TUESDAY OCTOBER 29, 2013 VOLUME 120 ISSUE 49 Serving The University of Alabama since 1894
CULTURE | PETS
When students leave town, pets are often
left to roam
NEWS | LOCAL POLITICS
Students drop legal intervention in trial Some greek houses to be removed from court motion By Katherine Owen | Produ Production Editor
Photo Obtained from bullcitydogs (Flickr.com), Mackenzie Brown; Photo Illustration by Austin Bigoney, Anna Waters While quick to adopt, students might not fully realize the responsibilities associated with the care and maintenance of their new pet. Animals shelters often must manage the ramifications of stray animals.
By Samuel Yang | Staff Reporter
Halloween haunting WHAT: A Haunting at the Museum WHEN: 6-8 p.m WHERE: Smith Hall
Student concert WHAT: Student Recital feat. Young Jin Jeon WHEN: 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Moody Music Building
INSIDE
Sports Puzzles Classifieds
10 9 9
Tuesday
Wednesday Partly cloudy
Partly cloudy
79º/57º
81º/61º
recycle th i se
per • Ple a
2 4 6
tomorrow
pa
Briefs Opinions Culture
today
Amazon.com Jeff Speck, author of “Walkabile City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time,” will hold a lecture Monday at 6:30 p.m.
s
today’s paper
SEE SPECK PAGE 5
Ple a
WHAT: Zom-Com Sweet CeCe’s Fundraiser WHEN: 5-9 p.m. WHERE: Sweet Cece’s
Past generations have ridden, driven and flown into the future – but according to Jeff Speck, a city planner and architectural designer, cities that want to matter in 30 years need to focus on walking. Speck, who has been featured on NPR and given a TED talk, will host a lecture titled “Why Walkability” at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center on Monday at 6:30 p.m. The talk is a part of a community event organized in part by PlanFirst, a University course that introduces city planning to students who are not majoring in the field. “I will present evidence that only those cities with truly walkable downtowns are poised to thrive over the next 30 years,” Speck said. “People will be moving from suburbs to cities, particularly people with creative talent and disposable income, but they will only be moving to those cities that offer the walkable lifestyle.”
WEATHER
Project fundraiser
Madalyn Vaughn, director of PlanFirst, said the class has been studying Speck’s recent book “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time” as part of their focus on Tuscaloosa’s own downtown. Vaughn calls walkability a “state of mind” and said Tuscaloosa has made strides in improving downtown walkability, though there is room for growth. She said the lecture is an opportunity for students to understand the forces and factors that shape their home. “It’s important to know what makes the city work,” she said. “I think a lot of students have noticed the change downtown and they like it, but they can’t really pinpoint why they like it.” Speck, who has previously worked on popular communities like Seaside, Fla., and Rosemary Beach, Fla., said the millennial generation was just one of the generations that would increasingly consider walkability. “Millennials are raised to yearn after
CONTACT
Event introduces community to city planning methods, ideas
per •
WHAT: WellBAMA Health Screening WHEN: 7:30-11 a.m. WHERE: Russell Hall
Speck brings ‘walkability’ lecture to UA
pa
Campus health
NEWS | CITY PLANNING
s
TODAYON CAMPUS
SEE PETS PAGE 5
recycle thi
When Sarah Garner, a senior majoring in social work, adopted her dog, Nelson, from the Lee County Humane Society, she picked him out, signed some paperwork and carried the puppy off to his forever home. But now, in addition to a new best friend, Garner has found herself with a new alarm clock, a new workout routine and a new schedule. “My routine has changed to where I cannot just go anywhere on the weekends or just pick up and leave and do anything spontaneous,” Garner said. “I have to make sure Nelson has a babysitter, and I also have to make sure I have the money to pay for a babysitter at the same time. It is kind of like having a child.” Today, 39 percent of Americans own at least one dog, and 34 percent own at least one cat, according
to humanesocietyuniversity.org. In Tuscaloosa, more than half of pet adoptions from the Metro Animal Shelter are to college students, Jennifer Earp, operations manager at the shelter, said. The shelter outlines a certain criteria in their application that any interested adopter must meet. Some of the qualifications the shelter examines specifically for students are whether or not their apartment complex or landlord allows pets, whether the student has paid the pet deposit at their residence and if the student’s parents are willing to allow their student to have a pet of their own, as many students move home during Christmas or summer break. Earp said that most often when the shelter has a returned animal, it is because the student has encountered a health issue with the animal that
se
By Megan Miller | Staff Reporter
After several University of Alabama greek chap chapters filed with local attorney Robert Prince for legal intervention in the upcoming up election contest between Kel Kelly Horwitz and Cason Kirby, Prince ssaid he will now be amending the mo motion to remove several organizations organizations’ names. Last week, Prince filed the motion on behalf of Pi Kappa Alpha, Zeta Tau Alpha, Kappa Delta Delta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Omic Omicron Pi and UA student Sayre Kearley Kearley. On Monday, the headquarters h for Alpha Omicron Pi ttold al.com that the chapter asked to b be removed from the legal document and a that “chapter members and advisors adviso do not have the authority to hire llegal representation on behalf of a chapter c of Alpha Omicron Pi.” Furthermore, in an emailed statement, Zeta Tau Alpha Alph national president Keeley McDonald McDona Riddle denied the involvement of the sorority in both the lawsuit and the motion to intervene. “Zeta Tau Alpha has not been named as a party in any of these lawsuits, and therefore we have not hired legal representation locally or nationally,” Riddle said. The Crimson White also reached out to the headquarters of Pi Kappa Alpha, Kappa Delta and Sigma Alpha Epsilon, though the organizations did not respond in time for print. According to the court document, the motion to intervene also includes other UA students and registered voters who voted in District 4, who are to be named at a later time. Prince said he was surprised the plaintiff chose to list the names of the students, noting how some “were eighteen and nineteen years old.” “Needless to say, that has had a chilling effect on some of them about
exercising their right to vote,” Prince said in an emailed statement. “They, as all qualified U.S. citizens, have the right to freely cast their vote and do it by secret ballot. Our petition to intervene in behalf of the listed fraternities and sororities is designed to protect that right, while hopefully shielding them from further personal condemnation.” The motion denies all illegal misconduct of said parties, stating “the Intervenors deny that they are guilty of any conduct that would warrant their vote being voided or not counted and Intervenors affirmatively state that they are entitled to a free and full exercise of their rights as U.S. citizens, voters and electors.” The document goes on to delineate the voters’ rights according to the Alabama Code, stating that the Intervenors are “all properly qualified and registered voters in District 4.” The contest comes in response to the Aug. 27 District 4 Board of Education elections, where Kirby beat Horwitz by 87 votes. Following the election, Horwitz alleged widespread voter fraud, largely focused on the UA greek community, including allegations of free drinks for votes and dishonest voter registration. Horwitz is now contesting 397 votes from the election, at least 392 of which were cast by students. Kirby’s attorney, Andy Campbell, has denied any involvement by Kirby in the alleged fraud, saying Horwitz’s argument is “untrue and unsupported by the evidence.” The testimony of the 397 voters will now be evaluated in the form of a 36-question affidavit, which will largely focus on evaluating the residence of the voter. The form gathers information from the respondent such as home city, current residence, graduation plans and other residencies. The affidavits are due to the court Oct. 31, with the final trial date set for Nov. 18.
editor@cw.ua.edu
website cw.ua.edu