Eastern News
Thursday
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OC TOBER 25, 2012 V O LU M E 9 7 | N o. 4 7
EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILL. D A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M T WIT TER.COM/DEN_NE WS
Actresses to perform Greek play
Track construction still delayed
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Page 8 GRILLED CHEESE
RESTAUR ANT
Los Potrillos has license suspended By Robyn Dexter In-depth Editor
Z ACHARY WHITE | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
A stack of grilled cheese sandwiches lie on a table in Carman Dining Hall.
Student downs 9 sandwiches, wins contest By Stacy Malliaras Staff Reporter
Surrounded by four other contestants at a long table with friends lurking close by, Gavin Grant won the seventh annual Grilled Cheese Eating Competition Wednesday, almost breaking the contest’s record. Grant, a freshman undecided major, finished nine sandwiches, just two and a half sandwiches short of breaking the Carman Dining Hall’s record. Grant said the reason he entered the contest was because his friends had pressured him into doing it. “I started to feel like the contest wasn’t such a good idea after my seventh sandwich,” Grant said. “It felt awesome and very accomplished to win, but I will definitely not be doing it next year because it was way too much grilled cheese.” Matt Strzelczyk, a sophomore pre-business major said it was his first eating contest he ever participated in. “I had a pretty hardcore training session. I started with a good night sleep and then I had a good lift,” Strzelczyk said. “On my way to the competition I had a good pump, in
the car and I was ready to go.” Strzelczyk said his method was double fisting the sandwiches. “I made sure to use ketchup too, because I like that and so it went down smoothly,” he said. Kelsey Green, a junior family and consumer sciences major, came to the Carman Dining Center to eat dinner but began watching the contest. “I thought Matt Barbian was going to win because he had his game face on,” Green said. “I wouldn’t participate in this contest because I don’t like to eat that much, and I would probably get sick.” Matt Montag, a junior English major and dining center worker, said this was his first time working the shift of the competition. “We prepare for this like we would any other normal day for meals,” Montag said. One tray of grilled cheese contains about 64 sandwiches, he said. Montag said they make all the sandwiches for the contest fresh. Contestants were given a plate of five sandwiches, and if they ate all of them, they would be served another stack of five.
MARCUS SMITH | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Matt Strzelczyk, a junior marketing major, scarfs down two grilled chesse sandwiches Wednesday night in Carman Dining Hall for a grilled chesse eating competition.
“We start off with 96 sandwiches freshly made, and depending on how many people compete, we make an additional 24,” Montag said. Kristin Cann, the unit director in the Panther Catering Department, said they were expected to have eight contestants, but there were only five who competed. “The prize for the winner is
an assortment of food goodies,” Cann said. “This year, it was cheese-inspired.” Grant said he received Pringles, Sun Chips, Macaroni—all cheese related—along with more cheese assortments. Stacy Malliaras can be reached at 581-2812 or amalliaras@eiu.edu.
POLITICS
Eastern political groups debate issues By Stephanie Markham Staff Reporter
Members of the EIU College Democrats and the EIU College Republicans vied to get their views across on current political issues Wednesday. Students gathered in Lumpkin Hall as the two organizations had an hour-and-a-half debate. The first topics up for debate were the economy and taxes. Ethan Ingram, a senior anthropology major and member of the EIU College Democrats, said Obama’s auto-industry bailout has been successful. “You look at states like Ohio that were particularly hard hit by the recession, and they have a lower unemployment rate than the national average,” he said. “Part of that is because of the success of the auto bailout.”
Nicholas Tieman, a junior accounting major and the president of the EIU College Republicans, said the rate of economic recovery is not going at the rate it should. “The current U.S. deficit stands at a little over $16 trillion,” he said. He also said Obama planned to lower the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent in 2009, but it has risen to 7.8 percent. The next debate topic was healthcare and Medicare. Student Democrats expressed that Obama’s healthcare laws have been successful. Republican students expressed their thoughts first. Voudrie said he, along with U.S. Gov. Mitt Romney, felt abortion should be allowed only in certain cases. Sieben said the decision of al-
lowing same-sex marriage should be decided by the states, not the federal government. He also said he is supportive of the Second Amendment allowing gun ownership. Gallagher said although he also supports the Second Amendment, he believes the type of weapons citizens are allowed to own should be regulated. He said the problem with immigration needs to be addressed with reform and enforcement of minimum-wage laws instead. He also said culture adapts over time, and he is certain same-sex marriage will be legalized in the future. “Marriage is so old—the only things older are war and beer,” he said. The groups then accepted follow-up questions from the audi-
ence. One question asked was about how to control pregnancy rates among adolescents. The student Democrats said they believe proper sex education and available resources would answer the problem. Sieben said he agreed sex education is important, but he did not think contraceptives should be made available in schools. Both groups closed by expressing that students should continue research on the topics discussed and vote in the upcoming election. Stephanie Markham can be reached at 581-2812 or samarkham@eiu.edu. An extended version of this story can be found at
dailyeasternnews.com
Los Potrillos, located at 1305 Lincoln Ave., recently had its liquor license suspended for one day because minors were served. Local restaurants are subject to random checks by the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. Charleston City Attorney Brian Bower said the search was conducted by the state of Illinois and found the restaurant in violation. “The Illinois Liquor Control Commission suspended (Los Potrillos) for one day and fined them $750,” he said. “They did a compliance operation that the city of Charleston was not a part of and they had an underage person sold alcohol.” Bower said the hearing took place in Springfield. According to the commission’s website, the search was conducted on Aug. 29, but Los Potrillos’ license was not suspended until Oct. 15. He said 19 other licensees in Coles County were checked for underage alcohol sales including Casey’s General Store in Mattoon, which was also found to have sold alcohol to a minor. Brad Oyer of the Charleston Police Department said although CPD was not responsible for the searches, they still played a role. “We assisted the state when (the commission) did the compliance check,” he said. Susan Hofer, spokeswoman for the commission, said Los Potrillos’ license was suspended because of multiple violations. According to the ILCC website, the same incident occurred in January 2010 at Los Potrillos and was the reason for both the fine and the license suspension instead of just the fine. “This can be imposed by either the state or the city level,” Hofer said. “The licensee is subject to random checks, and we do them all around the state.” Hofer said the licensee is entitled to a hearing before the ILCC to explain how the incident came to happen or to deny the incident. “The first violation is usually a fine, second violation could be a larger fine or, depending on how serious the crime is, a temporary suspension could be put in place,” she said. Hofer said the sentence Los Potrillos was issued was fairly typical. “We don’t like to close businesses down,” she said. “However, it has been known to happen where a licensee will blatantly violate the law, and we have no choice but to close them down.” The process for checking if a business will sell alcohol to minors includes volunteers by high school and college students. “They will go into an establishment with their own identification and order a beer at the bar or try to buy a six-pack at the convenience store,” she said. The underage person will give their identification when asked, or, if the business does not ask for an ID, a violation has also occurred. “Certainly, it’s a violation if (the salesperson) looks at the ID and the kid is 19 and they sell it anyway,” she said. “If they refuse the sale, then they have not violated the law.” Hofer said the commission also received complaints, and they will proceed to carry out the process from there with investigating the licensed retailer. RESTAURANT, page 5