TOUGH TACKLES
Question of the Week Log on to lsureveille.com to see what alcoholic beverages students enjoy most.
Junior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard records 39 tackles in last three games, page 7.
THE DAILY REVEILLE Volume 114, Issue 49
WWW.LSUREVEILLE.COM
DEEP ROOTS Company uses seeds from University’s historical trees to grow and sell oaks
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
ALEX BOND / The Daily Reveille
By Ryan Buxton Staff Writer
They shade inspiring halls, populate the Quad and have become as much of a University hallmark as Mike the Tiger — and soon LSU’s famed stately oaks will be found in people’s backyards. Using Seeds of Life — a business endeavor by Florida-based gift enterprise The Magnolia Company
— anyone can own an LSU oak grown from acorns collected from on-campus trees. Small LSU oaks could be available for sale as early as 2010, said Matt Roth, president of The Magnolia Company, and plans are in development to sell the seeds themselves. “When I talk with people at LSU, I see how much pride they have in the campus there and the history of the campus, and I feel
honored that we can serve people in this way,” Roth said. HISTORICAL ROOTS The stately oaks originated with Steele Burden, a landscape architect who came to campus in the late 1920s and began planting the trees in the early ’30s. Most of the original campus ROOTS, see page 15
UREC
Gym reopens after more than SG Elections today 14 months of renovations Referendum for VP salary on ballot By Xerxes A. Wilson Staff Writer
The Student Government fall elections begin today, and voting on PAWS ends at 9:59 p.m. Included on the ballot are candidates vying for open SG Senate and University Court positions and a referendum to make the SG vice president a salaried position. The only referendum on the ballot prohibits the vice president position from accepting paid
employment outside the University during the fall and spring semesters or outside Baton Rouge during any other time and making it eligible to become a paid position. The only other paid position is SG president. Sen. Chris Sellers, College of Arts and Sciences and co-author of the resolution that put the referendum on the ballot, said SG included a $2,500 salary reserve for the vice president when formatting a budget at the beginning of the semester. If passed, the Senate would have to approve using the funds to pay current SG Vice President Martina Scheuermann. Sellers said VP, see page 15
By Steven Powell Contributing Writer
Students finally have access to the University Student Recreation Complex gymnasium, which has been closed for more than a year. Michael Giles, UREC operations and project manager, said the gym renovations ran smoothly despite a few minor issues. “We had a few problems, which is normal for a project such as this,” he said. “But we stayed on schedule and opened up when we said we would, so I’d say it all went according to plan.” GYM, see page 15
JASON BORDELON / The Daily Reveille
Students utilize the newly reopened basketball courts Monday at the University Student Recreation Complex gym. The courts have been closed since Hurricane Gustav.