The Independent Student Newspaper of Sam Houston State University Vol 117— Issue 24
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Bowling for Soup, Page 4 Baseball, Page 5
INDEX Jessica Gomez | The Houstonian
Photo courtesy of kidswithfireworks| Flickr
Entertainment............page 4
Viewpoints.................
Sports....................page 5
News.....................page 3
Special...................page 6
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Close call
NATION & WORLD
Student killed during video chat with friend
Underage drunk driver crashes into SHSU student’s bedroom
By Kolby Flowers Senior Reporter
Senior Miles Robinson woke up on the wrong side of the bed Sunday morning after a drunk driver crashed her car into his bedroom. “As soon as I got into bed, I heard an engine rev up and it sounded like it was getting closer,” Robinson,
a graphic design major, said. “I looked up and saw a car coming towards me and it wasn’t stopping. I quickly said my peace thinking it was my last day on Earth.” The truck entered Robinson’s house around 2 a.m., striking the headboard of his bed, causing him to fly across the room and hit the wall. — See CLOSE, page 3
Photo courtesy of Miles Robinson
SNOOZE ALARM. Senior Miles Robinson’s bedroom was hit by an underage drunk driver, 2 a.m., Sunday.
CRIME TIME
VIEWPOINTS pg 2
Botched robbery unsolved, victim in critical condition
Senioritis It’s that time of the year again for academic ambition to fade for Bearkats preparing for graduation.
NEWS pg 3
Jared Wolf | The Houstonian
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT. A hit and run suspect is still lose after he struck the vehicle’s owner at the 11th Street McDonalds Sunday.
By Kolby Flowers
CAMPUS section University political parties debate on hot topics including abortion and the latest education events
Senior Reporter
A Huntsville resident is in critical condition after being struck by a van at the McDonalds located on 11th street. The suspects were attempting to force entry in the victim’s minivan in the parking lot, according to Huntsville Police Department Lieutenant Curt Landrum. HPD responded to the scene around 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, after a call made indicated an automobilepedestrian accident had occurred. The minivan’s owner saw the suspects trying to force their way into the car and tried to stop them, police said. The suspects then entered a gray van and struck the victim as they fled the scene in an unknown direction. The extent of the victim’s injuries are unknown, however, the victim is
listed in critical condition, police said. The victim was transported to Herman Memorial Hospital in Houston via LifeFlight Helicopter. HPD is asking for help from the community in solving this crime. “We are asking anyone with information regarding this offense to contact HPD or Crimestoppers,” Landrum said. — See ROBBERY, page 3
Huntsville (2009) Population..............38,875 Violent crime...............188 Murder and non negligent manslaughter...................3 Forcible rape..................12 Robbery..........................49 Aggravated assault......124 Property crime.........1,407 Burglary.......................289 Larceny-theft............1,066 Motor vehicle theft.......52 Arson................................4 Statistics courtesy of FBI
A 23-year old exchange student at York University was attacked in her apartment while a friend in China watched via computer webcam and was found dead hours later, police say. Police in Toronto, Canada identified the student as Qian Liu of Beijing. She was talking early Friday morning to a male friend from home when a man allegedly knocked on her door asking to use her phone, police said in a news release. The friend in China then witnessed the unknown man and Liu struggle for a period of time before the attacker turned off her laptop, the news release said. Ten hours later, police arrived at the Toronto apartment to find Liu’s body, naked from the waste down. Her laptop was missing. Liu’s family is currently on their way to Canada from China, according to reports from CTV.
Presidential “birther bill” vetoed Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, has vetoed a bill that would have required presidential candidates to prove they were born in the United States before their names could be placed on that state’s ballots. The bill, which passed the Arizona House by a vote of 40-16 last week, would give the final say of a candidate’s eligibility to the Secretary of State, if a candidate was unable to prove whether or not they were born in the United States. Brewer said in her veto letter that she could not “support designating one person as gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate.” The bill would have required President Barack Obama and other candidates who wish to be put on the ballot in Arizona to produce a birth certificate. If a birth certificate couldn’t be produced, a candidate would have to show a combination of baptismal or circumcision records, hospital birth files, postpartum medical records or other documents.
South devastated by string of tornadoes The largest tornado outbreak since 2008 has killed 45 people across the southern United States. The National Weather service has confirmed at least 97 tornadoes in a threeday outbreak. The number of confirmed tornadoes is expected to rise as the number of reported tornadoes is currently at 249. Of the 45 deaths reported, 22 were in North Carolina, six in Virginia, seven in Arkansas, seven in Alabama, two in Oklahoma, and one in
EARTH DAY
‘Silent Evolution’ brings bottom-dwellers to Cancún
By Brittany Pires
Contributing Reporter
Students may now celebrate Earth Day all summer long with Cancun’s new underwater feature that will not only attract tourists with art, but also help preserve the marine environment. In recent months, more than 400 permanent sculptures have been installed in the National Marine Park of Cancún, Isla Mujeres and Punta Nizuc as part of a major artwork called “The Silent Evolution.” “The installation is
the first endeavor of a new underwater museum called MUSA, or Museo Srubacuatico de Arte,” according to National Geographic. Mexico-based British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor creates his sculptures from a live cast of mostly local people of all ages. The figures are made from a combination of cement, sand, micro silica, fiber glass+ and live coral that attracts the growth of corals, which will in turn promote marine life around the sculptures. The statues remain just 30 feet underwater, allowing
boat-bound visitors to observe the artwork. “Water is a malleable medium,” Taylor said in an e-mail interview. “The large number of angles and perspectives from which the sculptures can be viewed dramatically increases the unique experience of encountering the works.” Taylor hopes to relieve the stress on the existing local reefs, which are part of the Meso-American Barrier Reef, the second largest to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Due to marine pollution, warming water temperatures, overfishing,
and the pressure of about 750,000 tourists each year, the reefs are becoming endangered. Taylor’s Caribbean artificial reef will eventually cover more than 4,520 square feet and allow another area for marine life to reside besides the existing corals in Cancún Marine Park. “Already, I think there are a thousand different fish living on them,” Taylor said. “There are lobsters, big schools of angelfish, and there’s a big coating of algae, which is one of the — See CANCUN, page 3
Photo courtesy of Jason deCaires Taylor
UNDERWATER VIEWING. Mexico-based British sculptor
Jason deCaires Taylor creates his sculptures from a live cast of mostly local people of all ages.