Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015

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Texting ban enforced with fine Composing messages illegal, maps allowed ANNA MAYER News Reporter @AnnaMay136

Two bans regarding texting while driving will go into effect this Sunday, Nov. 1. In May, Oklahoma passed a statewide ban, to be enforced at the beginning of November, on texting while driving, known as the “Trooper Nicholas Dees and Trooper Keith Burch Act of 2015.” The act honors two Oklahoma troopers killed by distracted drivers on their phones.

The law states “It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle on any street or highway within this state while using a hand-held electronic communication device to manually compose, send or read an electronic text message while the motor vehicle is in motion.” The City of Norman approved a similar law in September. As previously reported by The Daily, under the ordinance passed by the Norman City Council Sept. 22, use of an electronic device to write, send or read text-based communications has been prohibited and carries a fine of $100 plus court costs.

The bans are identical, Sarah Jensen, Norman Police Department public safety information officer, said. The city adopted the same ban for the convenience of Norman drivers. Norman officers will now be able to file the specific citations through municipal courts instead of district courts. Additionally, the fees that drivers would be fined should be lower than the statewide fees. The law stipulates that typing while in motion is prohibited. However, if the car is at a full stop, such as in heavy traffic or

ANNA MAYER/THE DAILY

A student texts while driving his vehicle in Norman in a photo illustration. Effective this Sunday, Nov. 1, two texting while driving bans will be enforced statewide and SEE BAN PAGE 2 citywide.

Barriers aren’t fazing James Student embracing herself while pursuing career in journalism

Oklahoma earns spot on sex market map

ALI STRATTON • ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR • @_ALISTRATTON_

C

atherine James: Aspiring TV Journalist Catherine James is similar to many other busy students at OU. She stays busy taking classes, working for the school’s student-produced newscast and maintaining friendships. As a creative media production senior, James hopes to produce newscasts or work as a news correspondent in the future. “I just want to have a positive impact on society on a national level,” she said. “The way I can do that is by being in journalism and telling other people’s stories and also telling my own story when I can.” However, several factors make James different from the typical college student. James is a 31-year-old mother. She juggles the responsibilities not only of school, but also taking care of her daughter, who

was born with CMV, or cytomegalovirus, which results in profound hearing loss in both ears and neurological damage. And James is transgender. -----------Her str uggles w ith gender and path to becoming a woman have been a convoluted journey that began when she was a child in Bethany, Oklahoma. Then, she was Christopher or Chris. “I’ve had gender issues since I was five or six years old, and between all of it I just got lost and derailed,” she said. She began trying on her sister’s clothes at that age, but her father sent a hard and fast message that it was not okay. Throughout elementary school, middle school and high school, James was forced to suppress her true identity. In those years, she “floated around,” trying to find somewhere — anywhere to fit in.

SEE JAMES PAGE 4

Global issue has local impact BRYCE MCELHANEY news reporter @bryce_mac

ALI STRATTON/THE DAILY

Catherine James works a camera behind the scenes at OU Nightly. As a transgender woman, James said she faced criticism for her appearance when auditioning for an on-air role at OU Nightly.

Women and children are b e i n g b o u g ht a n d s o l d a s prostitutes across the nation. Though it’s a national issue, human sex trafficking is closer to home than you might think, according to president and co-founder of No Boundaries International, Lori Basey. No Boundaries International is a nonprofit, faith-based organization that considers ending human trafficking one of its most important missions, and Basey said Oklahoma is on the commercial sex market map. “ Th e g i rl s w e s e e i n t h e street level are typically from Oklahoma, or they may be moving through Oklahoma, and our girls from Oklahoma have also worked in Dallas, or Kansas City,” Basey said. The highway system in Oklahoma has been regularly attributed to the sex trafficking problem, Basey said, but there are many states with the same amount of trafficking. Instead, she said, it’s a problem with sexual abuse and low self-esteem of women. SEE TRAFFICKING PAGE 2

University mailrooms having difficulties Increase in deliveries confounds postal staff DAYTEN ISRAEL news reporter @daytenisrael

An increase in student usage of Amazon Prime delivery services has led to university mailrooms across the country that are not designed for mass influxes of large packages being overwhelmed. OU’s postal services have not escaped the increase of online purchases and express delivery. OU postal services have not seen an increase in departmental

WEATHER Partly cloudy skies with a high of 66, low of 45.

deliveries, but have seen an increase in students ordering books and other personal things online, said Andy Wright, the supervisor of OU Central Mail, the student post office and the Oklahoma Memorial Union post office. “We’ve gotten a couch this year and a refrigerator, so we’re getting a lot of bigger stuff as well,” Wright said. The campus post offices are small and not equipped to process and house multiple large packages, Wright said. There are two full-time staff members and two part-time student workers at the student post office in Cate Center, Wright said.

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“It’s really made an effect over there as far as manpower, getting it done and getting it sorted in a timely manner,” Wright said. On a normal day, the post offices receive a postal container of 50 to 100 packages, but at the beginning of the semester, they were getting six to seven containers a day, Wright said. OU postal services recently purchased a new tracking software and is now using scanners, which it did not have before, so the packages can be tracked fully throughout the system, Wright said.

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DAYTEN ISRAEL/THE DAILY

The Central Mail post office delivers to students living on campus and has been overwhelmed with large packages this semester. College campuses have recently SEE MAIL PAGE 2 become overwhelmed with Amazon Prime deliveries.

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“The guy in front of me is shopping for a new tv. On the right, Agario. On the left, Hearthstone. Me, yik yak. The professor is essentially talking to himself at this point.”

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Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015 by OU Daily - Issuu