DAILY KENT STATER Monday, April 27, 2009 • The independent student newspaper of Kent State University
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“questions burn after riots “They dragged me down the street without shoes on ... They didn’t even tell me what I was being arrested for.” Joey smith, senior psychology major
INSIDE NEWS
Renowned Japanese artist creates in Kent Ceramic artist Yasuhisa Kohyama came to Kent State this weekend to create his latest piece of art using the Ceramics Lab kiln. His trip from Japan was possible in collaboration with the Cleveland Institute of Art. Page 3
FORUM
Editors comment on Lefton’s ‘no comment’ When the Daily Kent Stater called President Lester Lefton for comment on Saturday night’s riot, he wouldn’t talk and questioned our decision to call his house so late. We question his concern for his university. Page 4
SPORTS
RACHEL KILROY | DAILY KENT STATER
College Fest partygoers watch as others throw tables and couches into a giant fire on East College Avenue Saturday night. The riot broke out about 8:40 p.m. and continued until almost 11 p.m, with four fires ignited down the middle of East College Avenue. SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE RIOTS ON PAGE 8.
Offense sputters in Blue and Gold game The Kent State football team held its final spring scrimmage Friday, and the offense had a night to forget. The Flashes mustered just three points in 60 minutes in the annual Blue and Gold game. Page 6
LOOKING FORWARD More East College Avenue riots coverage Check back to KentNewsNet.com, the Daily Kent Stater and TV2 for continuing coverage of the College Fest riots. We’ll be following up to confirm what started it and find out who will face consequences.
CONTENTS
4 fires, 53 arrests trigger big batch of court visits Kristine Gill
Daily Kent Stater More than 50 students have arraignments set for Wednesday and Thursday after this weekend’s College Fest riots. But it still remains unclear what sparked the riots. Only minor injuries to officers were reported by the Kent City Police and Fire departments, and there were no reports of major injuries to partygoers. In a news release issued around 3 a.m. yesterday, Kent Police reported that about 53 people
were arrested after multiple warnings for charges, including failure to disperse, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Dispatchers said that number is climbing. “We got arrested for failure to disperse, but we didn’t hear the order. We were inside, and we went out on the porch to grab some things and they arrested us,” senior psychology major Joey Smith said. “...They dragged me down the street without shoes on, with all the glass and the fire. They didn’t even tell me what I was being arrested for.”
What students saw
According to the press release f ro m p o l i c e , t h e r i o t s t a r t e d “when partying students and others began pelting police officers with bottles and rocks at the scene of an arrest.” See RIOTS, Page 5
WERE YOU THERE ON SATURDAY NIGHT? If you want to send us your first-person account of what happened Saturday night, we’ll select a few for tomorrow’s Forum page. Send them to stater@kent.edu. Location of fires on EAST College Avenue
For Your Information Page 2 Police blotter Page 3 Forum Page 4 Sports Page 6 Classifieds Page 7 College Fest Photos Page 8
SATURDAY NIGHT ON EAST COLLEGE AVENUE: Before 8:30 p.m. a large crowd of College Fest partiers gather on East College Avenue. About 8:40 p.m. police attempt to break up the crowd, and protesters began to throw glass bottles at officers. Police responded by firing non-lethal ammunition from paintball guns. About 8:50 p.m. rioters start a large fire in the middle of the street, fueling it with tree branches, furniture, street signs and a TV. Cheering crowds gathered around it, filling lawns and piling onto rooftops. About 9:05 p.m. police in riot gear assembled at the west end of East College Avenue and prepared to march toward Lincoln Street dispersing the crowd. They arrested anyone who would not leave the scene. About 9:20 p.m. firefighters extinguish the fire as police continue to disperse the crowd. Minutes later rioters started another fire farther down the road. Eventually two more fires were started on the street. At 10:51 p.m. police called off the detail in charge of crowd control on East College Avenue and removed road blocks.
KATIE CARLSON | DAILY KENT STATER
At 12:23 a.m. the university sent a statement to student e-mails reporting 125 arrests and calling the events “inexcusable.”
DANIEL R. DOHERTY | DAILY KENT STATER
SWAT members handcuff two partygoers while others look on from the neighboring house. There were more than 65 arrests during the three-hour riot.
ONLINE
Check KentNewsNet.com for constant updates on the East College Avenue riots and a new reader-submitted video from Max Nixon. Have photos and videos from College Fest? Send them to stater@kent.edu. Go to twitter.com/kent360 for constant updates on new information throughout the rest of the week.
RELAY FOR LIFE
‘You inspire us with your strength, and we celebrate you’ 3,000 participants raise money for cancer research Anthony Holloway Daily Kent Stater
RACHEL KILROY | DAILY KENT STATER
Cancer survivors take an honorary lap around the track during the national 25th anniversary of Relay for Life Saturday. The event raised about $75,000 for cancer research.
After 12 hours of walking, a crowd filling nearly half of a usually empty track gathered around a white tent to listen to the words of those who refused to be beaten by cancer. Alyssa Baynes, the 10-year-
old honorary speaker for Kent State’s eighth annual Relay for Life, said she was “a little” nervous about telling a crowd what it’s like to have cancer. Later, Alyssa, the daughter of a Kent firefighter, puttered in her own shyness as she stepped up to the microphone. She began to explain how she was 3 years old when doctors diagnosed her with leukemia. She finished chemotherapy while she was in first grade. “It was very inspiring to see the youth of America here,” said Alyssa’s mother, Kim. She went on to explain that Alyssa endured
three years and 37 treatments of chemotherapy. It was not just the words that caused inspiration, though. It was also the feeling of “hope” that came after them. As a song of remembrance written specifically for Kent State’s Relay for Life played, 410 white and purple paper bags labeled with names of hopeful people with cancer and those who passed lined the edge of the Liquid Crystal Institute Track Saturday night for the Luminaries ceremony. The 24-hour event, which raised an unofficial total of $78,139.76,
kicked off at 10 a.m. Saturday with the opening ceremony. Throughout the day, 84 teams kept at least one member walking around the track at all time to raise money for cancer research. Rachel Kessler, co-chair for Relay for Life at Kent State, said about 40 cancer survivors came. The opening ceremony, which included the Kent State Pep Band, Kent Fire Fighters Color Guard and a flyover from the Kent State Flight Team, spoke directly to the survivors present on the sunny, 72- degree morning. See RELAY, Page 5