The Spectator Online Edition, August 29, 2013.

Page 1

August 29, 2013 W W W . V S U S P e C T A T O R . C O M VOLUMe 85 iSSUe 2

Inside This Issue- OPiniOnS: “government keeps bees ‘buzzing’”

- FeATUReS: “Blazin’ Brigade ready to ‘rock’ the football

field”

- SPORTS: “Blazers new o-line has big, ugly cleats to fill”

On the Webwww.vsuspectator.com

The happening - Last week

the rain cancelled VSU’s plans,

but the Happening is back!

Come to the Front Lawn from

1 p.m. to 4 p.m. to see what

community businesses and or-

ganizations and clubs on cam-

pus have to offer.

DisTinguisheD Women of

excellence inTeresT

meeTing - to learn about the

distinguished Women of

Excellence, come to the

Student Union Ballroom a at

6:30 p.m. the attire is business

casual. For more information,

follow the organization

@dWE_VSU2012.

make your oWn

cupcakes - VSU dining

Services is hosting a cupcake

deocoration bar in Hopper

dining at noon to 2 p.m.

Black sTuDenT league

inTeresT meeTing - an

interest meeting will be held in

the Student Union theater at 8

p.m.

miss Vsu pageanT - the

Miss VSU georgia Scholarship

Pageant is hosting an

information meeting in the

Student Union Meeting room

2 at 5 p.m. For more details,

contact alisha at

[email protected] or visit

the Student Life office.

free Zip line anD sWing -

CorE outdoors is reopening

the tech course and zip line.

Come by at 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. for

a chance to check out the

monster swing and zip line for

free. CorE outdoors can be

found behind SrC in the

Sustella Parking deck. For

more information, contact

CorE outdoors at

229-245-2355 or email at

[email protected].

Today at VSU

Weather

94 H 73 L

Partly

Cloudy

Today

92 H 72 L

Friday

71 L88 H

Scattered

T-Storms

Saturday

Sunny

Steven Setser’s column“Spec Tech” is all about the

new technology hittingshelves soon.

Volleyball NewcomersVolleyball NewcomersMeet the seven new volleyball members, page 5.

This Day in

History

Hurricane Katrinahits the Gulf

Coast

August 29, 2005

hurricane Katrina hit Neworleans, Louisiana as acategory 4 storm. The

hurricane was marked asthe worst natural disaster

in U.S. history. Katrinaflooded 80-percent of thecity and caused an esti-mated 1,300 deaths and$150 billion in damages.

Source: History.com

VSU president dr. William

McKinney spoke to the Sga

on a night where four justice

nominees were announced

and committees were formed.

dr. McKinney and first

lady dacia Charlesworth

stayed at Monday night’s

meeting for only a brief time

but gave an inspirational

speech for those in atten-

dance during that short time.

“i need you all to know

that you provide such an en-

ergy to this campus,” dr.

McKinney said. “it’s a won-

derful life that you have in

the academic world. the be-

ginning of school brings a

new energy, it brings new

ideas, it brings a new Sga

administration, with whom i

am looking forward to work-

ing very much.

“You go through that

school year, you’re racing

and racing and you finally

get to May and commence-

ment and everybody’s ready

for a break. and you do what

you do over the summer, and

then July rolls around, and

things get way too quiet

around here. Well, it’s not

quiet anymore, and it’s be-

cause you brought all the en-

ergy back,” dr. McKinney

said.

dr. McKinney also said

that all the university needs is

the students on campus, and

without the students, no-

body—least of all him—

would be able to do what

they do.

not long after their depar-

tures, four justice hopefuls

were introduced by tullis

Beasley, Sga chief justice.

“these past two weeks

we’ve been doing interviews

for four of the spots on the

judicial council, which is the

third branch of Sga,”

Beasley said.

Beasley noted that he,

Sga president Will Jimerson,

assistant dean Sherolyn Hop-

kins and an unnamed justice

interviewed ten hopefuls for

these four slots.

the nominees were Mary

Bausch, adrienne Fry,

Chelsey Mcneil, and Lance

Stephens.

Various committees were

also filled up during the

meeting.

Edgar James has been

named the new chair of the

judiciary committee, while

Valencia Warren is the new

Pr chair, Jamaica Hill is the

new Parking and transporta-

tion chair, ololade Fagbohun

is the new Health Services

chair and tamelonie thomas

is the new Student affairs

chair.

Joe AdgieS o C i a L M E d i a

E d i t o r

[email protected]

SGA gets a visit

from McKinney

SGA NoteS:

the budget stands at

$21,801.51.

two representatives from

dining Services’ new

dining advisory Board

were present at the Sga

meeting.

Senator isaiah Smart and

Vice President Hassanat

oshodi were named to be

the representatives to at-

tend the Planning and

Budget Council meetings.

although there are no fly-

ing cars just yet, we may al-

ready be living in the Jetsons-

esque future that we’ve long

awaited.

once costing $20,000, the

MakerBot replicator 1 now

sells online for less than

$1,000. this past January,

VSU purchased two of the

devices for about $2,000 each

and the filament used for the

machines, which ranges from

$30 to $50 a roll. although

they weren’t immediately

available to the student body,

the projected release time for

students to use the printers

was this fall. this, however,

has been pushed back to

spring 2014.

“the reason (we’re) hold-

ing off until spring is (be-

cause) we want to make sure

we have a process for stu-

dents to bring in 3-d printing

material, reserve a time with

the machine, print it out and

have a fee structure for it that

is all going to work and cause

as little headaches as possi-

ble,” Michael Holt, reference

librarian and assistant profes-

sor, said.

as of now there are two

printers on campus. one is

located in Media Services on

the first floor of odum Li-

brary and will be for general

student use. the other printer

will be geared toward group

projects and classes and is on

the third floor of odum Li-

brary in the Library Maker

Space.

With kinks still being

worked out, there is no fee

set in stone, but Holt has a

pretty good idea of how stu-

Brian HickeyS ta F F W r i t E r

[email protected] Photo

3-D printing

is still not

available for

general use.

See 3-D , Page 2

Student 3-D printingprivileges pushed back

there’s an old saying,

“those who cannot do, teach.”

Clearly, whoever believes

that notion has not been to

the 2013 Faculty art Exhibi-

tion.

this mixed media exhibi-

tion features works from

VSU art department faculty

members and has everything

from sculpture to animation.

the exhibit will be avail-

able for viewers at no cost in

the Fine arts building until

Sept. 6.

“this is the show where

the faculty demonstrates to

students that we practice

what we preach,” Julie Bow-

land, Fine arts gallery direc-

tor and art professor, said.

“the star of the show this

year has been Mark

Stafford,” Bowland said.

Mark Stafford is one of the

three new art department fac-

ulty members.

His featured piece, “Pity,”

is a funky ceramic bust of

Mr. t, from the a-team tele-

vision series. the bust has a

nebulizer in it that causes

steam to come out of the

nose.

Stafford said he selected

Mr. t because of his appear-

ance and his B-list celebrity

status.

“Mr. t is in his later stage

in life and has become a cari-

cature of himself,” Mark

Stafford, art instructor, said.

dr. Cindy Hasio and abi-

gail Heuss are the other new

additions to VSU’s art depart-

ment.

the other featured artists

this year are Hollis Barnett,

Julie Bowland, Clyde Ed-

wards, dominick gheesling,

Craig Hawkins, Jim Hornsby,

Paula Mcneill, Karin Murray,

Selena nawrocki, Kyoung-im

Park, Blake Pearce, richard

Peterman, Michael Schmidt

and Kalina Winska.

Mixed media comesto Fine Arts Gallery

Hillary StrabaS ta F F W r i t E r

[email protected]

Ritsuki Miyazaki / The SPecTaToR

Students of Perspectives 2300 gathered in the gallery to

learn more about the art displayed.

Ritsuki Miyazaki / The SPecTaToR

tuesday night roadblocks

were set up on Baytree road

and in Lake Park, following a

meeting of the South region-

al traffic Enforcement net-

work--one of 16 chapters of

an organization that monitors

all 159 counties in georgia.

“[tuesday] night city po-

lice, county police and state

patrol had roadblocks in Lake

Park and, i believe, Baytree

road,” Maj. anne Farmer,

VSU Police dept., said.

the cooperative police

presence is a regular occur-

rence in Lowndes County.

Farmer said it is a “tool” to

help with establishing a pres-

ence in Valdosta.

the roadblocks allow law

enforcement to utilize their

various resources. the City

will usually take the opportu-

nity to use their Mobile Com-

mand Van, Farmer said.

the large police presence

was disconcerting to some

Valdosta residents.

“it looked like it was every

cop in Valdosta,” said aman-

da Stone, public administra-

tion graduate student, said.

“they don’t normally have

public safety vehicles out

there for just a traffic stop.

all of their lights were on; it

looked like a wreck or some-

thing. Fifteen cops all in a

row, all stopping people and

checking id’s.”

the roadblock comes in

advance of a joint push by

georgia and tennessee police

to crack down on driving of-

fenses over the holiday week-

end.

the operation is being set

into motion to combat a holi-

day weekend notorious for

driving accidents and fatali-

ties.

Last year there were 13

deaths recorded on georgia

roads last Labor day.

"When dinner is done and

homework is complete are

Will LewisM a n a g i n g E d i t o r

[email protected]

Police roadblock,

though routine,

shocks drivers

See Roadblock ,Page 2

Page 2

PAGe 2 | vSUSPecTATor.com N e w s

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3-D

Continued from Page 1

dents will be charged for

printer usage.

“Generally, we are going to

do it by the time it takes to

print,” Holt said. “With the

amount of filament it takes to

print, generally, a fee of about

$2 an hour (would work), and

that’s whether or not the print

completes correctly.”

Students, however, will not

be able to use their university

printing allowance to pay for

3-D printing services as Me-

dia Services has the ability to

take cash or checks.

as for how the printer actu-

ally works, the machine starts

off with a 3-D model and

then reproduces the model by

laying down successive layers

of material usually consisting

of plastic.

this allows the printer to

have a very wide range of ca-

pabilities. it has been used to

make molds for sculptures

and jewelry as well as engine

parts.

“a guy last semester print-

ed out components to make a

wind turbine,” Holt said. “We

(also) printed out a case for

an LeD light box that was put

in the art show last year.”

With the positives that have

already come from 3-D print-

ers, there have also been neg-

atives. in May, a 25-year-old

law student at the University

of texas stirred up controver-

sy when he claimed that he

not only simulated a gun us-

ing a 3-D printer for parts but

that it actually worked.

this immediately drew

skepticism and controversy

from some while others felt it

was a breakthrough. also,

some people found it danger-

ous and challenged the true

usage of a 3-D printer and its

access in the future.

“as 3-D printing evolves,

advanced printers can use

metal, composite or even bio-

logical material,” said eric

thomas, journalist and co-an-

chor of the San francisco

aBC7 Morning News, in an

article on abclocal.go.com.

“if and when somebody de-

cides to use those to make a

weapon, government regula-

tion may not be far behind.”

With that being said there

will be restrictions placed on

printing for students such as

copyrighted materials or any

devices that could purposely

be used to harm another indi-

vidual. More restrictions will

be further explained in spring

when the printers are made

available to students.

Holt believes the printers

will be very popular among

students.

“the reason i put (the

printer) here (is because) i

wanted people, regardless of

their major, if they had that

creative spark in them, to

come in and use this technol-

ogy,” Holt said.

As 3-D printing

evolves, advanced

printers can use

metal, composite or

even biological

material.- Eric thomAs

“

”

Aug. 27red Schwinn bike was stolen

from the bike rack in front of

Nevins Hall.

a bike was reported stolen

from Centennial Hall.

a bike was reported stolen

from Brown Hall.

Aug. 26a bike was stolen from out-

side Centennial Hall

a student witnessed an at-

tempted bike theft outside of

Odum library. Police were giv-

en a description of the suspect,

but were unable to make con-

tact.

Aug. 25

Silver Schwinn bike stolen

from outside Georgia Hall.

Aug. 22

Sgt. Blanton, VSU police, re-

ported his dealership decal had

been removed from his car.

a girl reported that her phone

had been taken from the

Brown/Lowndes parking lot.

a pink Panama Jack bicycle

was stolen from outside Geor-

gia Hall.

Aug. 21

a student reported her phone

stolen from the fine arts build-

ing.

Police Briefs

HAPPY

‘TATOR

DAY!

Come find

us at The

Happening.

Roadblocks

Continued from Page 1

prayers are said that moms

and dads can put their chil-

dren to bed, kiss them good-

night and live to see another

day... that's what our goal

is," Captain Gary Mc-

Conathy, ft. Oglethorpe po-

lice captain, said in an inter-

view with WrCB in Chat-

tanooga, tenn.

On august 21, the Peace

Corps held an interest meet-

ing for students interested in

joining.

the informational, held in

Powell Hall, gave students

insight to what the Peace

Corps is about and which

steps they should take to be-

gin their Peace Corps career.

“this is also to help se-

niors get a chance to finally

get signed up and informed

by the deadline for them to

be able to travel in summer

2014,” emily Whitfield, the

regional recruiter and main

presenter for the evening,

said. each volunteer must

sign up nine to 12 months be-

fore his or her desired depar-

ture date, so seniors that want

to be shipped out on an as-

signment next summer are

applying now.

the information session

had a rather large turn out

with about forty student at-

tendees. “(the Peace Corps

is) something that i can use

to gain some experience

while i can also better my

skills at the same time,” Va-

lencia Johnson, senior, said.

founded in the ‘60s, the

Peace Corps is a government

program that sends volunteers

to work in various countries

while giving people a better

outlook of americans.

Volunteers work as educa-

tors, agriculturalists and

health workers by teaching

english to non-english

speakers, assisting farmers in

field work and informing

people about vital health is-

sues such as the importance

of nutrition, respectively.

Volunteers also work in other

areas such as economics.

today, the Peace Corps

serves more than 70 coun-

tries, spanning from Latin

america, to africa, asia and

others. typically, volunteers

and trainees serve for 27

months, three of which are

devoted to training. anyone

is welcome to apply to join

the Peace Corps as long as

they are 18 years or older.

Over 210,000 americans

have served in the Peace

Corps to date, and it currently

has 8,073 active members.

Shenika row, freshman, said

she attended the information

session to “gain more knowl-

edge and a sense that i have

helped someone with my fu-

ture career.”

Peace Corps opens ranks

Check out more

stories online

at

vsuspectator.com

Khiry ClementsS ta f f W r i t e r

[email protected]

File Photo

As for how the printer actually works, the machine starts

off with a 3-D model and then reproduces the model by

laying down successive layers of material usually consist-

ing of plastic.

This is also to help

seniors get a

chance to finally get

signed up and

informed by the

deadline for them to

be able to travel in

summer 2014.

- Emily WhitfiEld

“

”

Page 3

auguSt 29, 2013 vSuSpectator.com | page 3

as a baby, some of us

fondly remember our parents

swirling a spoon full of baby

food like an airplane in order

for us to be comfortable

enough to eat it. But what if

they had a

court order to

skip that and

shove it down

your throat if

we protested?

a U.S judge

in California has approved

the right for prison officials

to force-feed inmates that are

protesting in a statewide

hunger strike, a strike that is

entering its eighth week.

the strike began on July 8

as a way for some inmates to

protest the detention of vio-

lent inmates and gang leaders

in solitary confinement for

long periods of time. in its

inception, nearly 29,000 of

California’s 133,000 partici-

pated. Over the weeks, this

number has dwindled to 130

loyal protesters still fighting

the good fight.

i realize that convicted

criminals “fighting the good

fight,” is oxymoronic, but in

this case they are justified

and here are a few reasons

why:

• even if they are outcasts of

society, inmates are still citi-

zens of the country. this

means that they are protected

by their first amendment

right to peacefully assemble

and protest. these California

inmates are not causing

prison riots, fighting or com-

mitting other violent offenses

to show their disapproval.

they are just not eating.

One con that can arise from

their right to peacefully as-

semble is the fact that assem-

bling for a common cause

while in prison is almost im-

possible between prisons, but

their “affiliations” unite them.

Work-

ers

strike

daily

under

the uni-

ty of

their federal unions, so just

because they are not in the

same city, state or under the

same local employer, they are

united and that goes for frus-

trated gang members as well.

• Prison is all about structure

and order; yet in these con-

trolled environments, prison-

ers should have the right to

express their opinion about

the causes that they care

about. for an inmate, choice

on an opinion is limited for

them in life now, so a

statewide hunger strike

should be allowed in order

for inmates to express their

individuality. for people who

can no longer vote in a gov-

ernment election, this hunger

strike shows that they still

have some freedom of choice.

allowing protest in this form

without the consequence of

violence or solitary confine-

ment could possibly lead to a

more socially conscious in-

mates and spark a thirst for

knowledge and peaceful de-

bate rather than killing or

fighting for bars of soap in

the future.

• finally, if health is the cen-

tral concern for corrections

officers to want to break the

hunger strike, i believe be-

cause of their right to peace-

fully assemble and express

their opinion, they should be

able to risk their health for a

cause they believe in. Many

civil rights leaders have par-

ticipated in hunger strikes

and i have not found one ac-

count of a government forc-

ing them to eat. if someone

wants to starve to prove a

point, let them starve and if

corrections officials feel that

their safety is in jeopardy,

that care should be redirect to

the issue they are fighting for

in order to peacefully and not

force a decision on them.

So next time there is a

baby that doesn’t fall for the

airplane trick, just remember,

they have a right to refuse to

be fed by their familial war-

dens.

Opinions expressed in the Spectator other than editorials are the opinions of the writers of signed columns and not necessarily those

of the Spectator and its staff. all rights reserved. reprints by permission of the editors. Views in this newspaper are not necessarily

those of the Valdosta State University administration, faculty and staff.

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Online at www.vsuspectator.com

Spectator StaffEditor-in-Chief: Jennifer gleasonManaging Editor:Will LewisBusiness Manager: Kristen VarneyAdvertising Manager:aimee NapierCirculation Manager: abbie Baggerly Opinions Editor: Stephen CavallaroFeatures Editor: Sarah turner

Sports Editor: eric JacksonPhoto Editor: ritsuki MiyazakiMultimedia Editor: rebecka McaleerWeb Designer: Von Kennedy Copy Editor: Olivia McLeanSocial Media Editor: Joe adgie Faculty Advisers: Dr. PatMiller, Dr. ted geltner, Keith Warburg

Reporters/Photographers:Niamani Carlyle-Hollis, Coleedwards, allison ericson,William garrett, Brian Hickey,eric Holley, ivey ingalls-rubin,ashley Johnson, LaShawnOglesby, Steven Quinn,Lawrence Smith, John Stephen,Shane thomas, alex tostado,elan Waite

Do you enjoy your health

care plan? if so, get ready to

say goodbye to the freedom

to choose your health cover-

age and say hello to Oba-

macare.

Defunding Obamacare by

withholding taxpayer dollars

from fueling the program is

essential in order to protect

millions of americans from

losing their current employer-

provided health insurance.

thousands of jobs will be

lost in addition to employees’

freedom to choose coverage

through their employer. at

the same time, premiums are

expected to increase by a

projected $2,100 per family.

even if americans are hap-

py with their current cover-

age, an estimated average of

seven million people will

lose their employer-spon-

sored health insurance. even

if subscribers are in good

health, businesses may cut

hours if they cannot afford to

implement the program. it

will destroy the very founda-

tion of the 40-hour work-

week, which has become cru-

cial to the american middle

class. this mandated burden

would force many employers

to drop healthcare coverage

and consequently offload

their employees onto the state

exchanges.

the law is falling apart.

this is primarily because it is

simply unworkable based on

the sheer complexity of its

contents and the enormous

amount of new mandates that

it imposes. the process by

which it was passed through

Congress offered little time

for the bill to be reviewed or

debated. this has already re-

sulted in a very long list of

postponed mandates and a

long list of impending fail-

ures to come.

Nearly everything that

President Obama has

promised about his signature

legislation is untrue, such as

the promise that americans

can “keep their current

healthcare plans if they like

them.” the truth is that many

health care plans do not even

qualify as “government ap-

proved” under Obamacare.

Behind the 2,700 pages of

the law and all of the new

taxation lies the true purpose

of Obamacare. it is intended

to complicate and cripple the

entire private healthcare in-

surance industry so that the

american people have no

other choice except to crawl

back to the government to

save them after everything

they have known has been

destroyed.

Obamacare is an act of po-

litical treachery and is not a

way to “defend americans

from insurance companies.”

rather, it is a way to control

and impede upon americans’

freedom to decide. ameri-

cans need to be defended

from Obamacare, not the in-

surance companies.

the affordable Care act is

simply not the way to jump-

start a lethargic economy; it

is a disturbing and dangerous

attempt by the government to

take over the healthcare in-

dustry. Once a government

controls a society’s health-

care, it basically controls

everything.

This editorial was written by Stephen Cavallaro ([email protected]) and it expresses the general opinion of the editorial staff.

Our point of view...

Government keeps bees ‘buzzing’

California prohibits prison hunger strike

throughout South geor-

gia, honey production is a vi-

brant industry.

in Lowdnes County and

every year the Honey Bee

festival, promotes apprecia-

tion for local manufacturing

of honey and honey bee re-

lated products.

While consumers are in-

creasingly mislead to pur-

chase and consume “fake

honey,” a pollen-less concoc-

tion of corn syrup and artifi-

cial sweeteners marked as

real honey in laboratories is

sold in grocery stores as an

overpriced alternative to

honey. americans are being

blinded by a mass genocide

occurring across the nation.

the honey bee is quickly

becoming extinct in the

United States. Common

species of honey bees in the

county have declined 96 per-

cent in recent decades. the

cause of the decline is

colony collapse disorder, an

instance where bee colonies

spontaneously vanish. the

cause of the disorder is the

increasing use of neonicoti-

noid insecticides.

these insecticides, typical-

ly used on corn crops, cause

bee populations to dramati-

cally fall causing beekeepers

and farmers to grow con-

cerned. 37 million bees were

found dead this June in elm-

wood, Calif. shortly after

corn was planted near a se-

ries of six hundred hives. in

the same month fifty thou-

sand bees were found dead

in a Wilsonville, Ore. park-

ing lot. the culprit was a

neonicotinoid insecticide

known as “safari,” which

was sprayed over trees in the

area.

Why should the existence

of honey bees be a concern

when the art of fake honey

making has been mastered

and integrated into the di-

ets of many americans?

Without the honey bee, 90

percent of global agricul-

ture will be endangered.

Humanity needs the polli-

nating bees to ensure a

flourishing and stable food

supply.

Congressmen have in-

troduced the Saving amer-

ica's Pollinators act of

2013. this legislation is a

means to save the defense-

less honey bees by sus-

pending the use of the in-

secticides. if passed the

act will call for a 2-year

suspension of the insecti-

cide and the effects will be

analyzed. the european

Union has also strove to

enact legislation that com-

bats neonicotinoid and en-

sures the livelihood of the

bee.

Here at the Spectator we

support legislation that en-

sures the safety of the honey

bee and disprove of the use

of neonicotinoid insecticide.

Humans and bees possess

a vital mutually exclusive re-

lationship. as we grow agri-

cultural crops the bees ac-

quire a food source in the

form of nectar, and in return

they pollinate the crops en-

suring the vitality of the crop

and the development of the

seed, essentially our own ex-

istence.

Von KennedyW e B D e S i g N e r

[email protected]

Defunding Obamacare

recently, Jared Bernstein

wrote an article for the Huff-

ington Post asking the ques-

tion of whether or not the

government was stifling the

innovation of the people of

america.

this was inspired by an ar-

ticle that was written by

robert Shiller in the New

York times. the article is

about capitalism and the role

it plays in innovation and it

speaks the truth. the best

way for true innovation to

happen is for the government

to step back and let those

who have the minds create.

according to Shiller’s arti-

cle, there is a troubling trend

in many countries, including

the United States. it’s called

corporatism, where the gov-

ernment and large interest

groups control a major part

of a country’s economy.

this is unfortunately be-

coming true in the U.S. there

are so many things that large

interest groups and the gov-

ernment have a hold on, that

it stifles the creativity of peo-

ple who, if given the chance,

may be able to perform

amazing things.

there are hundreds of doc-

umentaries that discuss this.

their common message is

that large interest groups and

the government make it al-

most impossible for small

businesses to make it.

Look at the electric car, for

example. it was a great idea

that had backing, but because

of the U.S. government and

interest groups that had a lot

of stake in the oil companies,

the electric car died.

i don’t think that govern-

ment should be a major fac-

tor in innovation, and a trend

that i have noticed recently is

that many people are starting

their own Kickstarter.

these are fundraisers that

raise money for people who

have an idea and don’t want

to deal for corporations or

people who could sabotage

the project.

this is done by asking the

people that want to buy the

product to donate so they can

make their product without

having to go to a company or

producer.

Kickstarter is still a new

concept and for as many peo-

ple that succeed, ten more

fail, but this is good that peo-

ple essentially buy into some-

thing that they want to see

happen and if there are

enough backers the project

will succeed, and if it does-

n’t, the backers get their

money back.

So do we really want the

government to have its hands

in everything that we do? No

way. there is a lot of creativ-

ity in this country. Just look

on the internet. People have

some crazy ideas but there is

no reason that they can’t

work if they have the right

backing.

Allow minds to createTaylor Stone

S ta f f W r i t e r

[email protected]

People PollWhat are you

planning to do with your excess check?

MCT

OpiniOns

David LacyS ta f f W r i t e r

[email protected]

So do we really

want the govern-

ment to have its

hands in every-

thing that we do?

Page 4

PAGe 4 | vSUSPecTATor.com AUGUST 29, 2013

Blazin’ Brigadeready to ‘rock’the football field

all eyes may be on the

Blazers at the start of the new

football season, but the

Blazin’ Brigade marching

band is training to ensure that

it is also ready for the up-

coming football season.

“we want to have the ef-

fect that it would be obvious

if we were not (at the

game),” eric Bradshaw, di-

rector of athletic bands, said.

the 157 members of the

band began practicing during

the summer to prepare for the

season, beginning with the

first football game versus

fort Valley in Macon on

sept. 7. the Blazers’ first

home game is versus shorter

University on sept. 21.

Bradshaw guides the band

in giving the best perfor-

mance possible at each game

to help boost the energy of

both the fans and the football

team, as well as to add to the

overall game experience.

“Our goal is to keep the

crowd engaged during games

so they’ll feel they are more

involved than just watching,”

Bradshaw said.

this year the band is fo-

cusing on more classical se-

lections for the first two

home games but plans to of-

fer a history of american pop

later in the season. the band

will play songs ranging from

the ‘70s disco classic

“stayin’ alive” to fall Out

Boy’s “My songs Know

what You Did in the Dark.”

at last year’s national

championship game, the

marching band was noticed

numerous times on esPN

and hopes to get that chance

again this year.

“it’s helpful (that) we play

for such a good football

team,” Bradshaw said.

Pursuing a degree in music

is not a requirement to be in

the band as long as a student

has had prior experience in

high school. Bradshaw en-

courages any student interest-

ed in joining to register for

the concert band next semes-

ter.

Be sure to check out the

Blazin’ Brigade live on sept.

21 at the Bazemore–Hyder

stadium as VsU’s football

team takes on shorter Uni-

versity.

this week the VMas were

on everybody’s mind, and de-

pending on who you ask, the

ceremony left nothing to be

desired. there was nudity,

twerking, shade-throwing and

just all around ratchetness—

or as i would call it, a normal

MtV event.

Kicking things off, every-

one’s favorite narcissist, Lady

Gaga, opened the show with

her current single “ap-

plause.” a song about—what

else—herself.

and then things took a turn

toward the strange.

Miley Cyrus took the stage

to perform her hit single “we

Can’t stop” wearing a yellow

two-piece that would make

Billy ray Cyrus cry deep-

fried tears.

Later, Justin timberlake

took to the stage to perform a

medley of his hit songs and

accept the MtV Vanguard

award.

the best moment of the

night came when Justin re-

united with his former

*NsYNC band mates.

Po p

Ad d i c tAnthony Pope

Cole Edwardss ta f f w r i t e r

[email protected]

Miley can’t

stop; NSYNC

won’t stop

Legregis Purnell, senior biology major, and Dylan Sloan, senior

music major, practice playing bass drum for the marching band.

Ritsuki Miyazaki/THE SPECTATOR

Features

Scan QR code to continue

Page 5

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SudokuANSWERS

S p o r t S

with a new regime intact,

the VsU volleyball team wel-

comes seven new players to

its family.

the seven newcomers in-

clude: Natalia Campos (Fr.),

taylor Holder (Fr.), Danyelle

Drummond (Fr.), Marissa

woodworth (Fr.), Kelsey

Hedman (so.), Jessica Codato

(Jr.), and Jenna Kirkwood

(Jr.), making it a total of four

freshmen, one sophomore,

and two juniors.

Aside from filling neces-

sary holes in the team's roster,

the new players have brought

a new energy to the team that

has the entire team playing

with higher intensity.

"i believe that the recruits

who have come in this year

have added to our team in a

physical and mental aspect.

the girls who have come in

this year were in shape,

strong, competitive, fast, and

also mentally they have expe-

rience," Krista Bradford, ju-

nior outside hitter, said.

the recruiting process was

a collaborative effort by both

first year head coach Mike

swan and assistant coach Jor-

dana price.

"the recruiting process can

get pretty complex. there are

a lot of routes to go," price

said.

"Coach swan came know-

ing some players he was re-

cruiting from before. we also

(had) people send us emails

and videos and contact us on

the internet and we look at

them and we recruited a cou-

ple players that way. After we

contact them, we go and

watch them (and) we let them

know we are interested."

there also becomes the

challenge of immersing the

new players with the return-

ing players so that there is an

easy transition, and with so

many changes to the VsU

squad it would appear evident

that there would be some

bumps in the road.

Fortunately according to

price, the process has gone

over extremely smoothly.

"i think they've all transi-

tioned pretty well. we haven't

had any big problems yet that

or that it's been brought our

attention that they are strug-

gling, (but) if there's a prob-

lem, we try to address it in

the best interest of the coach-

ing staff and the players,"

price said.

As far as where the pro-

gram is headed in the future,

the team is extremely confi-

dent that the new players,

along with the experience of

swan will help set the stan-

dard for Blazer volleyball for

many years to come.

"i believe that since Coach

swan has come into the pro-

gram, we have definitely seen

an increase in expectations

and the overall mental part of

the game, the intensity, the

competitiveness and every-

thing," Bradford said.

the excited new look Blaz-

ers begin their season with

the west Georgia tournament

on sept.10 at 7 p.m.

"this is going to be our

breakout year. so, if you want

to see some good volleyball

come out and support," said

Bradford.

Neil Frawleys p o r t s w r i t e r

[email protected]

Seven new players led by new head coach Mike Swan hope to catapult the Blazers to conference contenders this season.

Jamal Tull/THE SPECTATOR 

entering his ninth season

as head coach for Valdosta

state basketball, Mike Helfer

once again will take a new-

look Blazers team into this

season.

though the Blazers will

not tip off the 2013-14 cam-

paign until mid-November,

Helfer believes his team is

coming together nicely in the

offseason.

“we have three guys that

played minutes last year that

are coming back,” Helfer

said. “it’ll be a blend of

some returners and some

new guys—it’s going to be

tough. we have some new

teams coming into our league

this year so we’re going to

have to make sure we get

ready here in the preseason.”

Featuring 11 new players,

the Blazers finished 19-10

last season, including an im-

probable run to the Gulf

south Conference champi-

onship game.

the Blazers came within a

made shaquille Harris three-

pointer of sending the game

into overtime, falling 65-62

to Christian Brothers.

“Last season was a good

bounce-back from the year

before,” Helfer said. “it

could’ve been better—we

lost three games right at the

buzzer. But, i like that our

guys brought back the excite-

ment and work ethic that we

were known for.”

Blazer Men’s

Basketball UpdateShane Thomass p o r t s w r i t e r

[email protected]

VSU volleyball enters season

with seven lucky newcomers

Page 6

PAGe 6 | vSUSPecTATor.com S p o r t S AUGUST 29, 2013

2013 Women’s Soccer GSC Preview

Last season was a strong

one all around for women’s

soccer in the Gulf South Con-

ference.

the University of West

Florida took home its fifth

consecutive GSC tournament

title as well as the NCAA Di-

vision ii title by beating Uni-

versity of California San

Diego.

Valdosta State and Univer-

sity of North Alabama also

made an appearance in the

tournament.

West Florida posted a 24-1

record in the 2012-13 season

and come into this season not

only as GSC No. 1 team, but

also the No. 1 team in the na-

tion.

it is going to take a special

team to bring down this con-

ference powerhouse.

VSU comes into this sea-

son with big expectations.

they fell in the first round

of the NCAA tournament last

year after being named a

No.5 seed in the tournament.

UNA finished third in the

GSC for regular season play

and lost in the GSC tourna-

ment finals to UWF.

the Lions are hoping to

leap frog both VSU and UWF

for a GSC crown.

the University of West

Georgia brought in a new

head coach in Chris Davi-

dovicz.

this marks the third head

coach in the 9-year-old pro-

gram for the Wolves.

i still have questions sur-

rounding the new coach,

however.

the Wolves finished the

2012-13 season record of 6-

11-3 (2-5-2) and the first year

coach may not have what it

takes to improve on this

record in a tough conference.

the University of Alaba-

ma-Huntsville struggled in

the conference finishing with

a 4-5 record. in non-confer-

ence play, the Chargers post-

ed a 6-5 record to finish the

season 10-10.

Delta State struggled

mightily last season with an

overall record of 3-12-2, in-

cluding 2-6-1 in GSC play.

the preseason polls have

the Lady Statesmen finishing

last in the GSC.

Christian Brothers finished

last in the GSC last season

with a mark of 1-7-1 in the

conference.

Christian Brothers will be

struggling to keep up with the

other talented teams in the

GSC and they will be out-

done by the Lady Statesmen

by only a few points.

Finally, the University of

West Alabama had an average

season and looks to improve

after winning only once in

their final seven games. UWA

posted a losing overall record

but stayed above .500 in the

GSC with a mark of 5-3-1.

the tigers are my dark

horse to win the conference

but they need to be prepared

to play big every game.

the GSC will line up much

like it did last year with

Christian Brothers and Delta

State fighting to stay out of

the basement.

the top will be decided by

the slimmest of margins and

probably come down to the

final few games on the sched-

ule.

Follow Alex on twitter:

@Alex_tostado12

Alex’s projections to finish

top three in the conference

1. University of West Flori-

da- 14-1-1 (9-0-1)

2. Valdosta State University

12-3-1 (7-1-2)

3. University of North Al-

abama 13-3-4 (7-3-3)

Note: Lee University, Shorter

University and Union Univer-

sity are all ineligible for post-

season play.

Commentary

Alex Tostado

S p o r t S W r i t e r

[email protected]

Blazers new o-line has big, ugly cleats to fill

it's always difficult to

come into the season with

five new starting offensive

linemen.

Last season's offensive line

broke numerous school

records, had four players

named first team Gulf South

Conference, three players

earning All-American status,

and two players currently

playing in the NFL. Not to

mention, leading Valdosta

State to a National Champi-

onship.

it's safe to say this season's

offensive line has some big

shoes to fill.

As the opening game inch-

es closer, Head Coach David

Dean still hasn’t cemented

any linemen as definite

starters but has a strong idea.

Colin Glasco, Felei tauave,

Michael Miller, Jeremy

Daniels, and Jesse Yancey are

projected to start week one

against Fort Valley State.

“they're starting to gel, but

they haven't played together,

this was just their 20th prac-

tice they've been together”,

said Dean after the team's

second scrimmage.

the five have zero starts

between them. Glasco,

Miller, and Yancey bring

some experience, having

been in the program for the

last two years, and receiving

some playing time as reserves

last season.

tauave and Daniels will be

in their first year at VSU.

tauave joins VSU as trans-

fer from American river Ju-

nior College, and Daniels is a

freshman who played at

Lanier County in high school.

offensive Line Coach and

offensive Coordinator Andy

richman knows there's pres-

sure for the new linemen but

has high expectations for his

group, “i think there always

is (pressure). When i came in

i set the precendent here to

just be an offensive linemen

and play here, everyone is

counting on us. i think we

put pressure on ourselves no

matter what.”

the coaching staff doesn't

believe their offense will be

limited by the offensive line.

“there's obviously been

some growing pains, but i

don't think there's anything

serious that we've had to hold

back the offense. i know

we've put in all our plays.

they're starting to gel and

come together. it takes time

for five guys to get on the

same page. From week one to

week seven, we'll be better,”

said richman.

read the rest of Chris’s story

at www.vsuspectator.com

Chris Kessler

S p o r t S W r i t e r

[email protected]

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