protesters and family mem- bers gathered at the lowndes county courthouse on tues- day and Wednesday to bring awareness to the case involv- ing the death of 17-year- old Kendrick Johnson. Johnson was found dead in a gymnasium at lowndes High School in January. three months after investi- gators ruled that Johnson’s death was not an act of foul play, many believe that the cause of death should be ex- plored further. chris prine, lowndes county Sherriff, stands by his investigators’ ruling, citing that there has not been any new information on the case. “We have not gotten any- thing back officially at this time,” prine said. “But, [in- vestigators] have found no signs of foul play whatsoev- er.” during the downtown rally, protesters were seen holding before and after photos of Johnson, chanting “Justice for Johnson.” “We want answers,” John- son’s aunt, lydia tooley- Whitlock, said. “We want to know who did this and we want them to be punished.” prine said that the case has been well-handled to this point, due in large part to the adherence to proper protocol during the process. “any time there is a death like this, we always work it like it is a homicide until the evidence proves otherwise,” prine said. Johnson’s family and other members of the community have been calling for an addi- tional autopsy to be per- formed. “[investigators] say he fell in a mat,” Johnson’s father, Kendrick Johnson Sr., said. “the pictures show clearly that he didn’t fall on a mat, he was murdered.” according to prine, no bruises or abrasions were found on Johnson’s body dur- ing the autopsy. the photo in question shows a scar on Johnson’s forehead. prine maintains that the scar was from an incision made during the autopsy and not at the scene. the family, however, con- tinues to speculate foul play was involved. prine sympa- thizes with family members, but maintains that the autopsy process has not been tainted. “My heart and prayers go April 11, 2013 WWW.VSUSPECTATOR.COM VOLUME 84 iSSUE 25 Inside This Issue - OPiNiONS: “exercise your vote in SGa election” - FEATURES: “local stars to shine in Union” - SPORTS: “Blazers try to tame lions this weekend” On the Web www.vsuspectator.com Poetry reading - UC Magnolia room, 7:30 p.m. award-winning poet Jacqueline osherow, distinguished professor of english at the University of Utah, will be on campus to read her poetry, which follows such forms as terza rima and double sestina. this event is part of the Contemporary Writers Series hosted by the department of english. this reading is co-sponsored by the Snake nation Press as part of the georgia Poetry Circuit. SoUth georgia region honor BandS - approximately 300 middle and high school band students from 66 schools will be on campus today and tomorrow preparing for a public performance at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Whitehead auditorium. international dinner tiCketS on Sale - north Campus, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. the center for international programs will host the 37th annual international dinner on april 20. tickets are also on sale at the center for international programs. General admission is $20 and Student admission is $10 with a valid VSU id. Today at VSU In this week’s installment of “Additive Noise,” Becka McAleer recommends Jonathan Coulter’s “‘mind-sharpening’ tunes!” Ringslinger Ringslinger competition competition returns returns See pg. 7 for the details. Weather 87 H 69 L PM T-storms Today 81 H 53 L Friday 55 L 84 H Saturday AM Rain Partly Cloudy Today in History April 11, 1970: Apollo 13 launched into space apollo 13 was the third lunar landing mission. the craft was launched from cape canaveral, Fla. carrying three astrounauts headed to explore the moon’s Fra Mauro highlands. two days into the mission, an oxygen tank burst, changing the mission objective from exploration to getting the crew home alive. Source: history.com SGA elections open today Debate crowd racially hostile Joe Adgie / The SPeCTATOr (From left) William Mast, comptroller candidate; Ryan Baerwalde, incumbent president; William Jimerson, presidential candidate; Kara Fountain, comptroller candidate; and Micah Howell, comptroller candidate pose for photos after Wednesday night’s debate. Johnson supporters seek answers Senators seek to better SGA Hostilities flared on Wednesday night during the SGa executive debates, but for the most part, not between the candidates. the hostilities were caused by members of the crowd, who oftentimes asked combat- ive and accusatory questions toward the candidates, specifi- cally presidential candidates William Jimerson and ryan Baerwalde. “What gives you the right to take away my second- amendment right to bear arms?” one student asked to- wards Jimerson. “i believe the responsibility of protecting students [rests] on campus police and campus security, and i believe this is a threat to campus security, where last year, in [Georgia Hall], we don’t know what happened to [Jasmine Ben- jamin],” Jimerson said. “i’ve dealt first-hand with students who are dealing with this tragedy today. i spoke with the mother, who’s dealing with this tragedy, today.” the student, having re- turned to his seat, stood up, and tried to respond, but was stopped by deMario Jones, former SGa president and de- bate moderator. another student took a shot at Baerwalde, wondering why he could be trusted. “How can the student body trust you if you only reach out ahead of the SGa elec- tions, senators, executives, and visitors alike expressed their concerns in a town hall social on Monday night. among the things dis- cussed was the visibility of the SGa senate, the activity of senators, and the website, which has not been updated in some time. the SGa website has re- ceived very little updates since october of 2011, which was the last time the minutes were distributed. “anyone on the executive board can go to richard lee to have it updated,” amber Worthy, SGa Vice president, said. “Someone could just take the minutes to richard lee, or to email him the min- utes.” Worthy also indicated that it could become part of the secretary’s job description to update the SGa website. one senator went on a rant discussing the SGa’s image compared to other organiza- tions. “one thing i’ve noticed is that the student body doesn’t trust the SGa, because they don’t hear from SGa,” edgar James, senator, said. “i’ve had the pleasure of going to the parking and transporta- tion appeals committee, and every week i take something new, and i take it from that meeting. “these meetings last an hour and a half to two de- pending on how many ap- peals there are, and i take it back to the student body, and that’s what they hear,” James continued. “they want to know why they got tickets for parking in a handicapped spot or a fire zone.” James also lectured the SGa on what to do with what they learn from the students. “this is a learning process,” James said. “if we take this information and we hold onto it for ourselves, it does nothing. a wise man takes out and teaches other people. if you’re elected to serve on this student body, you should be that wise man or woman that takes the infor- mation you learn and you go back out to the student body. that’s how we gain trust.” another senator took a shot at his fellow senators for “not using their voice”. “the issue is not with the senate, it’s with the individ- ual,” Yannick Gill, senator, said. “there are about […] 13 people that if they were screaming right behind me, i would not recognize their voice, and i have been in al- most every single meeting. “they are simply not speaking. these are people that we, as a student body, have elected to represent us, and they refuse to use their voice.” Joe Adgie S ocial M edia e ditor [email protected]Contributed by Kersha Odom The family of Kendrick Johnson and its supporters held a rally at the Lowndes County Courthouse seeking information in the death of Kendrick Johnson. Lowndes County officials ruled that there was no foul play involved in the case but the family feels otherwise. Shane Thomas S portS W riter [email protected]Family, friends of student found dead at Lowndes High School dissatisfied with county ruling Joe Adgie S ocial M edia e ditor [email protected]See DEBATE , Page 2 See JOHNSON , Page 2 Check out pg. 3 to meet the candidates!
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Transcript
protesters and family mem-
bers gathered at the lowndes
county courthouse on tues-
day and Wednesday to bring
awareness to the case involv-
ing the death of 17-year- old
Kendrick Johnson.
Johnson was found dead in
a gymnasium at lowndes
High School in January.
three months after investi-
gators ruled that Johnson’s
death was not an act of foul
play, many believe that the
cause of death should be ex-
plored further.
chris prine, lowndes
county Sherriff, stands by his
investigators’ ruling, citing
that there has not been any
new information on the case.
“We have not gotten any-
thing back officially at this
time,” prine said. “But, [in-
vestigators] have found no
signs of foul play whatsoev-
er.”
during the downtown rally,
protesters were seen holding
before and after photos of
Johnson, chanting “Justice
for Johnson.”
“We want answers,” John-
son’s aunt, lydia tooley-
Whitlock, said. “We want to
know who did this and we
want them to be punished.”
prine said that the case has
been well-handled to this
point, due in large part to the
adherence to proper protocol
during the process.
“any time there is a death
like this, we always work it
like it is a homicide until the
evidence proves otherwise,”
prine said.
Johnson’s family and other
members of the community
have been calling for an addi-
tional autopsy to be per-
formed.
“[investigators] say he fell
in a mat,” Johnson’s father,
Kendrick Johnson Sr., said.
“the pictures show clearly
that he didn’t fall on a mat,
he was murdered.”
according to prine, no
bruises or abrasions were
found on Johnson’s body dur-
ing the autopsy.
the photo in question
shows a scar on Johnson’s
forehead. prine maintains that
the scar was from an incision
made during the autopsy and
not at the scene.
the family, however, con-
tinues to speculate foul play
was involved. prine sympa-
thizes with family members,
but maintains that the autopsy
process has not been tainted.
“My heart and prayers go
April 11, 2013 W W W . V S U S P E C T A T O R . C O M VOLUME 84 iSSUE 25
Inside This Issue- OPiNiONS: “exercise your vote in SGa election”
- FEATURES: “local stars to shine in Union”
- SPORTS: “Blazers try to tame lions this weekend”
On the Web
www.vsuspectator.com
Poetry reading -
UC Magnolia room,
7:30 p.m.
award-winning poet
Jacqueline osherow,
distinguished professor of
english at the University of
Utah, will be on campus to
read her poetry, which
follows such forms as terza
rima and double sestina.
this event is part of the
Contemporary Writers
Series hosted by the
department of english.
this reading is
co-sponsored by the Snake
nation Press as part of the
georgia Poetry Circuit.
SoUth georgia region
honor BandS -
approximately 300 middle
and high school band
students from 66 schools will
be on campus today and
tomorrow preparing for a
public performance at 1 p.m.
on Saturday in Whitehead
auditorium.
international dinner
tiCketS on Sale -
north Campus,
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
the center for international
programs will host the 37th
annual international dinner
on april 20. tickets are also
on sale at the center for
international programs.
General admission is $20
and Student admission is
$10 with a valid VSU id.
Today at VSU
In this week’s installment of
“Additive Noise,” Becka McAleer
recommends Jonathan Coulter’s
“‘mind-sharpening’ tunes!”
RingslingerRingslinger
competitioncompetition
returnsreturns
See pg. 7 for the details.
Weather
87 H 69 L
PM
T-storms
Today
81 H 53 L
Friday
55 L84 H
Saturday
AM
Rain
Partly
Cloudy
Today in History
April 11, 1970:
Apollo 13
launched into
space
apollo 13 was the third
lunar landing mission.
the craft was launched
from cape canaveral,
Fla. carrying three
astrounauts headed to
explore the moon’s Fra
Mauro highlands. two
days into the mission, an
oxygen tank burst,
changing the mission
objective from
exploration to getting the
crew home alive.
Source: history.com
SGA elections open todayDebatecrowdraciallyhostile
Joe Adgie / The SPeCTATOr
(From left) William Mast, comptroller candidate; Ryan Baerwalde, incumbent president;
William Jimerson, presidential candidate; Kara Fountain, comptroller candidate; and
Micah Howell, comptroller candidate pose for photos after Wednesday night’s debate.
The Spectator prints freeclassifieds for stu dents ofVal dos ta State Uni ver si tyonly. These must be no morethan 40 words, or a $8.00charge will apply. Clas si fiedsfor fac ul ty, staff, stu dent or -ga ni za tions,stu dent-ownedbusi ness es and the gen er alpub lic cost $8.00 for up to40 words. Ads should be sentto The Spectator or de liv eredto our of fice in 1238 HopperHall. The dead line is Mon dayat 5 p.m. If payment ap plies,it should be sub mit ted in asealed en ve lope at the timethe ad is placed. Ads must be
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STUDENTS: Sell Textbooks HERE ~ FREE
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USED BOOK SALE:Thousands of qualityused hardcover and pa-perback books. Satur-day, April 13, from 8a.m. to 2 p.m. in the St.John Parish Center, 800Gornto Road. Proceedsbenefit Birthright of Val-dosta.
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Online at www.vsuspectator.com
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Wal-Mart isn’t kidding
when it says it wants to save
your money.
the popular supermarket
plans on expanding its em-
pire that started in 1962 by
not only allowing customers
to buy its products online,
also to have other customers
deliver those goods to the on-
line buyers.
Overall, the plan seems a
little over the top, and i only
foresee problems with this
system. Would it be safe for
customers to deliver goods to
people they have never met?
Would it be reliable? Proba-
bly not. Who knows who
could be showing up at your
door?
another way Wal-Mart
cheats the system is by not
directly paying the deliverers.
as of now, Wal-Mart execu-
tives are considering giving
drivers a discount at the store
as a method of payment.
they feel this is sufficient for
gas costs. the discount better
be a big one. Gas isn't cheap
and the cost of groceries is
rising.
to the supermarket’s cus-
tomers, this can be seen as a
more expensive alternative.
instead of shipping, would
the customer have to tip the
driver? Would Wal-Mart
make the customer pay for
insurance to cover the money
lost if a package gets lost or
damaged?
in order to compete with
amazon, a completely online
store, Wal-Mart wants to pull
merchandise from its own
stores, hoping to have an ad-
vantage over amazon. the
mindset of Wal-Mart's execu-
tives taking over the business
world is unreal. they will
never conquer amazon's cus-
tomer base. amazon has
products customers can’t get
at Wal-Mart, and without a
face-to-face transfer of
goods, amazon leaves out
the potentially creepy ex-
change.
the cons outweigh the pros
of Wal-Mart's new plan. the
system would cost the con-
sumer and the worker more
money, making what the mar-
ketplace seems to be a cheap-
er alternative into a more ex-
pensive one.
People Poll
This editorial was written by Amber Smith ([email protected]) and it expresses the general opinion of the editorial staff.