Monday, November 4, 2013
The Daily
Mississippian
Vol. 102, No. 50
The Student Newspaper of The University Of Mississippi | Serving Ole Miss and Oxford since 1911
Local family and volunteers complete Despite DUI decrease, homes with Habitat for Humanity drinking and driving still prevalent BY KATIE CAMPBELL klcamp5@go.olemiss.edu
KATIE WILLIAMSON | The Daily Mississippian
Nakia Carrothers, Nayiah Dean and Zell Pettis receive a bible from Darryail Whittington, Habitat for Humanity volunteer construction supervisor, during a dedication ceremony for their new house in Oxford Sunday.
BY JESSI BALLARD jaballar@go.olemiss.edu
The Oxford-Lafayette Habitat for Humanity Affiliate dedicated their 13th Habitat House on Sunday as the Carrothers family was presented their new home. Nakia Carrothers, single mother of Zell Pettis, 19, and Alnayiah Dean, 14, said it was a buyer’s market when the family began searching for a home to purchase. She does admit, however, that the available housing would still be highly priced despite having an ideal market. The family just couldn’t afford to pay a traditional mortgage with long term, traditional interest rates. “It was still really expensive,” she said. “Having a son that was getting ready to go to college, we just needed something more affordable where the interest rate wasn’t astronomical.” Caitlin Hopper, president of the Oxford-Lafayette chapter, dispels the myth that Habitat for Humanity builds homes for free. “We have church donations, but in a lot of ways it’s a self-funding system,” Hopper said. The organization provides nointerest loans and homeowners build up 500 work hours on the home and once they receive their loan, they pay it back over time
OPINION: Not so shiny in Sunflower
without interest. This offers the homeowners a much lower mortgage payment option than a normal payment due to no-interest and low cost volunteer labor. Hopper said the organization is designed to help those in financial trouble afford a home the proper way rather than just simply having someone pay their mortgage for them. “We don’t partner with people who can’t repay the loan because, otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to sustain the organization and continue building,” she said. “The whole idea is to break the cycle of poverty and give people a hand up instead of a handout.” Hopper said volunteers have come out nearly every Saturday since November 2011, with the number of participants ranging from zero to nearly fifty on some weekends. “We have a lot of community members come out, but this semester especially, there has been a tremendous amount of student participation,” she said Justin Kilburn, a community member and pipefitter by trade, said Habitat for Humanity provided him with the opportunity to help those in need in his community. “I called up the local Habitat chapter and found out where they
were working,” Kilburn said. “I’ve worked here five or six times doing general labor, siding, and installing the toilets. I’m pretty proud to be a part of it.” Chris Stasny, a retiree in the Oxford community, heard about the Habitat House construction through fellow church members at Oxford University United Methodist Church. He was excited to help because of his experience with construction work and remodeling. “It’s good to come and do something for someone else, but really, it makes me feel good,” Stasny said. “That’s what I like about it.” Carrothers said those who are feeling low should pay a visit to Habitat for Humanity, who will show them there is always hope. “It’s just an unbelievable feeling to come out here and everyone is working like it’s their own home,” Carrother said. “It gives you a great deal of pride to work alongside people with such compassion. We’ll definitely continue working with Habitat so we will be able to give back after so many people have given to us.” Caitlin Hopper encourages any students interested in participating in the upcoming Oxford area construction sites to send an email to oxfordhabitat@gmail.com.
Ford Center hosts discussion with Aquila Theatre’s Fahrenheit 451
Though the University of Mississippi was declared “the safest school in the SEC” by Collegesafe.com in 2012, local police officials and Ole Miss students understand that there is an issue of drinking and driving both on and off campus. The University Police Department reported in its Daily Crime Log that there have been only 27 DUI arrests from September to November this year. This is down from 2012 where during the same time period, the campus saw 34 DUI arrests, and further down from 2011 which saw 56 arrests. While some may take this as drinking and driving on campus becoming a lessening problem, Maj. Sheridan Maiden of the Oxford Police Department disagrees. “OPD works very closely with UPD on campus, and any time there is an alcohol arrest, DUI or not, we are in-
See DUI, PAGE 4
Ole Miss Fishing Team hopes to gain support BY JESSI BALLARD jaballar@go.olemiss.edu
The Ole Miss Fishing Team has caught success despite only having roughly 10 active members on the team. Raising awareness is key in gaining support, according to members of the organization. The team competes in bass tournaments in which the winner is determined by the weight of the five largest fish the anglers decide to keep. The team may not have more than five fish in the boat at one time. Each team in the tournament is comprised of one bass boat with two fishermen per boat. The number of active participants does not inhibit the team’s ability to compete,
according to junior business management major and team member Christian Braswell. “We fish around five to 10 tournaments each year,” he said. “Some tournaments only allow one team per school, and others don’t have a limit.” Braswell has been a team member since coming to Ole Miss as a freshman, and he said the team tries to compete in the three major national championship tournaments every year. Fishing is not currently an officially sanctioned NCAA sport, and as a result, members fund the entire tournament and traveling expenses by themselves. See FISHING, PAGE 4
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cluded in the judicial process,” Maiden said. “With DUIs, you have to look at the totality of the situation. The number of incidences isn’t as important as the incident itself. As long as drinking and driving is happening, there is still a problem that needs to be addressed.” Both the Oxford and University police departments’ prevention measures go into full swing on gamedays when the population of Oxford increases substantially and many choose to celebrate by drinking in the Grove. Jones does not think the law enforcement is doing enough to deter patrons from getting behind the wheel after drinking. “I don’t think that DUIs are enough, and I don’t think I’ve heard enough people with authority really putting in the effort to warn people not to drink and drive,” she said. Maiden believes that while programs like MADD (Moth-
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