CALDRON BUBBLE hi
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lo
WEDNESDAY
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october 31, 2012
t h e i n de pe n de n t s t u de n t n e w spa pe r of s y r acuse , n e w yor k
INSIDE NEWS
Toil and trouble
False alarm Superstorm Sandy misses Syracuse despite class cancellations. Page 3
Uncertainty in details surrounding John Crouse Jr.’s stolen skull remain 24 years later By Mark Cooper
INSIDE OPINION
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Obama 2012 The Daily Orange Editorial Board endorses President Barack Obama for the 2012 election. Page 5
INSIDE PULP
Eerie economics See the ins and outs of the $6-billion Halloween industry. Page 11
art director
INSIDE SPORTS
Distant memory Fifty years ago, Syracuse had an elite professional basketball team that gave the city a pulse. Now, all that remains are the memories. Page 20
EDITOR IN CHIEF
hen Kevin McQuain returned from Oakwood Cemetery that night, he didn’t come back empty-handed. McQuain’s roommate, Nate Andresani, was preparing for an intramural football game in their Flint Hall room on Oct. 18, 1988 when McQuain came in holding a paper bag. Andresani was taken aback by McQuain’s new possession. The bag contained a human skull. “I was like, ‘You got to be sh*tting me,’” Andresani said. “I didn’t have time to think much about it other than ‘What the hell are you going to do with that?’” It’s a story occasionally unearthed around Halloween, said Edward Menkin, McQuain’s attorney following the arrest. Menkin still hears from McQuain every once in a while, usually around this time of year. And though McQuain’s intentions were not to create a Halloween prank, the spooky nature of the story and proximity of the event to Halloween made it to stick in Syracuse University lore. McQuain, a freshman art major at the time described as a “gifted artist,” planned on using the skull as a guide for his sculpture class. He even received an art scholarship from SU. But getting caught with the skull, which he robbed from a mausoleum, would change his entire SU career. McQuain propped a garbage can on top of Flint 3C’s common room stove and began boiling it, using Clorox to clean off the dirt. The skull’s noxious stench flowed down the hall, alarming everyone. Soon after, he was arrested. And after investigators looked into it, they discovered whom the skull belonged to: John J. Crouse Jr., former mayor of Syracuse. Crouse Jr. happened to also be the son of John Crouse, which Crouse College is named after. “It turned out to be a skull of the ex-mayor of Syracuse and it was Halloween, and suddenly it was DEFCON 1 and the community was up in arms,” Menkin said. Investigators found smashed and splintered caskets, bones and decomposed parts strewn across the mausoleum floor — though McQuain and others said the mausoleum was broken into and destroyed illustration by micah benson | before McQuain discovered a skull out
SEE SKULL PAGE 4
superstorm sandy
Students check in with families affected by storm By Levi Stein STAFF WRITER
While the Syracuse area avoided the worst of Superstorm Sandy, many students from the tri-state area spent the day watching the news and checking in with family and friends in affected areas. First thing Tuesday morning, Joseph Miranda called his parents in Nassau County, N.Y. While his parents’ house was left relatively untouched, his
uncle’s house in Garden City, N.Y., did not fare as well. “My uncle was staying with my parents because his neighbor’s gas line exploded, causing massive damage to surrounding houses,” said Miranda, a sophomore computer art major. “Fortunately, no one was inside the house, but one of my uncle’s other neighbors is currently in critical condition at the hospital.” Many students were worried about
their friends and family in New York City, where reports of widespread damage throughout the five boroughs circulated on the news. The city shut down its public subway system, railroad and bus services on Sunday at 7 p.m., and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press conference on Monday night that city residents should not call 911 unless it was a life-threatening emergency. New York City was receiving 10,000
calls per half hour, Bloomberg said in the press conference. About 375,000 people were ordered to evacuate lower Manhattan. Jess Tuck, a senior communications design major, said that her sister who lives in Brooklyn said her area saw “severe weather.” Tuck said her sister anticipated being stuck for a while until bridges and tunnels were ready for use.
SEE SANDY PAGE 6