The Daily
Thursdsay, March 27, 2014
Mississippian
Vol. 102, No. 111
The Student Newspaper of The University Of Mississippi | Serving Ole Miss and Oxford since 1911
Grove sidewalk construction continues Ridge
ASSOCIATED PRESS
South dorm renamed
ADITYA KHARE | The Daily Mississippian
Construction to expand the sidewalk in the Grove between Farley Hall and the Walk of Champions is continuing this week. Crews marked off a wide area around the construction, diverting students to walk on the grass and mud.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The University of Mississippi will name a recently constructed dormitory for donors Roland and Sheryl Burns. The College Board Thursday approved the naming of what’s currently called The University Housing South Building, which opened last fall. Burns Hall will honor the couple’s lifetime pledges and donations to Ole Miss of more than $5.3 million. Board documents show the couple recently pledged a $2 million gift to be split evenly between athletics and academics. They earlier endowed an accounting professorship with $1.5 million and gave $1 million for a football team meeting room. Burns, president and chief financial officer of oil and gas firm Comstock Resources of Frisco, Texas, graduated from Ole Miss in 1982 with bachelor and master’s degrees in accounting.
SPECIAL TO THE DM
Maintaining Oxford’s Whirpool trails BY EMRY HAYES ejhayes@go.olemiss.edu
Located on the outskirts of The University of Mississippi campus along Whirlpool Drive are what users might lovingly call underappreciated trails. Offering beautiful natural space for biking, running and walking, the Whirlpool Trails are maintained by the cooperative efforts of members of the Oxford Cycling Club and the university’s Landscape Services. A nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting cycling activities in and around Oxford, the Oxford Cycling Club promotes healthy community space and members through the upkeep of the Whirlpool Trails. Brad Cannon, the mountain bike coordinator for the Oxford Cycling Club, said that the
OPINION
volunteers from the organization worked on the trails from Thanksgiving to March. Known as the SWECO crew, the volunteers named for the small bulldozer used to maintain the trails put in hours equivalent to 12 days of work in a few short months, according to Cannon. “We had a total of over 300 hours of manpower between Thanksgiving and the beginning of March,” he said. The SWECO crew has five dedicated volunteers who show up every weekend to work on the trails, Cannon said. But, on a good weekend, they can expect six to 10 volunteers. Over the winter, the SWECO crew rerouted worn-down and eroded trails, working with a corps of engineers to redesign these trails as easier to navigate, Cannon said.
Conference for the Book kicks off with Kiese Laymon
Listen to the lungs
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Although the reconstruction is beneficial, some students are not fond of it. “I don’t like how they are developing and reconstructing the trails,” sophomore business major Liza Wirt said. “Sometimes they are working on the trails and it hinders me from riding.” Cannon said the biggest upkeep challenge is damage from storms. When a storm happens, the crew will go in and trim the hanging branches and pick up the fallen limbs. “We make sure the ‘face slappers’ are trimmed and that the trail is safe to ride and run on,” Cannon said. University of Mississippi Landscape Services works with the Oxford Cycling Club to keep the road leading to the Whirlpool Trails clear. “We do not maintain the
ALEX EDWARDS | The Daily Mississippian
A sign, shown above, is posted at the Whirlpool Trails giving a map for users to reference.
trails,” said Denise Hill, superintendent of Landscape Services. “The extent of what we do at the trails is Bush Hogging the right of ways and maintaining the main road that leads to the trails.” Hill said the city helps Bush
See TRAILS, PAGE 5
SPORTS
MORE INSIDE
Conner settled in,
Opinion .............................2 Lifestyles ............................4 Sports .............................5
looks to take next step in year two
See Page 4
Hog where it is too steep for their equipment and that the physical plant assists in managing erosion. Although the trails have been around for almost 20 years, few
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