THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
da
Wednesday January 28, 2015
Volume 127, Issue 83
www.THEDAONLINE.com
Details of Burch’s death released by laura haight city editor @laurahaightwvu
The Morgantown Police Department has released new details on the events surrounding the death of West Virginia University freshman Nolan Burch. According to Chief of Police Ed Preston, Burch was participating in the initiation event “Big-Little” with the Kappa Sigma Fraternity on Nov. 12, 2014, where fraternity pledges and members drank large amounts of alcohol.
Medical tests performed on Burch after the incident showed his blood alcohol content was 0.493, more than six times the legal limit for anyone over the age of 21. Burch was only 18 years old when he died on Nov. 14, 2014. Kappa Sigma had lost its charter two days prior to the incident but held their “BigLittle” function anyway. That night, Burch and 19 other fraternity pledges were called to the Kappa Sigma house at 200 Belmar Ave., where they were taken into a room, blindfolded
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
City talks Woodburn School grounds usage by rachel mcbride staff writer @dailyathenaeum
Improvement reports concerning the Woodburn School Redevelopment Commission and the proposed riverfront landscape design for the Monongahela River were both discussed during last night’s Morgantown City Council Committee of the Whole meeting. Council members believe certain programs can help improve recreational activities along both the Woodburn Elementary School property as well as the Mon River. The Commission focuses on tending to and maintaining grounds of the old Woodburn school district. Last year, the Commission hosted a festival to encourage the local community to benefit from the property’s buildings and landscape. The Commission plans to hold more activities. Chris Haddox, the Comission chair, said the Commission’s duty is to watch over the property. West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center staff
member Anna Withrow presented a project for a landscape design supported by the River Towns Program and Brownfields Assistance Center. Wharf District planning includes increasing the use of the Monongahela River Rail Trail, which the Brownfields Center believes will help curb safety issues along the river. Other projects include implementing art, sculptures and garden planting along the river. The Brownfields Center believes these projects will allow the natural environment of the Wharf District to flourish. Downtown river projects include enhancement plans that will promote recreational activity along the river. Increasing pedestrian access to the riverfronts, developing a storm water management plan and increasing trail safety are all components of the Center’s plans. “There needs to be more physical and visual connections to the river,” Withrow
see City on PAGE 2
and then transported to 305 Glendon Street by fraternity members. At the location, they were each given a “Big,” which is an older member or alumnus of the fraternity, and a bottle of liquor. According to the release, Burch consumed a large quantity of alcohol during this time period. Due to his highly intoxicated state, Burch was then taken back to the Kappa Sigma house and laid on a table. At approximately 11:50 p.m., another member
of the fraternity noticed Burch’s face had turned blue and tried to wake him, but Burch was unresponsive with no pulse. A fraternity member then called 911 and officers arrived on scene at 11:52 p.m., where they found an individual performing CPR on Burch. The officer took over and continued CPR until Emergency Medical Personnel arrived and transported him to Ruby Memorial Hospital. Burch died two days later after being kept alive on life support.
University officials, John Bolt and Corey Farris were unable to be contacted before press time. In a University press release, officials said, “West Virginia University remains committed to transforming the culture on its campus. Led by our student leadership, the University continues to work toward a meaningful change that will create a positive impact on our campus and local communities.” According to the press release, University officials will continue to cooperate
with MPD as the investigation continues, stating, “The safety of our students always comes first — and will continue to.” Chief Preston said MPD detectives have conducted dozens of interviews and reviewed footage from multiple security cameras. The Monongalia County Prosecutor’s Office is currently reviewing the investigation. Criminal charges will be determined after the final review by the Prosecutor’s Office. lhaight@mail.wvu.edu
Ag. Sci. building not yet finished by kendall snee staff writer @dailyathenaeum
The newest edition to the Davis College of Agriculture, the new Agricultural Sciences Building, is currently under construction on the Evansdale Campus of West Virginia University. The building will be 128,000 square feet and will be fully integrated and run on energy efficient systems. The project is headed by Mark Iacobucci, project manager, who explained that once the old agricultural building is torn down, the area will become a quad-type walkway. This will serve as a connecting path from the Evansdale Library to the new building. Jonathan Thompson, project manager, went on to explain how the quad will make students’ lives easier. “The new age building and the upper quad leading to the lower area of the walkway will not only be scenic but functional,” Thompson said. “This step down will make things much easier on students.” Thompson also said builders have left space
Askar Salikhov/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
The New Agricultural Science Building, currently under construction, will open up for student in January 2016 on Evansdale Enginering. between the quad and the building is said to be fully tech, and used specifically new agricultural building functioning and techno- for research. It has chillers to potentially construct logically advanced. and heaters and technolo“By fully integrated, it gies of those sorts,” Iacoanother building in the future. means that the building bucci said. But a nice view isn’t has its own penthouse on “It will harbor a great the only thing the new the top of the building — structure has to offer. The it’ll be very big and high see BUILDING on PAGE 2
Gen. Lee impersonator speaks at Honors College Group’s contributions by evelyn merithew associate city editor @dailyathenaeum
Last night, the West Virginia University Honors College hosted Al Stone, who many historians have described as having the most accurate impression of Civil War General Robert E. Lee. Throughout his presentation, Stone addressed the audience by giving an impersonation of Lee. “The presentation you’re about to witness is that of Al Stone, portraying one of America’s most beloved gentlemen. Al has been presenting first-person impressions in this regard for over 19 years and is recognized by most re-enactors, artists and historians alike as offering the most accurate portrayal of this character,” said Marie Leichliter-Krause, director of programming for the Honors College. Stone addressed his audience with a presentation titled “The Dilemma,” in which he shared Lee’s experiences and why, during the Civil War, he chose to remain loyal to his home state, the Confederate State
28° / 14°
ON-THE-GO
INSIDE
WVU Student starts portable recording studio A&E PAGE 3
PARTLY CLOUDY
News: 1, 2, 10 Opinion: 4 A&E: 3 Sports: 5, 7, 8 Campus Connection: 6 Puzzles: 6 Classifieds: 8, 9
Andrew Spellman/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Al Stone visits the Honors Hall to portray the General Robert E. Lee. Stone describing his character’s adult life during the Civil War and beyond. of Virginia, rather than be propriate, I injected, ‘Mr. a top commander of the Blair, I certainly appreciate Union Army. Mr. Lincoln’s confidence in Stone said when Pres- me and your offering, but ident Abraham Lincoln to my knowledge right now, asked politician Francis there’s a convention taking Blair to ask Lee to com- place in Richmond and the mand the Union Army, he only issue that convention knew where his loyalty lay. is dealing with is whether “I listened politely to Mr. the State of Virginia will Blair and when it was ap- continue to be a member
of the Union or not,’” Stone said impersonating Lee. Within hours of his conversation with Blair, Lee learned Virginia had indeed voted to secede from the Union. “If they decide to withdraw from the Union, then I will have no other recourse except to resign my commission from the United States Army. I knew what I had to do,” Stone said. Stone went into great detail about how the Founding Fathers intended for the U.S. government to be set up and how it led to the eventual secession of Southern states. The Founding Fathers believed a democracy functions at the crude and mindless whims of the masses. “Under a democracy, some people pick and choose whether they want to live by those laws or not. In the Constitution, you’ll find the word ‘republic’ on a number of occasions, but you’ll find the word ‘democracy’ not once,” Stone said. “They (the Founding Fathers) established a federal republic and not a national democracy.”
see GENERAL on PAGE 2
will save animal lives by corey mcdonald staff writer @dailyathenaeum
The student organization WVU Pets Are Worth Saving recently had the chance to act on its mission by contributing a large donation to the Marion County Rescue Squad that could aid in saving the lives of animals. WVU PAWS is a nonprofit on campus that interacts with local shelters and other organizations to raise awareness of the growing animal homelessness problem as well as raise money for animals in need. With the help of the Marion County Humane Society and the Pet Central Veterinary Clinic, WVU PAWS was recently able to make a significant donation to the Marion County Rescue Squad. The donation provided the rescue squad with resuscitation masks, and other equipment that could potentially save the life of an injured or oxygen-deprived animal. The donation included three different sizes of recovery masks to help all different breeds and sizes of dogs, cats and other animals such as
rabbits. The majority of the donation stemmed from WVU PAWS. “The donation was entirely from our club,” said Hailey Asmussen, president of WVU PAWS. “The only thing we did not donate were the muzzles. We purchased most of the masks.” The organization was originally formed as the Animal Friends Club prior to the spring of 2013, working primarily with the Animal Friends Shelter, a local nonprofit shelter in North Central West Virginia. Since then, the club has branched out to other local shelters to work with other shelters and has also changed its name to WVU PAWS. “We fluctuate between 60 to 100 club members,” Asmussen said. “We actually rarely work in Monongalia County. We work a lot in Marion County.” However, the club holds most of its adoption drives in Monongalia County. “We just want to help the shelters have better adoption rates as well as raise money for them,” Asmussen said.
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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 Fax 304-293-6857
‘SLACKTIVISM’ Commentary: One columnist tackles why sitting behind computer screen does little for social change OPINION PAGE 4
danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu
ON THE ROAD AGAIN WVU overpowers K-State 65-59 last night SPORTS PAGE 7
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