October 15, 2012 Edition of The Vanguard

“If it matters to the USA family, it matters to us.” VOL. 51, NO. 12OCT. 15, 2012

VANGUARDTHETHE

In this Issue: Life, Page 6

Sports, Page 9Opinion, Page 12

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TheVanguardUSA”TheVanguardUSA”

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CASSIE FAMBRO | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

INSIDEHow did the Jags do against Ar-kansas State this weekend?

See Sports, page 9

Ghouls for Goods: How HPO is using Halloween to help the needy.

See Life, page 6

Does the Sun Belt conference need change?

See Left of Center, page 5

HOMECOMING THIS WEEK!

The USA community mourns, The USA community mourns, questions loss of Gilbert Collarquestions loss of Gilbert Collar

PATRICK BIGBIE | WEATHER

PATRICK BIGBIE | WEATHER

Students and community members held a vigil Friday for Collar. Jim Mather, a local pastor, led attendees in prayer at the Moulton Tower.

Community members and students also held a protest on Wednesday. Collar’s cousin holds a sign saying his family member was murdered.

By CASSIE [email protected]

A week after 18-year-old Gilbert Collar’s death, many questions have been answered.

Collar was killed October 6 at 1:23 a.m. by USAPD Officer Trevis Austin, 27. Austin was armed with a .40 caliber Glock, pepper spray and a police baton.

USAPD does not carry Tasers. According to the Mobile County

Sheriff ’s Department (MCSO), Col-lar and friends attended the Bayfest music festival in downtown Mobile and ingested LSD.

Toxicology reports are not final-ized, so LSD has not been scientifi-cally confirmed as the drug Collar took.

There is a state-level rush to get that toxicology test expedited. His-tory major Vincent Anderson told a local news station that he was one of the people that did what he believed to be LSD with Collar the night Col-lar died.

Mobile Sheriff Sam Cochran told local media including The Vanguard that his office is pursuing the inves-tigation and has spoken with An-

derson. MCSO says that the dealer that gave Collar and his friends the drugs will possibly be charged with murder.

The story has received major me-dia attention and USAPD has re-ceived a lot of criticism for their handling of the situation. In re-sponse to that criticism, USA stu-dents and local community members congregated outside of USAPD on Wednesday to protest police brutali-ty and advocate for non-lethal weap-ons to be used in the future.

Collar’s cousin Wesley Haynes told The Vanguard that it’s as simple as USAPD needing Tasers. “If they had tasers, it would have been dif-ferent. LSD didn’t kill him, the gun did,” Haynes said.

USA student Chase Pool echoed the sentiment going a step further and calling for the arrest of the offi-cer involved. “He didn’t overdose on LSD, the police officer killed him. Charge the person that killed him,” Pool said.

Around 50 people showed up for the protest that lasted several hours.

On Thursday, media was allowed to see the surveillance tape captured from the camera outside of US-APD’s front door.

Three members of The Van-guard’s team viewed the tape at MCSO and our personal reactions can be found on our website, the-vanguardonline.com.

Collar is seen approaching the front door completely nude.

He retreats from USAPD’s front door and reemerges seconds later, banging on the window near the door nine times.

He walks away again and Officer Austin emerges from the front door with his gun drawn.

He encounters Collar and steps back each time Collar takes a step towards him. They make it clockwise around the pillars in front of US-APD and are obscured by the lights and banner in front of the depart-ment.

It is within that obscured mo-ment that Cochran told the media Collar was shot by Austin.

A dispatcher in a grey hoodie

opens the front door, surveys the scene and quickly goes back inside.

Collar can be seen getting up and collapsing back within the camera’s range as multiple other officers run into the scene and that is when the tape ends, about two minutes in its entirety.

Austin fired one shot into Col-lar’s chest. Austin was alone in the USAPD building with the exception of the dispatcher. It is thus far un-clear if that is within USAPD policy guidelines.

On Friday, USA students and community members gathered at the Moulton Tower for a vigil to remem-ber Collar. The vigil was organized by USA English professor Natalie Cochran-Murray.

All Nations Community Church pastor Jim Mather led attendees in a prayer circle. “We’re here to cry out to God in any way we can,” Mather said.

In the meantime, the Collar fam-ily has hired Beasley Allen Law Firm to represent them.

The family strongly blames USA See STUDENT STUDENT Page 3

The Sigma Chi Fraternity at the University of South Alabama has come up with a new way to promote breast cancer awareness.

This idea by the fraternity comes on the heels of SGA appropriations and during October which is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

“We get allotted a certain amount each semester. Usually we don’t ask for Fall appropriations because we get a big co-sponsorship in the Spring for Derby, which is our ma-jor philanthropy event. We wanted to use our money for a good cause,” said Sigma Chi President Travis Adkins. “This cost us over $500 to get pink wrist bands and gloves for everybody. We didn’t have chapter money to spend so that’s why we asked for the appropriations.”

Adkins explained that the mem-bers of Sigma Chi tossed around ideas before USA senior Bradley McPherson came up with the idea to use the appropriations money to promote awareness.

McPherson and the other mem-bers of Sigma Chi were inspired by the National Football League and how the league and players wear pink to promote cancer and breast cancer awareness.

“We discussed the best options and ideas for using the money and we didn’t want to just spend the money for ourselves. We wanted to give back and we wanted to display philanthropy through our intramu-rals while creating awareness,” USA senior Alex Wiles said. “A lot of the guys including myself have had fam-ily members that have had breast cancer.”

SGA President Parker Chastain supported Sigma Chi’s idea and al-

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi thinks pink thinks pink for awarenessfor awarenessBy JAYSON [email protected]

See AWARENESS Page 4

VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 20122

3VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 2012

“University of South Alabama’s Student Voice”

Editor in ChiefCopy Editor

Life EditorOpinion Editor

Sports EditorLeft of Center

Senior ReporterWeb Editor

Cassie FambroBailey HammondJake HowellNoah LoganPatrick HerringJT CrabtreeJayson CurryNaquita Hunter

Editorial

Distribution Manager

Bobby FaulkDistribution

Advertising Manager

Advertising Graphic Designer

Wesley Jackson

Mohammad Al-Zarrad

Rex McKay

Advertising

Advising

Accounting

J. SellersJ. AucoinKathy Brannan

Management

MissionThe Vanguard, the student-run

newspaper of the University of South Alabama, serves its readership by re-porting the news involving the campus community and surroun ding areas. The Vanguard strives to be impartial in its reporting and believes fi rmly in its First Amendment rights.

PAGE three

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Weather for Oct. 15 - 21Weather for Oct. 15 - 21

See Something suspicious? See Something suspicious? Report it to USAPD.Report it to USAPD.

for what happened, says Beasley. “I can tell you without reservation nothing we saw in the videotape jus-tified the use of deadly force in this case,” Beasley told the media.

The law firm will conduct its own investigation and after it is conclud-ed, the decision for further action will rest in the hands of the family.

Beasley also spoke on behalf of the Collar family’s feelings for Of-ficer Austin. “Regardless of what happened, they forgive the officer. They are praying for him. They real-ize he is having a difficult time also,” Beasley said.

Collar was laid to rest on Satur-day in his hometown of Wetumpka, Ala.

Student killedContinued from pg. 1

Visit facebook.com/thevanguardusa for instant updates as they happen.

10/09: Domestic violence. Third degree. 17:25 dorm room on Delta Greek Row . Victim was girlfriend.

16:21- Unlawful Breaking and Entering a vehicle. 175 Cleverdon Pkwy Building 5. Apple iPod, Rayban Sunglasses, Smith and Wesson Airweight.

10/06:19:50- Possession of an controlled substance or illegal drug. The grove. Plastic bag containing green plant-like material. Digital scale. The three were inside apartment with drug

paraphernalia in plain view.

14:21- Burglary Third Degree. Attempting to Elude a Police Offi cer. Red cargo shorts. Xbox with cables, 2 games, Microsoft, 360. Duffl e bag containing vehicle bill of sale, black short. Sunbelt backpack containing 2 pairs of Vans shoes. 1 black bag. Black male.

10/0518:48- Criminal Mischief Third Degree. Epsilon 1 Residence Hall- 6251. Shattered passenger front door glass.

USA Police BlotterUSA Police Blotter251-460-6312251-460-6312

VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 20124

Fraternity thinks pinkContinued from pg. 1

lowed them to use part of their ap-propriations for the purchase of the pink gloves and wrist bands.

“Every year student organiza-tions are allotted $30 per person for a uniform as long as this does not exceed the appropriations limit of $2,000.

“During this past round of ap-propriations Sigma Chi decided to use their uniform money for some-thing a little bit different than t-shirts or polos, instead they decided to use their appropriation for gloves and wrist bands to promote Breast Cancer awareness,” Chastain said.

The items can be used at intra-mural events and are a long-term investment.

“They are using these items at events this month (October) in hon-or of National Breast Cancer Aware-ness month, in hopes that more people will follow suit in actively supporting the efforts of awareness, research, and access to treatment,” Chastain said.

The members of Sigma Chi are hoping their effort to promote awareness by wearing these pink gloves and wrist bands will catch on with other fraternities and teams in general, especially during intramural events.

“We know this can be expensive but if each team or person buys their own stuff it won’t be as bad and it’s for a good cause in promoting awareness,” Adkins added.

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Want to place a classifi ed ad too? Contact our Advertising Department at 251-460-6898

Exciting changes have been taking place around campus

in 2012, such as the completion of Shelby Hall, the renovations to the Humanities Building and the open-ing of the new food court in the Stu-dent Center.

But the changes are not over yet.Beginning in December, the De-

partment of Communication will begin making a move from its cur-rent location at University Com-mons to the main campus.

According to Dr. James Aucoin, department chair, the move is part of the University’s readjustment plan to accommodate departments that lack adequate space or need to be in a different space.

“When the Department of Engi-neering moved into Shelby Hall, three buildings were left available on the main campus,” Aucoin stated.

The Department of Communi-cation will move into the former Engineering Classroom Building af-ter it undergoes renovations similar to those completed in the Humani-ties Building.

“We are very excited about this move,” Aucoin said.

“We have wanted a bigger space for years. We currently have only three classrooms, even though we have one of the largest enrollments in the College of Arts and Sciences,” Aucoin said.

Because of this, many Communi-cation courses are taught on the

main campus already, so the move will make it easier for students who currently have their classes split be-tween locations.

Another reason this move will benefit the Department of Commu-nications and its students is that it will allow for better access to classes and a stronger feeling of unity with the University.

“We have felt isolated, and this move will give us a greater presence on campus and more visibility,” Au-coin commented.

The move came to fruition be-cause of an expansion in the De-partment of Psychology. Because of their association with the College of Education, which is located at

University Commons, they want to move into the Department of Com-munication’s space there.

The recent vacancy in the former Engineering Buildings allowed for this to be a possibility, benefiting not only the Department of Psychology, who wanted the space at University Commons, but also the Department of Communication, who needed more space.

According to Aucoin, there will be an expanded reading room/li-brary and a new location for JagRa-dio, which is currently cramped for space.

Also, JagTV will be moving into the former Engineering Lab Build-ing, with a redesigned studio. The

UCOM to undergo shakeup over Christmas break

By KALYN [email protected]

Meteorology Department will also relocate to the former Lab Building.

“This entire move and the recon-structing of old spaces will better fit the needs of many departments,” Aucoin concluded.

Ticauris Stokes, junior communi-cations major, likes the news.

“I think it’s a good idea to move because the building we are in now is very limited and because of that, The Department of Communication in comparison to other departments is overlooked,” Stokes stated.

The move is scheduled to begin in December and Aucoin said it should be complete by January 2013.

www.facebook.com/thevanguardusa

Classroom within the communications department where it is now inside UCOM. CASSIE FAMBRO / EDITOR

JT CRABTREE, LOC [email protected] OF CENTERLEFT OF CENTER

5VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 2012

The Jags were 20.5 point un-derdogs to the defending

Sun Belt Champion Arkansas State Red Wolves, and yet they put togeth-er one of their best games in school history.

On the road, the Jags came firing out of the gate, and even though they lost 36-29, they put up more of-fensive yards than ASU, with a total of 373 yards compared to 316 yards. They out rushed the Red Wolves, even without starting running back Demetre Baker. The Jags ran the ball 50 times for 132 yards, compared to the ASU’s 113 on 37 attempts.

Perhaps the biggest difference was the quarterback position. This week was the first week the Jags did not rotate between Ross Metheny and CJ Bennett. Head coach Joey Jones announced the week after the Troy game that Ross Metheny would be the quarterback, and that they would be getting rid of the rotation. Metheny did not disappoint.

Metheny completed 24 of 38 passes for 241 yards with one touch-down and one interception. He was sacked only once and he fumbled

the ball one time after he bobbled a snap, a fumble he recovered. He was the man on offense. He was the only man playing quarterback.

There were new formations, new plays and new players contribut-ing, including defensive back Gabe Loper moving to offense and playing wide receiver for the first time. Lop-er recorded one catch for 11 yards as well as three tackles on defense.

The Jaguars own version of Tim Tebow, Trey Fetner, came in for some power running plays. He ran the ball three times for 17 yards, all of which came on third or fourth down.

There was a cool confidence on the sidelines between plays. There was no panic after a possession end-ed in no points.

Who is this team? This isn’t the team that struggled to put up nine points against FCS Nicholls State. This isn’t the team that had a -1.2 turnover ratio entering their game against Arkansas State.

This team scored 29 points on the defending Sun Belt Conference champions. This team forced three turnovers and had a +2 turnover ra-tio.

This is Jaguar football. And this is only part of what this young team is capable of doing. Like coach Jones said, “We played a damn good game,” and I think we’re in for some damn good football in the future.

The Jags’ next game will be at home as they host the Florida Atlan-tic Owls on Oct. 20 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium for the 2012 Homecoming game.

By JT [email protected]

USA offense kicks it up a notchUSA offense kicks it up a notchMetheny leads Jaguar offensive attack against Red Wolves

PATRICK HERRING / SPORTS EDITORUSA running back Terrence Timmons saw extended playing time with starter Demetre Baker suspended for the ASU game.

The 2012 season marks the first season that the South Alabama Jaguars are participating in the Sun Belt Conference in football. But that’s not the only change the conference is going through.

Starting in 2013, North Texas and Florida International are leaving for Conference USA. In their places, the Sun Belt has added Texas State, from the WAC, and Georgia State, from the FCS conference CAA. The Sun Belt will also add UT-Arlington, also from the WAC. However, UT-Arlington will be added in every sport except football.

Texas State has already made waves in FBS football by beating Houston in their season opener 30-13. The victory was their also first win as an FBS program.

The Jags have already played Georgia State twice in their two year program history, each team picking up a win on their home field. The Jags won 39-34 in 2010 at home, while the GSU Panthers won 27-20 in second OT in the Georgia Dome in 2011.

The Jags are already slated to play GSU again in Atlanta in 2013, while the Jags will host the Texas State Bobcats in 2014, when they also host SEC opponent Mississippi State and future Big East member Navy.

But a question to ask is: are these teams improving the conference?

Georgia State is currently 1-6, with their lone victory over FCS opponent Rhode Island. Even the fans are getting restless. Georgia

Is change needed in Is change needed in the Sun Belt?the Sun Belt?

By JT [email protected]

State has become so desperate to get fans into the seats, that they had a cash drop at their last home game, allowing students onto the field to have the opportunity to collect as much money as they can out of $10,000 dropped from the ceiling.

This is important because as a transitional team, GSU must average at least 15,000 fans a game, or face a 10 year probation. Currently, the Panthers average 12,356. Not even a free $10,000 can get fans to show up.

Texas State on the other hand is currently 3-3, while playing a full WAC schedule. They have wins over Houston, FCS opponent Stephen F. Austin and Idaho. While GSU is having attendance problems, TSU has a strong and loyal fanbase, averaging 21,468 a game in San Marcos, Texas.

Are either of these teams an improvement over North Texas or Florida International? Maybe not an improvement, but Texas State is at least just as good as the two Conference USA bound teams. Georgia State, on the other hand, has a long road ahead of it at the current pace it is on. They are 9-19 in program history, and the only head coach they have ever known, Bill Curry, will be retiring after this season.

It will be interesting to see if any more teams are added to the Sun Belt in the future, or if maybe even South Alabama or any of the other teams decide to leave for greener pastures.

Head coach Joey JonesPatrick Herring

The Jags welcome their new conference foes, but who will be the newest addition?

PATRICK HERRING / SPORTS EDITOR

WEEKLY LOWDOWN

Registration for Spring Se-mester beings!

2 p.m. - “I Need Help Choosing My Major” seminar in Meisler Hall, Room 2100

10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. - What’s on Wednesday: Spirit Station at the Student Center

5:30 p.m. - Mural Dedication/Homecoming Parade/Pep Rally at the Moulton Bell Tower.

7 p.m. - Junk the Jungle in the Traffi c Cirlce

8 p.m. - NPHC Homecoming Step Show at Davidson High School

6 p.m. - 12 a.m. - Homecoming 2012 “Fun Fest” at the Mitchell Center. There will be a balloon artist, a mechanical bull, miniture golf, live music, food and much much more.

Monday, Oct. 15

Tuesday, Oct. 16

Wednesday, Oct. 17

Thursday, Oct. 18

Friday, Oct. 19

Want your event featured in the Weekly Lowdown? Email the name, date, time, price, place and a brief tagline (under seven words) to [email protected]

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Helping the needy, one “Ghoul” at a timeHelping the needy, one “Ghoul” at a time

This Halloween, the Honors Pro-gram and Mortar Board will be

co-hosting Ghouls for Goods for the second year in a row.

Ghouls for Goods was known as Trick-or-Treat for Canned Goods prior to the Honors Program teaming up with Mortar Board.

Since the merger, HPO has incorpo-rated the national project of Mortar Board (Reading is Leading) into Ghouls for Goods, and now the teams trick-or-treat for books in addition to canned goods.

For those who aren’t familiar with Ghouls for Goods, the event consists of teams made up of fi ve to eight “indepen-dent” students or members of campus organizations that go around to local neighborhoods collecting canned goods and children’s books for charity instead of the traditional candy.

“The Honors Program Organization has helped feed so many families through the work done on Halloween night with Ghouls for Goods, and we’re hoping to help even more families this year,” stated HPO President Jake Howell.

“We collected over 2,000 cans last year, so we’re hoping to top that this time around,” Howell added.

Ghouls for Goods always turns out to be a good time. Teams come dressed in costumes ranging from coordinated themes with prizes going to the coolest costume or team with the coolest theme.

There will also be door prizes and prizes for whichever team collects the most cans.

Sandrah Huynh, member of both HPO and Mortar Board, is excited about this year’s event.

“This will be the third year that I have participated in our Halloween service event. Last year was actually the fi rst time I went out and physically collected goods. I dressed up as a ninja specifi cally for the event, but that didn’t stop me from wearing my costume all day...even in class!” said Huynh.

Huynh continued, “Because I am an offi cer [in HPO], I actually get to help plan the event. I’m here to make sure things run smoothly and in an organized manner, but mostly to make sure every-one that participates has a great time! It’s

VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 2012 6

JAKE HOWELL, JAGLIFE [email protected]

By BAILEY [email protected]

COURTESY OF SANDRA HUYNHOnly at Ghouls for Goods are students, and any faculty who might wish to participate, able to dress up in crazy costumes, whack piñatas, while doing something that will benefi t families throughout the area during the holiday season.

6 p.m. - Jag Swag starts at Stokes Hall

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7:30 p.m. -Joyce Sylvester, Faculty Voice Recital with Pianist Robert Holm in the Laidlaw Recital Hall. $5 USA Students/Faculty/Staff.

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Saturday, Oct. 20

Homecoming Football Game: USA Jaguars vs. Florida Atlantic Owls at Ladd Peebles Stadium

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9 p.m. - 12 a.m. - “Show Your Spots,” Homecoming Dance in the Fresh Food Company Meeting Room

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“And I swear, in that moment, we were infinite”“And I swear, in that moment, we were infinite”

Among the many novel-to-movie adaptations that have graced the

big screen in recent years, “The Perks of Being a Wallfl ower” is somewhat unique in that the author of the original novel,

By JAKE [email protected]

Stephen Chbosky, also wrote and direct-ed the fi lm.

Starring Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and Emma Watson, “Perks” tells the story of Charlie (Lerman), an aspiring writer entering his freshman year of high school.

From the fi lm’s fi rst lines, the au-dience is aware that not everything is quite right with Charlie as he writes to a “friend,” detailing his life and thoughts in his letters.

Charlie is a loner who, as he explains in his narration, spent time in the hospital the year prior to the events of the fi lm. He’s fragile, painfully shy and doesn’t fi t in, a scenario that many audience mem-bers might remember from their fi rst days of high school.

What makes Charlie, and Lerman’s performance, so intriguing is that this shy boy, who tries earnestly to fi nd friends, carries a dark secret beneath the layers of endearing social awkwardness.

Lerman’s performance is spot-on as this reserved, damaged boy. He captures that particular essence of Charlie that makes him instantly likeable.

Lerman also manages to evoke a sense of protectiveness from the audi-ence. We don’t want bad things to hap-pen to Charlie. We want to keep him safe as he navigates the confusing and violent waters of high school.

It’s during a football game that Char-lie meets and befriends a pair of seniors, Sam and Patrick, played by Watson and Miller respectively.

Watson’s Sam is a far cry from the Harry Potter’s Hermione Granger, and she meets the challenge splendidly.

Miller’s performance, though, is an immediate scene-stealer. Patrick is fun-ny and brilliant in the novel, but Miller breathes a completely new life into the character that just latches hold of the audience’s attention whenever he’s on-screen.

It’s through his growing friendship with Patrick and Sam, that Charlie ex-periences things like his fi rst bout of the “munchies” after eating a “green” brownie or playing Rocky in a student production of “The Rocky Horror Pic-ture Show.”

It’s also through his interactions with

Patrick and Sam that the audience gleans some hints as to the secret that Charlie has kept buried within.

Chbosky stays faithful to his story. Not everything that was in the novel sur-vives in the movie, but nothing felt like it was missing.

One of the most famous scenes from the novel is one where Charlie and Sam are riding with Patrick and they approach a tunnel. Sam crawls through the truck’s back window to stand in the truck-bed, arms outstretched, as they speed through the underground passage.

This moment is where Charlie says the most famous line of the story: “I feel infi nite.”

Chbosky captures this crucial mo-ment and so many others with such care and talent, tackling subjects such like sui-cide, abuse and homophobia.

There’s a reason this story, Charlie’s story, is so popular. It resonates with us. We’ve been where Charlie’s been, felt what he felt.

This is a story that stays in the back of the mind, long after the words have been read or the fi lm has been seen.

an event that I’ve enjoyed for a while, and I hope that others will love it too, especially in the midst of midterms! We all need a break and have some fun, and Ghouls for Goods is the perfect oppor-tunity to do so!”

Teams wanting to participate can pre-register by email ([email protected]) and order Ghouls for Good t-shirts ($10 each).

So, if you feel like you didn’t get enough trick-or-treating in when you were a kid, come on out on Oct. 31 and collect some cans and books for charity.

JAKE HOWELL | JAGLIFE EDITOR

Charlie’s story is poignant, funny and heart-wrenching as he gains friends and wrestles with his inner demons.

VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 20127

HOMECOMING THIS WEEK!

8VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 2012

As the biggest event of Mo-bile’s live music scene, Bay-

Fest has been the most anticipated music festival in the Mobile Bay area for nearly two decades.

For their 18th anniversary, Bay-Fest featured a number of impres-sive headliners from a variety of genres.

Friday night at the Coca-Cola stage could best be described as an all-night dubstep rave.

Glow sticks and heavy bass drops abounded as DJ’s Mimosa and Pretty Lights performed under impressive light shows.

I knew Journey was set to play at the AT&T stage at the same time as Mimosa, but I had never seen Mi-mosa live before.

Many people left the Coca-Cola stage and flocked to see Journey, enabling me and some friends to se-cure a place near the stage.

As much as I would have loved to sing along with “Don’t Stop Be-lieving,” it had been a stressful week and I wanted nothing more than to let it all fade away into the bass.

Mimosa, dressed in baggy jeans, tank and flat-billed baseball cap, is a dubstep artist; yet his music is heav-ily influenced by slower, melodic hip-hop beats.

Countless times, his music edged continuously louder and faster, cul-minating in sudden bass drops that electrified the crowd.

The bass was so heavy and loud that at times I could literally feel it vibrating inside me.

The crowd danced unremittingly under multicolored strobes for near-ly an hour-long set.

My friends and I agreed that Mi-mosa’s performance was dynamic enough to be a headliner instead of the opener for Pretty Lights.

“I can’t wait to see how Pretty Lights will follow that perfor-mance,” said Bret Nolen, a USA freshman and physical therapy ma-jor.

I hadn’t known this before Fri-day night, but through talking with apparent dubstep junkies at the show I learned that the Pretty Lights’ live performance was the stuff of legends in the world of electronic and dubstep music.

Pretty Lights, a lone DJ behind a

high-tech turntable and soundboard dressed in a baggy shirt and a cap similar to that of Mimosa, lived up to the expectations in glorious fash-ion.

His name is Pretty Lights for good reason. Pretty, trippy, multi-colored lights consumed the stage in every pattern, beat, shape, hue and combination imaginable.

I felt like I was gazing into a ka-leidoscope as the infectious beats pervaded the night.

Pretty Lights is also a dubstep artist, but his style is more experi-mental in nature.

The crowd roared excitedly when he played the song “Finally Mov-ing,” the track that catapulted him to fame and prominence in 2006.

Everyone sang along with the frequently borrowed and now fa-mous lyric from the song: “Oh sometimes, I get a good feeling, yeah. I get a good feeling that I’ve never ever felt before.”

Our energy seemed infinite as we danced and jumped with the beat for an invigorating two hour set.

Once the show ended I began to feel the exhaustion that I knew would come from three hours of

BayFest brings the beats as artists rock MobileBayFest brings the beats as artists rock Mobilenon-stop dancing and jumping.

Friday night at Bayfest was, with-out question, one of the best nights of my life.

Because of prior obligations, I was unable to attend Bayfest on Saturday. But nothing would stop me from seeing Michael Franti and Spearhead, a Sunday headliner I had my eyes set on since the lineup was released.

The light was slowly fading dur-ing Michael Franti and Spearhead’s performance on Sunday night as my family and I crowded around the Coca-Cola Stage. Franti’s carefree, reggae-inspired tunes were reminis-cent of Bob Marley.

Everyone danced unashamedly to Franti and company’s amazingly soulful and rhythmic music.

Even formal-looking older peo-ple, who I would have thought would not enjoy this music, were jumping up and down and dancing, seemingly unaware that they were surrounded by a crowd.

In those moments, I was truly amazed at the release and joy music can bring to people.

“Music is about erasing those lines of where you’re from and the

By STUART [email protected]

differences between people, so we can all come together and rock out,” Franti commented between songs.

What impressed me the most about the performance was the positive message that Franti’s music carries.

“Hey Hey Hey,” a personal fa-vorite track of mine says, “[N]o matter how life is today, there’s just one thing that I got to say. I won’t let another moment slip away. I hold on.”

Franti had kind words for Mobile as well.

“Everyone complains about how hot and humid it is, but this is place beautiful,” Franti exclaimed. “Ev-eryone says New Orleans is the cen-ter for music down here. But it all started in Mobile and I believe this is where it’s at.”

As dusk approached and the sun began to set over the downtown Mobile skyline behind us, I was fully satisfied in what had turned out to be a stellar weekend.

More importantly, BayFest 2012 was an escape from the stresses of the real world: a carefree haven of music, dancing and culture.

PATRICK HERRING| SPORTS EDITOR

PATRICK HERRING, SPORTS [email protected]

9VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 2012

The Jaguars faced the defend-ing conference champion

Arkansas State Red Wolves in their fi rst ever Sun Belt road game on Sat-urday. The Jaguars (1-5, 0-2) were 20.5-point underdogs coming in, but played the Red Wolves (4-3, 2-1) much closer than expected. Arkansas State walked away with a 36-29 vic-tory in their homecoming game.

The offense didn’t look to be hin-dered too much by the loss of start-ing running back Demetre Baker who was suspended for violation of team rules. Quarterback Ross Metheny stepped up in Baker’s absence to guide the offense in his fi rst ever complete game. He fi nished with career highs in completions (24), at-tempts (41), passing yards (241) and touchdowns (3).

“It was an opportunity I’ve been waiting for since high school,” Metheny said. “Offensively we showed a lot of improvement and it’s a building block we can use going forward.”

Head coach Joey Jones was im-pressed with Metheny’s play.

“He managed the game very well and he improvised very well,” Jones said. “When things went bad he threw it to some backs and ran out of the pocket for a fi rst down a cou-ple times; and that’s what you gotta have. Everything can’t be drawn up perfectly.”

The Jaguars came out swinging from the get-go. On their fi rst drive Metheny completed his fi rst pass for 11 yards to Bryant Lavender. Then T.J. Glover ran for four yards and caught a 39-yard pass on consecutive plays to move the ball to the ASU 21. Five rushes later, the Jags had the ball on third and goal from four yards out. Metheny completed a screen to Kendall Houston who rumbled into the end zone to put the Jags up 7-0 early.

Arkansas State’s fi rst drive ended much sooner than expected when quarterback Ryan Aplin completed a pass to J.D. McKissic who proceeded to fumble. USA linebacker Jake John-son pounced on the loose ball to give the Jaguars possession at the ASU 25.

The next series wasn’t quite as productive for the Jags. After fi ve rushes gaining just thirteen yards,

Metheny threw an incompletion to Gabe Loper in the end zone on third and goal. Michel Chapaseaux came on and kicked the 26 yard fi eld goal to extend the lead to 10-0. This was Loper’s fi rst game playing wide re-ceiver; he played defensive back for the fi rst fi ve games this season.

The Red Wolves offense fi nally got moving after three consecutive

defensive penalties and a 32-yard rush by David Oku moved the ball down to the USA 11. Three plays later Aplin dove in from the three to make it 10-7.

A Jaguar three-and-out and a 19-yard return on a short Scott Garber punt gave ASU the ball back at the USA 35. Oku took over from there, rushing fi ve times for 24 yards, in-cluding a touchdown run from two

Running back Terrence Timmons (above) escapes an ASU defender.

yards out to give the Red Wolves the lead, 14-10. He totaled 96 yards and a touchdown on 22 rushes.

A promising series for the Jags stalled at the ASU 28. Chapaseaux missed the 45-yard fi eld goal wide right from there.

The defense forced and recov-ered its second fumble of the day when Montavius Williams knocked the ball from Aplin’s hands and Cliff-ton Crews picked it up. However, a personal foul would move the ball back to the ASU 40. The offense stalled again and Chapaseaux was called upon again. This time the 39-yard kick was true to move the Jags within one, 14-13.

The Jags got the ball back after a three and out, but Metheny’s pass intended for Greg Hollinger was picked off and returned to the USA 43. ASU moved down to the USA six, but linebacker Cliffton Crews stripped Aplin of the ball there and Terrel Brigham recovered for USA. Metheny kneeled to end the fi rst half with the Jags down 14-13.

On the fi rst drive of the second half it took the Red Wolves only fi ve plays to get in the endzone. Ap-

lin completed a lob to a wide open Frankie Jackson down to the USA 36. An Aplin screen pass to McKissic went for 10 yards and a touchdown to put the Red Wolves up 21-13. Ap-lin fi nished 17 of 22 for 203 and four total touchdowns.

The Jags drove it right back down the fi eld on their fi rst drive of the half. On a drive keyed by two fi rst down rushes on fourth and one by Fetner and Desmond Jones respec-tively, Metheny completed a touch-down pass to Jereme Jones from 13 yards out to make it 21-19. The Jags went for the two-point conversion but were denied. Jones ended the day with 44 yards and the score on three catches.

Aplin refused to be shown up and marched his team right back down the fi eld, completing four straight passes. The last one went to Josh Jar-boe for 15 yards and a touchdown to put the Red Wolves up 28-19.

Metheny kept the USA offense rolling. He passed for 35 yards and ran for 11 more on their next drive, but bobbled the snap on third down

Offense clicks under Metheny, falls short at Arkansas State Ross Metheny throws for 241 yards and 3 TDs in his second start as Jags lose 36-29

Offensively we showed a lot of improvement and it’s a building block we can use going forward.

-QB Ross Metheny

“

”

By PATRICK [email protected]

BY PATRICK HERRING|SPORTS EDITOR

BY PATRICK HERRING|SPORTS EDITORBryant Lavender looks for a crease in the Arkansas State defense.

BY JT CRABTREE|LOC SPORTS EDITORQB Ross Metheny (above) tucks and runs against ASU.

BY JT CRABTREE|LOC SPORTS EDITORCornerback Tyrell Pearson (above) tackles ASU WR Josh Jacobe.

See FootballFootball, Page 11

Want us to follow you? Tweet us @USAVGSports

@USAVGSports

VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 201210

Week ThreeSeason Totals

Patrick HerringSports Editor (21-7)

Jayson CurrySenior Reporter (21-7)

JT Crabtree Sports Editor L.O.C. (17-11)

USA vs. Florida Atlantic

Here we have a match-up of 1-5 squads. FAU’s only win came against D-II Wagner. South rolls. USA 30-10.

USA comes into homecoming eith a better looking offense that most of the season. They get their fi rst conference win. USA 31-21.

The Jags performed very well against ASU, and I think they continue that again this week. Jags get their fi rst FBS win. USA 31-20.

#1 Alabama vs. Tennessee

A.J. McCarron got shaken up against Mizzou, but he’ll bounce back against the Vols. Alabama 38-20.

Bama couldn’t even be slowed down by a rain delay. The Tide rolls again. Alabama 38-17.

Bama keeps running over teams, even with players getting banged up. The Tide still can’t be stopped. The Third Saturday in October belongs to the Crimson Tide. Alabama 38-13.

Auburn vs. Vanderbilt

Auburn is 20-20-1 all-time against Vandy. I think the Commodores take the edge in the series. Vanderbilt 24-20.

Auburn is still struggling and Vandy isn’t exactly the Vandy of old. The Commodores could end Gene Chizik. Vandy 21-20.

. Vandy is a tough team at home, and Auburn’s struggles continue. They continue to fall apart, and Vandy wins it 28-14.

South Carolina vs. Florida

The Spurrier Bowl is being played in The Swamp this year and that gives the Gators the edge they’ll need against the Ol’ Ball Coach.Florida 31-24.

South Carolina lost a heart breaker to LSU, but they boune back this week. Gamecocks with the upset. USC 34-27.

Florida has been amazing this year, and after USC lost to LSU, their weaknesses were exposed. The Gators continue to win. Florida 23-17.

College Football PredictionsCollege Football Predictions Editor’s Note: During the 2012 football season, we here at The Vanguard Sports Section will be doing weekly predictions of South’s football game, popular in-state games and one or two nationally signifi cant games. We will keep a running tally of who’s “winning” the prediction game.

Drew Dearman @DrewDearman:Offensive Lineman

What am I getting myself into?! Got talked into watching The Strangers and I like scary movies about like I like conditioning... Zero

Brandon Bridge @Air_Cana-da_7:Quarterback

Only in the south would people be tanning in october.

Chris May @CmayFive5:Offensive Lineman

When is this duck face epidemic going to end?

B. J. Scott @Bj_Scott_1:Safety

Wanna piss me off mess me up on Temple Run

Rush Hendricks @_RusHen_:Tight End

Found out we have a paper due tomorrow on the second day of class. So naturally I’m about to get started now.

Olivia Mohler @Olivia_Mohler12:Middle Blocker

Just got out of my car at a red light to slap the hands of my fellow jags that were waving American flags. #MERICA

Derek Westbrook @thewest-brook25:Cross Country

No matter which way I am com-ing from, the light by the grove is ALWAYS red

Kolton Peavey @OmgItsPeavzilla:Quarterback

Well I thought my football tan lines were almost gone and now they are back.

USA alum Freese in the MLB playoffsBy PATRICK [email protected]

The defending World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals

are facing off against the San Francisco Giants in the National League Cham-pionship Series this week with a World Series bid on the line. The University of South Alabama will be represented on the diamond by Jaguar baseball alum Da-vid Freese who plays third base for the Cardinals.

During the 2011 postseason, Freese played like a man possessed for the Car-dinals. In just his second season in the league, Freese was named the World Se-ries and postseason MVP after notching MLB records in RBI (21) and total bases (50).

This year’s version of the Cardinals will need more exceptional play from the former Jag to make it back to the World Series.

The fi fth-seeded Cardinals barely beat the top-seeded Washington Nation-als in a winner-take-all divisional game Friday night to advance to the NLCS. Down 6-0 at one point, the Cardiac Cards rallied back and used a four run ninth inning to down the Nats 9-7 in Washington. Freese scored the go ahead run on a two-run single by shortstop Pete Kozma in the top of the ninth.

In the regular season, Freese put up a .293 batting average. He recorded 70 runs, good for fourth on the team, and 147 hits, tied for third on the team.

Through the fi rst six games of this postseason, Freese is batting .381 with eight hits.

Game two of the NLCS is Monday night at 7 p.m. (Game one occurred after this issue went to press).

Continued from Page 9Football

at the ASU 24. Chapaseaux came on and boomed a 42-yard field goal through the uprights to make it 28-22 ASU.

Again Aplin drove the Red Wolves down the field and com-pleted a nine yard pass to Stockemer for his third scoring toss of the day. ASU went for the two point conver-sion three times, failing twice but getting extra chances due to defen-sive penalties. The third time was a charm when Oku leapt over the pile and the Red Wolves went up 36-22.

The Jaguar offense turned the ball over on downs on their follow-ing drive.

On the other side of the ball, the defense held strong. When the ASU drive stalled and they attempted to punt, Maleki Harris blocked it and Loper recovered for USA at the Red Wolves 34.

Again the offense turned it over on downs and again the defense held, forcing another punt, which was shanked. The Jaguar offense took over at the ASU 29.

Metheny found Hollinger in the end zone from 12 yards out to end the scoring at 36-29.

For the second time this season, Enrique Williams led the defense with 12 total tackles with .5 for a loss. Johnson and Darrius Morrow added nine apiece.

B.J. Scott recorded five tackles with two coming behind the line of scrimmage, one being a sack. Andy Dalgleish also added a sack.

For the second week in a row, penalties were a major factor for USA. They committed 13 for 81 yards to just two for 20 yards by ASU.

BY PATRICK HERRING|SPORTS EDITORA few of the cheerleaders who made the trip to Arkansas State cheering for the dedicated Jaguar fans who also journeyed to Jonesboro Saturday.

BY JT CRABTREE|LOC SPORTS EDITORLinebacker Enrique Williams wraps up Arkansas State quarterback Ryan Aplin.

11VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 2012

This Saturday, the South Ala-bama Jaguars are hosting

the Florida Atlantic Owls at Ladd-Peebles Stadium for the 2012 Home-coming game.

The Jags are coming off one of their better offensive performances in recent years, putting up 29 points on the defending Sun Belt Confer-ence champion Arkansas State Red Wolves. USA fell 36-29. Overall, the Jags are 1-5, and 0-2 in Sun Belt Conference play.

Florida Atlantic is also 1-5, but 0-3 in conference. The Owls lone win was in their home opener, a vic-tory over FCS opponent Wagner by a final score of 7-3.

The Jags are led on offense by starting quarterback Ross Metheny, who had his best game as a Jaguar against Arkansas State, when he passed for 241 yards on 24 comple-tions for three touchdowns and one interception.

On the season, Metheny has racked up 595 passing yards and four

touchdowns on 58 completions. The Owls counter with Graham

Wilbert, who has 745 yards passing with five touchdowns and three in-terceptions.

The running game by the Jags is led by Demetre Baker, who was sus-pended for USA’s last game against ASU. Baker has 294 yards rushing with one touchdown. It is unclear when Baker will return to the team.

The Owls have Damian Fortner leading their rushing attack, with 225 yards and two touchdowns.

The receiving corps for USA is pretty evenly matched with the way the ball is being spread around. Five receivers have 15 or more catches (Corey Besteda, Jereme Jones, Bry-ant Lavender, T.J. Glover and Greg Hollinger). Jones leads all receivers in yards (204) and touchdowns (3). Glover has also added 386 yards on kick and punt returns and leads the team in all-purpose yards with 513 yards.

The Owls are led by William Dukes and Bryon Hankerson, who have 224 yards and 188 yards, re-

Jaguars to face off against Florida Atlantic for Homecoming 2012

spectively. Hankerson also has two touchdowns.

On defense, the Jags are led by senior linebacker Jake Johnson, who has 60 tackles on the season, includ-ing eight for a loss. Second on the team is linebacker Enrique Williams, with 53 tackles with 3.5 behind the line of scrimmage.

Defensive lineman Alex Page leads the team in sacks with four.

The Owls are led by David Hinds, who has 50 tackles and four for a loss. There is a five way tie for the Owls’ team lead in sacks, with five different players having one sack each.

The USA special teams are lead by kicker Michael Chapaseaux. He has gone nine of 13 on the year with a 50-yard long that came against Troy. On extra point attempts he is perfect, hitting all nine attempts thus far. Punter Scott Garber is averaging 40.6 yards per punt on 34 punts this season.

This game will be the Jags fourth home game of the season, where they have a 1-2 record.

By JT [email protected]

Want live play-by-play tweets of USA football games and other sports info?

Follow @USAVGSportson twitter and like

USA Vanguard Sports on facebook

VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 2012 12

NOAH LOGAN OPINION [email protected]

OpinionOpinion

JagPulse JagPulse: Does the fact that we can now confi rm Offi cer JagPulse: Does the fact that we can now confi rm Offi cer Austin had a baton and pepper spray on him change your Austin had a baton and pepper spray on him change your viewpoint of the case at all?viewpoint of the case at all?

Chelsea Lauren Krail: Not especially. Pepper spray is for close proximity, as are batons. Using either could have ended in Offi cer Austin being hurt. Not to mention, if Mr. Collar was indeed on drugs at the time, neither would have done much to stop him.

Colin Al-Greene: It confi rms that his response was too extreme.

Tinashe Nyatanga: Backup was also a few seconds away? But we can say this and that. Only Offi cer

TheTheEditorialEditorialBoardBoard

VANGUARD VIEWPOINTVANGUARD VIEWPOINT The “culprit” of the case is now the The “culprit” of the case is now the focus; does it warrant murder charges?focus; does it warrant murder charges?

Gil Collar, an 18-year-old student, is dead and, according to Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran, the “culprit” is the individual who gave Collar the LSD that he reportedly took on the night of Oct. 6.

“If we can determine who may have provided that substance to him, we of course would like to pur-sue charges against that individual which could result in murder charges against that individual,” said Sheriff Cochran.

There are many other articles and analyses to determine whether or not the use of deadly force by Of-fi cer Austin was justifi ed. I’m here to show my outrage at the city of Mo-bile for deciding that a murder charge could possibly be warranted for the individual that sold Collar the LSD.

When an eighteen year old stu-dent is killed, the general public tends not to rest until there is some-one behind bars to take blame for it. The problem with this case is that the person that pulled the trigger is an offi cer of the law. I did see the surveillance footage and without go-ing into a long description that can be found elsewhere, Austin did what he had to based on the video we saw.

His judgment will be questioned for years to come and he is the only one who will ever truly know, but he

acted according to policy and proce-dure.

Since the gunman is not the crim-inal in this case, the DA and the sheriff have both brought up the possibility of murder charges for the person who sold LSD to col-lar. While the individual does war-rant charges and jail time, a murder charge makes absolutely no sense. Dealers that have had links to victims of drug overdose have been charged with murder in the past but Gil Col-lar did not die of an overdose. He died of a gunshot hours after he re-portedly took the drugs.

Some students at South Alabama have commented on The Vanguard’s Facebook status and used the term “felony murder,” or a murder charge that takes place when an individual commits a felony and it results in a murder. After doing research, it’s obvious that this also does not fi t into this case.

In the state of Alabama, the com-mon law felony murder rule has been codifi ed in Alabama Code § 13A-6-2(3). It provides that when a person commits various crimes and “in the course of and in furtherance of the crime” another is killed, then the perpetrator is guilty of murder, a “Class A Felony,” the punishment of which is death or life imprison-ment. An individual’s felony has to DIRECTLY lead to the murder of another individual. In the past

three days, I have researched many court cases involving felony murder and this case simply does not fi t the mold. The dealer gave Collar the re-ported LSD, Collar went to Bayfest, and then at 1:00 a.m. he was shot. There are simply too many steps in between that could have happened differently for there to be a war-ranted murder charge. Many other charges could be applicable includ-ing distribution of a controlled sub-stance, possession with intent to sell and even manslaughter, but the idea of ruining another person’s life with a murder charge because the school and the city of Mobile needs some-one to blame is disgusting.

Many speculate that by charging this individual with murder or felony murder, neighboring drug dealers will get the message and start run-ning scared, but I am forced to ask myself this: since when did it be-come okay to start using human be-ings as guinea pigs and scapegoats?

If fi nding someone to point the fi nger at so to avoid public specula-tion is now morally acceptable by city governments now, I missed that vote.

While the individual has still not been caught and no charges have offi cially been announced, the pub-lic should keep watch on a situation with some possible horrendous ac-tions from our local city government.

By NOAH LOGAN [email protected]

Austin knows what went through his mind. Maybe a statement from him will help.

Brianna Ervin: I do not think pepper spray would have helped in this situation. The offi cer came out with his gun drawn, so he couldn’t have put it up to grab pepper spray without putting his own life at risk. The USAPD is here to protect students and that is what offi cer Austin did in that situation.

Ryan Wallace: Not very much. If he was on LSD, that stuff would

have done no good, and Offi cer Austin would have had to get very close to an extremely unstable person in order to use either of them.

Tyler Reed Bell Unjustifi ed. Offi cers should be trained to handle these situations especially when students are involved and the assailant is obviously not armed.

Greg Deckard No, it does not. In fact, as a student and the husband of a student, I feel safer on campus, because I know that our police

offi cers are brave enough to put themselves in harm’s way. Most of you are so sad, confused, emotional, etc. about Mr. Collar’s death that you aren’t able to analyze the situation rationally.

Halisaurus Mason Oh, yes, it does. Police pepper spray? I’ll be damned if anyone continued attacking someone after getting sprayed with that, especially if it were combined with the baton. He knows how to use them. I fi nd it very lazy of him.

Brianne Thomas No. From what I can tell, based on all of the reports I have heard, he did his job. He followed procedures and most of all, he avoided possible injuries to others.

Tyler Henderson Let me ask the naysayers: How many of you have been on LSD, then been sprayed with pepper spray? Ever conducted any studies on the effects of pepper spray on a guy on LSD? No? Hmmm... I could have sworn that I was in a thread full of biological chemists for a second

Now more than ever, USA needs homecoming week.

SGA, Jaguar Productions and other student organizations have a wealth of ways to participate that you can fi nd on page 2 and page 7.

SGA and JP have outdone them-selves this year and should be com-mended for their work to make this homecoming week refl ective of USA’s 50 anniversary celebration.

In more ways than one, our time really is now.

The last week has been incredibly taxing on the USA community and healing will take time.

Homecoming is the perfect op-portunity to come back together as a University.

No one is saying we can com-pletely move on right now or that we should forget the events of the last week.

We just need to fi nd our sense of unity again.

The Jaguar football team moved into a new conference this year and instead of winning every game like in years past, we’re on a losing streak this season.

We gained momentum this past weekend by staying toe-to-toe with Arkansas State.

Now, we have to go and outstep Florida Atlantic.

Homecoming is importantIt would say and mean a lot to the

team if we broke attendance records going out and supporting them.

So let’s do it. If you’ve never been to a football

game, pick this one.Skip your Thursday night plans

and go to the Mitchell Center for the $44,000 fair that will top any homecoming event we’ve ever seen at South.

Live music, and free food--- you owe it to yourself to go.

Plus, you’ll get to see people from your classes on a mechanical bull.

That’s priceless.On Friday, take your friends or

your special someone and go stand out under the fi reworks at the pep -rally.

In a time where we’re all a little unsteady and our confi dence a little shakey, now is our time to change the story line.

How we go from here defi nes how we cope.

Will we choose to cope by dwell-ing in our differences or embrace the message that life is indeed precious?

Go enjoy yourselves this week and live in those precious moments.

Go out and enjoy this week, USA.

13VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 2012

Vanguard reactions to Collar surveillance tapeVanguard reactions to Collar surveillance tapeToday,

t h e M o b i l e County Sher-riff ’s Offi ce allowed the media to view the security recording that was taken the night Gil Col-

lar was shot by a member of USAPD. I was honestly excited and nervous about what I was going to see. Throughout the whole process, I was keen to keep from forming opinions until I had received all the facts. The biggest would be video evi-dence, which as a member of the media, I now have.

After watching the video, it was not what I expected. It started with Collar walking up to the police station, nude, looking at the door confused with palms out as if asking, “What is going on?” He then walked away, out of frame of the camera, and then walked back in frame. He then proceeded to violently thrash on the windows of the police station and then walked away again. USAPD offi cer Austin then walked outside, gun drawn, to check what was going on. Collar then walked back towards and then began act-ing erratically. He was jumping around and fl ailing his arms around; clearly out of his right mind.

Offi cer Austin then backed away, still gun drawn, and Collar pursued him. He continued to back up until he reached the grassy area in front of the police station. It was here that Collar was shot. At this point, backup arrived. One offi cer ar-rived from the side when Collar got back up. Collar pursued both offi cers, causing them to split up. Collar then went be-tween both offi cers and started to head to the south side of the building, where the door to parking services is located. He then collapsed again.

To my surprise, he got up again, only on all fours before collapsing one last time. It was almost unreal. It looked like three offi cers were on the scene at this point. Collar was not in his right mind, no doubt. And from watching the video, his description of 135lbs is deceiving. There was a reason he was such a good wrestler.

Offi cer Austin gave Collar plenty of time to back down. And over the course of more than two minutes, he ignored the offi cer and continued to pursue him.

Personally, I feel the offi cer was left with no choice.

Tw o min-

utes seems like a relative-ly short time. On campus, a great deal of things can be accom-plished in this amount of time. You can

walk from one fl oor to another in hu-manities, wait in line to get a bagel, and I probably use less time when I walk from my dorm to the recreation center. We hardly ever relate two and half minutes to the amount of time it takes an eigh-teen year old student to show up naked at the police department and have his life taken from him.

However, the video from the secu-rity camera behind the police depart-ment revealed to us the entire scene of events from the night of Oct. 6 in this short amount of time. It was diffi cult to take in. The lighting was fuzzy and Gil ran to many different areas where he and Offi cer Austin were not in sight. How-ever, the video did answer a great deal of

questions that have been asked by many students at South Alabama.

The fi rst noteworthy section of the video is when Gil Collar starts to “knock” on the window of the police department. From the video that I viewed, Gil did not knock on a window. Gil appeared to be trying to break the window. He was using his right arm and was using an extreme amount of force and appeared to be very angry.

After about eight seconds of this Gil walks out of the frame and Offi cer Aus-tin walks into the frame from the back door with his gun already drawn, Sheriff Cochran later informed us that this is the proper way of entering a scene with a possible threat.

Gil walked into the frame with his arms held out and although the video did not have any audio, Sheriff Cochran informed us Offi cer Austin was shout-ing for Collar to “halt and stop” and Gil did get on the ground for a couple of seconds and it looked like he was actually surrendering himself. I found this to be one of the more interesting parts of the video because it showed Collar was co-herent enough to follow orders and put himself on the ground. However, this lasts for about three seconds and then he is back up chasing Offi cer Austin.

They reach the far end of the park-ing lot closest in the direction of Beta 1 and Gil seemed to fl ip like a switch and began sprinting towards Offi cer Austin. When Offi cer Austin had backpedaled back towards the doors, Gil Collar col-lapsed onto all fours and laid there for three to four seconds. Offi cer Austin continued to backpedal and appeared to make his back towards the the rec center and when Gil continued to chase Austin, Gill collapsed in a dark area of the cam-era’s view.

The most shocking part of the video to me is after Gil collapsed in the dark area of the screen. Gil appears to bring himself up to all fours three more times before he collapsed for the last time. Not even fi ve seconds later, a second offi cer shows up for backup.

This sequence of events led to the most stirring reaction from the 15-20 media personnel present. Representa-tives from the majority of the news com-panies, including The Vanguard, asked Sheriff Cochran whether or not Offi cer Austin knew how close his backup was. Unfortunately, no information was avail-able on that topic.

So all we saw was a situation that was out of control but if could have lasted about eight seconds longer, both offi cers

could have overpowered Gil and brought him to the ground without lethal force. So the video is completely subjective be-cause it does not show the smoking gun of the whole story, the thought process of Offi cer Austin.

Different media outlets will spin it in all directions but realistically, I fi nd it im-possible to further judge Offi cer Austin on the issue. Personally, I don’t think the video should be made public. I know that there is a just argument for such important footage to be made for the public but the general public really gains nothing by watching the footage.

Noah LoganOpinion Editor

JT CrabtreeLOC Sports Editor

Tonight, I went and stood where Gil died.

It’s this little block of concrete. N o t h i n g stands out.

There aren’t any marks of signifi cance that would tell anyone that a life ended there. I wondered if there should be something, imagining roadside crosses and the like. I’m not sure.

The theme of the day is “I’m not sure.” I have spent every waking hour since I learned about what happened on this story. I’ve spoken with dozens of people. Those that saw the video before me. Witnesses, friends of Gil and every-one with opinions.

I scale through the comments on the Facebook page and I am addicted to knowing what people think and feel about Gil’s death. I thought I had a grasp on what happened, walking in to the sheriff ’s department today. I was as prepared as I could be to watch some-one die.

There’s this room that they took us to called the Fusion Room. There are ex-ecutive style chairs around a board table.

Two large screens and a smaller screen beamed from the front of the room. The sheriff was shaky and I couldn’t tell why. In moments like this, everything stands out. As the tape rolled, I immediately felt a wave of emotion.

He walks into the shot, naked. He disappears again. He comes back, strik-ing the window wildly. It’s one thing to see someone in clothes committing an act of violence.

It’s entirely another to see a naked man senselessly pounding glass with all of his might.

It felt like a violation to see a man in his most desperate moment. My imme-diate reaction was that he was trapped in his own skin and he kept hitting that window because he needed help.

The helplessness of the situation rolled over me and crashed down in my stomach because I knew how this ended and just like in a horror movie, all you want to do is scream “stop,” as if they can hear you. The door on the side of the building swings open and I’ve passed through that door before. It swings open and Offi cer Austin comes out with his gun drawn.

I had expected him to have it close to his chest. He had it fully drawn. He is pointing it at Collar, arms fully extended. Austin backs up, away from the grainy camera angle towards the bike rack.

Collar matches him step for step, and then sinks to his knees. To me, it looks like he’s praying. I wonder if he’s speak-ing to Austin who allegedly is telling him to get down, but since the video has no sound, there’s no way to know what he said. He gets back up, approaching Aus-tin again. Austin backs up step-by-step, gun still pointed at Collar.

The pace picks up as they make a clockwise circle around the lights and pillars that obstruct the camera’s view. There’s a banner that blocks the camera, and you can barely make out movement. That’s when the sheriff said the shot was fi red, when the sign was in the way.

When the banner is in the way, an-other striking moment occurs. A man, later whom we learn is a dispatcher in a grey hoodie walks out and looks directly towards what the camera can’t see. He immediately rushes inside. It is unclear the exact moment that Collar was shot or if the dispatcher walked out afterward. Movement isn’t over.

There is movement near the banner and you can make out two people stand-ing. Collar has gotten back up, and Aus-tin is once again backing up, this time counterclockwise.

They make it to the other side of the banner before Collar collapses just in the corner of the camera’s view and another offi cer is running up. Collar would not

get up again, and fl urried movement around him is all that is viewable.

Multiple other uniformed offi cers are running towards the scene at this point. Chilling, because it’s just seconds after the fatal shot.

The other offi cers may have been the backup that the Austin called. They may have been the backup that the dispatcher desperately called. That remains unclear to me at this point, and I think that will be central to the investigation.

You cannot make out Collar getting cuffed at the end of the video, but that’s what we were told was happening in the movement after he collapsed. You can-not see what the offi cer does after shoot-ing Collar.

You cannot see the shooting itself or truly determine how far away Collar was from Austin. In the video, you never see Collar touch Austin.

After the fi rst viewing, I looked around the room. Some had seasoned poker faces, some had marked looks of concern.

For me, I felt a sense of disbelief. We were shown the tape once more. It’s a little over two minutes long, but it felt much longer.

After seeing it the second time, I felt anger. I believe that people should not judge the military or the police.

Cassie Fambro EIC

BY CASSIE FAMRO|EDITOR-IN-CHEIF

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VOL. 51, NO. 12 / OCT. 15, 201214

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