Bertsch found voice in 2017 The Titans goalie had more to prove than blocking shots. Sports 8 Tuesday November 14, 2017
Volume 102 Issue 40
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Constituents of District 39 protested the Republican tax plan at Rep. Ed Royce’s office.
‘Bloodborne’ enriches horror gaming with its compelling twist on religion.
News 3
Lifestyle
If Silicon Valley isn’t blanketed with net neutrality, free speech will be bought out.
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Opinion
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OPIOIDS IN ORANGE COUNT Y
Hospitals fill, families pick up the pieces Orange County has been described as the “lion’s den” of the opioid crisis. As the death toll breaks into the 300s, families are left in tatters. BRANDON PHO News Editor
Bob Jones of Lake Forest said he first thought his son Ian’s heroin addiction was a matter of choice, and he didn’t gather a clearer understanding until it was too late. Why his son couldn’t “man up and get over it and get a job and meet some new people” was a simple question needing an answer, but not the answer Jones was prepared for. “Dad, I just can’t stop. I can’t not steal. I can’t not have money to go buy. I just can’t. I have to,” Jones remembers Ian saying no less than three years ago. It wasn’t until then that Jones said he understood the tight hold addiction had on his son. “We didn’t know how to deal with it,” Jones said. “He wanted out of it. He had no choice.” On the afternoon of Oct. 20, 2014, Jones had been sitting in his dining room when he got up to knock on Ian’s door, 25 feet away. Behind that door, Ian sat slumped over his desk with a final dose of heroin laying next to his head, dead at 26 years old. Jones had spoken with him just two hours earlier. “I never anticipated that he could die. Didn’t cross my mind,” Jones said. “That day with the paramedics and fire department coming in our home trying to rescue him, it was a hell of a scene and experience and changed our
lives forever.” Young people between the ages of 18 to 34 comprised a large segment of the county’s nearly 141 percent upsurge in opioid-related emergency room visits between 2005 (684 cases) and 2015 (1,769 cases), according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. “There’s no way this can be a coincidence. It can’t just be parental misdirection or some bad kids. There’s something bigger at play,” said Margie Fleitman of Mission Viejo, whose son Mitchell died at 22 from a mixture of substances that included heroin in 2010. Mitchell made one emergency room visit before his death. “This is the beginning of an
epidemic,” Fleitman said. Numbers provided by the Orange County Coroner reveal that the last six years saw a general upward trend in opioid-related deaths. Research analyst for the coroner division Donna Meyers said the reported deaths “cannot only involve opioids, but other prescription or illicit drugs as well.” In Orange County in 2011, there were 242 opioid-related deaths, 54 of which were from illicit opioids; 136 from prescription opioids; and 52 from a mixture of the two. The yearly death toll has steadily rose, and in 2016 there were 317 deaths, 79 of which were from illicit opioids; 149 from prescription opioids; and 89 from a mixture. Fleitman’s family is just one of many left to pick up the pieces after opioids took one of their own. “Everybody wants to quote a bunch of numbers and statistics,” Fleitman said. “For us, it’s personal. For us, it’s first names.” In 2016, Cal State Fullerton was awarded a three-year grant to assist Orange County residents struggling with substance abuse, according to a statement from the CSU Chancellor’s Office. This effectively funded a new curriculum to be implemented in existing nursing, social work and human services classes to train 650 students and 75 health care professionals on how to intervene when substance abuse is suspected, according to the CSU Chancellor’s Office. SEE OPIOIDS 2
Sexual Students work with 4Life to raise $1,000 battery case reported University Police encourage talking with Title IX office. NICHOLE TORRES Asst. News Editor
GENE PIETRAGALLO / DAILY TITAN
Attractions at the event Bark Fest catered to dogs with a portrait station, a truck with dog treats and toys and a kissing booth hosted by a rescue dog that found a loving home. Rescue dogs who are now living in safe homes also attended the event.
CSUF public relations students raises money for dogs in need. GENE PIETRAGALLO Asst. Multimedia Editor
The back lot of Pet Hospital in Orange was filled with four-legged friends Sunday afternoon. Citizens FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @THEDAILYTITAN
were encouraged to bring their canine companions for Bark Fest, a free event hosted by Cal State Fullerton public relation majors and 4Life Animal Rescue, a volunteer-based nonprofit dedicated to providing care and resources to animals in need. Guests were met with pet-friendly activities throughout the Bark Fest grounds. Among the amenities and games were a dog portrait station, a
mobile dog bakery truck and a dog kissing booth. The event also hosted a silent auction where those in attendance had the opportunity to win Disneyland tickets, a Rainforest Cafe gift basket, a $250 dog gift basket, a Lazy Dog dinner for two or a professional pet portrait session. Five public relations students in a team called Tied Relations coordinated the event for an assignment
in their capstone class, channeling their love of animals into a productive fundraising event. Bark Fest was put on with a $60 budget. “We organized everything ourselves. We reached out to multiple vendors until we found some that were willing to participate with this event,” said Alexandra Yacoub, one of the student coordinators. SEE BARK FEST 4
A Cal State Fullerton student was a victim of sexual battery on Nov. 9, according to the University Police Department. A housing campus security authority reported the incident to the Title IX office. The incident report states that the female student was inappropriately grabbed and kissed by an individual. “If someone goes to (a campus security authority) and says ‘Hey this happened to me,’ then they have to report that to Title IX on campus. That’s what happened in this case,” said University Police Capt. Scot Willey. The report was sent to the University Police, but no further information was given, Willey said. It is currently unknown whether the suspect was a CSUF student. “Our report just says ‘Refer to the CSA form,’ and that’s all that’s on that form,” Willey said. SEE CRIME
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