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Friday, September 20, 2013
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CITY
Park to renovate, improve concerts By Amanda Voeller @amandaliz94
Auditorium Shores will only host one more event — Fun Fun Fun Fest — until Feb. 2015, while the park undergoes renovations. Terry Jungman, Austin Parks and Recreation department business process representative, said improvements to the park will include new
drought-tolerant grass, a new irrigation system and a larger dog park area. He said they are necessary for Auditorium Shores to continue to sustain its high number of visitors. “[If] you take a look at the health of the turf grass and the health of the trees, just the general landscape — it’s degrading, and it’s happening rather quickly,”
Jungman said. “So it’s important that we step in and do these improvements to bring balance back to the park.” Anne Palone, a landscape architecture graduate student who uses the park, said she thinks Auditorium Shores has the potential to be more than a dog park, but needs improvements first. “In my experience,
Auditorium Shores is dominated by the dog park, which is great, but there’s almost no shade, the grass is dead and dry and there’s nowhere to stop and enjoy the view of downtown Austin,” Palone said. “Usually it’s just a place that people on the Lady Bird Lake Trail are moving through, not stopping to spend time.” Bill Fraser, a representative for Friends of Austin
Dog Parks, said students will benefit from the renovated park because they make up a large part of the audiences at concerts and festivals that take place there. “It’s creating a renovated space that [students] can go out and enjoy, and it’s part of bringing in new students,” Fraser said. “It’s a new attraction for the city,
SHORES page 2
POLICE
Game day tailgating goes unmonitored By Alberto Long @albertolong
Despite the presence of alcohol and the potential for underage drinking at tailgating events, Austin police say they generally stay out of the parking lots on game day. According to Linsey Duett, special events manager for University Parking and Transportation Services, thousands tailgate on UT property and adjacent stateowned properties around campus. Although Parking and Transportation Services works with police agencies, it’s mainly for traffic control. Tailgating spots on stateowned property require a reservation and a fee. Centennial Park, which is located along Trinity and 15th streets, is the only regulated grass space on campus that requires a reservation and permit. Lt. Derek Galloway said
TAILGATE page 2
Jonathan Garza / Daily Texan Staff
Members of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity shotgun beer while tailgating before the UT - New Mexico State football game on Aug. 31. Despite the presence of alcohol and potential for underage drinking, Austin Police usually stay out of the parking lots.
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CITY
Ole Miss student hospitalized after attack By Alberto Long @albertolong
The investigation into the assault and subsequent hospitalization of University of Mississippi senior Carson Otter is “making progress,” police said. Jermaine Kilgore, a public information officer for the Austin Police Department, said witnesses have come forward and are working with police. Based on witness accounts, investigators were able to confirm the initial argument that led to Otter’s attack was not related to the football game later that day, police said. Otter was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries following an assault near the intersection of Trinity and Seventh streets on Sept. 14. Veneza Bremner, public information specialist for APD, said Otter was attacked by an unidentified assailant at 2:08 a.m., following an argument. Otter was punched in the face and sustained major head trauma upon hitting the ground. Otter’s parents told KVUE that their son was wearing an orange shirt on the night of the attack. The assailant returned to his vehicle and fled the scene. The assailant was a passenger in a silver or white four-door sedan. Otter is being treated for brain trauma at the University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin, where his condition continues to improve.
CAMPUS
TRACK AND FIELD
Energy Institute hosts Wisconsin researcher
New coach debuts conjoined program
By Cinnamon Cornell @CinnamonCornell
Students can measure their energy use through technological tools. That’s what Greg Nemet, associate professor at the University of Wisconsin in the La Follette School of Public Affairs and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, told students during an energy symposium Thursday in the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Building. Nemet, who studies models of alternative energy systems, explained how energy policies influence the lives of college students. His research shows students should be able to analyze their energy use with technological tools. “Young people have more at stake on energy and climate issues than anyone else,” Nemet said. “My greatest source of optimism in addressing these profoundly difficult challenges is that we have lots of smart people setting out on careers and thinking about ways
to engage.” The energy symposium discussed research methods that could explain the process of technological change in energy and its interaction with public policy. Nemet talked about the influences of past technological changes and the effects of energy policies on future technological outcomes. The talk was held by the UT Energy Institute, a body of scholars from multiple schools and research institutes within UT, whose members study a variety of energy issues. The Institute holds weekly energy symposiums with different speakers to introduce students and faculty to energy policy questions. Carson Stones, global policy studies graduate and teaching assistant for the symposium, explained how attendees benefit from the Institute’s events. “Attendees can expect to get access to cutting-edge research, which is highly
ENERGY page 2
By Sebastian Herrera @SebasAHerrera
Being “team-oriented” has never seemed more appropriate for the Texas track and field/cross-country program. That is the phrase head coach Mario Sategna said he and his new coaching staff preach to their team — a team entering the first season as a conjoined program in school history. No more separate men’s and women’s meetings or practices. Instead, with the start of the crosscountry season on Aug. 30, the program officially began its new era as a single unit. The most critical thing for Sategna, who had been an associate coach at Texas for 10 years before taking the head spot in June, is giving every one of his athletes an opportunity to get acquainted with the new staff. “The main thing for me right now is to actually take a little bit of a step back on the day-to-day coaching piece and allow my
Eric Park / Daily Texan Staff
Both the women’s and men’s track and field team will work under one set of coaches for the first time in program history — a merge that has encouraged team unity.
new assistants to take the reigns,” Sategna said. “I think that way when they are hands-on, they’re going to get to know everybody a lot sooner.” Sategna described a scene three weeks ago when the men and women were put into groups while lifting weights. The long-tenured coach said
that as he watched, he noticed how both the men and women cheered for each other throughout the workout. The sight, which would have been uncommon before this fall, should become routine for the program. Associate coach Tonja Buford-Bailey, who was hired by Sategna from the
University of Illinois this summer, has experience coaching both men and women. Her time as the women’s track and field head coach and men’s assistant coach at Illinois gives her knowledge the Longhorns value in the early stages of the change. It’s a program that, according to an article by the
TRACK page 5
NEWS
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REASON TO PARTY
Board of Regents boosts administrator salaries PAGE 2
If Texas executes at all, it must do so fairly PAGE 4
Volleyball head coach Jerritt Elliott gets 300th win PAGE 5
Breakfast taco book offers Austin guide plus recipes PAGE 8
Injured Ole Miss student investigation underway ONLINE
Sen. Dan Patrick’s playing partisan politics PAGE 4
One writer says Ash should sit out this weekend PAGE 5
Museum day provides something for everyone PAGE 8
Adjunct to argue case before U.S. Supreme Court ONLINE Austin is a growing source of agricultural innovation. dailytexanonline.com
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