Thursday December 1, 2011 year: 132 No. 48
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern Herman Cain talks morality, 2012 campaign
sports
Mary Posani Lantern reporter posani.3@osu.edu
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Braxton’s birthday present
Freshman quarterback Braxton Miller was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year on his birthday Wednesday.
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cody cousino / Photo editor
Herman Cain, seeking the GOP presidential nomination, took his campaign to OSU on Wednesday. Cain spoke to a group of about 500 people at the Ohio Union about his plan for the economic stability.
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No strings attached
Miró Quartet is scheduled to perform at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Via Vecchia Winery in the Brewery District.
campus
Proposal of exotic animal law
Herman Cain, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, spoke about America’s crises but did not mention the ones surrounding him and his campaign Wednesday afternoon at the Ohio Union. During the rally, Cain talked to more than 500 students and visitors about “America’s crises” in morality, economy national security and foreign policy, energy and military. Cain shared a story about watching children say the pledge of allegiance twice during the U.S. Open. When the children said the pledge, both times they left out “under God,” sparking what Cain says is a “moral crisis.” “They left out ‘under God!’ In the pledge of allegiance! I was outraged!” Cain exclaimed. “We have to keep God in this culture and we have to fight for it.” Cain acknowledged a need to fix the moral crisis in America and “fight to keep God,” but did not address his alleged sex scandal during the rally nor did he take any questions from the audience or press about the accusations. Four women have accused Cain of sexual harassment. Two of the women accusing Cain worked with him in the 1990s during his time at the National Restaurant Association. The two women claimed Cain made inappropriate comments and gestures during conversations. The women eventually left their positions with the NRA while receiving undisclosed monetary compensation. Cain has denied these accusations to numerous media outlets. More recently, an Atlanta woman, Ginger White, told media outlets that she had a 13-year on-andoff again affair with Cain. He also denies these accusations.
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$75K safety plan ‘huge win for students’ Thomas Bradley and Sarah Stemen Campus editor and Oller reporter bradley.321@osu.edu and stemen.66@osu.edu Following a string of highly publicized armed robberies in the campus area, Ohio State has made a commitment to spend more money on enhancing student safety in the university area. OSU officials formed a task force and presented a three-part plan Tuesday night to President E. Gordon Gee to improve safety. Javaune AdamsGaston, vice president for Student Life, and Jay Kasey, senior vice president for administration and planning, said Gee has accepted this plan, which takes effect immediately. Kasey estimated the amount spent on additional student safety projects to be between $75,000 to $80,000. Part of that plan, a mutual-aid agreement between OSU Police and the Columbus Division of Police, is still in the works, said Nick Messenger, president of Undergraduate Student Government.
Jay kasey
Javaune Adams-Gaston
He said he hopes the agreement is in place by the end of Winter Quarter 2012. “My goal is really that we’ll see a mutual-aid agreement drafted and finalized by the end of Winter Quarter,” Messenger said. “I would love to see our officers working off-campus by the start of Spring Quarter.” Messenger hopes there are three parts of a
joint jurisdiction policy that the University police and Columbus police hope to cooperate on: first response, general patrol and assisting other agencies. “Our police department is in daily contact with Columbus Police Department,” Kasey said. “There has been no formal discussion of all of this yet though.” Another part of the plan is to increase the Student Safety Service program, an appointmentbased van ride program offered to all students. Messenger said additional student safety vehicles will be ready for use starting Winter Quarter 2012. Messenger said two vehicles used by Facilities Operations Development during the day will double as Student Safety Service vehicles. “We will start with two (vehicles), and we will adjust for ride time. Our goal is going to keep ride times down,” Messenger said. “We’re going to pull
2A Former student convicted of soliciting sex Danielle Hyams Senior Lantern reporter hyams.2@osu.edu
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sunny cloudy showers few showers www.weather.com
Former Ohio State student and Hamilton Township High School valedictorian Jeremy Edington was convicted Tuesday of soliciting an underage boy for sex and for possession of child pornography. A jury sentenced him to 13 years in federal prison. Cpl. Dan Johnson of the Franklin County sheriff’s office, who testified against Edington during the trial, said that his department became involved after they came across an ad posted by Edington online. “Basically Edington posted an ad on a social networking site advertising that he was looking for sexual relations with a young boy,” Johnson told The Lantern. “Then investigators with the Internet Crimes Task Force responded to the ad and began the investigation. Through the course of the investigation and the communication between Mr. Edington and the undercover investigator, they came up with a plan to meet for sex and then Mr. Edington was taken into custody. As a result of that, another investigation began and Mr. Edington’s computers were seized and searched, and child pornography was found.” Johnson said that the investigation took
approximately two months, with Edington being officially charged in July. Edington maintained his innocence throughout the trial. He told the jury that his intent was to issue the boy a simple warning, nothing more. “His excuse was that he was coming to meet what he believed to be a juvenile boy, Jeremy Edington and even though they talked about having sex in the chat forum, he said the reason that he was coming to meet this boy was to warn him about his risky behavior online,” Johnson said. “That is what he maintained throughout the trial.” “I have done nothing wrong in my life,” Edington said, as he pled his innocence to U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus during the trial. Johnson said that due to the nature of the crimes, Edington was tried in federal court as opposed to Franklin County Court. “The totality of the circumstances is why this case was taken to federal court,” Johnson said. “We’re not talking about someone who just had pornography, not to minimize child pornography, but here is someone who possessed child pornography and used this as a
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springboard to reach out and attempt to have sex with a juvenile.” Edington declined to comment for this story. His lawyer, Dean Boland, maintains Edington’s innocence, and said there will be an appeal of both the verdict and the sentence. Ruth Gerstner, special assistant of communications for the Office of Student Life at OSU, said she had not heard of Edington’s conviction. “I am not familiar with the case,” Gerstner said. “We have no comment on legal issues involving students or former students.” Former classmates of Edington describe him as “nice” and “happy-go-lucky,” but “weird.” Jacob Santille, who graduated from Hamilton Township High School in 2008 with Edington described him as “different.” Santille, a fourth-year in strategic communication, elaborated on what he said made Edington stand out. “It’s just the way he carried himself, and it was just kind of the vibe that he gave off that he was a little bit different from everyone,” Santille said. “Honestly, all of his quirks were kind of ignored because he was a 4.0 (GPA), super driven guy, so we let it all slide and just assumed he was weird because he was smart or something like that.”
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