For oncampus changes, see pages 8-9
Arthur Moats has NFL debut, see page 17 Serving James Madison University Since 1922 Vol. 87, No. 1 Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunny n 95°/60° chance of precipitation: 0%
JMU, Police Crack Down
Robert Boag / The Breeze
Traditional block party weekend ‘quiet’
Education a key piece in changing alcohol culture
City votes for changes to trespassing law
By Aaron Koepper The Breeze
By Katie Thisdell The Breeze
By Aaron Koepper The Breeze
Three male students sit in the back of a red pick-up truck on Saturday night, making conversation with ladies on the sidewalk of Devon Lane. The three in the back of the truck are under 21 and holding cans of Bud Light, but they are not acting intoxicated. The designated driver is over 21 and sober. They don’t see the undercover police SUV a few feet behind them until it flashes its blue lights. Everyone is cooperative, handing over their IDs while the driver talks to the officer. The driver pours out approxi m a t e l y 18 c a n s o f B u d L i g h t into the grass to avoid charges. Had they been legally drunk or
The groups of freshmen and sophomores leaving campus Friday night were fewer and farther between than in past years. As they approached the corner of campus at Port Republic Road, ready for a night out, they were greeted unexpectedly by other students and faculty. But the message wasn’t to stay home or even not to drink. Instead, the groups were advised to stay together and to stay safe. “I’m not trying to scare you all into staying in your dorms,” said junior Rheanna Martino as she handed out yellow information cards to groups of students walking along Bluestone Drive. The business card sized guides
Community responses from Springfest have given the police a new tool to break up parties. On Aug. 10, the Harrisonburg City Council passed an ordinance that changes the process that police use to enforce trespassing laws. “This will allow the Harrisonburg Police Department to go into apartment complexes or townhouses and enforce trespassing on behalf of the property managers who file the appropriate paperwork,” HPD spokeswoman Mary-Hope Vass said. “It will allow us to move quicker versus the way it had been where the property manager had to come on site” before police were able to issue citations.
see POLICE, page 4
see safety, page 7
see TRESPASS, page 4
Waiting for tickets a thing of the past with online reservations By Kristin McGregor The Breeze
For the first time, students can reserve football tickets online at JMUSports.com “It makes it a whole lot more convenient than going to the ticketing office and actually picking up tickets,” said senior information analysis major Gun Cho. In previous years, students stood in line for hours at home games hoping they would be one of the first 5,000 students into the stadium. “Now students don’t have to go [to a game] and worry about not getting in,” said Mike Carpenter, the assistant athletic director of ticketing and customer relations. “So that’s a very nice feature for people.” Carpenter, who graduated from JMU in ’97, said the new online system was created for the convenience of students and to save money on printing tickets for special games where tickets were originally picked up in advance at the Convocation center. “Over 3,000 students have already reserved online,” Carpenter said as of Friday evening. “So we’re pretty psyched about that.”
Cho, 21, has already reserved his ticket for the opening game against Morehead State on Saturday. “It’s not like we suck terribly,” Cho said. “I mean, we win, so why not go?” Student tickets are still available for all home games. Tickets can be reserved two Mondays prior to the game date. After reserving the ticket, the ticket information is downloaded straight to a student’s JACard. According to Carpenter, all regular general admission tickets are sold out with the exception of the game against University of Massachusetts on Oct. 30. He expects the remaining tickets to sell out by the beginning of October. All 4,800 season tickets for this year’s football season sold out by the May 15 pre-season deadline for renewing or purchasing tickets. Season tickets have sold out before football seasons’ kickoffs since 2005. For the past two years, season tickets have sold out prior to the preseason deadline. Buck Elwell and his wife Marsha, who live in Roanoke, have been season ticket holders for three years, since their son Patrick, a senior, began his freshman year at JMU. “We thought that would be a good reason to keep in touch with him,”
8/30 Inside 3 news Not kept Madison For Keeps will not return this fall.
How to reserve football tickets n Go to JMUSports.com n Click the “Tickets” tab on the left n Click “Order Tickets” on n n n n n
n n n
n n n
the scroll down menu Click “Student Tickets” Click “Register” Enter your student ID number Fill in your contact information You do not have to include your credit card information for student tickets Click “Student Tickets” Click “Student Home Games” Click the game of your choice (remember that you can only reserve two Mondays prior to the game) Enter the number of tickets If you have a guest, you will have to pay for their ticket Student tickets are free
Elwell said. This season will be played with phase I of Bridgeforth Stadium complete. Phase I, which was completed the first
week of August, rebuilt the lower deck of the West Stands, adding 200 seats to the 15,500-seat stadium. Phase II will start in November following the last home game and is projected to finish by next August, in time for the 2011 season. The new stadium will boast approximately 25,000 seats. “I’m actually glad to see they’ve done it,” said Elwell, who graduated from JMU in ’80. “I think it’ll drive a whole lot more interest in people coming to the game. I’m anxious to get to the game and see how Phase I looks.” According to Carpenter, the new stadium will hold about 8,000 student and 8,000 season ticket holder seats. Season tickets for 2011 will be available for renewal or purchase starting Wednesday instead of the usual Jan. 1 date in hopes of selling the additional 4,000 season ticket seats quickly. The Elwells are already planning on renewing their season tickets come September. “For me it’s a great way to spend a Saturday,” Elwell said. “A nice, relaxing way after a long week at work.” Contact Kristin McGregor at mcgregka@dukes.jmu.edu.
Kristin McGregor/The Breeze
Phase I of the Bridgeforth Stadium expansion will add 200 seats to the 15,500-seat stadium.
13 Columnists’ opposing views 23 Graduate shot while capturing 17 Senior C.J. Sapong hopes opinion Freedom to worship
life In memoriam
sports Preseason glory
on the proposed N.Y. mosque.
Afghanistan through photos.
to live up to high praise.