The Daily Barometer OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY • CORVALLIS, OREGON 97331
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2013 • VOLUME CXVI, NUMBER 40
DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 541-737-2231
Director ready for challenges
DAILYBAROMETER
Police break up Tour de Franzia n
By Tori Hittner
THE DAILY BAROMETER
Barometer student government reporter Tori Hittner will profile an Associated Students of Oregon State University 2013-14 task force director every Monday throughout fall term. There are 13 task force directors within ASOSU. Task force directors represent areas of the OSU community and those students within that area. Nuclear proliferation involves analyzing foreign nuclear power grids and disarming nuclear weapons. Sound dangerous? That’s exactly why Wyatt Fluckiger likes it. Fluckiger, a sophomore studying nuclear engineering, enjoys the excitement and challenges that harrowing situations often bring. It’s that passion for being able to “find puzzles and solve them” that led Fluckiger to his current position as Associated Students of Oregon State Fluckiger University task force director of veterans affairs. With few intact veterans groups on campus, the task force in charge of facilitating veterans affairs faces a year of rebuilding and organization. “We’re starting from the ground up again,” Fluckiger said. “It’s a unique challenge.” Rebuilding the task force may take time, but it’s not an impossible feat. Fluckiger believes that his position simply requires a certain amount of understanding and patience. “There are a lot of veterans who just want to be left alone … yet still be heard at the same time,” Fluckiger said. A major problem Fluckiger faces is encouraging veterans to step forward and actively participate in their own representation. Currently, “only two or three people are speaking at the same time,” detracting from the urgency and importance of their cause. And according to Fluckiger, veterans’ needs are indeed both pertinent and prominent. “We don’t have anything — we don’t even have a building,” Fluckiger said. “(The Veterans’ Lounge in the Memorial Union) isn’t even technically ours.” In addition to a physical space within which to congregate, Fluckiger would like to see a printer available for the use of veterans who are short on funds. After strengthening his task force, Fluckiger hopes to address several financial matters. As with any student organization, See FLUCKIGER | page 8
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More than 300 costumed cyclists pedal through Corvallis, violating laws along the way, police said By Megan Campbell THE DAILY BAROMETER
MEGAN CAMPBELL
| THE DAILY BAROMETER
Corvallis resident Brent James, 30, listens to Corvallis Police Sgt. Jeff Marr on a bench next to the Campus Way covered bridge.
Jesus Christ, a participant in the Tour de Franzia, was detained by Corvallis police at the Campus Way Covered Bridge on Saturday. Tour de Franzia, the costumed bike parade, occurs every term in Corvallis, according to attendees. There was little notice for the event, yet more than 300 people dressed up and biked through Corvallis. It is still unclear how the event was organized or who organizes it. Police suspect it is organized using Facebook. “Christ,” who later revealed himself as Corvallis resident Brent James, was reluctant to give his identity to officers. “I thought Jesus liked to talk to people,” said Sgt. Jeff Marr of the Corvallis Police Department. James, 30, also refused to give officers a phone number or any other contact information. When James pulled out his phone to videotape his interaction
with authorities, police officer Debbie Thelen confiscated James’ iPhone 5 mid-recording. While James was released without a citation or penalty, officers kept his phone. Later Saturday evening, Marr went to James’ home and dropped the phone off with James’ wife. James said he thinks officers confused him for an organizer of the event. Officers said they seized the phone because they believed it had “criminal evidence” on it pertaining to the “ongoing” investigation, according to Marr. “They happened to take the one person’s phone who didn’t have any pictures on it,” James said. The outcome of Saturday’s events, for James, began when he joined the spontaneous group of Oregon State students, Corvallis residents and outof-towners to ride their bikes through Corvallis to the covered bridge, located on Oregon State University property on Campus Way. According to officers, Tour de Franzia participants rode from 11th Street through Kings Boulevard. See TOUR | page 8
Veterans Day event honors missing, fallen, active soldiers n
Arnold Air Society hosts annual veteran ceremonies in MU quad to honor American soldiers on Friday By Kaitlyn Kohlenberg THE DAILY BAROMETER
The Arnold Air Society, an honorary service organization within the Air Force ROTC program, joined together with the other ROTC units at Oregon State University to host a ceremony honoring all U.S. veterans and active duty soldiers. Roughly 150 people showed up on Friday. The crowd included family members, cadets from the ROTC units on campus, members of the Silver Wings society and veterans themselves. Cadet Tora Cobb, the public affairs officer for the event, said raising awareness was one of the more difficult aspects of coordinating the event.
“We’ve been trying to invite all the family members of killed-in-action veterans,” Cobb said. “(But) contact information, emails — they don’t give those out on the Internet. So it’s been really hard.” Cobb said the event coordinators put posters around campus and Corvallis to get more exposure for the ceremony. “We know how great our veterans are, but we also want everyone in the Corvallis area to know how great our veterans are,” Cobb said. The hour-long ceremony included a flag walk, a 21-gun salute, the initiation for the 24-hour candlelight vigil, a mock funeral and several speeches. AAS Commander Cadet Armando Kraynick, Father John Henderson, the director of vocations of the Archdiocese of Portland, and keynote speaker Col. John Antonnen spoke at the event. See VERTERANS | page 4
MEGAN CAMPBELL
| THE DAILY BAROMETER
Left: Nicholas Miller, Stephen Austin (not seen), Thu Pham Right: Rachel Nelke, Matthew Long, Abigail Merkel (not seen) fold the American flag at the veteran ceremony.
‘A Fierce Green Fire’ sparks dialogue on environment n
OSU College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences holds documentary screening on Friday By Olivia Poblacion THE DAILY BAROMETER
COURTESY OF “A FIERCE GREEN FIRE”
Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Mark Kitchell is the director of “A Fierce Green Fire.”
Approximately 100 students, faculty and community members gathered at Gilfillan Auditorium on Friday to view the 2012 documentary, “A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet.” The 101-minute film, which aims to capture the history of the environmental movement,
spans five decades, from the 1960s to present day, and concentrates on emblematic success stories of each era — on battles to fight dams, toxic waste, whaling, deforestation and climate change with an outcome yet to be determined. “I think it leaves the inference that it will be a global grassroots movement that solves climate change,” said Anita Grunder, event organizer and associate dean in the College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences. “The politicians have never solved environmental problems — the people have.” See FILM | page 3