WHAT’S INSIDE? Scrutiny of Colbert misses point of satire ‘Noah’ film goes against Bible’s current Tennis injuries continues to hurt play
Pg 5
P3 P4 P5
TOMORROW’S FORECAST
HI: LOW:
BASEBALL PLUMMITS IN SLC STANDINGS
84o 70o
Alex Broussard | The Houstonian
Chance of Rain:
Follow us today! @TheHoustonian
20%
www.HoustonianOnline.com
Volume 125/ Issue 20
Facebook.com/ TheHoustonian Tuesday, April 1, 2014
CAMPUS
Mold, bugs found in Old Main food JAY R. JORDAN Associate Editor Students have come forward with photos of moldy sandwiches and bug-laced salads that came from Sam Houston State University’s eatery Old Main Market. Senior saxophone performance major Reese Burgan said he bit into a moldy burger bun Saturday. He said he and his girlfriend also saw mold on multiple buns on the grill as the food was being prepared. “First of all, we had to check [our buns], and we shouldn’t have to check,” Burgan said. “It was just ridiculous.” This wasn’t the first incident last week at Old Main Market. Sophomore music education major James DeBose, Jr. said during his lunch Wednesday he found a bug in the lettuce he was using for a salad. “They’re supposed to be washing the lettuce before they put it out to eat,” DeBose said. “It kind of makes me wonder, you know, I come in here often to eat salads. Is this the first time, or is this the first time I noticed?” DeBose said as a student, and ultimately as a customer, he expected better service from the on-campus dining facility. “Everybody’s paying thousands of dollars just to use this facility, and they’re not being careful enough,” DeBose said. “I could have easily eaten that [bug], gotten some sort of disease and whatever could have happened.” Old Main Market was subject to a city of Huntsville random health inspection in January when they scored 26 points in
Provided by Reese Burgan and James DeBose, Jr.
MOLD MAIN MARKET. These photos of a moldy bun and lettuce bug were sent to the Houstonian on Sunday after they were taken last week by senior saxophone performance major Reese Burgan (above) and sophomore music education major James DeBose, Jr. (right).
violations for improper cooling, improper cold hold, improper hot hold, dented cans in the dry storage, low water pressure at hand washing stations, and broken pans and utensils. During their mandated reinspection in February (since they made over 20 points in violations), they managed to correct every “critical” violation, according to the city report. The average violation score for the eatery is 15.75 points in deduction since December 2012. Since then, Old Main Market has received more violation points each time they were inspected with three in December 2012, 15 in April 2013, 19 in August 2013 and finally 26 in January 2014. Burgan said since Old Main Market is new and markets itself as a healthy option for students, it should strive to be just that. “I read online that Old Main got a ‘C’ on their health report,” Burgan said. “I think that if they’re going to advertise Old Main as being a healthy choice for students to dine, then they should follow up on their word. That includes basic things like sanitation, food quality checks and whatever else they need to do to make that happen.” SH Dining Services issued a statement Monday, stating that they are trying to fix the problem. “At SH Dining Services, we order fresh bread and produce daily,” the statement said. “We are working with our vendors and setting procedures in place to ensure this does not occur in the future. We will continue to monitor the process.” SH Dining Services advises students, faculty or staff who find problems with their food to report it to a manager immediately.
Power outage puts Huntsville in the dark HANNAH ZEDAKER Senior Reporter Extensive damage to power lines in the Huntsville area caused a nearly 24-hour power outage as a result of a severe thunder storm that slammed the city Friday. According to Andy Conner, the senior multimedia specialist for Mid-South Synergy, the outages began at 5:30 p.m. Power wasn’t fully restored until 1:55 p.m. on Saturday. Roughly 2,900 clients in the Huntsville and Madisonville areas were unable to turn on their lights and televisions or keep their refrigerators cold. “There was just such a large number of power outages caused by lightning and high winds that crews were having trouble playing catch up as the storm progressed,” Conner said. “Our linemen did a great job and took care of outages
as quickly and safely as possible during the storm.” One of the main causes of the interference with the power lines was due to hazardously positioned trees, he said. “During inclement weather like the system that moved through on Friday, high winds, along with dead trees in our service territory, [were] a major contributor to power outages,” Conner said. According to Ronnie Hale, a Customer Service Representative for Entergy, Friday’s storm was so destructive, it called for the need of a backup crew. “Certainly we regret that customers had to be without power for that long—that’s our top priority, to restore service as quickly as possible,” Hale said. “We even brought in additional crews to help the local crews to try to shorten the time frame.” According to Conner, Mid-
South Synergy utilizes Geographic Information Services to help with their research to stay prepared. “As a cooperative, we are always trying to be proactive in our approach to maintaining our power lines,” Conner said. “It is our mission to provide a quality service for a reasonable price. Currently the cooperative employs a GIS department to research data such as lightning strikes in our area to increase efficiency and reduce outage time.” While businesses on the east side of Huntsville couldn’t service their customers due to the power outages, many businesses on the west side that retained power gained the customers the other businesses lost. “We benefited from the power outage because we had all the business,” McDonalds Manager Angel Munoz said. “We doubled our sales that we have on a normal
Saturday.” Likewise, the Sonic on Sam Houston Avenue also increased their profits as a result of the storm. “We were very busy, being one of the only restaurants open in town,” Sonic Manager James Ferguson said. “It seemed like everyone wanted Sonic those two days.” According to Conner, MidSouth Synergy will continue to work toward improving their response-time to outage reports. “In the future we will continue to invest in appropriate technology for the cooperative and implement it into our infrastructure in order to improve our response, in case of an emergency, to ultimately reduce outages times,” Conner said. Clients can reach the MidSouth Synergy call center to report power outages by calling 936-8255100.
CAMPUS
President’s future in hands of Senate JAY R. JORDAN Associate Editor Student government could have one less member after Tuesday’s general Senate meeting. Student Body President Ramiro Jaime, Jr. received impeachment charges March 25 for allegedly breaking multiple Student Government Association rules outlined in the Rules and Procedures.
Charges include his alleged failure to appoint six members to the election commission, refusal to allow the Senate to adjourn a meeting without the presence of quorum, and refusal to allow points of order. Other charges include his alleged refusal to acknowledge motions to overturn a ruling of the chair, unilaterally dismissing two different general Senate meetings, and a “failure to act in a manner befit-
ting to president of the student body in dealing with the members of the student government and student body,” according to the impeachment document. Jaime, in his defense, said that the reason for his impeachment was personal and had nothing to do with his actions since other members of SGA have allegedly broken rules but haven’t had impeachment charges filed against them.
“They’re trying to impeach me because then [Student Body Vice President Kolby Flowers] becomes the president, and he gets to appoint the election commission,” Jaime said to The Houstonian on March 25. “I’m calling them out. They’re corrupt.” Jaime also said he doesn’t believe some of the charges are legitimate, including the matters of ap—
SGA, page 6
Join Diane Gottsman and Career Services as we take you through the business dining experience and teach you the proper etiquette for dining with professionals.
presented by shsu career services
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Register today at JOBSforKATS.com!
IN BRIEF Beardless men need no longer worry. A new surgery has made it possible for anyone to grow a beard. Facial hair implants have begun to gain traction with the patchy beard growers of the world and may be the next step in reclaiming one’s manhood. The International Court of Justice ordered Japan to stop all whale hunting. Japan annually holds and permits a whale hunt that has for years earned the scrutiny of numerous nations. Australia challenged Japan’s whaling program leading to the ruling Monday. Dating site okcupid has removed the sites Mozilla Firefox compatibility after discovering that Mozilla’s new CEO is an opponent of same sex marriage equality. The site continues to support Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. During military drills Monday, North Korea fired at South Korea over the demilitarized zone. The artillery landed in the South Korean limits of the surrounding water. South Korea responded by firing back into the water surrounding North Korea. Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to be ordering a partial withdraw from Ukraine. Further details on the movement of Russian troops are unclear at this time. The Russian prime minister arrived in Crimea on Monday to discuss social and economic reform.