MINARET UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA’S NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1933
THE Vo l u m e
81
Number
Local Lawyer Offers Legal Advice See NEWS Page 2
2
•
A Sit Down With Sweet Lou
September
4,
2014
•
ut.minaret@gmail.com
•
theminaretonline.com
Advice and anecdotes with legendary baseball player and manager, Lou Piniella
The Ritz Ybor Hosts 7th Ave. Band Slam See A&E Page 7
ISIS Growing Bolder As Attacks Continue See OPINION Page 10
Second Ranked Spartans Look to Capture Title
Alex Jackson/The Minaret
Lou Piniella is a former player for the New York Yankees and is the former manager of the Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays. He has three World Series titles. By PHIL NOVOTNY JORDAN LLANES & GRIFFIN GUINTA Sports Editor, Asst. Editor and Columnist
See SPORTS Page 16
Alex Jackson/The Minaret
Many know Lou Piniella as a prominent former New York Yankee with three World Series rings and a wildly successful manager of the Mariners and the Tampa Bay Rays. But before he was any of those things, Piniella was just a kid from Tampa playing ball with his friends. “I grew up in West Tampa--everybody played baseball. Living here in Florida you play baseball year round. We played at Macfarlane Park, West Tampa Heights, we would even play at the Boys and Girls Club,” Piniella said. “Baseball was played by everybody in the ‘50s here in Tampa. It helped that Al Lopez really got the ball rolling as far as major leaguers coming out of this area.”
After immersing himself in America’s pastime throughout his childhood, Piniella was hungry for the next level. Instead of jumping straight from high school to the professional level like several of his contemporaries, Piniella opted to attend the University of Tampa to further his training. However, there were no high rise Vaughn Centers or on-campus Dairy Queens. In Piniella’s day, UT was a relatively small university and was surprisingly dominant in one sport that no longer exists here: football. There was no refurbished Bob Martinez Athletic Center to train in and the baseball team had no field to use. “We had a good team my freshman See PINIELLA Page 4
Race Continues to be Center of Ferguson Conflict By CAITLIN MALONE
Opinion Writer
“Everyone is biased, but an officer is equipped with a weapon that can turn bias into death,” Lisa Thurau told The Huffington Post. Thurau is an attorney who works for Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Strategies for Youth, an organization that trains police nationwide in how to interact with young people, particularly dealing with communities of color. On Saturday, August 9, 2014, Michael Brown was shot to death by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was 18 years old and was unarmed, according to USA Today. That night Wilson had received a call about a robbery at a convenience store, and that the suspect described was walking
toward another convenience store. Ten minutes after receiving that call, Wilson came across Brown and his friend walking down the street. He confronted them, which ended fatally for Brown. Wilson told sources that Brown physically assaulted him and also tried grabbing his weapon, according to USA Today. In response, Wilson fired six shots at Brown, four of which made contact with his arm and the other two with his head, according to USA Today. Following the day of Brown’s death, his parents hired attorney Benjamin Crump to represent their son in court; Crump also represented Trayvon Martin’s family. This event has caused major disturbance in the town of Ferguson, Missouri, the main source being violent protests in support of Wilson and
Brown. When events like this occur, the issue of racism is brought up every time, and the violent actions of the officer are questioned. Situations such as the Trayvon Martin and the Brown case make it hard to say who was in the right and who was in the wrong, especially since I was not there along with many other people. All we have to go onare witness testimonies. I urge people to keep an open mind with issues like this instead of jumping to assumptions as disturbing as racism. However, the fact that Brown was unarmed and was fired at six times does raise questions in my mind. I understand that Wilson said he was physically assaulted by Brown and that he reached for his weapon, and that may warrant one shot or two, but definitely not six.
Richard Perry/The New York Times
See FERGUSON Page 12