FOOTBALL: TDR’s deputy sports editor analyzes Sam Montgomery’s comments, p. 5
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Lady Tigers cruise to a win on Senior Night, p. 5
Reveille The Daily
www.lsureveille.com
Friday, March 1, 2013 • Volume 117, Issue 97
Earth, Wind and Fire
Students gain hands-on forestry experience while conducting prescribed burns Olivia McClure Contributing Writer
A forest fire protection and use course may sound boring — that is, until it’s revealed that its 10 students get to start fires for a grade. Niels de Hoop, professor in the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center at the LSU AgCenter, said students in his RNR 4032 class learn not only about preventing forest fires, but also how to use fire as a forestry tool. Prescribed burns can be used to remove competing vegetation, underbrush that blocks wildlife habitats and food and excess fuel material that can ignite during dry weather. De Hoop’s course lasts eight weeks, during which students typically conduct one to two prescribed burns at the Bob R. Jones-Idlewild research station in Clinton. Prescribed burns generally cover a 10-to-20-acre stand of trees, de Hoop said. “There’s several firing techniques that you can use,” de Hoop said. “Some are hotter than others, some burn slower than others.” Days with relatively low humidity and 9 mph winds from the north are ideal for burning, de Hoop said. It is also important to determine how high the smoke will rise and whether it will blow away or smoke the area FIRES, see page 4
CRIME
LSUPD sees rise in false reports Nic Cotten Staff Writer
photos by MORGAN SEARLES / The Daily Reveille
[Left] Charles Pell, forestry senior, watches the fire Thursday at the Bob R. Jones Idlewild Research Station in Clinton, La. [Top right] Niels de Hoop (right), RNR 4032 professor, and his students watch the fire burn. [Bottom right] A fire line, set by the students, burns its way into the grass. The program teaches not only how to prevent fires, but also how to use them as tools.
The LSU Police Department has experienced a recent spike in falsely reported crimes, according to LSUPD Spokesman Capt. Cory Lalonde. During the 2012-13 school year, four students have made up crimes and called them in to LSUPD, Lalonde said. “There have been occurrences of false reports in the past, but it spiked up this year,” Lalonde said. “In the past, they were rare and infrequent.” The crimes crafted by the students were all armed robbery, Lalonde said. “It is a crime to falsely report,” Lalonde said. “It is criminal mischief and can have a $500 fine and/or up to six months in prison.” Last semester, a student told LSUPD he was robbed at knife-point by Kirby Smith, but later told police he fabricated the story to prank his friends, Lalonde said. On another occasion, a student FALSE CRIMES, see page 11
EVENT
University students to present at TEDxLSU Zach Carline Contributing Writer
University students will have the opportunity to hear ideas from their peers on March 9 at TEDxLSU. Two groups of University students will present their ideas to the Baton Rouge community. Music graduate students William Conlin and Nick Hwang will present a collaboration of ideas about
music and performance following the “evolve” theme for the event. Advertising senior Kristen Hinton and landscape architecture graduate student Prentiss Darden will present on behalf of the University’s Create Lab, a team of University students that aims to find digital solutions in an ever-evolving media world. Conlin and Hwang collaborate with other artists as much as possible and
often work with different art mediums, sometimes creating their own instruments. The duo met a year and a half ago and decided to apply as a duo for TEDxLSU. “We felt it would create a stronger presentation,” said Conlin. “We do some things we don’t really see a whole lot. We do some unusual things.” Hwang said not many TEDxLSU, see page 11
MARIEL GATES JONES / The Daily Reveille
Music graduate students Nick Hwang and William Conlin will present their ideas about music and performance at the TEDxLSU event on March 9 in the Reilly Theatre.