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125th YEAR | ISSUE 2 @REFLECTORONLINE f /REFLECTORONLINE
AUGUST 27, 2013
TUESDAY
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SA Senate pursues committed leaders for official positions BY QUENTIN SMITH Staff Writer
The Student Association Senate at Mississippi State University seeks awareness for its upcoming elections, encouraging more students to run for positions and get in-
volved with the organization on campus. The SA Senate is a group of students who are elected by their peers to represent their college. Each college has a different number of senators depending on its size. These individuals are in
charge of passing bills on various issues concerning students on campus. When students, faculty members or administrators have problems with anything on campus, they are able to contact their fellow senators to make a law about something or to try to get
something changed. When passing bills, the SA Senate uses preliminary procedures. In order for a bill to get passed, at least two-thirds of the Senate must approve the bill, and if they do not approve, then the bill gets denied. Shelby Sims, vice president
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of SA, said it is important for students to get involved early. “Senate is very respected because they are elected by their peers, and also it’s one of the most important branches of Student Association because we have the power to write legislation,” she said
SA Senate looks for candidates who will have a strong commitment to the organization. Rob Hairston, junior communication major, said it is important to have candidates who are passionate about helping better student life. SEE SENATE, 2
Parking spots are limited by construction
Into the
New Main Street restaurant delivers late night cravings
JASON SIMPSON | THE REFLECTOR
Cars cram into spaces in Commuter East parking lot.
Commuter frustrations grow BY ESHAN NEWAZ Staff Writer
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BY HILLARY LAPLATNEY
choose your own veggies, meats and sauces.” Brighenti, who is not a Starkville native, said he had prior experience with the town and chose to come to Starkville for two reasons. “Starkville is a beautiful gem of a town, which is the first reason we chose to come here,” Brighenti said. “Mississippi State would definitely be the second reason. The college students are our main customers.” Brighenti said hunting for a Pita Pit location in Stakville was not his first time coming to town. “I’d been here a handful of times before, and I always really enjoyed myself,” Brighenti said. “I’ve been to the Cotton
Staff Writer
ita Pit, an international restaurant known for its “fresh thinking” and “healthy eating,” has found its way to Main Street in Starkville. Jack Brighenti, owner of the local Pita Pit, said he chose to open a Pita Pit because of its healthy options. “Almost everything we make is on pita bread,” Brighenti said. “Typically a customer will walk in, choose whatever kind of sandwich they want, and we make it fresh in front of them. We grill the meat, if they choose to have a meat on their sandwich; we also have vegetarian sandwiches. You’ll
District before and just out and about in the city, and I really like it. I thought it’d be a good place to return to.” Brighenti said he was officially given the building, which is next door to Mugshot’s, earlier this summer. “We officially got the building in May, and we opened July 15,” Brighenti said. “It’s so strange how it works. It takes all this time to get things worked out, but once it’s official, it’s like ‘hurry up and go!’ We had a huge response when we opened. It’s really a good thing that we opened in the summer before students came back, because it gave our staff time to know exactly what’s going on. It’s been busy since we opened.” SEE PITA, 2 BRADEN BENSON | THE REFLECTOR
Ongoing construction at Mississippi State University has affected parking spaces and many students have complained that more permits are sold than actual available parking space. However, Mike Harris, director of Parking and Transit Operations, said parking services sells permits based on a ratio, and it is impossible to have oneto-one parking space to keep everyone happy. “It’s a two-headed coin. Some people see empty space and ask why we can’t sell permits. Others complain we sell too many permits but they can’t find parking space,” he said. Harris said selling one-toone permits is not possible in commuter parking lots, and the goal is to satisfy as many people as possible while frustrating the least number of people. “If someone has a morning class and then leaves, we don’t want the space to sit half empty the rest of the day. We want to turn that space over two to three times a day,” Harris said. Leigha Malone, senior history major, said parking has been so frustrating she is forced to park at Starkville Sportsplex and take the shuttle to campus. “Every year parking decals go
up by a lot on the commuter. Parking is so few and far between here, especially compared to how much staff and faculty gets,” she said. “I feel like students should be the top priority above anything else.” Matthew Dunaway, junior philosophy major, said driving on campus has been problematic due to roadblocks. “I have found roads being blocked off very inconvenient. If we did temporarily lose so many parking spaces due to construction, that is very alarming,” he said. Abdullah Dakhlallah, graduate biological engineering student, said MSU needs to take rapid actions to reduce parking problems since it has been frustrating students for a long time. “Parking services seems to be selling more permits than available space. What needs to be done is MSU has to build a parking garage,” he said. Harris said MSU permanently lost 48 Northwest Commuter spaces on the north end of the football stadium last fall. He said fifty spaces across the street from Barnes and Noble area were temporarily fenced off for the lay down area for construction. A new lot was built next to Barnes and Noble with about 48 spaces. SEE PARKING, 2
Chadwick walking track nears completion BY KYLIE DENNIS Staff Writer
BRADEN BENSON | THE REFLECTOR
The walking path added around Chadwick Lake promotes health and fitness on campus.
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Mississippi State University will welcome the addition of the Chadwick Lake walking and fitness path, a product of the MSU on the Move initiative, early this fall. Dan Whatley, construction administrator at MSU, said despite above-average rainfall this summer, construction on the walking path continues to progress according to plans following the official groundbreaking ceremony in early April. “The contractor was issued a notice to proceed (with construction) on April 22,” he said. “The current contract calls for completion on September 18.” Bill Broyles, assistant vice president of Student Affairs, said in the event weather conditions hinder the completion of the
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project, MSU may choose to grant the contractor seven additional work days. Broyles also said while current construction plans are true to the original project design, changes were made to incorporate a newer and safer boardwalk near the Sanderson Center. “One of the things that we added into the project after we started was the rebuilding of the boardwalk on Chadwick Lake. The boardwalk was about 15 years old,” he said. “We had to upgrade the rails. As a community track, we hope there will be a lot of children using this, too.” Broyles said the track will connect with the current walking path on George Perry Street and include ADA accessibility, an exercise loop with outdoor equipment and an extensive lighting system to promote the safety of walkers.
“It’s going to have really good lighting — LED, energy efficient lighting — around it. It will be a great place for people to exercise after work,” he said. Additionally, Whatley said the path will contain markers every one-tenth mile, allowing walkers to track their progress around the lake. Joyce Yates, director of Health Education and Wellness at MSU, said the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Mississippi accepted MSU’s grant proposal, funding the one-mile community walking path in connection with the MSU on the Move health initiative. “Total funding for the MSU on the Move grant program was $562,485. Total funding for the Chadwick Lake Track was over $450,000,” she said.
SEE TRACK, 2
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