, is ex-pected to motion for a change of venue. In addition, the de-fense is reportedly seeking permission to bring Leonard back to the scene of the crime.

Changes on the horizon for local J&M BookstoreTaylor JonesWRITER

J&M Bookstore on South College Street is looking to adapt to the changing envi-ronment in today‘s textbook industry with a name change and a new sales focus.

The well-known establish-ment located near Toomer’s Corner is known for its catch-phrase, “A Tiger of a book-store,” and it is a popular des-tination for tourists or fans on gameday.

While the store has focused on selling textbooks since its opening in 1953, the emer-gence of the e-book, or text-books that can be purchased electronically at a cheap price, has badly hurt textbook sales.

Traditional college book-stores like J&M are having a difficult time competing with the low prices that e-books of-fer.

Trey Johnston, co-own-er and the face of J&M Book-store, said with this changing textbook market certain mea-sures must be taken to stay competitive.

“I can’t compete with book prices, so we’re trying to do a

better job of becoming a col-lege store with university sup-plies and memorabilia,” John-ston said.

One major step toward reaching that goal includes re-moving “Bookstore” from the store‘s title.

“We’ve already been in con-tact with attorneys, trade-mark licensing people and other people who handle the

legal issues with changing our trade name to ‘J&M College Store.’” Johnston said.

The name change is the start of a transition from be-ing a traditional college book-store to becoming a vendor fo-cused on supplying university-specific supplies, such as art supplies, along with increas-ing its merchandise and ap-parel sales.

While J&M’s location opened in 1953, Trey’s father, George Johnston, and his part-ner, Paul Malone, purchased two other Auburn bookstores, Hawkins’ Bookstore and Bur-ton’s Bookstore.

By acquiring Burton’s, which was opened in the late 1800s, J&M became Auburn’s oldest bookstore. While J&M may not have “bookstore”

in its future name, Johnston stressed that they would al-ways sell textbooks, just in a lesser capacity.

“We go back to 1878 as a college bookstore on this block,” Johnston said. “I always want to sell textbooks and be a part of serving Auburn Uni-versity.”

Johnston also said he does not plan on expanding the store.

“It will likely result in the elimination of the beautiful 8,000 sq. ft. store located on Donahue and College Street,” Johnston said.

The reason the new store would close is because of the lack of foot-traffic on football gamedays that generates a large amount of sales for the original location.

As J&M makes its move to-ward a new direction, one thing has not changed: John-ston and his associates and staff still plan on serving the Auburn family.

“I take a lot of pride in my family having J&M since 1953,” Johnston said.  “We will try to maintain and continue our service to Auburn University.”

Leonard to court

Thursday

LEONARD

Up in the airCOURTESY OF ART MORRIS

Advisory Management Advisory Board vice chair Allen Thames (center) heads meeting where announcement to sunset flight program was made.

Auburn’s flight degree in danger of being cut

ANNA GRAFTON / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR

J&M Bookstore will focus sales more on apparel and will drop the words “book store” from its logo.

FOLLOW THE TRIAL @ THEPLAINSMAN.COM

» See AVIATION, A2

“I actually think the decision to shut down the flight department is very short-sighted because I think the long-term prospects for it are very good.”

—Rob Maruster C.O.O., JETBLUE

Kelsey DavisEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The Aviation Management Advisory Board met on May 10 during which Bill Hardgrave, dean of the College of Busi-ness, recommended the Aviation Man-agement Program’s flight program be outsourced to a private flight school. He also suggested the flight degree program be sunsetted.

“The private flight school will be affili-ated with Auburn, but will be open to the community. This option should provide an opportunity for more people to pur-sue their dream of flying,” Hardgrave said.

The outsourcing of the flight program and sunsetting of the flight degree means that students will not be able to receive training as professional pilots through Auburn University.

“It will be in partnership with the Uni-versity. It won’t be a four year Auburn de-gree,” said Mike Clardy, Director of Uni-versity Communication Services.

When asked by a member of the board the primary reason for the decision, Hardgrave said the aviation management program was no longer viable.

“The overall reason is when we look at the program as a stand alone program, it has been in a state of decline for a num-ber of years,” Hardgrave said. “This year, we will graduate six people from that pro-gram.”

The University has recently entered into a gateway program for graduating

pilots with jetBlue Airlines. “It is a program for the aviation stu-

dents to reach a major airline, in this ex-ample jetBlue, as quickly as possible. It also gives students access to a person-al mentor from the day they’re accepted into the program,” said Jose Caballero, a jetBlue captain.

Without the flight school, Auburn stu-dents will be ineligible for the gateway program.

“I’m very disappointed in the deci-sion by the dean to offer that recommen-dation,” said Rob Maruster, C.O.O of jet-Blue. “Hopefully there’s an opportunity to at least reconsider it because I view the future of the industry as one of needing a lot more pilots than it has today.”

Maruster also expressed disappoint-

ment in the suggestion outside of its con-nection with the gateway program.

“I actually think the decision to shut down the flight department is a very short-sighted decision because I think the long term prospects for it are very good.

“I can absolutely see it growing very much larger than what it is today based upon what I have seen in the industry fu-ture in terms of needing pilots,” Maruster said.

The board meeting was open to stu-dents currently enrolled in the program, parents, professors, alumni and more. Hardgrave’s visit to the board was un-scheduled, and the news delivered was unexpected, according to AMAB vice chair, Allen Thames.

“We’re, of course, all in shock,” Thames said. “We did not expect this sort of bombshell without any advanced warn-ing whatsoever.”

However, the suggestion to terminate the flight program means more for the University and aviation management stu-dents than just the loss of training.

“(The program) won’t be accredited with an outsourcing program,” said Ja-son Mohrman, a United Airlines captain. “You could come to Auburn and fly on a contract, but you wouldn’t have the same reputation we have now because it’s con-

News A2 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, May 16, 2013

The Auburn Plainsman

255 Heisman Dr., Suite 1111, AU Student Center Auburn, AL 36849

Newsroom - (334) 844 9108

Advertising - (334) 844 4130

Kelsey Davis, EditorElizabeth Wieck, Managing Editor

Ben Croomes, Opinions EditorAndrew Yawn, News EditorRaye May, Design EditorJohn Burns, Sports EditorLainee Ross, Copy EditorJordan Dale, Copy/Online EditorDustin Shrader, Online EditorChelsea Wooten, Photo EditorAnna Leigh Grafton, Associate Photo Editor

Account RepresentativesKatie Stewart

A SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID

General Manager &Advertising Director

Judy Riedl(334) 844-9101

gm@theplainsman.comadmanager@theplainsman.com

Editorial AdviserAustin Phillips

(334) 844-9108adviser@theplainsman.com

Office ManagerKim Rape

(334) 844-4310kelleka@auburn.edu

Reporters/WritersEthan Brady, ReporterWill Gaines, ReporterJustin Ferguson, ReporterJeffrey Moore, WriterJames Goodwin, Writer

Advertising ProductionLindsey DrennanKaylie Sautter

May 14 – North Donahue DriveThird-degree criminal mischief and domestic violence between 10:00–10:04 a.m.

May 14 – Kent DriveThird-degree domestic violence and second-degree theft of wallet, pre-paid credit card and driver’s license between 7:30–7:50 a.m.

May 14 – South College StreetUnlawful breaking and entering a vehicle and theft of cigarettes and a cell phone between 11:05–11:35 a.m.

May 14 – Opelika RoadThird-degree theft of cell phone between 4:50–5 p.m.

May 14 – South College StreetThird-degree burglary of digital reader between May 5 at 12:10 and May 13 at 10 a.m.

May 14 – Wright Street and West Magno-lia AvenueUnlawful breaking and entering a vehicle and theft of laptop, briefcase and U.S. currency between 4–4:30 p.m.

May 14 – Dekalb StreetFirst-degree robbery of cell phone, knife and U.S. currency between 7:45–8:02 p.m.

May 14 – Rolling Ridge Road at Lee Road 141Third-degree criminal trespass be-tween 6-–6;45 p.m.

May 14 – South College StreetUnlawful breaking and entering a vehicle and theft of cigarettes and a cell phone between 11:05–11:35 a.m.

May 14 – Webster RoadSecond-degree burglary of TV and U.S. currency between May 14 at 6:45 p.m. and May 15 at 1:30 a.m.

May 15 – South College StreetSecond-degree burglary of TV, Xbox consoles, wallet and credit cards between 2:05–2:15 a.m.

— Reports provided by Auburn Department of Public Safety

CRIME REPORTS FOR MAY 14 – MAY 15, 2013

AVIATION» From A1

No ruling yet on new trial for Clarence WhatleyAndrew YAwnNEWS EDITOR

After hearing arguments Wednesday, May 15, Judge Chris Hughes issued no ruling on whether or not he will grant a new trial for Clarence What-ley, recently convicted for first-degree sodomy.

Hughes said he will take the information under advise-ment and issue a written order within the next several days.

Whatley, a former Auburn radio personality, was sen-tenced to five years in pris-on and ten years subsequent probation for alleged sexual crimes against a child, how-ever, defense attorney Todd Crutchfield said new evidence should earn Whatley a new tri-al.

The newly discovered evi-dence in question pertains to Karen Goulart, a potential wit-ness should Hughes decide to continue the trial.

Goulart sent Whatley a Facebook message on Decem-ber 29 that reportedly warned him about the sodomy charg-es. Should that be true, it would aid Whatley’s defense that he was set up.

“We certainly think her tes-timony could change the result of the trial,” Crutchfield said.

Crutchfield asserted that the introduction of Goulart’s testimony would provide new evidence that would “obliter-ate” the evidence on which the original verdict stands.

Attorney William Whatley, Clarence Whatley’s brother, was also on hand for the hear-ing as part of the defense.

In a rare move, Hughes closed the court to the pub-lic and the media to hear from Goulart during the conference.

In response, Chief Assistant to the District Attorney Ki-sha Abercrombie said the evi-dence is inadmissible.

According to Abercrom-bie, the defense had a chance to subpoena Goulart original-ly and did not practice due dil-igence to get her on the stand.

Abercrombie also said any testimony from Goulart would be hearsay and the fact that the previous jury reject-ed Whatley’s “set up” defense means no new trial should be granted.

In addition, the defense now has seven days to respond to the state’s motion to resen-tence Whatley.

Hughes decision can be is-sued anytime within the next week as he deliberates on the new information.

“We certainly think (Karen Goulart’s) testimony could change the result of the trial.”

—Todd CrutchfieldDEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR

CLARENCE WHATLEY

FOLLOW THE TRIAL @ THEPLAINSMAN.

COM

Jeffrey MooreWRITER

Rural Studio, a branch of Auburn’s College of Architec-ture, Design and Construc-tion, was recently awarded an Art Works grant in the amount of $42,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts.

According to Natalie Butts, Rural Studio’s 20th Anniversa-ry Manager, the grant applica-tion process was “very com-petitive.” “The NEA received 1,547 eligible applications un-der the Art Works category, re-questing more than $80 mil-lion in funding. Of those appli-

cations, 817 were recommend-ed for grants for a total of $26.3 million,” Butts said.

Founded in 1993, Rural Stu-dio is an off-campus design build program located in New-bern, Alabama that aims to give architecture students a more hands-on educational experience while assisting an underserved population in ru-ral West Alabama’s Black Belt region.

The Rural Studio philoso-phy suggests that everyone, both rich and poor, deserves the benefits of good design. In its initial years, the Studio be-

came known for establishing an ethos of recycling, reusing and remaking.

“Rural Studio has afford-ed the students the opportu-nity to apply their skills as de-signers, while also learning about the nature, history, cul-ture, economy, architecture and community in this unique educational landscape,” Butts said. “We would like to cele-brate and honor the place and its people, which have allowed us to thrive while maintaining rigor and passion.”

In its 20 years of existence Rural Studio students have

continually questioned what should be built, rather than what can be built. To date, Ru-ral Studio has built more than 150 projects and educated over 600 “Citizen Architects.”

Rural Studio was award-ed the grant by the NEA in or-der to support the documen-tation of the Studio’s 20th an-niversary through profession-al photography and videogra-phy, and ultimately to create a short, intimate documenta-ry to celebrate this important milestone.

But this documentary will be much more than just a cel-

ebration. “The documenta-ry will emphasize the Studio’s public work and to provoke in-sight into what the future of af-fordable housing should look like,” Butts said, “a place where good design and affordabili-ty meet.”

Though the documentary is still in the planning stages, Butts says that the Studio has big plans for its release. “The overall plan calls for the even-tual dissemination of the doc-umentary to national and in-ternational venues and even-tually releasing it online in its entirety.”

Rural Studio Receives NEA Art Works Grant

tracted and not affiliated with an aviation program,”

“If we lose all of this, stu-dents will transfer and not come here to fly at all because we would lose our accredita-tion and all of our industry connections,” Mohrman also said.

Mohrman is leading the alumni efforts to rectify the aviation management pro-gram, along with Lee Mills, Fed Ex Express First Officer.

“The gateway program is a professional pilot program,” Caballero said. “If there’s no flight degree, there’s no pro-gram.”

The suggestion to sunset the flight program must be decided upon by the Univer-sity Senate.

Advocates for the flight program plan to continue to appeal for their cause.

“We’re going to continue to be positive and state the importance of our program,” Mills said. “Then we’re going to take the fight to where ever we need to take the fight to.”

COURTESY OF ART MORRIS

Dean Hardgrave at the Aviation Advisory Board meeting

“The documentary will emphasize the studio’s public work and to provoke insight into what the future of affordable housing should look like.”

—Natalie Butts RURAL STUDIO’S 20TH

ANNIVERSARY MANAGER

Justin Ferguson News reporter

while many multimillionaire athletes sim-ply write checks for charitable causes and walk away, professional golfer and Auburn alum-nus Jason Dufner and his wife Amanda are go-ing the extra mile for hungry students in Lee County.

The Jason Dufner Charitable Foundation has teamed up with the Auburn University chap-ter of The Campus Kitchens projects to par-ticipate in Blessings in a Backpack, a nation-wide program that focuses on hunger in grade school students.

The program provides meals on saturdays and sundays for students who rely on free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches during the school week.

each Friday, teachers discreetly place bags of food in the backpacks of the 252 students who are part of the program.

“I grew up in Auburn, and it’s been very eye- opening to see just how many people depend on the reduced meal plans to feed their chil-dren while they’re at school,” said student vol-unteer Leah Zutter. “I think it speaks wonders for the program that someone with as much in-fluence as Jason Dufner is willing to contribute in such a significant way.”

The Dufners first heard about Blessings in a Backpack through the pGA tour wives Asso-ciation, which sponsors the program nation-wide. They contacted University outreach in october, and later began a partnership with Campus Kitchens, an organization that repur-poses unused food from on-campus dining fa-cilities and turns them into meals for the hun-gry in Lee County.

Auburn chapter president and co-founder emily scammell said the main goal of the pro-gram is to get Auburn students into the com-munity leading the charge against hunger.

“we want to raise awareness about hunger in the community, but also show that Auburn is very proactive in fighting hunger,” scammell said.

The Dufners pledged funding for three years of the program at Yarbrough elementary school in Auburn and Carver primary school in opelika, but Jason said they plan on extend-ing the program to more schools in Lee County.

“I’d love to see all the elementary schools here in Lee County be taken care of, all the kids

here be taken care of, and then maybe expand to some of the other counties around us and get the program as big as we can here in east Alabama,” Dufner said.

The Dufners’ involvement in the program goes beyond providing the monetary support.

even with a busy life on the pGA tour, both have taken time to have direct involvement with Blessings in a Backpack.

“The Dufners are extremely involved with this project for people who travel as much as they do,” said Jennifer Commander, program assistant from the office of public service and outreach. “Amanda was really influential in deciding the menus for the bags every week. whenever they’re in town on a Thursday, the day we pack all of the bags, they always come and help out.

“This was not just some program they threw money at and walked away. They are very pas-sionate about Blessings in a Backpack.”

teachers and other school administrators were astonished at the amount of effort the

Dufners have put into the program since it be-gan in January.

“The first time we received the food packag-es, both Jason and Amanda Dufner came out to our school,” said Yarbrough principal pete For-ster. “This act really helped show me that this program was special to them and was much more than a passing interest. A lot of celebri-ties say they give back to their communities, but Jason Dufner really lives that statement.”

In addition to the first distribution visit, the Dufners have returned to the schools on mul-tiple occasions. Jason took some time to tell students more about the foundation’s mission during a recent visit.

“It’s good to help out these kids in the pro-gram who aren’t as lucky as a lot of us are,” he told Yarbrough students. “They need the help on the weekends to feel nourished and come back on Monday to be ready to go learn and do exciting things here at school.”

to learn more about Blessings in a Backpack in Lee County or to get involved with the Jason

Dufner Charitable Foundation and Campus Kitchens, visit auburn.edu/auinvolve or con-tact Commander at jlc0053@auburn.edu.

News A3 the Auburn plainsman Thursday, May 16, 2013

Contributed

Professional golfer and Auburn alumnus Jason dufner and his wife Amanda have partnered with the Campus Kitchen at Auburn university and the office of Pub-lic Service to feed hungry children in Lee County through the blessings in a backpack program.

Jason and Amanda Dufner drive away hunger for Lee County elementary students

Local man uses wood chips in place of gas to fuel truckAndrew Yawn News eDItor

“You want to see my dai-ly ritual?” wayne Keith asked with a smirk.

without waiting for an an-swer, Keith swerved his 1997 Dodge Dakota into the parking lot of the Chevron and flipped the bird to nobody in particu-lar, cackling as he sped back down the country road back to his springville farm.

Driving along the highway, it was impossible to tell that the back of the small pickup was laden with 5,000 pounds of three black steel barrels. It was even less noticeable that the truck was running on nothing but the fumes of smol-dering wood chips housed in the homemade apparatus.

“people laugh a lot of the time when I mention I have a wood-burning truck,” Keith said. “they laugh and say, ‘well, how far can you go on a log?’ and so forth, and I say, ‘well, in this particular truck, we’ve documented at Auburn University that this truck will go 5,280 miles on a cord of wood.’ And they quit laughing when I mention that a cord of wood here in my area is going for $50.”

No wonder Keith mocks gas stations.

Keith went to Auburn Uni-versity to play football in 1968 as a defensive tackle. Despite being surrounded by stars such as pat sullivan and terry Beasley, Keith didn’t find what he was looking for at Auburn and dropped out of school.

watching Keith drive his Dakota, it’s hard to imagine that this man without a col-lege degree and a toothpick dangling from his lips has de-veloped what is widely recog-nized as the best wood-burn-ing engine in the world.

“I was just always good at tinkering,” Keith said. “I’m not so good at putting what I do

into words, but I can picture it in my head.”

After leaving Auburn, Keith heard about wood-burning trucks used by oil-deprived countries in europe dur-ing world war II. The self-de-scribed “hick” studied the plans and began to toy with the idea of making his own. when gas prices rose, Keith finally had the motivation he needed to accomplish his goal.

“when gas started creeping up over a dollar - I think it was 2003 or 2004 - I drew a line in the sand that once it reached $1.50, I was going to go back to experimenting with wood-burning,” Keith said.

Gas prices have risen steadi-ly over the past few years, and as a result, carmakers such as toyota, Nissan, Chevrolet and BMw have tried to develop new means of energy such as hydrogen and electric cars.

In the middle of a farm, just north of Birmingham, Keith has been steadily developing trucks that are not only cheap-er to produce–roughly $5,000 per build–but are also more efficient and pollutant free.

“when I tell people these things they think I’m pull-ing their leg,” Keith said. “This

truck is 67 percent environ-mentally cleaner than a total electric vehicle if that vehicle is charged on the Alabama grid.”

In addition, Keith’s trucks are 37 percent more fuel effi-cient than gasoline-powered vehicles.

Neal smith, senior in aero-space engineering at Auburn University, met Keith when the farmer-turned-renais-sance man visited The plains in February for a demonstra-tion. smith, a dabbling car en-thusiast, was immediately tak-en aback by Keith’s deceptive ingenuity.

“It was an interesting take on alternative fuel,” smith said. “I’d never heard of a wood-burning truck before. I had heard of biodiesel and electric cars, but wood-burning was new to me.”

save the 1,800 members of Keith’s website Driveonwood.com, another pet project of his, wood-burning is new to most everybody despite be-ing the world’s most ancient source of energy.

“I’d never heard of wood-burning trucks,” said taylor Caddell, junior in biomedical sciences. “I guess gut feeling, I’d say wood-burning is less

efficient than gas. And you’re burning stuff, so it’s still caus-ing some pollution.”

This is the general consen-sus shared by most who are introduced to Keith’s devic-es, and Keith relishes the op-portunity to toss those stereo-types into the fire.

Keith has driven almost 300,000 miles on wood gas since 2004. that includes a 7,000-mile trip around the United states, all driven at the rate of one penny per mile.

His trucks produce zero harmful emissions, and in 2011, Keith broke the biomass fuel landspeed record. the previous record was 46 mph. Keith’s truck hit 71 mph with-in a mile.

“I don’t mean to boast, but I challenge anybody to beat my design,” Keith said. “You’ve got some gasifiers out there that are built for hundreds of thou-sands of dollars... But there’s none like mine in this range.”

Keith’s passion for effi-cient utility doesn’t stop at his trucks.

Keith built his wood chipper and log splitter from old cars and powers them by hooking the machines up to his tractor which also runs on wood.

As if never paying for gas wasn’t enough, Keith built his two-story farmhouse to com-fortably operate for about $30 per month in bills when the windmills are running.

“No hands touched this house but mine,” Keith said. “I sawed every log and placed ev-ery board.”

Keith built his glorified log cabin after analyzing the path of the sun and the seasonal-ly changing winds. Add pipes on the roof to get the water hot, and Keith’s home can run with no air conditioning, water heater or lights.

“I asked contractors to come appraise the house and see how much they would charge to build it,” Keith said. “they came over and said there was no way they could, and if they found a way it wouldn’t be cheap.”

Keith’s investment in build-ing the house by himself ? $6,500.

smith spoke to Keith about his house and his hobbies and decided that while the farmer scientist’s lifestyle was not for everybody, the fact that men like Keith exist provides hope for the future.

“with the oil crisis, I be-

lieve the world will run out of oil,” smith said. “There’s a set amount. we can’t make more. An alternative fuel is need-ed, and even though this may not be the future, it’s a very in-teresting idea and a good step forward.”

while Keith’s truck designs are labor intensive–rough-ly 250 hours per project–and may never be utilized to their potential, he uses his website to share his designs with those willing to learn.

He has even begun training his youngest son, talle, named after his grandfather, talley Keith, to operate his trucks.

The 15-year-old talle enjoys working with the trucks, but always complains to his father for leaving the “y” off his name.

“I just tell him to think about all the ink he’ll save af-ter years of not having to write one extra letter,” Keith said with his trademark chuckle.

Needless to say, efficiency is never far from his mind.

“i’d love to see all the elementary schools here in Lee County be taken care of, all the kids here be taken care of, and then maybe expand to some of the other counties around us and get the program as big as we can here in east Alabama.”

—Jason Dufner pro GoLFer AND AUBUrN ALUM

“People laugh a lot of the time when i mention i have a wood-burning truck. they laugh and say, ‘Well, how far can you go on a log?’ and so forth, and i say, ‘Well, in this particular truck we’ve documented at Auburn university that this truck will go 5,280 miles on a cord of wood. And they quit laughing when i mention that a cord of wood here in my area is going for $50.”

—wayne Keith FArMer AND ForMer AUBUrN FootBALL pLAYer

CourteSy of AndreW yAWn

Wayne Keith keeps bags of wood chips in the back of his truck in case of emergencies.

For video and more photos, visit

theplainsman.com

News A4 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, May 16, 2013

1888 Ogletree Rd.Auburn 826-1207

2300 Gateway DriveInside Bread n’BuggyOpelika 749-2309

334 W. Magnolia AvenueAuburn 826-2476

1650 Opelika RoadFlints Crossing Shopping Crt.

Auburn 821-7835

1017 Columbus ParkwayOpelika 749-3528

1599 S. College StreetInside Eagle Chevron

Auburn 887-7460

1791 Shug Jordan ParkwayAuburn 826-1716

600 Webster RoadTIger Chevron

Aubrun 821-9996

Jessa PeaseWriTer

education majors aren’t the only students joining to-gether to teach across the na-tion with the Teach for Amer-ica program that gives under-privileged children the educa-tional opportunities of high-income families.

Teach for America is an or-ganization that invites seniors, graduate students and transi-tioning professionals to apply for the program and teach in some of the nation’s lowest in-come communities in an at-tempt to solve educational in-equality.

“Our mission is that one day all children in our country will have the opportunity to get an excellent education,” said Ste-ven Sheffield, campus cam-paign coordinator for the orga-nization at Auburn. “We give

these people the opportunity to provide educations to stu-dents who don’t have those op-portunities because of a low-income background.”

in America, income levels determine the schools that children go to, and discrep-ancies can be seen in the ac-ademic experiences between higher and lower income fam-ilies, according to recruiting manager Miles McCauley.

“These statistics happen-ing all across America are an outrage, so Teach for Ameri-ca is dedicated to ending that inequity through two ways,” McCauley said. “Part one: we are finding empowered young leaders on college campuses across the country that are in-vested in this idea, and have a proven track record of results and leadership regardless of what their major is.”

McCauley said the second part of working toward change is that these students will then become part of the alumni movement after teaching.

McCauley said these alum-ni will then be life-long advo-cates for education reform no matter where they are.

“We have competencies that we are looking for,” Mc-Cauley said. “We are looking for strong academic achieve-ment, proven evidence of lead-ership, belief in the capability that all students can achieve the ability to build relation-ships across lines of differ-

ence, perseverance in the face of challenges and strong orga-nizational ability.”

Akilah Williams, junior in business, said she learned about Teach for America as a sophomore and has been thinking about it ever since.

“i really do want to do it. i love the entire concept,” Wil-liams said. “i love the idea of taking students who are inter-ested and putting them into areas that are lacking resourc-es and just teachers in gener-al. But on multiple occasions i have heard that their tests, like their entry tests, are real-ly hard.”

The application process starts with a one-page résumé and a 500-word letter of intent.

Step two is a 30-minute phone interview and step three is an online critical thinking activity. Finally, an in-

person interview completes the process.

“it’s a pretty rigorous, yet informative, application pro-cess,” Sheffield said. “We have five application windows throughout the academic year. each application process is identical, and you can apply at TeachforAmerica.org.”

Although the process to get in might be tough, Sheffield said the college students who have worked with Teach for America find it a great experi-ence that helped them learn a lot about themselves.

“They say they love it,” Shef-field said. “They are the first to admit that there are a lot of challenges within the class-room, especially for students who don’t have an education background, but they say they love it. They love working with their students.”

Teach for America aims to solve education inequality

“We are looking for strong academic achievement, proven evidence of leadership, belief in the capability that all students can achieve the ability to build relationships across lines of difference, perseverance in the face of challenges and strong organizational ability.”

—Miles McCauleyTeACh FOr AMeriCA reCruiTing MAnAger

Justin Ferguson neWS rePOrTer

The Office of information Technology recently released a major update for the official Auburn university app on An-droid devices.

The app, which was updat-ed on Wednesday, May 1, in-cludes a new way for users to keep up with their academic past and present in a mobile-friendly way.

“The biggest feature is the new tiger i section, which al-lows students to view their current schedule as well as their full academic history,” OiT mobile developer heath hopkins said.

The section includes a list of the students’ final grades from their first semester at Auburn to their last completed one.

The update also has a com-pletely redesigned maps fea-ture.

users can search for individ-ual buildings and find exact lo-cations of Tiger Transit buses in a new system that runs off of google Maps, which is na-tive to Android devices.

hopkins said the redesigned maps were faster than the ones featured in previous edi-tions of the app.

early reviewers of the up-dated app reported problems with the back button function-ing properly.

instead of exiting the app, the back button would re-peatedly bring users back to the app’s main Campus news screen.

This issue made exiting only possible through their device’s

home button, which would leave the app running in the background.

The OiT released a patch to fix this issue and other minor bugs on May 6.

Most users surveyed found no technical issues with the updated app after the patch’s release.

hopkins said the mobile de-

velopers at the OiT are looking to add more features, and they have been working with Din-ing Services to include events and specials into their section of the app.

Any user who would like to suggest a feature for the app or report bugs can contact the developers directly at auburn.edu/mobile/feedback.

“The biggest feature is the new tiger i section, which allows students to view their current schedule as well as their full academic history,”

—heath hopkinsOiT MOBile DevelOPer

OIT updates Auburn University Android app

News A5 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, May 16, 2013

Annie FaulkWriTer

Where is away? When we throw away gar-bage, where does it go? is away a far off place, or is away somewhere near our homes and wa-ter supplies?

This phrase is spurted around the sustain-able world. Sustainability isn’t simply recycling or tree-hugging hippies in an abandoned corn field, but is more about preserving the ecosys-tem. While some students simply dispose of their trash in metal cans, some students try to make a difference with other people’s waste.

“People don’t consider where away is. it’s sort of an adage in the sustainability world. There is no away when you throw something away,” said Christi Talbert, a second-degree student in envi-ronmental design. “it’s going somewhere.”

Simon Gregg, senior in biosystems engineer-ing, takes everyday waste to create ecologically sound items to better his self-sufficiency.

“i get annoyed with society and the amount of waste we develop and the irresponsibleness of how people process waste and how much lit-ter there is on our streets,” Gregg said. “People just don’t care about the environment.”

Gregg is from Prospect, a small town in Ten-nessee. He grew up working with his hands and designing machines from scrap materials around his farm.

“All i can do is use that to motivate me to do something better, to understand some part of the problem, and develop a way to im-prove upon that situation,” Gregg said. “To get the word out there and (help people not litter), some way to help the situation.”

His latest project is an aquaponics system that circulates aquatic animal waste to fertilize plants such as leafy greens, peppers or toma-toes. The system is in the fenced-in backyard of his house off Drake Avenue in Auburn.

“All this material we see now as having no val-ue to us. in the future we will use it to produce energy,” Gregg said. “We should be doing it right now, and that’s the type thing i hope to develop in the future.”

Gregg’s goal is to become as self-sufficient as he can. in his backyard not, counting the aqua-ponics system, he has a greenhouse made from an old truck canopy, a compost pile, a laundry clothesline and a recycling area.

“Some stuff i have acquired over time and just looking around, picking stuff up off of the road, trash or things people throw out or things that have fallen off trucks or something,” Gregg said. “it still has good value, and i put it to good use with things like this aquaponics.”

Gregg does not solely work with aquaponics systems. He has a compost pile, a greenhouse made out of a truck’s camper shell, a clothes-line, and a recycling system – all in the backyard in order to declare himself self-sufficient.

“Now we put most of that in a landfill and it takes up space; it’s just a stigma on the land. A lot of that material is made from cellulose,” Gregg said. “Any kind of biogenetic material can be gasified, or it can potentially be fermented and used in ethanol production.”

Currently, Talbert is working in a studio de-signing industrial uniforms. She said her cur-rent work is outside the realm of typical indus-trial design.

“What students miss as far as waste is that they are creating it every single day,” Talbert said. “it’s (a) very simple mental-model thing that i think that students don’t understand.”

Talbert is a member of Auburn’s Sustainable

Designers Organization, which this spring is fo-cused on a sustainable systems design.

“So rather than a mere sustainable product, we’re thinking more in terms of origin and ma-terials,” Talbert said. “Creating a sustainable systems solution rather than just a sustainable product.”

Talbert’s undergraduate degree is in nutrition with a minor in sustainability. She said her work with nutrition and Auburn’s Office of Sustain-ability led her to pursue a second degree in envi-ronmental design.

“i got to see a lot of different angles of sus-tainability as far as a university plays a part,” Tal-bert said. “i found one of the major things we

were trying to solve on-campus were things like transportation and waste – so, system-based problems. Food was an afterthought.”

Talbert one day hopes to write her master’s thesis on edible packaging. For her, this concept is not new, but no one has invented a success-ful product.

“if you have the right system in place, then you can create more sustainable lines along the route,” Talbert said. “if you have a system in place, along the way you can make more sus-tainable products.”

every spring, the residence halls on campus have a special guest: large metal trash bins. Mi-cah O’Dell, junior in social work, dives into these metal wonders to find his own treasures. For O’Dell, one man’s trash is another man’s trea-sure.

“i think students on campus are really un-appreciative of what they have. Not in an ac-tive sense, but in passive sense,” O’Dell said. “it doesn’t matter to them to throw away a rug, be-cause they aren’t going to use it. in their mind ‘i’ll just throw it away then.’”

O’Dell said he found printers, DVDs, futons and refrigerators in the metal trash bins in the residence areas.

“Many people on campus are using their par-ent’s money, and it doesn’t have that same value to them. So, i think a lot of students on campus are wasteful not because they mean to be, but just because they don’t have that other perspec-tive on it,” O’Dell said. “The stuff they are throw-ing away doesn’t have any meaning to them.”

O’Dell began his dives in spring 2011 after the April 27 tornadoes, which ransacked much of the state. During his first dive, he collected un-opened items such as adhesive bandages and hygiene products. The items he collected he do-nated to tornado relief tents set up around the housing areas.

“Dumpster diving, for me, it’s a hobby first and a humanitarian effort second. it’s fun; it’s interesting,” O’Dell said. “it’s always really ex-citing and energizing because you’re doing it at night with security guards walking around. it’s not always congratulated or appreciated when-ever you’re digging around in the dumpster.”

O’Dell said he knows the items he donates goes to someone in need, which is his motiva-tion.

“i guess technically you’re not supposed to, but we see it as the end result is greater than we being able, or not being able, to go in the dump-sters and pull this stuff out,” O’Dell said. “i real-ly do it because it’s fun, and then along the way i see an opportunity to help other people.”

Where there is away, there is a repurpose

Courtesy of Annie fAulk

Above: Gregg demonstrates the aquaponics system he made in his backyard. Below, left: each component of Gregg’s aquaponics system is either reclaimed or reused material.Below, right: two palates of shrink-wrapped crushed cans and bottles placed on the corner of the thach and Haley Center Concourse.

TJ HarlinWriTer

it’s 10 minutes before show time in the eagle eye TV office, and things are not going according to plan for the staff of “Wake Up, Auburn!”

The guest Caroline Harrell, produc-er, had lined up for the season finale canceled, and a guest host is filling in for one of the full-time hosts who had a conflict.

This scenario would doom many morning talk shows, but Harrell and the staff of “Wake Up, Auburn!” do not seem phased at all.

Three seasons as producer have taught Harrell to roll with setbacks such as these.

“There have been times when it’s Tuesday afternoon and i have abso-lutely nothing, and i just have to pull something together,” Harrell said.

Despite the setbacks, Harrell, a ju-nior in radio, television and film and current station director, has a script ready for this week’s episode with topics ranging from Justin Bieber’s Anne Frank controversy, a possible “Friends” reunion and the bombings in Boston.

These topics are the norm for eagle eye’s morning show. The show is the station’s equivalent to NBC’s “Today” show and runs approximately 20 min-utes on Wednesday mornings.

“Wake Up, Auburn!” has the pro-duction value of a network program, but the audience is limited to campus televisions.

However, the show averages a few hundred viewers per episode online,

with some viewers watching it from places as far away as Afghanistan.

“Wake Up, Auburn!” was the brain-child of Harrell, and she considers it to be her baby.

“eagle eye didn’t have a morning show,” Harrell said. “i wanted eagle eye to be a television station and not just a news station.”

The show was modeled after Kath-ie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb’s fourth hour of the “Today” show, meaning it would be lighthearted and fun.

With a basic idea for the show in her head, Harrell set out to put to-gether a team for her show.

“Caroline and i were talking last fall,” said Amanda redfoot, senior in radio, television and film, a host on “Wake Up, Auburn!” and current news director for eagle eye TV. “i’m more of the on-air, and she is more of behind-the-scenes. Caroline and i said let’s get some other girls on it.”

She then reached out to Brooke Fletcher, senior in marketing, and emily Johnson, senior in agricul-ture communications, to finalize the team. it was an opportunity everyone involved needed.

“Brooke didn’t want to be a news anchor, she wants to be an entertain-ment reporter and this gave her an outlet to practice that,” Harrell said. “it gave emily and Amanda an outlet outside of news.”

With a team assembled, “Wake Up, Auburn!” made its debut in January 2012.

Like any show, the first season had some growing pains, and Harrell and

the show’s hosts admit it was not easy.

“it took me a couple of episodes to figure out what i was doing because i had never done it before,” Harrell said. “i was shooting in the dark.”

it would have been easy for her to be overwhelmed during the first sea-son. Harrell serves as director, pro-ducer, writer, script editor, technical director and booking agent.

She basically had every title imag-inable except ‘host.’

The first episode was different from the show it is today. The three cohosts sat behind a desk, and the in-teractions between the hosts seemed forced.

“it was definitely something i was not used to,” said Fletcher, who is also entertainment director for eagle eye. “Learning how to work with two oth-er hosts and interviewing and inter-acting with guests were the biggest things i had to face.”

Two seasons later everyone is still there, and the show has come a long way.

The hosts have moved to more ca-sual seating and their interactions with one another have become nat-ural.

“it’s not as awkward as it was in the beginning,” redfoot said. “We’ve gotten to know one another better,

which makes any show better.”Fletcher shares redfoot’s feelings.“We are a family,” Fletcher said. “Af-

ter the third season we’ve gotten used to it and play off one another.”

it is evident while watching the show that the hosts have chemistry.

Conversation flows naturally from the bombings in Boston to how guest host Caroline Mitchell looks like Phoebe from “Friends,” with no awk-ward transitions.

This is made even more impressive considering hosts are not told what to say beforehand.

“We don’t have a scripted show,” Fletcher said. “We have bullet points that we’ll talk about, but anything that comes out of our mouths is who we are.”

The family aspect is felt in the pre-show meeting, as well. No one is tense or nervous before shooting be-gins because everyone is comfortable and trusts one another. The show has come a long way since its first epi-sode, but Harrell was nervous at the beginning of the third season.

“The biggest thing is content,” Har-rell said. “You have to keep it fresh and not mundane, and that is some-thing i faced at the beginning of sea-son three. i felt like it was slow and wasn’t interesting anymore, and that’s something i really hated be-

cause i had poured so much effort and love into this one TV show.”

Harrell’s goal is to do something new and different every episode and combat the show from being boring.

Harrell is definitely in control of how interesting the show can be.

“i really do everything. it’s mine,” Harrell said. “it’s given me an oppor-tunity to do all of those roles that hap-pen in real television, and i’ve gotten to do it all with ‘Wake Up, Auburn!’”

The hard work of Harrell and the hosts have provided tremendous op-portunities outside Auburn.

Fletcher had the opportunity to in-tern at WGN-TV in Chicago last sum-mer, and redfoot is a weekend intern at a news station in Columbus, Ga.

Harrell taught in D.C. and Berkeley, Calif., for two summers, and was able to share her experiences.

“i got to stand up every day and say ‘i did this. i produced this show.’ it re-ally was an idea i had when i came to Auburn, and i’m just so proud of my-self and everyone here that we’ve ac-tually done it,” Harrell said.

Courtesy of tJ HArlin

redfoot, fletcher and Mitchell discuss issues ranging from the bombings in Boston to the latest Justin Bieber controversy.

Wake Up Auburn! Behind the scenes of Eagle Eye’s morning talk show

For video and more photos, visit theplainsman.com

For video and more photos, visit

theplainsman.com

A6Thursday, May 16, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Opinions

Opinion

Mailing Address

Auburn Student CenterSuite 1111HAuburn, AL 36849

Contact

Phone 334–844–4130Email opinion@theplainsman.com

PolicyThe opinions of The Auburn Plainsman staff are restricted to these pages. This editorial is the majority opinion of the 9-member editorial board and are the official opinion of the newspaper. The opinions expressed in columns and letters represent the views and opinions of their individual au-thors and do not necessarily reflect the Auburn University student body, faculty, administration or Board of Trustees.

SubmissionsThe Auburn Plainsman welcomes letters from students as well as from faculty, administrators, alumni and those not affiliated with the University. Letters must be submitted be-fore 4:30 p.m. on the Monday for publication. Letters must include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification, though the name of the author may be with-held upon request. Submission may be edited for grammar and/or length. Please submit no more than 500 words.

The Editorial Board

KeLSey DAviSeditor-in-Chief

elizabeth WieckMAnAging eDitOr

Ben CroomesOPiniOnS eDitOr

Lainee rossCOPy eDitOr

Dustin ShraderOnLine eDitOr

Andrew BurnsneWS eDitOr

John BurnsSPOrtS eDitOr

Chelsea WootenPHOtO eDitOr

raye MayDeSign eDitOr

His view

Our view

rachel SuhsOPiniOn@tHePLAinSMAn.COM

Comments of the Week:

Flight is an amazing thing; Pink Floyd has written a few songs about it. A human piloting a massive piece of metal thousands of feet into the sky is something to behold, even though it may seem mundane in our constantly moving culture.

Since 1942, Auburn has made the dream of flight come true for hun-dreds of students with the desire to get a job in the aviation industry, but that dream is in serious danger.

if the University Senate doesn’t see the light in the next few months, the aviation management program will lose all of its flight training courses. When those are gone, all the prestige the program has earned over the years will go away as well.

Bill Hardgrave, dean of the College of Business, is acting quite aloof and seems to have his heart set on gut-ting the program, which is causing those of us who want to save the pro-gram a great deal of stress.

We want to know why such a valu-able program is being destroyed.

in a recent press release, Hard-grave said, “We’re putting a plan in place that addresses some recent challenges and puts the program in

a position to grow.”Some of the challenges Hardgrave

is referring to are a lack of tenured faculty, a low number of students within the program and, of course, loss of money.

We believe these problems can be solved simply. For example, the pro-gram’s reputation is certainly good enough to merit recruiting some tenure-track instructors in order to meet accreditation requirements. As for the low number of students, the international business program has 71 declared students – six less than the aviation program. And the whole university is losing money – hence the egregious tuition increase – so the aviation program is definite-ly not alone in that regard.

What’s the real reason the College of Business wants to flush one of its finest programs down the drain?

After partnering with jetBlue, closing down a vital part of the avi-ation program seems foolish. When you consider how the aviation in-dustry has grown in Alabama over the past few years, it almost hurts to imagine why Hardgrave would want to deprive students from having the

best education possible.The University prides itself on ed-

ucating its students to become in-dustry leaders, no matter where they go. tim Cook, the current CeO of Ap-ple and Auburn alumnus, is a testa-ment to Auburn’s ability to create the best of the best.

Unfortunately, we can only specu-late why this Auburn doctrine is be-ing ignored. Maybe Hardgrave has a profound hatred of airplanes and all things air travel. Maybe the Col-lege of Business is liquidating the airport in order to finance polishing Lowder’s bronze dome. We can’t re-ally say.

What we can say is this looks the like type of unnecessary streamlin-ing happening all over the country. it’s the constant struggle between the honest, hard-working “every-man” and the vicious tycoons who value profit and quantity over qual-ity.

The Plainsman stands behind the students fighting for the integrity of the aviation program, and we hope they are able to show the people in charge the only reason they have a job is because of the students.

if we compare many older horror films with their modern remakes, we see a definite shift in terms of what producers, writers and directors use in attempts to terrify or enthrall audi-ences. Compare the 1977 classic “The Hills Have eyes” and its 2006 remake. While the former's violence was con-

sidered shocking for the time, it did not rely on violence to generate fear, instead using a bleak and lonely at-mosphere, wherein violence serves to accentuate the overall effect. The remake relies heavily on violence, at the cost of much of the suspense and overwhleming fear.

Alfred Hitchcock's films are sim-ilar. While technically thrillers, ele-ments of horror are present, especial-ly in his early works. Hitchcock re-lied heavily on building suspense, of-ten withholding an action, like a non-humorous bait-and-switch routine.

Though his films require a degree of patience to follow, they consistent-ly pleased audiences, something that cannot necessarily be said for the re-makes of his films.

Part of the issue may be an attempt to appeal to wider audiences. “House at the end of the Street” is an example of a recent trend of producing horror movies with lower ratings than one would normally see. While this could seem like a good idea at first, it does not seem to be a good idea in prac-tice. rather than relying on suspense and atmosphere to create fear, these

films are toned down in order to at-tract more viewers.

i have certainly seen my share of old horror flicks, which were just as predictable and lacking in novelty as modern films. i realize as readily as anyone every decade has films that disappoint.

While i can be hard to please, i cer-tainly do not discount every mod-ern movie as a failure. The 2006 vid-eo-game-to-film adaptation, “Silent Hill,” is an example of a modern film that knows what it is doing, at least most of the time. Like Hitchcock's,

this is not a horror movie per se, but it certainly contains many elements of horror. it leaves “jump scares” and suspense-building songs behind in fa-vor of building a consistently creepy atmosphere.

i would rather see horror that keeps me guessing, leaves me unable to sleep and makes me think long af-ter i've seen it, rather than something that tries to force me into screaming, jumping or pumping adrenaline.

Unfortunately, smart and engag-ing horror films are getting increas-ingly rare.

i almost didn’t go see “The great gatsby.”

i read reviews decrying the latest Baz Luhrmann film, but almost ev-ery one of my peers who saw it ab-solutely adored it. i went with my better judgment and saw it myself.

Criticized for relying heavi-ly on spectacle and a booming soundtrack, “the great gatsby” works as a reminder of Luhrmann’s previous works such as “Mou-lin rouge,” or his previous collab-oration with lead Leonardo Di-Caprio in “romeo and Juliet.” While

Luhrmann wows the audience vi-sually in his unconventional meth-ods, the real question is what depth is underneath the layers of the re-vamped roaring 20s?

Most people remember “the great gatsby” as one of the many books forced on us in high school that we would have enjoyed if the english teachers weren’t forcing the symbolism down our throats.

it seems our teachers and Luhrmann may have the same idea.

While the film follows about as closely as any film adaption can to its original source, Luhrmann goes to great lengths to visually high-light all the points your Sparknotes follows. The audience is blinded by the abundant use of the ominous “green light,” as well as some of the subtler (by this i mean not shown

every two minutes) imagery. But what of the overall meta-

phor? if anything, the entire produc-

tion design where the glitz and glamour hide the shallowness of the characters, and thus the melo-dramatic performances of the ac-tors, serves as a huge metaphor for the disillusionment of the 20s. So, a better question is why do critics hate this movie?

W i t h a c o n t e m p o r a r y soundtrack and endless imagery to entertain, of course the young-er crowd will flock to this like flies to honey, but is the fantastic nature enough to leave the older folks out cold?

i think perhaps the similarities between the reckless generation of the 20s and the current group of

young adults is frightening to the older generation.

Up until “The great gatsby” the only difference separating these two generations is the amount of Jay-Z being played (and perhaps the consumption of Starbucks and use of instagram).

Perhaps this is why the young-er generation is so drawn to the reimagining of the classic tale, while the older audience is so torn away. That, or they really hate the soundtrack for some unknown rea-son.

For all my college peers, i high-ly recommend forking over the cash to watch this one in theaters, if nothing else for the stunning vi-suals that will seem lackluster on a computer screen when you rent it from redbox in a few months’ time.

James godwinneWS@tHePLAinSMAn.COM

Her view

Modern horror: heavy on gore, screams light on quality

‘The Great Gatsby’ defies lackluster reviews, critics

ConTriBUTed By reBeCCA CrooMeS of The AThenS newS CoUrier

The Eagle is not a flightless bird

Carol you have done what only my first wife and one uncle have been able to make me do: Cry! your poem touched and in-spired me. My doctor says the best way for me to respond emo-tionally right now is with poetry and creative writing so i'll try my own.

LeAFto many you were just a tree/But it was always more to Louis

and me/Saturdays at toomers Oaks/Holding hands and throw-ing rolls of toilet paper with Auburn folks/On the last day of your life i was there/We rolled you out of respect and jubilation/But the next day we rolled it again because the equestrian team won the national championship/And i took a leaf

not all poetry has to rhyme. WDe i will always remember toomers. -roy

MAy 01,2013 11:58 AM

i stepped on the seal. i also graduated a semester early, and met my fiancee in a class at Auburn.

"i'm not superstitious, but i am a little stitious." - Michael Scott

MAy 13,2013 wiLL MCGUffey in reSPonSe To An An ArTiCLe on The

LeGend of The AUBUrn SeAL:

MAy 13,2013 drew dAviS in reSPonSe To An An ArTiCLe on The

CLoSinG of GnU’S rooM:

i hate to see this. gnu's room was one of my favorite establish-ments to visit during my Auburn years.

@AUTiGerdAve in reSPonSe To A TweeT ABoUT The CLoSinG of

The fLiGhT ProGrAM:

i’d like to know how others feel, but i don’t like this idea

@JUnToGUnTo in reSPonSe To A TweeT ABoUT TeACh for AMeriCA

@BAnkSyMArTini in reSPonSe To A TweeT ABoUT The CLoSinG

of The fLiGhT ProGrAM:

Heavy heart. So sad

tFA is a racket @TheAUPlainsman. ‘teach for Awhile’ is junk, beyond boosting grad school prospects.

Sports A7Thursday, May 16, 2013 ThePlainsman.com Sports

Will GainesSPort rePorter

Auburn third baseman Damek tomscha was named the SeC Player of the Week on Monday, May 6, after his two home runs helped the tigers achieve a series win over ole Miss.

“It’s definitely a big honor,” toms-cha said. “I didn’t really think I would get an award like that. It didn’t really cross my mind until Monday when I heard. You don’t really play the games just to get personal awards, but it’s nice to be recognized for what I did that weekend.”

tomscha hit the tying home run in game two of the tigers’ 8–5 comeback victory over the rebels to even the se-ries at one game each.

In game three he again came through in the clutch after he hit the game-winning solo home run in the eighth inning.

Clutch hits are nothing new for tomscha. Four of his five home runs have either tied the game or given Au-

burn the lead in the sixth inning or later.

“I just try to relax when I’m up at the plate, take some deep breaths and not really try to think about what the game is about and go pitch by pitch,” tomscha said. “I just play the game and don’t worry about what the team needs at the time. (I try to) go out there and get a good swing on the ball, because once you hit the ball it’s out of your control.”

tomscha is the first player since Blake Austin in 2012 to be named SeC Player of the Week.

“I had a pretty good week, and I was pretty lucky I guess,” tomscha said. “It doesn’t mean that I’m the best player on the team, I just had a good week for the most part.”

the series victory over ole Miss that weekend provided the tigers with some momentum late in the season.

Since the loss in game one to the rebels, the tigers won six of their

last seven games, including two wins against Jacksonville State and Sam-ford, and a series victory against Flor-ida last weekend which secured them a spot in the SeC tournament.

After a rough start to conference play, Auburn has come on strong late in the season. tomscha believes the tigers played well early in the season, though the team had little to show for it, but luck was on the side of the team later in the season.

“earlier in the season we were hit-ting balls hard, and luck just wasn’t on our side,” tomscha said. “Hope-fully, we will get some luck going our way like we have the last week or so and keep that going the rest of the season.

“The main thing is staying focused because we have a good hitting club, and if we can just keep our mind right then I think we’ll be fine.”

Lately the players have worked on being more focused at the plate and not worrying about things out of their

control.“We’ve had a pretty good ap-

proach,” tomscha said. “Coach (Gabe) Gross has really talked to us about not letting up with what we do at the plate throughout the game, and making sure that we are focused in throughout all nine innings. I think for the last week and a half we have

been really locked in and focused at the plate.”

Auburn is going into an important series this weekend against Arkansas and hopes to continue the success it has had lately to boost its seeding for the SeC tournament.

the Arkansas series will begin Thursday at 6 p.m. at Plainsman Park.

Contributed by todd Van emst

tomscha was named seC player of the week for his performance against ole miss

Tomscha named SEC Player of the Week before tournament

ethan BradySPortS rePorter

It was a long wait before former Auburn defensive end Corey Lemoni-er heard his name called at the 2013 NFL Draft. The 88th overall selection by the San Francisco 49ers was the only draft pick to feature an Auburn player in seven rounds, but five other tigers signed deals with prospective NFL teams following the draft.

For only the fourth time in 20 years, one or no Auburn players were select-ed in the NFL draft. The tiger’s only selection came in the third round when the 49ers traded five spots from the 93rd pick with the Green Bay Packers to snag Lemonier.

the pick was unexpected from both Lemonier and his agent eric Metz because the 49ers showed little interest prior to the draft.

“I’m really surprised because I haven’t talked to them or anything like that,” Lemonier said to AL.com.

A defensive end at Auburn, Le-monier is expected to play outside linebacker in the 3-4 defense of head coach Jim Harbaugh. The 49ers saw success in shifting former Missouri defensive end Aldon Smith to outside linebacker and look to do the same with Lemonier. Smith had 33.5 sacks in his first two seasons in San Francis-co and Lemonier said Smith is a play-er he wants to learn from.

“I just want to show I can play line-backer, my ability to affect my hips and look athletic out there,” Lemoni-er said. “I can definitely move on and play linebacker.”

In three seasons with the tigers, Lemonier recorded 17 sacks and 24 tackles for a loss.

Following Lemonier’s selection by the 49ers, five former tigers signed deals with NFL teams in the days af-ter the draft. the St. Louis rams signed tight end Philip Lutzenkirch-en, wide receiver emory Blake and linebacker Daren Bates to rookie free agent contracts that includes the op-portunity to participate in the team’s rookie camp.

rams’ head coach Jeff Fisher is no stranger to Auburn. The 18-year NFL head coaching veteran attended mul-tiple games in Jordan-Hare during the 2010 national championship sea-son to watch his son trent play safety for the tigers. What Fisher saw of Lu-tzenkirchen, Blake and Bates during that season must have been enough to sign them following the draft.

In four years at Auburn, Lutzen-kirchen caught 59 passes for 628 yards and his 14 end zone receptions made him the all-time Auburn tight end touchdown leader. NFL draft ex-perts projected Lutzenkirchen to be selected in the third day of picks, but he continued to fall each round.

“Hard to believe there were 15-plus tight ends and 255-plus players bet-ter than me, but hey, God has a plan for me,” Lutzenkirchen tweeted after signing the contract. “I’m proud to get a shot with the St. Louis rams.”

During the 2012 season, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound senior suffered a hip in-jury that sidelined him for the final six games of the year and prevented him from participating in the 2013 Senior Bowl in Mobile.

“I heard if I had come out last year, I would have been taken in the third or fourth round,” said Lutzenkirchen.

Contributed by todd Van emst

athletics director Jay Jacobs speaks to a group of tiger fans at the atlanta auburn Club, tiger trek on tuesday, may 14, hours after his speech to the auburn Chamber of Commerce.

John BurnsSPortS eDItor

The six-person committee whose job it was to review Auburn Athletics Department from top to bottom completed the process, and while the exact findings from the review remain unclear, president Jay Gouge has attempted to clear some of the gray area.

“We asked the committee to review the de-partment’s total body of work with a focus on five areas: academic and support services for student-athletes; financial management; cus-tomer service; competition, including winning, sportsmanship and compliance; and manage-ment structure,” Gouge said in a letter to the Au-burn Family.

“Athletics Director Jay Jacobs and I have talk-ed in length about their recommendations. In general, they center on steps to improve overall operations of the department, upgrade how we interact and communicate with fans and alum-ni, and enhance the game-day experience, on

and off the field. Jay will talk in more detail about what’s in store, and I’m confident he will move forward to put in place a plan to give the Auburn family what we all expect.

“there’s much to celebrate about Auburn Athletics, but there’s also room for substantial improvement. I look forward to Jay providing the leadership needed to make the necessary improvements.”

It’s fairly obvious from this letter that while changes will be made, one of those will not be Athletics Director Jay Jacobs.

Many associated with Auburn have blamed Jacobs for the recent lull in athletic perfor-mance and who could blame them?

He is the athletics director after all.In fact, Jacobs will be spearheading this effort

at athletic renovation with the help and consul-tation of Gouge.

“I promise you this: We will improve,’’ Jacobs said to the Auburn Chamber of Commerce on tuesday, May 14.

that’s a bold statement, considering two massive programs he has to improve on is a football team that was winless in the SeC and a basketball team that won three in-conference games last season.

Sarcasm aside, there has been some success in Auburn athletics in the previous season, but it wasn’t in a sport that fans in the tens of thou-sands drive to Auburn to see, and more impor-tantly it wasn’t in a sport that is hailed on the na-tional stage.

Jacobs said Gouge’s “expectations are high, and I intend to meet them. What comes next sits squarely on my shoulders.”

Jacobs will take his share of the credit for any success Auburn athletics has, but as he pointed out, he also will accept all the blame, and there’s plenty of that to go around. regardless, Jacobs believes he can right the ship and get the athlet-ics department sailing smoothly.

“We have much work to do,” Jacobs said. But I’m convinced that our best days are not behind

us. “I will continue to fight for Auburn. I will continue to defend Auburn, and I will continue to push us to get better every day.” 

As football coach Gus Malzahn has stated, “It’s a new day,” and that couldn’t be truer for Ja-cobs.

After speculation that it could have been Ja-cobs’ last year as athletics director he now has an opportunity and obligation to turn Auburn back into the fine athletics institution it is tot-ed to be.

Jacobs did promise improvements in his meeting with Auburn Chamber of Commerce including an improved football game day and game weekend experience, improving the de-partment’s overall operations, bettering com-munications and interactions with Auburn fans and alumni, improved athletic facilities, and development of the major sports and olympic sports.

He’s set the board.He’s got to get the pieces moving.

“I promise you this: We will improve”After a thorough review of the Athletics Department, Auburn President Jay Gouge and Athletics

Director Jay Jacobs have promised changes for the improvement of Auburn sports as a whole

Six Tigers to get their chance in the NFL

» See NFL, A8

Sports A8 The Auburn Plainsman Thursday, May 16, 2013

ROAD

Mon - Sat 10 -7 and Sun 1 - 5

Grab y

our f

riends

and let

’s go p

icking!

900 Columbus PkwyOpelika, AL 36801

1 blk off I-85 N, exit 62334-745-3221

Cheap furniture, old windows, cool Auburn stuff, vintage records, jewelry, etc!

ROAD

Mon - Sat 10 -7 and Sun 1 - 5

It’s HUGE!

TRIP

Angel’s Antique and flea mallAngel’s Antique and flea mallAngel’s Antique and flea mall

Print DeadlineNoon three

business daysprior to publication

To Place an Ad, Call - 334-844-4130

or Email - classifi eds@theplainsman.com

Display Classifi edsLocal............$11 per col inchNational......$16 per col inch1 col x 4ʺ min to 1 col x 8ʺ max

The Auburn Plainsman is not responsible for the content of the ads. Ads that seem too good to be true usually are.

Line Classifi eds15 words . . . . . . . . . . . $6Extra Words . . . . . . . . 40¢Bold/outline. . . .$1 per ad

ACROSS1 Kool Moe Dee’s

genre4 Response to a

drought ending10 Spot that many

avoid14 Words of

attribution15 Inspiration for

jambalaya16 Jaunty greeting17 *Components of

39-Across20 Yao-like21 Gummy22 *Components of

39-Across28 Lightsaber

wielders29 Get ready for a

drive30 Elem. school

staple33 Some

emoticons37 Barbera d’__:

Italian wine38 Sushi topper39 Symbolic sum of

17-, 22- and 50-Across

41 Key for getting outof a jam

42 Humble reply topraise

44 Visit45 __ Cabos,

Mexico46 Chowderhead48 Gaseous: Pref.50 *Components of

39-Across56 Signal to try to

score57 They’re often

bruised59 Classic manual,

with “The,” andwhat the starredanswers’components arevis-à-vis 39-Across

64 Greg’s love on“House”

65 Hard pieces66 Flicks67 Pup without

papers68 Writer de

Beauvoir69 Miss Pym’s

creator

DOWN1 Lake floater2 Burka wearer’s

deity3 Comedian Shore4 CPA’s busy time5 Mai __6 “Dancing with the

Stars” judge7 Bayer painkiller8 Knocked off9 Tibia neighbors

10 “Why, I never!”11 “Fast Five” star12 Sushi tuna13 One of a toon

septet18 Cutlass maker19 Many a St.

Andrews golfer23 Jazz lick24 Others, abroad25 Spirit26 Bats27 Books that require

a commitment30 Tops31 It might make you

forget your lines32 Ex-Laker

silhouetted in theNBA logo

34 Detective’spronoun

35 Go after, puppy-style

36 Serious40 “Eli’s Coming”

songwriter43 Support for a

downward-facingdog

47 Campbell of “WildThings”

49 “Is this what __ for...?”

51 Tampico tots

52 Gangster Frank53 Briefly54 Abu Simbel’s land55 “Honest!”58 Steamy59 Sunblock of a sort60 Sch. with a

Riverheadcampus

61 Prefix with meter62 Marshland63 Lubbock-to-

Laredo dir.

By Jeff Chen(c)2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc. 10/19/12

10/19/12

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Friday, October 19, 2012

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword PuzzleEdited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

FOR RENT

3bd 2ba Duplex w/wd, dw, Fridge@ 213 Martin Ave. near campus Avail. Fall Semester fenced back yard grt location $750.00/mo. Rent, w/$750.00 deposit. Hurry won’t last! 334-728-0400.

FOR SALE

Beautiful, com-pletely renovated condo across from Vet School, pool and tennis courts. Price reduced. Ready to move in NOW. maryfdaniel@bell-south.net 404-863-0029.

FOLLOW US!

WWW.TWITTER.COM/

THEAUPLAINSMAN

Get Noticed!

Contact Plainsman advertising:Phone: 334-844-4130

Email: admanager@theplainsman.com

Purchase ad space on Plainsman distribution racks

The Auburn PlainsmanA Spirit thAt iS Not AfrAid

Thursday, February 7, 2013

ThePlainsman.com

Vol. 119, Issue 31, 16 Pages

INTRIGUE / B5

CAMPUS / A2

COMMUNITY / A5

OUR VIEW / A7

SPORTS / B1

Lance DavisSPortS WrIterthe University announced Fri-

day, plans to remove the beloved poi-

soned oak trees at toomer’s Corner. Despite repeated efforts to save the

trees, the possibility of their survival

has been in question since the poi-

soning was discovered in January of

2011.A date has not been set for the

trees’ removal.According to the press release, the

University and the city of Auburn will

host a “Celebrate the tradition” block

party featuring live music at toomer’s

Corner after the A-Day football game

Saturday, April 20.The block party will provide fans

with one last opportunity to roll and

photograph the trees before they are

removed.“While I will be very sad to see the

trees go and to see the end of an era of

one of our greatest traditions, I think

that A-Day serves as a great opportu-

nity for us to celebrate the history as-

sociated with the oaks at toomer’s

Corner one last time before we move

into the next stage of this tradition,”

SGA President owen Parrish said.The University will also announce

its future landscaping plans for

toomer’s Corner at A-Day.More than 10,000 people voted in

an online survey conducted by Au-

burn University and landscape archi-

tecture firms Nelson Byrd Woltz and

jB+a for various plans to redevelop

the famous corner .“the architects are combining

their expertise and experience with

the terrific input from the Auburn

Family to come up with a future plan

that we will all be proud of,” said Dan

King, assistant vice president of facil-

ities management.The survey featured four possible

landscaping schemes for the toom-

er’s oaks area and the area extending

into Samford Park.Auburn will decide what to do with

the area after it analyzes the data. It

is possible that one specific scheme

is chosen, but it is also possible that

multiple features from different

schemes are combined into one.

“they don’t really know yet, be-

cause they’re really interested in see-

ing what 10,000 people thought,” said

Debbie Shaw, vice president of alum-

ni affairs.

NatioNal SigNiNg DayWho have the tigers signed in coach gus Malzahan’s 2013 recruiting class?

FuNNy iN FlaNNelimprov troupe gives its first performance of the year tonight, Feb, 7, at 8 p.m. in Haley 2370

BreWiNg oN tHe PlaiNSa graduate program in brewing sciences was approved by the board of trustees. Will you brew the next best lager?

DoWNtoWN Fire SaFetyHow safe are the bars downtown in times of emergency?

» See Roots A2

Losing our rootsUniversity announces final rolling of Toomer’s Oaks, future landscaping plans to be announced A-Day, April 20

Austin LankfordCAMPUS WrIterAlthough the fate of the toomer’s

Corner oaks has now been decided,

the people of Auburn will keep them

alive in spirit through stories and

memories. The trees are scheduled to be re-

moved after the A-Day game in April,

giving students and fans one more

chance to roll the infamous oaks.

The trees’ uprooting hits hardest the

people who have made special mem-

ories on the corner throughout the

years. “I remember bringing my kids to

Auburn and them begging me if they

could roll toomer’s after the game,”

said Kay ellen Willoughby, a 1983

Auburn graduate.

Kailey MillerCAMPUS WrIterIt has been officially announced

that the toomer’s trees will be re-

moved in the upcoming months.

Students and faculty members have

mixed feelings about this Auburn

tradition changing. “I think its sad to see a big part of

the university’s heritage torn down,

but I also think that the university

and the city are going to work togeth-

er to do whatever it takes to keep tra-

dition alive and I’m glad to see that,”

said travis Herrmann, senior in jour-

nalism. Auburn provided a survey for

those concerned with toomer’s Cor-

ner to help decide what should re-

place the toomer’s trees.“They can’t stay the way that they

are now, they’re just a scar on the

face of the campus and it’s the sad-

dest thing I’ve seen since I came

here,” said Michael Fuhlhage, assis-

tant professor in the department of

communication and journalism. “I

haven’t been around long enough to

feel like those specific trees are the

ones that have to be there or else the

tradition fails; as long as there are

trees for people to paper, the tradi-

tion lives on.” Although the final plan for toom-

er’s Corner has not yet been revealed,

there is a plan for a new tradition to

live on at toomer’s Corner as long as

Auburn fans are dedicated to carry it

on with their spirit. “I have a young child who I want-

ed to raise in that tradition and now

we’re going to have to make due with

whatever they accommodate the

university with, but I think it’ll be

positive moving forward,” Herrmann

said.

KatHeriNe MccaHey /aSSiStaNt PHoto eDitor

the toomer’s oaks were allegedly poisoined by Harvey updyke Jr. after the 2010 iron

Bowl.

DaNielle loWe / PHotograPHer

the university made numerous attempts to treat the toomer’s oaks by injecting a sug-

ar substance into the roots in order to encourage photosynthesis.tHe giviNg treeDid the university make the right decision in deciding toremove the toomer’s oaks?

» See memoRies A2

» See RenovAtions A2

Alumni recall memories ofToomers through the ages

Students want tradition to stay with oaks renovationscourteSy oF FacilitieS MaNageMeNt

toomer’s corner in 1890.

Editor at (editor@theplainsman.com)

orAdvertising Manager

(admanager@theplainsman.com)

Want to join our staff ?Contact us below or visit us in the Student Center Suite

1111.No experience necessary. All

majors welcome!

and

STAY UPDATED ON EVERYTHING AUBURN!

Read us in print and online

Follow us on Twitter: @TheAuPlainsman

Like our Facebook page: Facebook.com/ThePlainsman

Thursday, May 16Men’s golf, NCAA Regional, Ohio State Golf Club, Columbus, Ohio, at 7 a.m.

Baseball vs. Arkansas, Auburn, at 6 p.m.

Friday, May 17Baseball vs. Arkansas, Auburn, at 6 p.m.

Women’s tennis, NCAA Championships, Urbana, Ill., all day.

Men’s golf, NCAA Regional, Ohio State Golf Club, Columbus, Ohio, all day.

Saturday, May 18Baseball vs. Arkansas, Auburn, at 1 p.m.

Women’s tennis, NCAA Championships, Urbana, Ill., all day.

Men’s golf, NCAA Regional, Ohio State Golf Club, Columbus, Ohio, all day.

Sunday, May 19Women’s tennis, NCAA Championships, Urbana, Ill., all day.

Monday, May 20Women’s tennis, NCAA Championships, Urbana, Ill., all day.

Tuesday, May 21Women’s tennis, NCAA Championships, Urbana, Ill., all day.

Women’s golf, NCAA Championshio, UGA Golf Course, Athens, Ga., all day.

Baseball, SEC Tournament, opponent TBD, Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, Birmingham, time TBA.

Wednesday, May 22Men’s tennis, NCAA Championships, Urbana, Ill., all day.

Women’s tennis, NCAA Championships, Urbana, Ill., all day.

Women’s golf, NCAA Championshio, UGA Golf Course, Athens, Ga., all day.

The next week in Auburn athletics

nFL» From A7

“But I’ve never regretted coming back to play my senior year and getting my degree. We didn’t finish the way we want-ed to, but I still thought I’d be a fourth- or fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, so it was a long and frustrating day for me not getting taken.”

Lutzenkirchen will join five other tight ends at the Rams camp this summer.

Also on the St. Louis roster this year is former senior wide out Emory Blake who previ-ously committed to attend-ing two rookie mini-camps in Tampa Bay and New Orleans before signing a free agent deal with the Rams.

Blake’s father Jeff was a 14-year NFL veteran and, as Au-burn’s leading receiver in 2010 and 2012, he hopes his family genes will help him make the Rams’ final roster. Although not known for his speed, Blake still has the ability to get open

and, when combined with his on-the-field intelligence and strong hands, he can make an impact in any game.

“(Blake) knows how to get open and he’s a great compet-itor, wants the football, does a lot of the dirty work, and what I mean by that is he loves to block,” said head coach Gus Malzahn before the draft. “He’s got an understanding of the game, and he’s one of the more mentally tougher receivers I’ve had a chance to coach.”

In his career at Auburn, Blake has 127 receptions, 1,994 yards, 16 touchdowns, and has the longest play from scrim-mage in Auburn history of 94 yards against ULM thrown from Cam Newton.

On the opposite side of the field for the Rams is four-year Auburn veteran Daren Bates who began his college career playing safety and making the Freshman All-SEC team. In the three years after, Bates learned to play linebacker, but expects to play defensive back or safety

in the NFL because of his size. Originally, Bates was only

offered an invitation by the Rams to attend rookie try-outs, but they later signed him to a rookie free agent deal that guarantees he will at least par-ticipate in training camp.

“It takes a lot of stress off,” Bates said to Al.com. “Now that they’ve given me a con-tract, I can do anything. So I can just go out there and relax and play football.”

The 5-foot-11, 215 pounds Bates had 246 combined tack-les, 4.5 sacks and three inter-ceptions at Auburn.

“All it takes is just one team to fall in love, or just to see that I can bring a spark to the team,” Bates said.

Stunning scouts with his unofficial 4.21 40-yard-dash time at the 2013 NFL Combine, senior running back Onterio McCalebb has signed a rook-ie free agent contract with the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Onterio is one of the fast-est guys in college football the

last few years,” said Malzahn before the draft. “He has the wow speed. He’s a great com-petitor. He’s tougher than peo-ple think, too, and he loves the game of football. In the right situation, in the right type of offense, I really feel like he can shine.”

With his speed, McCalebb could compete at slot receiv-er or third-down back in the Bengals organization and would almost definitely be on special teams returning kick offs. In his career at Auburn, McCalebb rushed for 2,586 yards on 406 carries, scored 24 touchdowns, and returned two kickoffs to the end zone.

Joining McCalebb in Cin-cinnati is former Auburn of-fensive guard John Sullen, who at 6-foot-5, 315-pounds played 38 games for the Tigers and recently signed a rookie free agent contract.

Sullen was the most expe-rienced offensive lineman on the field for the Tigers during the 2012 season.