Dogs gear up for bout with Tide
OCTOBER 23, 2012
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Reflector The
REFLECTOR-ONLINE.COM 125TH YEAR | ISSUE 16
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1884
MSU police investigate voyeurism incident at football game BY KAITLYN BYRNE Managing Editor
The Mississippi State University Police Department is investigating a voyeurism incident that occurred in the women’s restroom in Davis Wade Stadium during the MSU vs. Tennessee game on Oct. 13. A sophomore MSU student reported a person in masculine work boots attempted to take a photo of her in a stall in the women’s restroom near the student section. The Reflector does not identify victims of sexual crimes.
“My friend and I left the end zone (student section) and went to the restroom near there, and I noticed the person in the stall next to me had work boots on, which I thought was strange,” she said. “When I stood up, I noticed the camera barely visible under the stall, and then he shot out of the stall too quickly for me to be certain what he looked liked.” Sid Salter, director of University Relations, said this is the first time an incident like this has been reported at MSU. The MSU Gameday Committee has met to review existing gameday security policies and discuss possible measures to prevent similar
incidents in the future, Salter said. Currently, MSU employs over 200 people in the security business on gamedays, he said. In addition to security personnel, Salter said custodial staff often checks the restrooms while restocking items. Salter said all restrooms in the stadium are locked prior to the start of the game to prevent people from hiding inside. “This is a bizarre incident because the (victim) said this incident occurred when the bathroom was full of other people,” he said. “Our security efforts are comparable, if not surpassing, other institutions.”
Salter said the university is actively working on the case, although it currently does not have useful information about the perpetrator. “The determination so far is there’s not a lot more the university can do to stop something like this from happening, although we are certainly open to change if we can continue the conversation to learn any additional concrete steps we can take to prevent this,” he said. Georgia Lindley, chief of MSU Police Department, said if anyone has any information regarding the incident, contact the MSU Police Department at 325-2121.
RHA preps for Haunted Horse Park BY HILLARY LAPLATNEY Staff Writer
Mississippi State University’s Residence Hall Association will put on this year’s Haunted Horse Park Oct. 30 and 31 from 8-11 p.m at the Mississippi Horse Park. Mydarian Booker, programs and activities director for RHA, said the Horse Park will be sectioned into different scenes for the event. “We’ll have 11 scenes, including an insane asylum, “The Ring” and different things of that nature,” he said. “We’ll try to incorporate different aspects to make it scary, even on the ride to and from.” Booker said shuttles have been reserved to transport visitors from the front of the Union to the Horse Park in 15-minute rotations. The first shuttle will leave the Union around 7:45 p.m. John Williams, RHA president, said the RHA has previously put together Haunted Herbert, which was located on campus in Herbert Hall. “We kind of did a snake trail last year where you went through and it curved around,” he said, “But this year, we wanted to do something different. The scenes are going to be set up like a maze, and it will be free will. You really don’t know what to expect.” Williams also said he is very excited for the event to take place in the new location. “Now that we’re doing it off campus inside the Horse Park, it’ll allow more off-campus and on-campus people to come,” he said. “So we’re really excited about that. We’re doing a lot of things differently.” Claire Taylor, RHA treasurer, said she hopes this year’s relocation to the Horse Park should bring in more off-campus students as well as Starkville residents. SEE PARK, 2
Myths surround campus in fall season BY LACI KYLES
T
Staff Writer
here is a certain feeling that comes with the fall season. With shorter days and cooler nights comes a sense of various traditions — football and Halloween among them. Robert Wolverton, professor in the Mississippi State University department of classical and modern languages and literature, said so much of people’s lives are bound by legend, tradition, superstition and myth we rarely even notice, let alone think twice about it. “A one-word synonym for myth is story. They always start by being spoken, changes (to the story) lead to tradition,” he said, adding oral traditions eventually become history. A good example of tradition connected to history is the story behind MSU’s gloried cowbell. It is tradition for Bulldog fans to cheer with the help of cowbells and most
know it is considered a sign of good luck but not everyone knows the whole story. According to Lindsey Storey, director of orientation and events, in the 1940s a cow wandered onto the field during the Egg Bowl from the barn, or Giles Hall. After the MSU victory, the cow was used as a good luck charm but was decided later to bring just its bell instead of the cow to games. In the 1960s, Earl Terrell and Ralph Reeves, MSU professors, began welding handles to the cowbells and the bookstore started selling them in 1964. The story of the cowbell is sacred to avid Bulldog supporters, and Wolverton said traditions have multiple meanings and have been the glue of civilization, or rather, a common factor all peoples could relate to worldwide. People from all walks of life who favor MSU have the love of maroon and white, as well as reverence for the cowbell in common, a “glue” that connects them, no matter who they are or where they come from. Just as football in Starkville ignites memories of various traditions, fall brings about legends, folklore and superstition of another kind — Halloween. SEE MYTHS, 2
JAY JOHNSON | THE REFLECTOR
READER’S GUIDE
BAD DAWGS..............................2 OPINION ............................... 3 CONTACT INFO........................3 BULLETIN BOARD....................4
CROSSWORD .................. ......4 CLASSIFIEDS...........................4 LIFE......................................5 SPORTS....................................8
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