THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
da
Tuesday February 19, 2013
Volume 125, Issue 100
www.THEDAONLINE.com
Famed attorney talks LGBT rights by ashley tennant staff writer
Yesterday evening at the West Virginia University College of Law, famed Supreme Court Attorney Paul M. Smith spoke about his experiences with LGBT law in the United States. Smith is most known for fighting against and helping overturn prior law in the landmark Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas – the case that made same-sex relationships and sexual activ-
ity legal in every state and territory in the United States. The event was organized by OUTlaw, a WVU organization that promotes open networking and communication between gay and straight communities and educates others on gay rights issues. During the lecture, “Gay Rights in the Supreme Court from Lawrence to Perry,” Smith explained how LGBT equality has changed during the past 26 years and what changes he hopes to see in the near future.
“I think students already understand this issue. They, in their bones, believe there should be equality,” he said. “The reason why the movement is going to succeed is precisely because of the younger generation.” Because it is still legal to discriminate LGBT individuals when it comes to housing and employment in many places – including West Virginia, – Smith said you can lose your job, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.
“Just because your boss found out you were gay, you can lose your job as well as be excluded from an apartment,” he said. “So, one of the big things that has to happen regardless of what the Supreme Court does, it has to face the federal statute, which is a federal law that states, ‘you can’t discriminate in employment and housing against people just because they are gay.’” Smith said this battle isn’t a new one. “This is what so many peo-
ple have been trying to do for 12-15 years; it just hasn’t got through yet. It has to go through Congress,” he said. As far as same sex marriage goes, Smith said the Supreme Court may make a new law regional, covering the US state-by-state, but he feels it will eventually cover the whole country. “The cases this year are based on the case 10 years ago, the Lawrence vs. Texas case, which was the foundation case that established all the arguments that are being
GO TIME
City Editor
Mel Moraes/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
SGA candidates kick off 2013 campaign with midnight banner drop by jacob bojesson correspondent
The ballots for the 2013 Student Government election open in one week, and the candidates have already begun vying for students’ support. Since the election banners were dropped in the Mountainlair Sunday night, the Revolution Party and THE Party have been campaigning both in person and on the web. The Revolution Party met at 6 a.m. to put up posters and meet with students. “We’ve been planning a platform like this for the past couple of weeks. It’s a rush of energy to finally start,” said Ryan Campione, presidential candidate for The Revolution party. “We’re starting a bunch of new initiatives. We have a whiteboard up in the Mountainlair, and we’re encouraging everyone that walks by to write their issues on the board,” he said. “It’s exciting to hear what everyone’s saying.” According to its members, The Revolution Party is aiming to do what their name implies: revolutionize student government. “We feel like the student government hasn’t really been there for students as much as it could be, both in transparency, in representing students and kind of tackling real, working issues,” Campione said. “It seems like when the campaign is over, people revert back to their
by Madison Fleck staff writer
Mel Moraes/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Presidential candidate Ryan Campione speaks with supporters of The Revolution Party after the banner drop Sunday night.
Martin’s Bar-B-Que sees big opening week Staff writer
Morgantown’s newest addition to the Suncrest Towne Centre, Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, opened its doors to customers for the first time Friday. Once the phrase “Open for business” went viral on Facebook Friday evening, Morgantown residents and students came out to see what the Joint was all about. Patrick Martin, owner of Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint, said they expected it to be busy since it’s the new buzz around town, but they didn’t expect it to be quite as busy as it was. “Real barbecue joints run out of food, and this is some-
what of a foreign concept up here in Morgantown,” Martin said. “I’m not saying there aren’t real barbecue joints nationwide, but the real, true old-school Joints in the south run out of food.” Without a freezer or a microwave, only so much food can be made per day. “We are cooking today for tomorrow,” he said. “My standards are very high and non-negotiable because we want individuals to appreciate quality, good food. We cook what we can cook, and when we run out, we run out because everything is from scratch.” Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint is open weekly from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. but will close when they run out of food.
Approximately 300 -600 customers came out for their first experience at the Joint. Morgantown residents Craig and Shawnda Lough have always been a fan of barbecue and found out about Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint through Facebook and wanted to try it out for themselves. “Even though they only had a few items left and we had to wait in line, I was still able to get the ribs, which I had planned to get,” he said. “I heard they’re already talking about possibly adding another smoker too.” The Loughs both said they enjoyed the customer service and overall experience offered by the restaurant employees.
“I had the pulled pork, and it was very good,” Shawnda said. “Everyone is friendly and helpful, and if you needed extra sauce, they were right there when you needed them.” Craig said he is excited more restaurants are coming into Morgantown because he is eager to try something new. “It’s nice to have something new and different,” he said. “I liked it overall, and I’m definitely full.” The Joint’s one-of-a-kind ribs and the notorious “Redneck Taco” were the most popular items over the weekend, according to Martin. “Hopefully everyone will be patient with us,” Martin
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40° / 21°
ELECTION SEASON
CHECK OUR SPORTS BLOG
INSIDE
A message on The Daily Athenaeum’s role in the SGA elections. OPINION PAGE 4
Get the latest on Mountaineer sports in our WVU Sports Insider Blog at http://blogs.thedaonline.com/sports/.
AM LIGHT RAIN
News: 1, 2 Opinion: 4 A&E: 3, 6 Sports: 7, 8, 10 Campus Calendar: 5 Puzzles: 5 Classifieds: 9
It’s a bird...It’s a plane... It’s Maniac Man and Mountain Momma. This basketball season, West Virginia University students Mary Catherine Hamilton and Matt Idleman have added a heroic twist to the student section of the Coliseum. For each home men’s basketball game, the couple of nearly two years sports Batgirl- and Batman-like Maniac Man and Mountain Momma costumes. Hamilton, a junior elementary education student from Keyser, W.Va., said the idea sparked from a last minute Halloween costume idea and has turned into something much more. “I had no idea what to be for Halloween that night, and I thought after ‘it would have been so cool if we could have been WVU superheroes.’ Then I thought that maybe we could do it the next year,” she said. “Then Matt said ‘Well, why don’t we just dress up for basketball games?’ I thought that was the best idea ever.” As leaders in the Mountaineer Maniacs, the cou-
ple thought the costumes would provide an opportunity to electrify the WVU student section. “We love all Mountaineer sports, especially basketball. I always thought it would be so cool to be part of a student section that really rowdies behind our team win or lose,” Hamilton said. “So, this is kind of our contribution toward making the student section like that.” Idleman said he had always liked the idea of supporting the men’s basketball team in a unique way, so when Hamilton told him her idea, he was immediately onboard. “It’s something that I have been thinking of doing for a couple of years,” he said. “We get to the game early and get seats down in front. I’ve always kind of wanted to do something like this and dress up as a persona.” However, conjuring the heroic attire was no easy task. “They’re semi-homemade. For Matt’s I was just searching for blue and gold super hero costumes. I found a Batman costume that was blue and gray, so I had to get his.
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WellWVU celebrates employees’ health
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By Shelby Toompas
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Students add ‘super’ twist to student section By carlee Lammers
THE Party drops its banner Sunday night.
made now,” he said. Stephen Skinner, West Virginia House of Delegates 67th District and founder of Fairness West Virginia, also spoke briefly during the lecture. “We have come a long away in a very short amount of time,” he said. “You understand, when I graduated from Law School in 1994, I think there was one openly gay student. There was no organization like OUTlaw. Although it may seem like a very long
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ON THE INSIDE The West Virginia rifle team set a national air rifle record at the NCAA qualifier last weekend in Columbus, Ohio. SPORTS PAGE 10
West Virginia University students are always getting health information from WELLWVU: The Students’ Center of Health, the on-campus wellness authority. This week, the Benefits Administration of the Human Resources Department is offering WVU employees the same opportunities during WVU Employee Health Matters Week. “We are focusing on employee wellness here at WVU and how important that is,” said Toni Christian, the director of Benefits Administration. Christian said at last spring’s event, participants showed interest in the wellness topics. “Overwhelmingly, the employees suggested that we offer them additional wellness topics and wellness events,” she said. “So versus one day, we thought we would try something different
and do a week’s worth of events on all three campuses.” The program is offering 75 different events, including educational workshops, comprehensive wellness screenings and open houses. Sixteen different workshops were offered yesterday, with each session ranging from 15-20 people, and some days may have more events than others. “Part of a healthy lifestyle is having that worklife balance,” Christian said. “It’s creating a healthy lifestyle for employees, and many of these events are also open to their family members.” The activities will be held all week on the Downtown, Evansdale and Health Sciences campuses starting at 8:30 a.m. There will be an open house today at the College of Creative Arts from 5-8 p.m. and an open house at
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MANHATTAN MAULING The West Virginia men’s basketball team fell to Kansas State 71-61 in Manhattan, Kan., Monday night. SPORTS PAGE 7