The DA 04-01-2016

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”

da

Friday April 1, 2016

Volume 128, Issue 121

www.THEDAONLINE.com

WVU changes parking prices, policies by teresa churches staff writer @dailyathenaeum

The days of parking tickets and tow-zones are finally over. West Virginia University implemented a new parking policy designating all short-term priced lots as free of charge.

In addition to the free parking lots, there will also be another blue and gold bus line placed into rotation

Commissioned report shows water woes

by Westley Thompson Associate A&E Writer @westleyt93

West Virginia politicians shared a commissioned report yesterday absolving them, mining and manufacturing companies from all responsibility regarding water quality in the state of West Virginia.

The 53 page report titled, “The Detrimental Effects of Water: The Natural Killer Around Us,” is the product of a two year research program conducted by the Council for Hydrogen Dioxide Awareness. The council’s founder and president, Ryan Bufington, is a known affiliate of many coal company and chemical manufacture owners.

It is no secret West Virginia has its fair share of water pollution and crises. In January 2014, 300,000 residents in Charleston, West Virginia and the surrounding areas were left without potable water after coal-cleaning chemicals spilled into the rivers and lakes. This event was not an isolated one, and similar crises have happened in the past.

According to the CHDA report, these companies, and the politicians they continuously pay off to prop the dying coal industry up like the plot of a late ‘80s niche comedy, are not to blame for the detrimental effects the polluted water is having on humans and other life.

“We’ve concluded that it is not the chemicals, but the water itself that is dangerous,” the report begins.

“After extensive study we have found since Earth began approximately 10,000 years ago, every single plant and animal that consumes water dies.

Water has a 100 percent mortality rate.”

Kathy Herring, a West Virginian politician, is supportive of what the study has to say.

“It goes into excellent detail about the natural dangers water poses to people and animals,” Herring said, standing in front of her 2016 Lamborghini. “Water does more than than just poison us slowly over 60 years.

Sometimes it decides to flood places, killing a lot of people and animals quickly. Or if you try to swim in it, it can drown you.”

Many citizens are ignoring the report since it has the scary words “environment,” and “pollu-

see WATER on PAGE 2

to reduce wait times at bus stops. This will make up for the fact that, according to U.S. Transit System records, the PRT is only up and running a mere 40 percent of the time.

“It was time for a change, that’s why we decided on this new policy,” said Demetrius Ivory, the director of parking and transportation at WVU. “It’s unfair making students pay so much for parking when tuition can

making changes to their parking lot policy. Originally a free parking lot, on Jan. 11 the lot became restricted to facility users only, with a $20 fine given to those found using the lot for other reasons.

While the University made plenty of money off of this by fining people who attempted to park there for class instead of facility use, ultimately they decided the

see PARKING on PAGE 2

Students marvel as local freshman stubbornly attempts to use PRT by chad normcore STAFF WRITER @DAILYATHENAEUM

charge of finding Garcia.

“If I were to speculate on his actions, he has probably changed his hair style, ditched his clothes. He may have even purchased Bitcoin by now. He’s probably on the deep web buy-

Even though he’s been a student at West Virginia University for nearly a year now, sources have confirmed that, adorably enough, freshman psychology student Spencer Higgins still can’t quite get the hang of the college’s PRT System.

Higgins, who has ridden the PRT every day since moving to Morgantown from Baltimore, Maryland, has reportedly shocked those around him by continuously messing up the experience in new and surprising ways.

“It’s really just amazing to watch,” said Higgins’ friend and fraternity brother Tanner Shough.

“We’ve tried to teach him how to use it about a hundred times, but he’s too proud to listen, God bless him.”

Seemingly in his own little world, Higgins frequently uses the PRT to travel from his dorm in Lyon Tower to the Engineering Station for his Theatre 102 class at the Creative Arts Center.

“Normally, someone taking the PRT from Towers to Engineering fills me with a blind, inconsolable rage,” said junior civil engineering student Sarah Lynch, “but I can’t help but just laugh it off when Spencer does it. It’s like getting mad at a puppy, you know?”

The Daily Athenaeum recently caught up with Higgins as he was waiting for a trip to Beechurst for his Psychology 101 class.

“The trick is to power walk back and forth to the front of the PRT doors until you get the one you want,” Higgins said he pushed himself to the front of a line of wouldbe riders. “That way, you get to be the first one on board when your car comes.”

As Higgins proceeded to cut in front of line after line, onlookers just laughed to themselves as if they were watching a circus animal use a telephone.

When the car for Beechurst finally came, Higgins, the first one on board, walked approximately six inches before planting himself on the pole nearest to the door, refusing to budge as other riders squeezed and

see GARCIA on PAGE 2

see PRT on PAGE 2

response.restoration.noaa.gov

Some train spills into a river not in West Virginia.

by john wayne staff writer @dailyathenaeum

I

n a troubling but not-so-uncommon turn of events, a chemical spill occurring on the Monongahela River has leaked a large amount of contaminants into the river, polluting the already-polluted river.

Patriot Industries issued a statement addressing that their plant had accidentally released a large quantity of MCHM, after receiving a number of complaints had been issued from hundreds of people that reported experiencing symptoms of exposure including “severe burning in throat, severe eye irritation, non- stop vomiting, trouble breathing and severe skin irritation.”

“We are really sorry,” said an intern for the company said at a local press conference. “This probably won’t happen again.”

As analysts work to assess the exact amount of substances dumped into the river, the state of West Virginia

has issued a warning to citizens to “not drink more water than you usually would.”

Local citizens reported a slight change in the hue of the river, turning from a dark brown to a more radiant, eye-catching light brown, giving the river a neat little shimmer.

But many citizens have barely acknowledged a change. Local student and Morgantown resident Billy Mittman told The Daily Athenaeum that the water caught his eye, but he ignored any consequences that may occur from ingesting it.

“Well, normally the water’s got an interesting, but subtle grayish look to it,” Mittman said. “But when I went to boil the water for my Kraft Mac & Cheese last night, it seemed a lot cloudier than usual - it certainly wasn’t as clear as it normally is. But, I mean, it’s still water right?”

see SPILL on PAGE 2

Mountaineer shaves beard in breach of contract, disappears by jon lipnicki staff writer @dailyathenaeum

In an alarming breach of contract, Mountaineer Mascot Michael Garcia has shaved his beard, a coveted center piece crucial to his role as the heart and soul of West Virginia University.

Garcia was seen strolling around campus with a clean-shaven face, according to witness reports.

It remains to be seen how University leaders will cope with the situation.

“It’s a terrible setback for the University,” said President E. Gordon Gee. “I know this must be an enormous ordeal for many students, but we will make it through this tragedy.”

Other University leaders expressed their discontent for Garcia’s rampant and reckless decision-making skills.

“It’s flat out ridiculous,” said Bill Schafer, vice president of Student Life. “This man claims to represent

INSIDE

“Call of Duty” comes to an end A&E PAGE 4

Campus Calendar: 6 Puzzles: 6 Classifieds: 9

year. “If your class or work ends at 2 p.m., then you’re not going to be back right at 2 p.m., so you are forced to either pay for another hour or receive a parking ticket.”

A lot of students are going benefit from free parking, according to the department of transportation and parking at WVU. This January, the Department of Parking and Transportation assisted the Student Recreation Center by

Chemical spill contaminates already-contaminated Monongahela River

THE FINAL FIGHT

News: 1, 2 Opinion: 3 A&E: 4, 5 Sports: 7, 8, 10

typically charges $1.50 per hour—will also become a free parking option, just like the Coliseum; the only lot at WVU that has always been free.

“It’s a relief to not have to worry about getting a parking ticket when you’re only a few minutes late after the meter expires,” said Conner McGregor, a WVU student who has accumulated over $1,000 in parking tickets and towing fees over the last

TROUBLED WATER

68°/48°

THUNDERSTORMS

be high, and there’s a low number of available parking spots anyway. The system was flawed so we decided to do something about it.”

The new policy calls for free parking in all nine of the existing short-term parking lots, where the typical charge used to be $1.25 an hour. Students who use the lots regularly will now be saving an average of $8 per day. The Mountaineer Station Garage­—which

not only our University, but a stern community of facial-haired mountain men. And he pulls this stunt?”

Garcia’s actions go directly against his signed contract with the University, and according to legal professionals familiar with the case, punishment will be severe.

According to the contract’s written implications, Garcia faces immediate expulsion, compensation for marketing damages the University will inevitably endure, a written apology to the student body and grim and forboding judgement in the face of the West Virginia University Board of Governors.

How ever, Garcia’s whereabouts are currently unknown, and many students speculate he has left town in fear of the retributions that will rain down upon his person if he is apprehended.

But discovering his location will be difficult, ac-

MISSING

FACEBOOK.COM

cording to investigators on the case. Garcia’s public identity had been… well, covered in facial hair. And he now has the perfect disguise.

“Man, this guy’s got the perfect setup going,” said Michael Wallace, private investigator on the case in

THE DA’s HIRING WRITERS Inquire about paid positions at The Daily Athenaeum at thedaonline.com or pick up an application at our office at 284 Prospect St.

CONTACT US Newsroom 304-293-5092 or DAnewsroom@mail.wvu.edu Advertising 304-293-4141 or DA-Ads@mail.wvu.edu Classifieds 304-293-4141 or DA-Classifieds@mail.wvu.edu

HELP! I’m trapped in the office! Bring the police (and D.P. Dough)!

OPINION PAGE 3

SLOW POKES WVU needs to build momentum against OSU SPORTS PAGE 7

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

2 | NEWS

Friday April 1, 2016

University releases annual campus climate survey by rachel mcbride staff writer @rachelgmcb

The Research Center on Violence at West Virginia University is currently conducting a survey to assess the types of crimes committed against students on campus, as well as student’s perceptions of University services.

Data gathered from the survey will assist University administrators in the development of effective policies that will help with the improvement of campus safety.

During the survey, students will be asked about their experiences regarding different types of physical violence and how they view the effectiveness of

University services, such as those of the University Police and WELLWVU, aimed at preventing and controlling those crimes. All questions for the survey will be answered anonymously.

The survey was developed by WVU sociology professors Walter DeKeseredy and Amanda HallSanchez, as well as Douglas Myers, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences.

Hall-Sanchez said questions for the survey were generated from a sample of highly regarded similar assessments, such as the University of Kentucky’s CATS Survey, the ARC Survey for Campus Climate and Sexual Misconduct at Bucknell University.

DeKeseredy and HallSanchez said to their knowledge, this is the first campus climate survey of students at WVU. DeKeseredy said WVU is the first Big 12 University to conduct this type of survey.

“We really want their (the students’) voice to be heard,” DeKeseredy said. “Their experiences are fundamental.”

DeKeseredy and HallSanchez have been researching and working in the field of violence against women and sexual assault on campus for 40 years and have collectively authored hundreds of journal articles and books on violence against women, crime and other social problems.

Hall-Sanchez said campus climate surveys are extremely important for gen-

erating cultural changes at universities. Nationwide, she said campus climate surveys have uncovered one in five women are sexually assaulted in college, most often by someone the woman knows. Frequently, sexual assault goes unreported by the survivors.

Hall-Sanchez also said while it happens less often, men are also victims of these crimes.

“There is a national conversation taking place about sexual assault on campus and the first step is to identify the problem,” HallSanchez said. “We believe, along with many other University researchers, that the best way to do that is to start first with a campus climate survey.”

The survey will be open

for four weeks beginning Tuesday, March 29. According to Sanchez and DeKeseredy, all active University students have received a link to the survey in their MIX emails. Reminders will be sent out each week to students who have yet to complete the survey.

All active undergraduate, graduate and professional students who are 18 years and older are eligible to participate. Each participant who has completed the survey has the option to enter their email address into a lottery system to potentially win one of 20 $50.00 VISA gift cards.

This study is sponsored by the Offices of the Provost and the Dean of Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

and is being conducted by DeKeseredy, Hall-Sanchez and Anna Deane Carlson, Endowed Chair of Social Sciences, Director of the Research Center on Violence at WVU and Professor of Sociology and Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology and Executive Board member of the Research Center on Violence.

Reports from this survey will be posted on the Research Center’s website for public review, at http://violenceresearch.wvu.edu/.

For more information on the WVU Campus Climate Survey, please contact DeKeseredy at walter.dekeseredy@wvu.edu or HallSanchez at aksanchez@ mail.wvu.edu. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

Bear hosts Coopers Rock Foundation fundraiser A look at North Carolina’s law Black by james pleasant on restrooms, discrimination ap

correspondent @dailyathenaeum

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)— North Carolina’s new law limiting discrimination claims was approved in a special legislative session and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory later the same day to prevent a Charlotte City Council anti-discrimination ordinance from taking effect this Friday.

The measure goes well beyond stopping transgender people from using bathrooms matching their new gender identities, which McCrory called a “radical breach of trust and security.”

Here are more details about the law, which is now being challenged in federal court.

PUBLIC ACCOMODATIONS The law blocked a range of protections from taking effect in the state’s largest city.

Charlotte’s ordinance would have covered gays and lesbians as well as bisexual and transgender people when they try to check into hotels, eat in restaurants or hail cabs; it also added marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to the city’s list of protected characteristics in public accommodations and commercial businesses.

The law instead created a new statewide public accommodations policy that prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, color,

national origin or biological sex. But the law includes no specific LGBT protections, and says it does not create a right to sue in state courts alleging discrimination under the policy. Instead, any complaints could be investigated and mediated by the state Human Relations Commission.

It also forbids cities and counties throughout North Carolina from imposing any additional requirements on employers. A handful of local governments had made veterans a protected class, and this is no longer allowed.

BATHROOM USE Essentially, government agencies of all kinds must now direct men and boys to multi-stall restrooms and locker rooms designated for use by people born as male, and keep women and girls in those designated for the female biological sex.

This applies to public schools, state university and community college systems, state agencies and local government offices.

Single-occupancy bathrooms or changing facilities are still allowed “upon a request due to special circumstances” to a local school board or by a person to a public agency. The decision on accommodating the request appears to rest with the school board or the agency.

The West Virginia Prof e s s i o na l Re c re at i o n & Parks Society organized a fundraiser yesterday at Black Bear Burritos’ Evansdale location to raise money for the Coopers Rock Foundation.

The event benefited the Coopers Rock Foundation’s mission to restore and preserve Coopers Rock—a state park in the Morgantown area.

“Everyone needs recreation in their life, and it’s very important for us to have a place to go and relieve stress, or just enjoy the outdoors with friends,” said Jamison Lloyd, president of WVU PRPS. Lloyd said PRPS chose to fundraise for the Coopers Rock Foundation because it believes the state park is one of the most important landmarks in Monongalia County and should be restored and preserved for the next several decades.

Coopers Rock is a national landmark included on the National Register of Historic Places. The majority of the structures at Coopers Rock, such as the overlook—which offers a view of the entire city— were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps be-

Shelby Thoburn/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Customers admire homemade decorative plants at an auction to raise money for Coopers Rock State Forest. tween 1936 and 1942 during the Great Depression, according to the park’s website. “(Coopers Rock) is very important to me as a greenspace for Morgantown,” said Gwen Jones, the vice-president of the Coopers Rock Foundation. “It’s pretty crowded around here in Morgantown, and when you get out on a trail you can pretty much be by yourself.”

Black Bear Burritos donated 10 percent of the food sales it made from 6-9 p.m. and Chestnut Brew Works, a local brewery,

donated a keg of its Halleck Pale Ale, giving Coopers Rock Foundation all the proceeds made from the beer.

Several other businesses in the greater Morgantown area donated money, gift cards or other services for the fundraiser’s silent auction and raffles.

Pathfinder, a local outdoors store, donated a $25 gift card for the silent auction. Wamsley Cycles, a bicycle shop on Beechurst Avenue, gave away 25 daybike rentals on Coopers Rock.

The Coopers Rock Foun-

Green-minded Portland rocked by heavy metal pollution PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)— Fiercely proud of its reputation as one of the most environmentally minded cities in America, Portland is reeling from the discovery of poisonous heavy metal “hot spots” in the air and ground.

Amid the crisis, two top state air regulators have resigned, residents are rushing to the doctor to get tested, and politicians in this city of 600,000 are scrambling to do damage control. Federal officials have also launched a nationwide review of small art glass-making factories, the suspected source of Portland’s contamination.

“This is very much at odds with our view of ourselves and where we live, and that dissonance is one of the reasons why this is such a big deal for Portlanders,” said Mayor Charlie Hales, whose city’s liberal politics and embrace of walkability, recycling, farm-to-table dining and organic food are often lampooned on the TV series “Portlandia.”

Air pollution hot spots with high levels of cadmium, arsenic and chromium were

PRT

Continued from page 1 squirmed around him. The other passengers didn’t seem to mind, however, and merely patted Higgins on the shoulder or tussled his hair as they pushed by.

“There’s really no use in sitting down,” Higgins said, hoping that the other passengers saw how cool he was for not holding onto the pole once the PRT started moving. “I like to be

GARCIA

Continued from page 1 ing a new social security number. He’s off the grid.”

Friends of Garcia say he could be in the rigid hinterlands of New York state

detected recently around two makers of colored glass.

Emissions around one of the factories contained arsenic at 150 times the state safety benchmark and cadmium at 50 times. Long-term exposure to such substances is linked to lung and bladder cancer, kidney disease and other ailments.

Both glassmakers have voluntarily suspended use of the metals, which they had been using for years without being subject to regulation, until they can install pollution-control devices.

As testing continues, state and city health officials have tried to reassure residents there is no imminent health threat. But many people aren’t buying it.

Jessica Applegate, who launched the Eastside Portland Air Coalition with her neighbors, wonders whether her daughter’s long-time medical problems stem from the heavy metals. She lives in one of the hot spots a half-mile from Bullseye Glass Co. “My daughter, who’s 16 and born and raised in this

off the PRT as soon as possible, because some of the other riders can be really inconsiderate sometimes.”

Higgins said that standing by the door also gave him the perfect vantage point for looking down girls’ shirts without them noticing, and that standing up lets him show everyone else just how tall he really is.

Throughout the evening, Higgins continued to display his childlike lack of awareness by trying to buy a protein bar from JACS fleeing to Canada, or he may be deep in the desolate countryside of Kansas by now on a path westward.

The Daily Athenaeum has kept the identities of these sources anonymous, due to fear of legal action, contempt of court or obstruction of justice.

house and neighborhood, she has chronic kidney, urine issues,” she said. Applegate said she is “pretty terrified” as she awaits the results of her daughter’s lab tests.

The furor has been especially painful because Portland is often called the Greenest City in America, and its ethos has shaped Oregon state politics as well.

Not far from one of the city’s pollution hot spots, Gov. Kate Brown a few weeks ago signed the first state law in the nation to order the phase-out of coal to generate electricity.

The crisis has exposed what some activists say are gaping holes in regulation of the environment.

Smaller glassmakers such as Bullseye Glass and the other business under suspicion, Uroboros Glass, are exempt from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations governing heavy metal emissions.

State officials can impose their own rules, such as requiring furnace filters, but are not required to do so.

with Dining Dollars before sitting down for class in an aisle seat even though he totally isn’t left-handed.

“I’ve grown a lot as a person since starting college,” Higgins said. “You just got to say ‘screw the haters’ and live your life how you want.”

Editor’s note: April Fools! This story was crafted by a writer as an April Fools prank and contains false information. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

“My guess is he’s heading north,” said one anonymous source. “He had a passion for chopping wood, as you may have guessed.

Plenty of trees up there in Canada, I think.”

Others think differently.

“He’s a mountain man, man,” said another anon-

ap

This March 18, 2016 photo shows the Willamette River and skyline in the background in Portland, Ore. Fiercely protective of its reputation as one of the most eco-friendly cities in the country, Portland is reeling from the discovery of poisonous heavy metals in the air and the ground of neighborhoods where thousands of people live, work and attend school.

And Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality does not.

Adding to the uproar, DEQ officials admitted recently that they knew of high levels of heavy metal emissions in Portland for at least a decade but said they took no action because they were repeatedly unable to pinpoint the source.

The glassmakers weren’t identified as the likely culprits until after the U.S. For-

WATER

Continued from page 1 tion” on it, in favor of the much more emotionally palpable video game “Call of Duty 12: Future Ops Warfare 7.” Some citizens have managed to pry their eyes away from the TV to check the report out, and are in agreement with what they see.

“I kinda agree with it,” said Chuck Horzen, West Virginia resident. “You alymous source. “I guarantee you he’s heading for the rockies. Manifest destiny dude, he’s going mobile - hitting the road in the face of adversity and heading out west. They’ll never catch my man. He’s a free bird; a free spirit.”

Nonetheless, investiga-

est Service began discovering the hot spots more than a year ago through samples of moss from trees throughout Portland, a common pollution-monitoring method in Europe. DEQ then did its own air tests and published the results in early February, triggering the public outcry.

In early March, the DEQ’s director since 2008 stepped down, citing health reasons, and a DEQ air quality manager left, too.

dation began in 1989 after a group of Morgantown’s citizens felt inspired to restore Coopers Rock after portions the park became dilapidated. “(Coopers Rock) is the most exciting place for outdoor recreation in the Morgantown area,” said David Hopkinson, the president of the Coopers Rock Foundation. “If you had a top three list of the things you love about Morgantown, I would think Coopers Rock would be up there.” danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

SPILL

Continued from page 1 Local experts assessing the damage to the local water quality say the spill will have a lasting damage on the river, but nothing substantial that will change the overall quality of the river, citing the “decades and decades of pollution that has already occurred in the area.”

“I mean, yeah.. there was a chemical spill,” said Larry Taylor, water quality expert assigned to test the waters. “Obviously there’s going to be some damage to the river, and you’re probably not going to want to drink it.

But lets be honest here.. you know how polluted this river was already?

My suggestion: bottled water.”

Editor’s Note: April Fools! This story was crafted by a writer as an April Fools prank and contains false information. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

ways got these doctors and science men on the TV news talking about pollution and heart attacks, saying ‘you need water to be healthy,’ and it never makes much sense to me. My great uncle drank a case of beer a day, never any water, and lived to 92, that’s real science. Now this study proves that. Water kills people.”

Not everyone is enthusiastic about the report however.

“Do they think I’m dumb,” said Rachel Weissen, a West Virginia resi-

dent and mother of two. “I graduated top of my class and they expect me to believe this report? How does nobody else see this is a cover up they paid to have done?”

“This study is absolute bulls***,” said environmental scientist Raymond Keff.

tors on the case are adamant that Garcia will be captured and that they are close on his trail.

Meanwhile, in the face of these recent events, students of the University are jumping on the opportunity to fill Garcia’s role, staunchly and intently

manicuring their fuzzy faces.

Editor’s Note: April Fools! This story was crafted by a writer as an April Fools prank and contains false information. wethompson@mail.wvu.edu

Editor’s note: April Fools! This story was crafted by a writer as an April Fools prank and contains false information. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

3

OPINOIN

Friday April 1, 2016

CONTACT US 304-867-5309 ext. 666 cowdaddy@farmersonly.com

Kommentary

Democrats pick up Trump tactics juan tubang columnist @Dailyathenaeum

With all the elegant speeches given by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump throughout his campaign, Democrats need to prepare their public image going into the November elections. As Trump told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, “People love me, and you know what, I’ve been very successful.

Everyone loves me.”

Until now, the Democratic Party has tried to point out its differences with Trump in a reasonable way and argue against his positions, but this has shown little success in swaying Trump’s supporters. The party simply needed a new strategy. This is why recent attempts by Democratic leaders to use some of Trump’s own tactics to gain support is surely the key to winning the November election.

For example, when President Barack Obama addressed a packed room at the end of Wednesday’s White House dinner, no one expected what he was about to say.

“For the past seven years I’ve denied I’m some sort of secret atheist or Muslim, but now it’s time to come clean,” he said, taking a long pause. “Deep down, I’ve always wanted to ban all Christians from entering the country.”

He was quick to add, “Some, I’m sure, are really good people.”

After the dinner, Obama followed his powerful comments by retweeting the saying, “The writer

is the engineer of the human soul,” from the official White House Twitter account.

When asked Thursday if he knew this was a quote from Joseph Stalin, former leader of the Soviet Union, Obama responded, “It’s a very good quote. I didn’t know who said it, but what difference does it make if it was Stalin or somebody else?”

Such comments exemplify how willing Obama has become to show what his party could offer current Trump supporters.

And, with Trump’s popularity on the rise, such a strategy is long overdue.

However, Obama is not alone in taking this bold new path. Recently, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was asked how she would prepare America for an alien invasion to which she promptly responded, “The first step in preparing for invasion is to see their spaceships coming. Can you believe this, America has no way to see if spaceships are coming?

Well, when I’m president I will build a tower—and nobody builds towers better than me—I will build a great tower. And we’ll be able to see when the spaceships are coming.”

When asked how she planned to pay for a tower 17 times taller than Mount Everest, Clinton claimed she would “make the aliens pay for it” by leveraging our intergalactic trade deficit.

The interviewer laughed aloud at this response, prompting Clinton to exclaim angrily, “The tower just got 1,000 feet taller!”

The new political direction was even carried into Bernie Sanders’ campaign

Googled “OBAMA IS A COOL CAT”

Obama revealed he had kept his true intentions to ban all Christians from America a secret for most of his presidency. Who knew politicians could lie? late Thursday. When speaking at a private event to the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Union Local 262, sources say Sanders pounded the podium, shouting, “Americans need American cheese. Make America grate again!” Reportedly, his skin also showed a bit of an orange tint, which

caused commentators to wonder whether he was experimenting with spray-tan technology.

These statements and actions show how politically aware the Democratic Party has recently become and how it is able to respond to the needs of a changing electorate. This is what de-

mocracy is all about: Getting more people to vote for your party. Trump has shown the American people respond best to thinlyveiled threats of extreme violence and despotism, and surely the Democrats are the party for the American people.

So, we should support

this change in Democratic party strategy. After all, what could be worse than a Trump presidency?

Editor’s note: April Fools!

This story was crafted by a writer as an April Fool’s prank and contains false information. daperspectives@mail.wvu.edu

Kommentary

Vaccinations cause more complications than they prevent

googled “scary person with needle”

Needles are scary, therefore vaccines are scary.

Dr. Sue phylliS KrabS columnist @Dailyathenaeum

Protecting one’s child is likely the most imperative task a parent will ever have, but in modern times, this can be much more difficult than it seems. For instance, just minutes after delivery, greedy doctors push parents to return to the hospital within a matter of days to vaccinate their newborn. The urge to vaccinate is so immediate and forced that many parents never even get the chance to think about what’s best for their child.

Vaccinations are recommended quite heavily by doctors nowadays, but many uninformed people don’t know how they work.

Shockingly, parents don’t seem to realize all required vaccines contain materials which cause the child’s immune system to react in re-

DA

sponse, and the effects of the injection can remain in a child’s body for years afterward.

Vaccines are not natural to the body, yet doctors goad parents into giving them to their child in an attempt to “protect” them from disease. Some of these vaccines have even been linked to febrile seizures and autism.

The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which most children receive between the age of one and two, increases an infant’s chances of having a febrile seizure. The Center for Disease Control reports these can happen anywhere from 5-12 days after the introduction of the vaccine.

However, the CDC have been a little too quick to excuse the risk vaccines pose by reporting that seizures happen in up to five percent of children between one and five years and they are only reported when the vaccine is given in combi-

nation with another vaccine. If you ask me, the CDC sounds like it’s trying to cover up the true harm vaccines can cause to children with useless specifics.

The vaccine for whooping cough was introduced in the 1940s, at which time the CDC says only about 200,000 cases in US children were reported annually. However, even with the acclaimed prevention, there are still 10,000-40,000 cases every year and nearly 20 deaths. In fact, only about half of unvaccinated children contract the disease in the first place, and only one percent of children less than one year old who contract pertussis actually die from it. Why put children at risk of vaccinations when only a handful of children die each year from this negligible disease?

The pertussis vaccine was first a cellular vaccine, but correlations with it and

reports of autism in children were revealed in the 1980s. Since then, numerous other studies were conducted in support of both sides. A 2004 CDC study found there was an increased association with children having autism between the ages of 3-5 if they were vaccinated between 24 and 36 months. Autism is a devastating disorder for both parents and children, and no parent would want to take even a one in 1000 risk of their child developing it from a vaccine.

Andrew Wakefield is a well-recognized name in the medical community.

His paper in the 1980s was the first to link the MMR vaccine to autism. Though numerous other studies claim he falsified his data for financial gain, he still insists these vaccines are unsafe. However, those stubborn, uneducated “pro-vaxxers” simply will not hear it.

This week, Wakefield’s

documentary on the dangers of vaccines was pulled from the Tribeca film festival lineup after he was guaranteed a spot by actor Robert De Niro. After the retraction, De Niro claimed his reasoning was that he had previewed the film with “medical professionals” and no longer thought the film met his expectations. This is obviously after harassment by the provaccination community to silence any alternative to vaccination.

Medical professionals tout the positive results of vaccines but never seem to mention how societies survived for centuries without regular immunization.

Though large-scale medical organizations such as the CDC and the National Institutes of Health endlessly proclaim the safety of vaccines, common people, such as ex-Playboy bunny Jenny McCarthy, have bravely spoken out about the medical risks of

vaccination.

Despite being mocked with the Pigasus Award by the James Randi Educational Foundation for her “pseudoscience,” McCarthy has rightly continued to defend Wakefield’s assertions and her own beliefs on the right of the parents to decide what is and is not safe for their children.

It is obvious the medical community will stop at nothing in forcing parents to vaccinate their children, despite health risks and life-long disorders they may cause. Communities survived for centuries more naturally without the addition of vaccines, and I believe modern medical treatments should understand their status as optional in society.

Editor’s note: April Fools!

This story was crafted by a writer as an April Fool’s prank and contains false information. daperspectives@mail.wvu.edu

Letters to the Editor can be sent 284 Prospect St. or emailed to daperspectives@mail.wvu.edu. Letters should include name, title and be no more than 300 words. Letters and columns, excluding the editorial, are not necessarily representative of The Daily Athenaeum’s opinion. EDITORIAL STAFF: MADDADDY FLECK, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF • DAD SCHLAKE, MANAGING EDITOR • ABDADDY HUMPHREYS, OPINION EDITOR • KOYNEYE WEST, CITY EDITOR • KAYDADDY ASBURY, ASSOCIATE CITY EDITOR • STATDADDY STATMAN, SPORTS EDITOR • CHRISDADDY JACKSON, ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR • CAITDADDY WORRELL, A&E EDITOR • WESTDADDY THOMPSON, ASSOCIATE A&E EDITOR • SPELLDADDY SPELLMAN, ART DIRECTOR • MODADDY PENNINGTON, COPY DESK CHIEF THEDAONLINE.COM COURTDADDY GATTO, CAMPUS CONNECTION & SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR (TWITTER) • ALDADDY LITTEN, SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR (INSTAGRAM & FACEBOOK) • LEXDADDY RANDOLPH, WEB EDITOR

A&E FASHION IN 4

Friday April 1, 2016

CONTACT US

304-293-5092 ext. 3 | DAA&E@mail.wvu.edu

Full Bloom

Students show off season’s trends by mel smith

A&E writer @dailyathenaeum

Spring has officially sprung in Morgantown. The weather varies from sunny and 75 degrees to April showers bringing May flowers. The warmth spring brings encourages people to unpack their short sleeves and break out a new wardrobe. The following five spring trends may be hanging in your closet or will be seen around campus during the last few weeks of the semester.

Statement Necklaces The name of the accessory says it all. Statement necklaces are assets for most outfits to stand out this spring season. The necklace is usually big, but not too bulky, made to supplement an outfit needing a pop of color. The necklaces vary in size and color, but are used mostly to enhance a basic outfit or serve as a finishing touch. Statement necklaces have been in style for a few seasons and do not seem to be leaving the fashion scene anytime soon.

They can be found for low prices at Forever 21, H&M and Charlotte Russe.

Oversized Attire This style sounds unappealing but is truly an extremely beneficial look for the busy college student. The

term baggy clothes must be clarified. The trend of the season entails certain types of baggy clothes, meaning clothes that are bigger and do not fit tight on the person wearing the clothes. Styles like this trending this season include boyfriend jeans, a sweater draping off the shoulder or a loose dress. The trick to this trend is to not wear too many baggy items together.

For example, a loose sweater would look stylish with leggings or skinny jeans.

style and do not seem to be going out of style any time soon. The look is fitting for men and women but is more popular among fashionable males. The button down shirt is usually made with cotton material, which is light and comfortable for the mid 60-degree weathered days to come. Button down shirtsleeves can be buttoned at the cuff or rolled up depending on the outfit. These tops are appropriate with jeans or Kristen Uppercue/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM shorts for men and women.

Pastel-colored button down Rachel Teter, Benji Wilson,and Shannon Curtin share a laugh while hanging out Sheer Maxi- Dresses shirts are trending this sea- in front of Woodburn. son, especially in the newly Floor length dresses were introduced colors rose quartz in style last spring season and serenity. but were packed away for the colder weather. Now, the Sperry Boat Shoes warm weather is back, and Sperry’s have never quite long dresses are making a comeback on campus. Floor gone out of style and are not length dresses are suitable leaving anytime soon. Sperfor the breezy spring weather ry’s are the popular boat because the length retains shoes worn by men and warmth for women’s legs. On women of all ages. The shoes the other hand, the style is ap- are tan, encompassing a neupropriate for warmer spring tral color matching most outdays because the sheer ma- fits. The type of shoe proterial results in a light weight motes a preppy style. Sperry’s dress. This style can be pur- can be seen all over campus, chased at retailers such as worn with or without socks.

Forever 21, Target and Char- The reason Sperry’s are poplotte Russe for moderate ular is because they can be prices or even for lower prices worn with almost any outat the local Walmart. fit and still look fresh. The shoes are moderately priced Pastel Button-Down but they are worn for years, Shirts so the price to pay is certainly Kristen Uppercue/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM Kristen Uppercue/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM worth it.

Shannon Curtin dons a chiffon maxi outside of Woodburn Rachel Teter flaunts a white statement necklace while attendPastel button down dress Hall. ing classes on WVU’s downtown campus. shirts have never gone out of daa&e@mail.wvu.edu

Ben Gallaher to rock out at Schmitt’s Saloon by rayla claypool A&E correspondent @dailyathenaeum

Country rocker Ben Gallaher is rolling back into Morgantown tonight for a show at Schmitt’s Saloon.

Gallaher, a 23-year-old Pennsylvania native, has been building a name for himself since his first record deal in Oct. 2014. After he graduated from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, with a degree in Entertainment Industry Studies, a professor from Belmont introduced Gallaher to an executive at Sony Music Nashville. He ended up signing a record deal with the company.

According to Gallaher, he spent every weekend touring the east coast and midwest, and it was his unique sound that spurred his professor to introduce him to the record label.

“My music is best described as southern rock-n-roll with a country lyric,” Gallaher said. “My sound is uniquely recognizable by my signature guitar riffs and edgy vocals.”

Before he was signing deals with record labels, Gallaher was playing for Pennsylvania state correctional facilities. It started in 2011 when Gallaher was approached by a friend and fan to play a show for the inmates at one institution. Eventually, it spread to shows at other facilities, and then it developed into a month-long tour of correctional facilities across Pennsylvania he called the “Barbed Tour.”

“Whether in a prison, a bar, or a church, music is universal,” Gallaher said. “As a songwriter and artist, my passions are fueled by the positive impact music brings to the lives of other individuals.”

He does not have much recorded music

currently available, but he is scheduled to begin recording his first studio album this month. Gallaher said he has over 110 written songs to choose from for the record.

Gallaher has been playing Schmitt’s Saloon since 2013, and he’s ready to return to play for his West Virginia fans.

“We love getting back to Morgantown any chance we can because of the enthusiastic energy of our fans in West Virginia,” he said.

Eric LaFontsee plays with Gallaher in addition to filling the role of tour manager. He is also excited to return to West Virginia.

“The fans are so enthusiastic and share the same love for country music,” LaFontsee said. “When we can see that the crowd is having as much fun as we are on stage, it fuels the performance even more.”

Gallaher’s website describes his shows as engaging and energetic enough to make concert-goers want to pump their fists and sing along. When asked why people should come to show the tonight, Gallaher had a slightly different answer.

“Because there is nothing better than cold beer and country music on a Friday night in West Virginia,” he said.

Schmitt’s Saloon, a restaurant, bar and concert venue, tries to represent the state of West Virginia as much as possible. The booths and the bar are both made of materials from old structures in the state, according to the Saloon’s Facebook page.

The show starts at 9 p.m. tonight at Schmitt’s Saloon. For tickets and more information visit https://eventbrite.com/e/ ben-gallaher-tickets-22586053494.

Ben Gallaher returns to Schmitt’s Saloon tonight.

pennlive.com

daa&e@mail.wvu.edu

Manor and Friends team up with National Headliner for Mainstage performance by chelsea walker A&e Writer @dailyathenaeum

There will be some serious barefooting in Bartow, as the ninth annual Camp Barefoot Music and Arts Festival returns to southern West Virginia.

In a three-day event bringing life to a virtually obsolete small community known as Pocahontas County, Camp Barefoot binds together the creatively charged relationship between music and the arts. Camp Barefoot features fine, handmade crafts from local artists as well as a variety of food options provided by food vendors.

With four-stages, the weekend festival houses multiple bands from different vantage points. Although Camp Barefoot is nestled in the foothills of a minuscule Appalachian town, top rated acts have made major appearances. From popular jam band musicians such as Keller Williams, Tea Leaf Green and the electro-infused improvised sounds of Lotus, Camp Barefoot continues to be a scene for independent music.

This year, Big Gigantic will return to the Broadberry Main Stage to bring their jazz inspired, hiphop electronic melodies. The Boulder, Co. based duo creates a unique sound through a drum and saxophone combination. Saxophonist and producer Dominic Lalli along with drummer Jeremy Salken have graced the stage at some of the most celebrated music festivals. Traveling near and far, the two electronic fiends have made appearances at Bonnaroo, Firefly Music Festival and Ultra.

This surely isn’t Big Gigantic’s first time to the mountain state; the group played at Morgantown’s Metropolitan Theatre in February of 2013, as well as at the All Good Music Festival.

Pocahontas County local, Shawn Owen will take the Heady Entertainment Car Camping Stage. Owen began his music career forming Stolen Element, a band infusing punk rock and reggae. With the band splitting, Owen struck out on his own, continuing to play the same style of beats that gave him his start in 1999. Now, the quintet made up of

Zach Ditmars, Ben Bays, Viki Nova, Nick Gladstone and Paul Clagett has played alongside major fellow punk-reggae groups such as Slightly Stoopid and G. Love and Special Sauce. With a full-length LP “Make Money” expected to drop in winter of 2015, the group hopes to release a national tour in the near future.

Camp Barefoot isn’t only about music and art; the festival also strives to give back. With the implementation of the Grass and Tree Campaign, the weekend festival has recently decided to take part in bettering the environment. Using the funds taken from the purchases of pre-party and car camping passes, Camp Barefoot plants wiregrass and longleaf pines that were native to the Neuse State Park after the festivities of the three-day event. With the ecosystem experiencing the effects of disasters, such as forest fires, clearing for development and the impact of the logging industry, plants such as the longleaf pine and wiregrass have suffered tremendously.

In its first installment in Camp Barefoot history, Dunk for Music will be on site Friday and Saturday.

Garrett Yurisko/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

The band The Manor and Friends will perform with National Headliner for the ninth annual Camp Barefoot Arts Festival.

With nine different musicians enter- up for grabs at the Camp Barefoot ing the tank, this family-friendly fun PhotoBooth. will allow anyone to dunk their faCamp Barefoot Music and Art vorite band members. All proceeds Festival will take place Thursday, from the event will benefit music Aug. 20 through Saturday, Aug. 22. education through the Help Other For more information on Camp People Experience Music program. Barefoot visit, http://campbareThose who participate won’t walk foot.org/ away empty handed, as special edidaa&e@mail.wvu.edu tion posters and free photos will be

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Friday April 1, 2016

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | 5

Influential ‘The Wheeling Jamboree’ to visit CAC by brittany osteen A&E writer @dailyathenaeum

West Virginia University is welcoming the iconic radio show, “The Wheeling Jamboree” The show started in 1933 and is celebrating its 83rd anniversary tomorrow with a live show at the Creative Arts Center.

“The Wheeling Jamboree” is one of the last shows of its time and one of the longest running. Only the “Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry” beats it for longevity. The show is known for pioneering country artists.

Brad Paisley launched his career with Wheeling Jamboree and is now a Grammy Award winning country star.

The concert includes performances by artists such as JoAnn Jones, Darnell Miller, Shana Smith, Steve Smith, Andrea Call, Isaac Cole, Don Hoard and the Jamboree Staff Band, and the WVU Bluegrass Band.

Hosting the party is Keith Bilbrey, the Country Radio Broadcasting Legend.

Bilbrey is no stranger to a country audience. He is currently known for being a country music radio personality on “Classic Country Weekly” and television host for “Larry’s Country Diner” in Nashville, Tenn.

Previously he worked as a disc jockey at Nashville’s WSM where he also was an announcer for “The Grand Ole Opry” and later a host.

JoAnn Jones was the first winner of StarQuest, the national talent competition by Wheeling Jamboree and is now an established country vocalist. She remains tight with “The Wheeling Jamboree” by opening weekly and regularly playing in the annual Jamboree in the Hills.

She recently released her CD “Richly Blessed” and is focusing on pursuing gospel and inspirational music.

Darnell Miller has made music for more than 50 years. His music style has been referred to as “hillbilly”, and he has released several hit singles. Miller’s music has landed him membership in the Rocka-

billy Hall of Fame and the West Virginia Golden Circle of Country Music Honor Society.

Shana Smith joined the Jamboree in 2013. Only one year before, she released her independent album, “The Heart of Happiness.”

She has been cast in several videos and commercials as well as performed at the annual Country Music Association event in Nashville.

Andrea Call recently worked with Darnell Miller.

Their song, released in 2015, “Lovers or Friends” is currently a hit on the international country music charts. While only recently being introduced to Wheeling Jamboree, she has quickly become a regular performer.

Isaac Cole has been nicknamed the “Country Beiber” during his “American Idol” audition on the 2016 season. He is only 15 years old, but has been playing for 12 of those years.

In 2012 he received the Youth in Music Award and two years later received the

nytimes.com

‘The Wheeling Jamboree,’ seen here in the 1930s, is one of the oldest radio shows. Through the years, it has launched careers of many famous country stars, including Brad Paisley.

Best New Artist Award.

Also playing at the concert tomorrow is two of Mon Hills Record’s clients, the WVU Bluegrass Band and Steve Smith. The WVU Bluegrass band joined forces in 2014 and recently recorded their first album, “West Virginia Hills” with Mon Hills

Record Label.

When he was just 12, Smith traded his dirt bike for his very first instrument. Now he has opened for some of music’s biggest names like Darryl Worley, Lee Brice, David Nail and David Allen Coe. “The Wheeling Jambo-

ree” concert starts at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the WVU Creative Arts Center. Tickets range from $23-$35. WVU Student tickets are $10.

For additional information, visit http://events. wvu.edu daa&e@mail.wvu.edu

Activision vows to stop making ‘Call of Duty’ by westley thompson associate A&E editor @westleyt93

Activision vows to stop making “Call of Duty” Much to the surprise of industry insiders, game publishing giant Activision announced today the next “Call of Duty” will be the last.

The “Call of Duty” series, commonly abbreviated “CoD,” had its ups and downs over the years. The first game in the franchise released in 2003 and was developed by Infinity Ward, a game developing company comprised of developers who formerly worked on the “Medal of Honor” series.

The first few installments of the “Call of Duty” franchise were set in World War II. Although these early games were met with positive reviews, they did not make much of an impact on the video game landscape.

That would change with the fifth installment of the series, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.”

“Modern Warfare” completely revamped the gameplay, most notably adding RPG-like leveling elements to the online multiplayer.

For the first time on a console shooter, players were able to customize their character’s abilities and loadout, unlocking better abilities and gear as they leveled up. This proved to be a winning formula, and “Modern Warfare” became inarguably one of the most influential games ever. Almost every shooter made after “Modern Warfare” would end up adopting a similar gameplay style.

The “Call of Duty” franchise was able to ride the

youtube.com

With meaningless design tweaks as the only changes ever made to the series, it didn’t take long for ‘Call of Duty’s’ aesthetic to go from World War II to sci-fi nonsense. wave of momentum created by the first “Modern Warfare” for a while. Its sequel, “Modern Warfare 2” was met with critical and fan acclaim. However, the success would not last. Activision began buying up developers in order to publish a new “CoD” every year in an effort to maximize profits.

The series stagnated as emphasis was put on a quick development cycle over innovative gameplay.

“Honestly, I’m surprised we were able to pull this bit for so long,” said Kyle Stavis, head development cycle director at Activision. “Around ‘Black Ops 2’ we thought consumers would begin to realize we were just pushing out the same game over and over again to take their money. Instead they kept giving us $60 every year to do nothing.”

Although some gamers and critics caught on that every “CoD” was the same game with just inconsequential cosmetic changes, major news outlets were paid off to provide high review scores and discuss significant, but fictional, changes.

“It was simple,” said Samantha Reynolds, a marketing executive at Activision. “We offered reviewers money to toss in a few paragraphs about revolutionary new gameplay elements and slap a 9.5 out of 10 on it. In reality all the development team did was reskin some old maps and add a new gun or two.”

Despite the franchise’s stagnation, each new release raked in cash. With such a seemingly perfect racket going, why did Activision decide to stop now?

“Honestly, it has become exhausting,” Stavis said. “If some of the more savvy consumers have grown bored, how do you think our developers feel? They spend a week copy and pasting code, and another week changing around some graphics and color palettes. The other 50 weeks of the year they do nothing. One team actually made 12 years worth of “Call of Dutys” because they were super bored for three months.”

The developers are thankful to see the series end.

“I’m glad it’s over,” said a tearful Stephen Lee, a programmer at Treyarch, one of Activision’s “CoD” development teams. “I got into game development because I’m a creative, because I’m passionate about it. That’s why we all got into this field. But making these games, over

and over, is mind numbing.

There is only so much time you can spend at the office browsing Reddit before time, your life, everything, becomes meaningless. Now that ‘Call of Duty’s’ oppressive regime is over, we’re looking forward to making quality games that are innovative, story driven and most importantly, take years of challenging development to create.”

Reactions from the gaming community have been mixed. Some are calling for today to be declared a global holiday in celebration of “CoD’s” demise. Others are wallowing in fear and sadness, intimidated by the prospect of buying a new game based off its merits instead of its name. A vocal group in the latter category are talking about making “Halo” their go-to series

now, saying since the spark died after “Halo 3” they would feel comfortable with the dull, repetitive Call of Duty-esque gameplay “Halo” has acquired in its newer releases.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do anymore,” said Jimmy Reynolds, a 12 year old with access to his mom’s credit card, who recently learned that he can use foul language online (as long as his mom and dad aren’t in earshot that is). “My friends and I use to go online after school to play ‘Call of Duty.’

We’d pull sick 360-noscopeheadshots and tell players on the other team we did dirty stuff with their moms.”

For better or worse, the “Call of Duty” franchise is finally coming to an end.

From humble beginnings the series enjoyed a meteoric rise thanks to innovative concepts, but quickly after began its descent into the suffocating depths of mediocrity. While the first two “Modern Warfares” will fondly be remembered for their greatness, it is sad to think their legacy will likely be scarred by the infinite line of dull sequels that followed. To borrow a quote from human civilization’s magnum opus, “The Dark Knight,” “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” From here it looks like “CoD” died as Two-Face rather than as Harvey Dent.

Editor’s note: April Fools!

This story was created by a writer as an April Fools prank and contains false information. This article is a work of fiction and does not reflect the actual behavior or practices of organizations mentioned within. wethompson@mail.wvu.edu

student poll

What do those white trees outside the Mountainlair smell like to you?

Spring has sprung, meaning students are able to enjoy warm weather, more hours of daylight and beautiful plants and animals becoming active.

While most plants smell wonderful, some do not.

Students who have been on the Mountainlair green within the past week know the pain of walking to class or trying to enjoy the sunshine and being assaulted by the pungent white trees.

These trees, officially called the Bradford pear in the United States, are infamous for their disgusting odor.

The trees are native to China and Vietnam and use their smell to attract insects and birds that help spread their seeds.

While the tree’s scent may be attractive to birds and bugs, it is quite unpleasing to people.

Yesterday, 118 students in the Mountainlair were asked what they thought the “gross white trees” on campus smelled like.

Responses to openended poll questions are usually quite varied and must be grouped into broader categories. How-

ever, for this poll the responses were strangely similar, and specific.

The most popular response was reproductive fluids, which 54 percent of the students believed the trees smelled like.

The second most popular answer with 31 percent of the responses was that the trees smelled like “a can of tuna mixed with pool water and left in the sun.”

Although schools claim they plant the trees due to their visually attractive flowers and high resistance to disease, a popular conspiracy theory exists claiming something quite different. Some people believe the trees are planted specificaly because of their pungent odor. The theory goes that schools do not want their students to ignore their studies in favor of outside activities, so they plant the trees around campus to drive students inside where they cannot enjoy the weather and are more likely to study instead.

Editors note: This story was crafted by a writer as an April Fools prank and contains false information.

photo: godasagardener.com graph: Westley Thompson/The Daily Athenaeum

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

6 | CAMPUS CONNECTION

S U D O k U

Friday April 1, 2016

Difficulty Level Medium DOWNLOAD ON IOSANDANDROID, AND FOLLOW “DAILYATHENAEUM” TO BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY TODAY!

#PowerofPurple

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk.

Thursday’s puzzle solved Post most creative aurasma photo using the hashtag for a chance to win!

Awaken your Aurasma with the power of PURPLE! AND ENTER INTO OUR REALITY!

Across 1 PŸtisserie cake 7 Sold for, as a stock 15 Derby racers 16 Taps, essentially 17 Reprimand to one not picking up 19 Pound denizen 20 Biblical birthright seller 21 Oldest of the gods, in Plato’s “Symposium” 22 Rail transport landmark 26 At a minimum 27 Swimmer’s option 32 Invite 35 Game winner 36 Lunch order 39 Minuteman, e.g.

42 Smoke and mirrors 43 “The Soul of a Butterfly” memoirist 44 Essen article 45 Concluded, with “up” 46 First 12 children of Gaia and Uranus 49 “How surprising!”

54 Light, colorwise 58 Chanel No. 1?

59 Columnist Barrett 60 Sir Edward Elgar composition whose title has never been solved ... and a hint to this puzzle’s circles 65 Exercises displaying great strength 66 Conventioneer with antennae, perhaps 67 “Don’t budge!”

68 “Honor Thy Father” author Down 1 Exit 2 Intense 3 Design for some MacDonalds 4 Poetic “previous to” 5 Its slot always pays 6 Winner of all three tug-of-war medals in the 1904 Olympics: Abbr.

7 Formal phone call response 8 Journalist son of Mia Farrow 9 Debate 10 Some evidence 11 Carlisle Cullen’s wife in the “Twilight” series 12 Evil follower?

13 And 14 Word with coin or ring 15 Places to clean and press 18 Powder room containers

23 Tied up 24 Online finance company 25 Hard-to-miss signs 27 Trig function 28 Hosp. personnel 29 Like much of Australia’s interior 30 Noah of “The Librarian” TV films 31 Look wrong?

32 Reichenbach Falls setting 33 Teed off 34 “I __ it!”

37 Stradivari’s tutor 38 Lombardy’s capital 40 Co. merged into Verizon 41 Start one’s law practice 47 Composer Stravinsky 48 Hit 49 Caesarean section?

50 Mayflower figure 51 Errant golf shots 52 Musical with “jr.” and “KIDS” versions for young performers 53 Shock, in a way

54 Church lineups 55 Gross subj.?

56 Capital of Turkey 57 Like French toast 61 __-jongg 62 Addams family member 63 Altar constellation 64 Part of 40-Down: Abbr.

Thursday’S puzzle solved

C R O S S W O R D

PHOTO OF THE DAY West Virginia University students take advantage of a warm day and sit outside at the Evansdale Crossing | photo by shelby thoburn

HOROSCOPE BY nancy black

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) HHHHH Don’t rely on an unstable source of income. The next two days are good for travel. Investigate possibilities. Act on a passionate impulse, as long as you can pay for it.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)HH Forgive miscommunications. Friends are a big help today and tomorrow ... contribute what you can. Love gives you power, especially together. Roll CANCER (June 21-July 22) HHHH around obstacles. Ignore false ruWork together to tackle financial mors and gossip. Wait and rest. goals today and tomorrow. Discover new savings and efficiencies. Sort, revise and file documents and payTAURUS (April 20-May 20) ments. Discuss how to increase sales.

HHHH Expect more responsibility Get creative. over the next few days. Career opportunities show up. Don’t gamble, LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) HHHH speculate or slack off. Notice worries, Misunderstandings with a partner and then release. Maintain a tight could slow the action today and tobudget and an attractive presenta- morrow. Listen more and talk less. tion. Pay attention.

Find other ways to cut costs. Learn

from past failures without getSCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) HHHH ting stopped. Try artistic solutions. Home and family demand more atCompromise. tention over the next two days. Clear clutter, and free space for new enVIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) deavors. Quiet organizational projHHHHH Get creative at work ects satisfy. Tend your garden with over the next few days, to handle love. increased demand. Changes at the top or a partner’s frustrations proSAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) vide new obstacles. Beautify the HHH Clarify what you mean in your package. Dress for success. communications today and tomorrow. Research and investigate the LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) HHHH data. Listen to expert considerations.

Practice your game over the next Changes and temporary confusion two days. Talk is cheap ... pay atten- could rattle. Speak only the truth. tion to the action. Use hidden resources. Distractions abound. Find CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) HHH humor in an awkward moment.

Your morale gets a boost with your income. Rake in the dough today and tomorrow. Short-fused tempers

blow with little provocation. Discuss finances later. Earning seems easy, while saving requires concentration.

BORN TODAY Explore this year.

Your good work pays off. Save and plan for a trip. Begin a two-year partAQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) HHH nership phase. The Virgo eclipse Personal matters take priority over sparks passion into your work, and the next few days. Don’t worry about money (or spend much, either). Ig- the Pisces eclipse inspires an inner nore criticism for now. Anticipate shift. Pursue love. disagreement and avoid risky business. Enjoy peaceful alone time.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) HHHH Listen to your intuition today and tomorrow. Dreams have messages or insight. Assess and make plans. Keep your word or change it. Slow down and look from different angles.

7

SPORTS

Friday April 1, 2016

CONTACT US 304-293-5092 ext. 2 | DAsports@mail.wvu.edu

NOW OR NEVER

GARRETT YURISKO/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

WVU’s Chad Donato throws a pitch this season against Old Dominion.

West Virginia needs strong showing against No. 21 Oklahoma State

By Alec Gearty Sports Writer @DailyAthenaeum

After losing six of its last eight games, the upcoming stretch for West Virginia University baseball team’s schedule does not get any easier as the Mountaineers start their series with the No. 21 Oklahoma State Cowboys tonight.

It will be the first conference series at home for the Mountaineers, and the matchup couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time for West Virginia after its disappointing series against Canisius.

WVU went scoreless in its final 12 innings earlier this week, but it is looking forward to a chance to get its offense going against the Cowboys this weekend.

“I’m anxious to get them in town,” said WVU head coach Randy Mazey. “Guys just have to motivate themselves when they get in the batter’s box to have good at-bats.”

Oklahoma State boasts a rotation that is by far an elite standard in the Big 12.

The Cowboys pitching staff holds a combined ERA of 2.24, with the mark leading the conference and is fourth best in the nation.

Making up the top three of the OSU rotation is Trey Cobb, Jensen Elliot and Thomas Hatch. All three along with OSU closer, Tyler Buffett, are among the top 10 in ERA in the conference.

While the Cowboys pitching has been dominant, their offense is a different story. OSU’s batting average is dead last in the conference and leads all teams in strikeouts (213).

With the lackluster statistic of his offense to hide it, OSU’s Dustin Williams has been a powerhouse in the lineup. The junior leads the conference with

seven homeruns, while batting .228.

WVU will send its normal big three of Chad Donato, Ross Vance and BJ Myers to go up against OSU. Coach Mazey believes his pitching staff must lead by example, and with the pitching success will come the offensive success.

“Starting pitching dictates the energy level, the crowd, the enthusiasm. If your starting pitching isn’t good, there will be a letdown across the board,” Mazey said. “If you don’t pitch, you don’t win. In basketball, if you don’t

shoot, you don’t win, and in baseball, if you don’t throw strikes you don’t win.

Lately, WVU’s starting pitching has been off, which led to a large workload for the Mountaineer bullpen. The last Mountaineer starter to go through five innings was Chad Donato on March 25, who went seven. Since then, Mountaineer starters recorded a combined 9.3 innings in the three total starts.

After being swept by TCU early in the season, WVU swept Kansas last week. The series against

the Cowboys can dictate where the Mountaineers are regarding conference competition.

The Mountaineers defeated Oklahoma last year, winning 5-4 after Jackson Cramer drove in the goahead run in the top of the ninth inning in Stillwater.

OSU got the best of WVU two weeks later when it mattered most, defeating the Mountaineers in the Big 12 Tournament, 3-0.

The matchup for that game was Cobb vs. Donato, also a possible matchup for this weekend. dasports@mail.wvu.edu

gymnastics

Underdog Mountaineers look to make impact at NCAA Regionals

WVU’s Kirah Koshinski competes against Kentucky earlier this season.

By Carter Sokolowski seed in the championSports Writer ship in a Southeast region @DailyAthenaeum that is known to be home to some of the top powerThe West Virginia Uni- houses in women’s colleversity gymnastics team giate gymnastics.

They will be vying for one will attempt to keep its postseason play alive when of the top four spots against they compete in the NCAA the likes of No. 4 Alabama, Regional Championships No. 10 California, No. 15 on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Boise State, No. 21 Kentucky and unranked BowlAlabama.

In order to qualify for the ing Green.

National Championships, The top-seeded Crimyou must place in either son Tide are the clear fathe top two spots where vorites heading into the you will be granted an au- meet. West Virginia comtomatic bid straight into peted against them in Tuscompetition or you must caloosa earlier this season finish third or fourth where and lost by a score of 197.9 you will compete in a semi- to 195.25. The 197.375 mark final match for the right to was the second-highest score recorded against the go to the championships.

It may be an uphill bat- Mountaineers this season. tle for the Mountaineers The Alabama squad is who were given the fifth led by senior Lauren Beers

askar salikhov/the daily athenaeum

and sophomore Mackenzie Brannan, both of whom have been lights out for the team all year long.

Brannan is the topranked all-around competitor in the meet, holding the No. 18 spot nationally and boasting a regional qualifying score of 39.410.

Beers holds a top ten ranking on the vault and a top 20 ranking on the floor.

Beers season was highlighted in a meet against Georgia where she scored a perfect 10.0 on her vault routine.

Top to bottom, this Crimson Tide have the most talented roster and it would be a shock if they didn’t win the meet in their home gym. However, one team with at least a semblance of a chance at shocking Ala-

bama is the second-seeded University of California.

The Golden Bears had their ups and downs throughout the season, putting up scores ranging from 194.225 to 197.5.

However, California saw it’s best scores toward the end of the season, and they have been building on the momentum ever since.

They boast a team RQS of 196.77.

The gymnast to watch for the Golden Bears is sophomore Toni-Ann Williams, who leads the team at every event except for the balance beam. Look for the team to rely heavily on her scores in Tuscaloosa.

Boise State comes next in line and earned the rights to the three-seed.

The Broncos opened up

the season with a 195.7, and never scored south of 196.0 the rest of the season.

The team has been improving exponentially week by week, earning their top two scores of the season in their previous two meets.

Their last meet was the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference Championship, which they won outright with a score of 197.025.

Not much drama is expected within the top three spots, although Boise State has a real chance of slipping by California for the second place. The real battle will be between Kentucky and West Virginia for the fourth and final spot.

The Wildcats and the Mountaineers competed in Morgantown earlier

this season in what was the closest finishing margin either team had all season. The final score favored Kentucky, 195.8-195.6.

The meet in Morgantown showed the Wildcats have two stars in Sidney Dukes and Katie Stuart, both of whom earned individual wins and put on incredible performances. Whether or not Kentucky will edge out West Virginia relies almost solely on the performances of those two gymnasts.

The Mountaineers have not qualified for the NCAA National Championships since 2000, and they have as good a shot as ever to qualify this year if all the pieces fall into place on Saturday. dasports@mail.wvu.edu

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

8 | SPORTS

Friday April 1, 2016

Women’s Soccer

Mountaineers continue spring slate Sunday against rival Pitt

By Connor Hicks Sports Writer @DailyAthenaeum

The West Virginia women’s soccer team, attempting to regroup after the best season in the program’s 20year history, will play their second match of their rigorous six-game spring slate this weekend. The Mountaineers travel to face rival Pittsburgh at 3 p.m. Sunday The match is one of several tough teams the elite eight finishers will face this spring, playing a batch of difficult opponents to prepare for the 2016 season.

The difficulty of the team’s spring schedule was made clear in their first match, facing the Western New York Flash of the Women’s Professional Soccer League. The team fell 3-0 to a squad of some of the best in America, despite the absence of superstars Kadeisha Buchanan and Ashley Lawrence.

The Canadian duo, who spent much of 2015 in the national spotlight following astounding performances in the 2015 Women’s World Cup, are currently training for the 2016 Summer Olympics with the Canadian National team.

2015 was the year of Kadeisha Buchanan, who won nearly every award possible, including the World Cup’s top young player award, the Hermann

award for college soccer’s best player and named a finalist for the best female soccer player in the world.

In the absence of the team’s best players, the results of the spring schedule are not to be taken into consideration too greatly, but the matches will prove to be an accurate assessment of younger players who didn’t see much time last year. Coach Nikki IzzoBrown will use the games to find starters to replace major losses in Kailey Utley and Hannah Steadman, who graduate next month.

Against the Flash, the Mountaineers saw sophomore Michelle Newhouse step in to net to fill Steadman’s vacancy, holding the professional roster to a scoreless first half before allowing three second half goals. Freshmen Bianca St. Georges, Easther Mayi Kith and Vanessa Flores all started on defense, playing all 90 minutes in Buchanan’s absence.

Pittsburgh finished 107-1 last year, going 4-6 in a difficult ACC conference schedule. While the Panthers narrowly missed the playoff field last season, they already gave a 5-0 beating to Penn State this spring, defeating the squad that knocked the Mountaineers out of the season in the Elite Eight last year. Following that, the Panthers gained another impres-

Bianca St. Georges crosses past a Duquesne defender in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. sive win over Ohio State on March 25, winning 6-2.

The Pittsburgh roster, like West Virginia’s, features several Canadians, but more notably only graduated one senior, Finland native Roosa Arvas, who started 72 of 74 career games with the Panthers. The Pittsburgh ros-

ter is considerably smaller than the West Virginia roster but features eight freshmen and a new transfer in left back Brianna Shingary, who started all 21 games and scored 2 goals as a freshman at the University of Buffalo last year.

While the two teams have not faced in the regu-

lar season since departing the Big East for the ACC and Big 12, the Mountaineers had much success in the rivalry before the split. The Mountaineers boast wins in 2010 and 2009, and a 1-1 tie in 2008.

Following the matchup against their bitter rivals, the Mountaineers will host

Askar Salikhov/The Daily Athenaeum

Georgetown, who knocked them out of the tournament in 2014 and won an exhibition matchup in August. To round out the spring schedule, the Mountaineers will face Maryland, American and Ohio State. dasports@mail.wvu.edu

Track

WVU splits ranks this weekend in hope of NCAA qualification

BY JOEL NORMAN SPORTS WRITER @dailyathenaeum

The West Virginia University women’s track and field team is participating in the Texas Relays, but today they will also participate in the Stanford Invitational, the second of three events spanning four days.

The team split earlier this week to allocate the proper athletes to the corresponding events. Head coach Sean Cleary won’t be at both events, but he will still keep

tabs on his girls regardless of where they are competing.

“We don’t split the team up very often, but when we do, we do so with the intentions of hitting NCAranksA qualifying marks,” Cleary said in an interview with WVUsports.com. “Our goals are simple this weekend: To qualify as many as we can for the NCAA Championships.”

West Virginia has not participated in the Texas Relays since 2012, when eight Mountaineers finished in the top seven of their respective categories. Cleary

has stressed the importance of getting lots of NCAA Championship qualifiers, and most of West Virginia’s qualifiers will likely come from the group participating in the Relays.

5000-meter runners Brynn Harshbarger, Savana Plombon and Sydney Scott recorded the best scores of their respective careers in last year’s Stanford Invitational. Scott led the trio, finishing 12th with a time of 16:58.63. Right after Scott was Plombon, who finished 13th with a time of 16:58.64.

Harshbarger rounded out the 5000-meter run group by finishing 18th with a time of 17:08.12.

Now, West Virginia is scheduled to compete tomorrow in Oxford, Ohio, for the Miami Duals. Cleary has not specified how many athletes will be competing. It is likely those participating in California will head to Ohio since the Texas Relays continue Saturday morning.

Following the three events this weekend, West Virginia will reunite and travel to Fairfax, Virginia,

for the Mason Spring Invitational hosted by George Mason.

The schedule is relentless after that for the Mountaineers, offering few breaks.

Every weekend in April will be spent at a new destination, fighting for an NCAA Track and Field Championship berth.

This is not the only time this season West Virginia will participate in two events at the same time. From April 22-23, the Mountaineers will split again for the Jesse Owens Classic in Colum-

bus, Ohio, and the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Stanford Invitational will be a bit of a time adjustment for the Mountaineers.

The events today begin at 8 a.m. The West Virginia athletes in Texas will start the day at 10 a.m. The final day of competition begins at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Texas Relays, with the events viewable through the Longhorn Sports Network, available on the WatchESPN app. dasports@mail.wvu.edu

GOLF

West Virginia looks to improve at Mason Rudolph Championship

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WVU head coach Sean Covich addresses the media after being named the program’s head coach.

By Neel Madhavan Sports Writer @DailyAthenaeum

After a less-than-stellar performance three weeks ago at the Seminole Intercollegiate, the West Virginia University men’s golf team returns to the links this weekend for the Mason Rudolph Championship, hosted by No. 10 Vanderbilt in Franklin, Tennessee. Like the Mountaineers faced at Florida State, Vanderbilt’s tournament is deep and talented, consisting of the likes of No. 17 Alabama, No. 19 Florida, SMU and a number of other teams.

“I think we found our best five,” said WVU head coach Sean Covich. “I think our best five are in the lineup. Qualifying just worked out that way. We got a lot of good reps in during spring break. We played a lot of golf. In February, we were rusty like when we went to Houston, but the rust is gone. I feel like we got a lot of good work in.”

That five consists of senior captain Easton Renwick, juniors Chris Williams and Alan Cooke, sophomore Avery Schneider and freshman Max Sear.

Tucked deep in the rolling hills of Tennessee lies the Vanderbilt Legends Club golf course where the Mountaineers will test their mettle this weekend. Vanderbilt Legends Club has had the luxury of hosting a number of LPGA tournaments and a U.S. Senior Open Qualifying tournament as well.

“We played at Vanderbilt when I was at Mississippi State, so I’ve seen this course,” Covich said.

“It’s a good course. It’s flat. You can make some birdies, and you can make some big numbers. It has a good finish. A couple par5’s at the end that are risk reward. One of them you can’t get there, so you have to lay out a certain yardage. 18 is reachable, but there are hazards you can make. I’ve seen guys make threes or eights there. So

wvillustrated.com

you never know. I’ve seen guys play 14, 15 holes well but he still has to play 17 and 18, which he can play birdie-triple bogey or birdie-eagle, so it’s an exciting finish.”

Renwick and Sear have been the most consistent performers this season for West Virginia, with Sear shooting a 73.05 stroke average, just ahead of Renwick’s 73.28 average.

Both have also managed two top-10 finishes this season.

“I had a little hiccup at Florida State,” Renwick said. “First round I didn’t play very well. But I played well during spring break and I had a few good rounds and not so good rounds, but I think I’ve already worked that out practicing, so I feel pretty good going into the next few events.”

The Mountaineers will open with the first 36 holes of play tomorrow and wrap up the tournament with the final 18 on Sunday. dasports@mail.wvu.edu

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Friday April 1, 2016

SPORTBALL | 9

ap

Two teams afoul of NCAA meet in tournament “Infraction Bowl” HOUSTON (AP) — Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim doesn’t like using the term “clean” to describe a college sports program, because the opposite of that would mean “dirty.”

Nothing is that black and white in the NCAA. For proof, check out the Final Four, where Boeheim’s team will play North Carolina in a semifinal pitting one program serving sanctions for lack of institutional control against another that’s dealing with one of the biggest academic scandals in the history of college sports - a case that could be resolved soon after the nets are cut down.

It’s a story line that speaks to the almost mandatory detachment of coaches from certain parts of their programs, in part to give them some “plausible deniability” when something goes amiss.It’s about the impenetrable rulebook of college sports, and how hard it is to keep a program from running afoul of anything in that book’s 405 pages.

And, it’s about the realities of a sport that concludes each season with a tournament that bankrolls a significant chunk of the college sports budget via its $10.8 billion TV contract.

“The coaches and administrators put parameters around all this that allow them to view them-

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim at a game earlier this season. selves as ‘pretty good,’ ademic misconduct and a given how the system lax drug-testing program. works,” said Tom Palaima, The fact that the Ora Classics professor at Uni- ange are in Houston - after versity of Texas, who has squeaking into the 68-team long railed against the su- field as a 10 seed that many persized role of sports in experts felt didn’t belong college.

- is, to many, a statement “Sports fans compart- about the ineffectiveness of mentalize it. That way, ev- the punishment. Even so, eryone is able to live with Boeheim believes his team themselves,” he said. got treated unfairly.

Along with scholar“Cheating, that’s not ship reductions and vacat- true,” the coach said about ing previous victories, the his program’s misdeeds.

NCAA forced Boeheim to “Rules being broken, that’s serve a nine-game suspen- a lot different.” sion earlier in the season He says his current playfor violations that included ers “weren’t involved in impermissible benefits, ac- anything,” and have suc-

GETTY IMAGES

ceeded because they’ve focused on basketball, not everything else swirling around the program.

Some find irony in the fact that while Syracuse plays on, players at SMU and Louisville are being penalized even though the majority of them didn’t have anything to do with troubles at their schools that resulted in both teams being excised from this year’s postseason. Had they been eligible, either team would’ve easily made the NCAA Tournament - possibly even taking a spot that eventually

went to Syracuse.

In an interview with The Associated Press, SMU coach Larry Brown, who has had his share of runins with the NCAA, refused to talk about his school’s issues or the overall state of the sport.

“It’s a great event,” Brown said of March Madness. “I don’t care what other people think, those people scratching their heads. I always watch. I love the college game and I care about it.”

There’s been speculation that Brown’s friend, 65-year-old Carolina coach

Roy Williams, might decide to retire after this season.

He’s coaching in his eighth Final Four, and the NCAA investigation is expected to wrap up shortly after the tournament.

It’s an ugly scandal, involving athletes and other students who took noshow classes for nearly two decades, resulting in artificially high grades while administrators ignored the issue.

“It’s different, what we had to go through. There were mistakes made. We said that freely,” Williams said. “We’re discouraged about it, sad about it. You can put any description there you want.”

Williams views this trip to the Final Four as a tribute to the toughness of his players, none of whom were part of the scandal, but all of whom have been able to set it aside and draw within two wins of the school’s sixth title.

Not everyone feels that way, and a lot of people take exception to watching two teams take the sport’s biggest stage, either of which could just as easily have been on the sideline had the NCAA responded differently.

“A lot of these people made bargains,” Palaima said. “And if you’re inside the club, you get caught up in something, and you don’t always see the consequences.”

Tainted Kenyan runners illegally entering, winning small US races NEWPORT, Kentucky (AP) — The runners came in all sizes, shapes and ages, from 5 to 99. Celebrating the Fourth of July, some raced in starry tops, shorts and headbands. For them, the 5K through the grounds of a Kentucky whiskey distillery, raising funds for that night’s Independence Day fireworks, was strictly fun.

For super-fit Kenyans at the front chasing cash prizes, it was strictly business.

Stragglers in the 2015 Great Buffalo Chase were still catching their breath as Lilian Mariita bashfully climbed onto the second step of the winners’ podium, $2,500 the richer. But her whole way of life - crisscrossing America, cashing in at small races, sending winnings back home to her dirt-poor village in Kenya was about to crumble.

Normally, the U.S. AntiDoping Agency would have no reason to police the annual jog in Frankfort. This time, acting on a tip, drug testers were waiting.

Lab techs found steroids in Mariita’s urine sample.

She was banned for eight years, the longest of any Kenyan runner. The 27-yearold’s racing career is over, and now she is back at square one: in Nyaramba, the muddy tea-plantation village in western Kenya she thought she’d escaped in 2011, when she left for the promise of a new life pounding American roads.

“I used to rely on this for money and I don’t know what is left for me,” Mariita said in an interview in the modest home she built with her U.S. winnings, sobbing while her Kentucky-born 2-year-old daughter gulped milk from a Minnie Mouse bottle.

“What will I do now?

What will I eat now?”

--Mariita is part of a legion of second-tier Kenyan runners who have come to the U.S. to compete for modest prizes that can help lift families out of poverty back home. Her story spotlights how the doping crisis cor-

Hey kids!

roding Kenya’s hard-earned reputation for athletic excellence has reached even the smallest recreational races a world away from the Kenyan highlands that teem with elite racers.

With Mariita caught, track’s global governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, says it is also zeroing in on her agent, former elite Russian athlete Larisa Mikhaylova, and the Kenyan and Ethiopian runners she manages out of Kentucky.

Mikhaylova’s business model is simple. In exchange for a cut of their prizes, she enters runners into far-flung U.S. road races, from Florida in the south to Michigan in the north, that are small enough to be winnable but still large enough to offer modest cash rewards to top finishers. An added bonus for anyone thinking of cheating at lower-tier recreational runs is that they often don’t have funds for expensive drug-testing.

Mikhaylova’s runners have a remarkable success rate - and a string of positive drug tests, nearly all at races in Mexico. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mikhaylova insisted she was blameless, saying she registers athletes only for U.S. races and that runners were freelancing when they competed in Mexico.

Still, their failed tests placed her business on the radar of antidoping investigators and some U.S. race directors told AP they’ll no longer accept any of her runners.

Three Kenyans who worked with Mikhaylova have been caught doping since 2012.

“We are working with USADA on her, and that group in particular,” said Kyle Barber, the IAAF out-of-competition testing and intelligence coordinator. “The ultimate goal of this investigation is to stop her working, to stop her being an active agent, to stop her being involved in the sport.”

Jynocel Basweti, the father of Mariita’s

F UN !

Do you want to write your very own sports article just like a real DA sports reporter? Now you can!

With adult supervision cut out this article along the dotted lines, then use a non-staining marker to fill in the blanks with the appropriate words. Writing about sports is so easy! Sports! It’s like news, but not really.

Yesterday, the West Virginia Mountaineer _ (sport)_ team _(won/lost)_ against the _(other college team)_.

The game was initially close, with both sides displaying the very best of their offensive and defensive capabilities. However, the _(Mountaineers/other team)_ began to pull ahead in the second _(quarter/half/period)_ thanks to a momentum changing play by _(player’s name)_.

This incredible play seemed to shake up the _(losing team)_, draining them of their motivation. The _(winning team)_ pressed their advantage, scoring again and again, eventually beating the _(losing team)_ _(X-Y)_.

“That’s what this is really all about,” said _(player’s name)_ during a postgame interview. “You gotta get more points than the other team and stop them from getting more points than you. I’d like to thank God, my family and my teammates for always being there to support me.”

Mountaineer coach, _(coach’s name)_, was _ (proud/disappointed)_ with how the team performed yesterday.

“It was a tough fight, there’s no doubt about that.” _(coach’s name)_ said. “We gave them some trouble, but they hit us back too. We gotta keep working on our defense to limit their scoring, and make sure our offense keeps getting points. We can’t let this _(victory/loss)_ distract us.”

This game brings the Mountaineer’s season record to _(X-Y)_. With the _(post season tournament amongst the best teams)_ just a few short weeks away, the Mountaineers will need to continue proving themselves for a chance at the championship victory.

Hopefully, the Mountaineers can _(continue the/build)_ momentum for next week’s game against the _(a different college sports team)_.

daughter, tested positive at a Mexican marathon for a steroid used in veterinary medicine. Nixon Kiplagat Cherutich was busted for a byproduct of the steroid nandrolone, also in Mexico. And Mariita failed two doping tests - one in Mexico, the other in Frankfort, Kentucky - in eight months.

Their stories represent the underbelly of a top-tobottom doping crisis in Kenya’s thriving but ill-regulated running industry. The East African distance running powerhouse won 11 athletics medals at the 2012 London Olympics, but has also since suffered the ignominy of having 40 runners banned for doping violations.

The sluggish response of Kenyan authorities is generating mounting pressure for action from the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency, and from Kenyan athletes concerned they might be turned away from overseas races, including the Rio de Janeiro Games in August. WADA has given Kenya until next Tuesday to fall in line with global anti-doping rules.

Missing that deadline and being declared non-compliant by WADA could put the onus on the IAAF to then suspend Kenya from international competition, as it has Russia.

Probes into allegations of corruption at the Kenyan athletics federation also have gutted its leadership, with the IAAF’s ethics board suspending much of the organization’s top brass.

Efforts to combat Kenyan doping are further complicated by the fact that the majority of its runners compete, and often live, offshore, making their movements and behavior harder to police. Just five of the 40 Kenyan runners banned since the London Games were caught in Kenya. The rest tested positive at overseas races - from Beijing to Peru - testifying to the powerful lure of cash prizes that can put kids through school, buy land or livestock and turn mud huts into brickand-mortar houses back in Kenya.

The culture of doping has taken a particularly strong grip on second- and thirdtier Kenyan runners who mostly race abroad, aren’t regularly tested and won’t compete in Rio. As well as Mikhaylova’s camp, the IAAF says it is also investigating other groups of runners in the United States and Mexico and is working with USADA and WADA to better police the centralAmerica region.

Agents from there are “traveling to Kenya, cherrypicking athletes,” and entering them in races with little or no drug-testing, Barber said.

“We are aware of that ex-

ploitation taking place. We are identifying groups. We have seen patterns,” he told the AP. “The people at the head of these operations are aware of what they are doing. They plan carefully.”

--Speaking to the AP, Mikhaylova emphatically denied ever giving drugs to athletes. She described herself as nothing more than a service provider for East African athletes far from home, identifying and entering them in races she thinks they can win and looking after their other daily needs, in exchange for her 15 percent cut.

Mikhaylova runs her stable out of a two-story house in a working-class neighborhood of Newport, Kentucky, not far from Cincinnati.

AP reporters dropped in unannounced. Above the fireplace hung a portraitsized jigsaw puzzle of the Kremlin. In the corner were dozens of medals and ribbons, hung haphazardly, two and three deep, won in places such as Akron, Ohio; Fort Worth, Texas; Duluth, Minnesota.

Runners pay Mikhaylova $10 rent per night, deducted from earnings. They stay for a month or two, then go back to Kenya, or sometimes Mexico, to train. The runners usually stay three or four at a time, rotating in and out, learning about the home and Mikhaylova through word of mouth.

They said the 46-yearold with a velvety Russian accent helps them with race entries, visas, groceries, even buying shoes, but that she has never once proposed banned substances.

Mikhaylova told AP she wires prize money back to Kenya after deducting the expenses and her fee. She also said she drives runners to races - a merry-go-round of 5 and 10Ks, half and full marathons.

If they don’t win, Mikhaylova, herself the 1998 European Cup champion at 800 meters, said she sometimes takes a loss.

“A very hard business,” she said.

And grueling. Her athletes take on aggressive schedules to maximize prizes. In 2014, Mariita churned through 24 races in 13 states, including three weekends in March, April and October when she raced on consecutive days, according to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians.

Her U.S. race earnings soared to $24,000 that year - more than what 99 percent of Kenyans earn back home.

Mikhaylova handled the details. Mariita just ran.

“She would choose and say, ‘This week, there is a race somewhere.’ I could not refuse to go,” Mariita said. “She would drive us

to races. I never knew the places we went, I only knew I’m going to race.”

One was a half-marathon in Carmel, Indiana, where Mariita won $500 last April.

She finished nearly 10 minutes ahead of the women’s field.

By then, however, she shouldn’t have been racing at all.

Ten days earlier, in an April 8 letter addressed to the same gmail address Mikhaylova uses to register athletes for races, Athletics Kenya informed Mariita that she tested positive the previous December at a 10K in Ecatepec, Mexico.

The detected drug was EPO, the same endurance-boosting injectable hormone that Lance Armstrong used as a shortcut to cycling fame.

The letter said Mariita was provisionally suspended and should no longer compete. But Mikhaylova said Mariita told her the letter was inaccurate that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

And so Mariita and Mikhaylova plowed ahead, business as usual. Mariita needed money, and Mikhaylova said the runner begged her for more races.

So she ran again, and again: nine races in eight states from April to August 2015.

Organizers of all nine races told AP they don’t test for drugs. For the Brian Diemer 5K in Cutlerville, Michigan, on June 13, Mikhaylova even entered herself along with Mariita, who won $400 as the second-fastest woman.

Then, they moved on to Frankfort.

--Mariita told AP that race day started like any other: with pills - three reddishcolored capsules - given to her by Mikhaylova.

Mariita said the agent regularly gave her tablets for races, starting from when she joined her camp in 2011. Some came in a plastic bag, “and she was telling me to take them twice a day,” Mariita said.

She said her assumption was that anything in pill form couldn’t be a banned substance.

“She was saying they were multi-vitamins,” Mariita said. “All I knew is that when you are injected is when it is bad. Medicines taken orally are OK.” Mikhaylova denied ever having given tablets to Mariita. She said she repeatedly asked Mariita if she doped and warned that she wouldn’t work with her if she did. Mikhaylova said she suspects Mariita took something while in Mexico, away from her training group and far from Kentucky.

“She said, ‘Larisa, I promise you, I’m clean, I’m fine.’

So, that is why I trusted her,” Mikhaylova said.

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

10 | SPORTS

Friday April 1, 2016

AP

Warriors embrace chance of wins record more than playoff rest OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — If anyone still doubted whether the Golden State Warriors were truly going to push for a record 73 wins instead of saving energy for the playoffs, that thought should now be put to rest for good.

Playing on the back end of a back-to-back on the road against a hungry team fighting for the playoffs, Stephen Curry played his most minutes since before Christmas, Draymond Green crashed hard to the floor in overtime and the Warriors (68-7) conceded nothing in a 103-96 win at Utah on Wednesday night that left them five wins away from breaking Chicago’s record of 72 wins with seven games left to play.

“It is something we want to do,” Green said. “We’ve spoken on this. It is no secret.”

After spending much of the season deflecting talk of breaking the mark set by the Bulls in 1995-96, the Warriors are now embracing it.

Never was that more apparent than in Utah, when Curry played more than 42 minutes for his most playing time since a doubleovertime win in Boston on Dec. 11, Green played nearly 43 minutes and Klay Thompson played nearly 39. The combined 124 minutes for Golden State’s three biggest stars were their most in any game this season.

Coach Steve Kerr, a member on the Bulls team that set the record, was a latecomer to the cause.

After stressing the importance of rest for much of the season, he recently changed his tune and said if the players wanted the record, he’d play them as long as they were healthy.

“Our team wants it,” Kerr said. “They’ve made it pretty clear, so what we’re

Kyle Terada/USA Today

Stephen Curry ignites the crowd during Tuesday’s Warriors victory over the Wizards. doing is listening to them and trusting them that if they’re injured, they’re going to let us know. And if that’s the case, we’ll give them a rest. And if they feel like they’re perfectly capable of getting out there and playing and that’s what they want to do, then that’s what we’ll do.”

What once was a hypothetical question about whether the record was in reach has become reality in recent weeks as the players have sensed how close 73 wins really are.

“We realize we can make history and that helps because it keeps you focused

every game,” Thompson said. “You don’t want to lose and get this far and not go for it. We have a young youthful team and a great mix of vets that know how to pace themselves. We put a lot on the young guys’ shoulders and go out there and perform every night and that’s great. We are 26 and younger so we can do it right now and give our vets a rest.”

For much of the season, the Warriors were fighting for their top regular-season goal of earning home-court advantage in the playoffs more than a record. With San Antonio nipping close

behind, the Warriors could afford few slipups to remain the top seed.

But with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich resting many of his key players of late, the Warriors have a five-game lead with seven games to play, all but assuring them of home-court advantage. Kerr has not given his top players the same type of time off that his former coach Popovich has done with the Spurs.

“It doesn’t matter, to me, how he plays it,” Kerr said.

“His team is a little older than ours, too. We are very aware of our guys and how they feel and if there is a

chance to rest Shaun Livingston, Bogues (Andrew Bogut), Andre (Iguodala), then we would do that. ...

We have a core group of young guys that if I asked them to skip a game they wouldn’t be really thrilled with me right now.”

Making the decision slightly easier for Kerr is the fact that even with the increased intensity of the playoffs, the drawn-out postseason schedule will give the team plenty of rest.

In the 62 days between the end of last season and when the Warriors won the championship, they played just 21 games. Even if they

get tested more and have longer series, the playoffs have no back-to-backs and often have multiple days off between games.

In contrast, Golden State has played 23 games in the past 41 days since the AllStar break with six sets of back-to-backs.

“If the playoffs were compressed, I probably would be more apt to rest guys,” Kerr said. “The fact is, once the first round gets under way, it’s like days of rest.”

With the regular season ending in less than two weeks, that time is coming up soon.

MSU’s Valentine, Kansas’ Self win AP Player and Coach awards HOUSTON (AP) -- The names Denzel Valentine and Buddy Hield have been virtually inseparable during college basketball’s postseason.

The national player of the year awards have gone to one or the other without anybody else getting any hardware.

Valentine was selected Thursday as The Associated Press’ Player of the Year, taking it in a close vote over Hield.

Bill Self of Kansas was chosen the AP’s Coach of the Year with Xavier’s Chris Mack finishing second.

“We spent time together this summer at a basketball camp and we built a relationship,” Valentine said of his fellow senior.

“During the season we would give each other words of encouragement,” Valentine said.

“He was first person to text me when I got hurt and I thought that was pretty big time of him. He deserves everything he’s getting.”

Valentine, who missed four games after having

minor knee surgery, received 34 of 65 votes from the national media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25.

Hield was the only other player to receive votes.

Hield and Valentine were the only unanimous selections to the AP All-America team.

The 6-foot-5 Valentine led Michigan State (296) to a second-place finish in the Big Ten regular season and was the conference player of the year.

He averaged 19.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.6 assists while directing the Spartans’ offense. He shot 44.7 percent from 3-point range and 85.3 percent from the free throw line.

The Spartans were ranked No. 1 for four weeks and finished second in the final AP Top 25. They lost to Middle Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“The last two weeks have been tough and it’s hard to duck the tournament. It’s wherever you go,” said Valentine, the first Michigan State player

to win the award. “You go into a restaurant and a game’s on. You just can’t duck it.”

Self was also AP Coach of the Year in 2009, becoming the eighth coach to win the award more than once. John Wooden of UCLA won it five times and other multiple winners include Bob Knight, Roy Williams, Ray Meyer and Guy Lewis.

He received 21 votes while Mack had 15 and Dana Altman of Oregon had 13.

“I would much rather be here with my team playing,” Self said. “This is great and there are dozens of people worthy of this award. But to be in that group (of multiple winners) is something I’ll always respect and treasure.”

The Jayhawks spent a total of five weeks at No. 1 this season and won the Big 12 for the 12th consecutive season to move within one of UCLA’s record for consecutive titles.

They were the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tour-

Denzel Valentine dribbles down the court in this year’s NCAA Tournament loss to Middle Tennessee State. nament, losing to Villanova in the regional final.

“It was a great season.

I don’t think you can call it a special season unless you get here,” Self said.

“Looking back, I don’t think I could ever have a

team sacrifice more or be more unselfish. It will always be one of my most special groups I’ve had.”

Both Valentine and Self said they would give up their awards to be on a team playing at the Final

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Four where they were presented their trophies.

“You want to get here,” Valentine said. “You talk about it all season and it’s what every team plays for.”

Voting was done before the NCAA Tournament.

Women’s team accuse U.S. Soccer Federation of wage discrimination Five stars from the World Cup-winning U.S. women’s national team have accused the U.S. Soccer Federation of wage discrimination in an action filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo maintain in the EEOC filing that they are paid nearly four times less than their male counterparts on the U.S. men’s national team, based on U.S. Soccer’s 2015 financial report. The filing was announced Thursday in a statement from the law firm representing the players.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Solo said in the statement. “We are the best in the world, have three World Cup Championships, four Olympic Championships, and the USMNT get paid more just to show up than we get paid to win major

championships.”

The union representing the players is currently involved in a legal dispute with U.S. Soccer over the terms of their collective bargaining agreement. The federation filed a lawsuit this year seeking to clarify that its contract with the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Players Association runs through the Rio Olympics until Dec. 31. The union maintains the memorandum of understanding agreed to in March 2013 can be terminated at any time. That case is pending.

Attorney Jeffrey Kessler, one of the attorneys representing the players, claimed that the tenor of the negotiations over the CBA created the need for the women to act in hopes of ending what they say is the “discriminatory and unfair treatment” they have endured for years.

“The reality is that this team is more valuable to the USSF than the men’s

team has been. That’s what the facts show,” Kessler said on a conference call with reporters. “And they would be justified in asking for more than the men are receiving. But the first step that they are seeking is equal treatment. That should be an easy step for the USSF to take.”

U.S. Soccer issued a statement saying it had not seen this complaint and couldn’t comment on specifics, but added it is “disappointed” with the action.

“We have been a world leader in women’s soccer and are proud of the commitment we have made to building the women’s game in the United States over the past 30 years,” the statement said.

The top players on the women’s team are paid about $72,000 a year by U.S. Soccer, along with bonuses, to play in a minimum of 20 exhibitions per year - a salary far less than the men, the complaint

says. And unlike the men, they are awarded bonuses only if they win those matches, it says.

The players have a potential to earn $99,000 if they win all 20 exhibitions, while their male counterparts would earn $263,320 for the same feat, the document claims.

Citing another example of disparity, the complaint says that the women are paid $30,000 each for making the World Cup team, while the men are paid $68,750.

The U.S. women won the World Cup last year in Canada with a 5-2 victory in the final against Japan.

The team earned $2 million for winning the tournament, according to documents. The U.S. men’s team conversely earned $9 million the year before at the World Cup in Brazil after going 1-2-1 and losing in the round of 16.

The success of the women’s national team means the women also partici-

pate in more games, practices, events and other appearances than the male players.

“There are no legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for this gross disparity of wages, nor can it be explained away by any bona fide seniority, merit or incentive system or any other factor other than sex,” said the complaint.

The federation pays the men and women equally for qualifying for the Olympics and making the roster for the event.

The EEOC investigates claims of discrimination on merit. There is no timetable for resolution of the matter. Federal law makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information.

“I think that we’ve proven our worth over the years. Just coming off of a World Cup win, the pay disparity between the

men and women is just too large. And we want to continue to fight,” Lloyd said on NBC’s “Today” show.

Many players on the national team have become increasingly vocal about gender equity in the sport, something that came to light in advance of last year’s World Cup. A group of players led by Abby Wambach filed a complaint in Canada about the artificial turf playing surface, noting the men’s World Cup is played on natural grass.

“This is a fight that we are going to have to continue to fight from here on forward,” Solo said. “I don’t see it getting any easier, but it is something we are committed to. And it’s not just in the sports world, it’s everywhere you look.”

The U.S. women, who have already qualified for this summer’s Olympics in Brazil, are currently in Florida training for a pair of exhibition games against Colombia.