Wednesday December 4, 2013 year: 133 No. 115
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B1G Championship Game ‘going to be won in the trenches’ DAN HOPE Oller reporter hope.46@osu.edu A trip to a BCS bowl game in Pasadena, Calif., will be on the line when the Ohio State (12-0, 8-0) and Michigan State (11-1, 8-0) football teams meet at the Big Ten Championship Game. Saturday’s winner is guaranteed to at least receive a berth in the Rose Bowl Game, but for No. 2-ranked OSU, a projected selection to the BCS National Championship Game hangs in the balance pending the game’s outcome. Even so, OSU players insist their focus this week is on winning Saturday rather than the later implications of that potential win. “You have to take it one week at a time, one day at a time,” junior defensive tackle Michael Bennett said Monday. “All we can do is win each and every week. If we do that … things will work out for themselves.” Although he
acknowledged the Buckeyes were excited to move up to No. 2 in the BCS standings after then-No. 1 ranked Alabama lost to then-No. 4 Auburn, junior linebacker Ryan Shazier said the team has kept its attention on Michigan State. “We don’t really have to do much refocusing because everybody still understands what’s at task right now and understands how important this game is,” Shazier said. “We got to take care of business with (Michi- gan
State) first, then we can move on and be excited about the next team to come up.” OSU coach Urban Meyer said his players have the right mindset going into the championship game. “They’re a very purpose-driven team and a very intelligent team so I don’t anticipate a problem (with focus),” Meyer said. “The biggest problem is we’re going to be facing an excellent team in Michigan State with great players.” The Buckeyes, though, seem to realize winning against the No. 10-ranked Spartans is no easy task. OSU has been led this season by the strength of its offense, which ranks third in scoring offense (48.2 points per game) and sixth in total offense (530.5 yards per game).
The Buckeyes’ offense has been especially strong on the ground, ranking second nationally with 321.3 rushing yards behind the all-Big Ten play of senior running back Carlos Hyde and junior quarterback Braxton Miller. That offense, however, might face its toughest test of the season in the Spartans. Michigan State’s defense leads the nation with only 237.7 total yards allowed per game and 64.8 rushing yards allowed per game, and also ranks fourth nationally in scoring defense with only 11.8 points allowed per game. Meyer said the success of Michigan State’s defense starts with its players’ talent. “It always starts with players,” Meyer said. “They have very skilled players that are tough.” Redshirt-senior left tackle Jack Mewhort said the Michigan State defense likes to “just play you and see if their guys are better than yours.” “They don’t do a ton of different stuff,” Mewhort said in regards to Michigan State’s defensive scheme. “I respect them for that because they have good players and are able to do that a lot.” Mewhort pointed specifically to redshirt-sophomore defensive end Shilique Calhoun, redshirt-senior defensive tackle Micajah Reynolds and senior middle linebacker Max Bullough as players in Michigan State’s defensive front seven who could present a challenge to the OSU offense.
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Lantern file photo. Photo illustration by KAYLA BYLER / Managing editor of design
Shots from 2 CPD officers leave 1 dead at Charlie Bear LIZ YOUNG Campus editor young.1693@osu.edu Two officers were involved in a shooting that left a 22-year-old man dead at Charlie Bear: Land of Dance early Monday morning. There was a disturbance in the dance club at about 2 a.m. Monday. Jonathan D. Rodgers, age 22, was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m. Columbus Division of Police Sgt. Richard Weiner said Tuesday Rodgers died from an officer’s gunshot. He said the incident started as an argument in the club. “What happened was there was some kind of disturbance, an argument between people inside of the bar. The one individual told people he was going to go outside to get a gun and … take care of business,” Weiner said. The man, later identified as Rodgers, got into a car before returning outside and shooting at an unidentified man coming out of Charlie Bear, Weiner said. Weiner said the two officers who were working special duty in the shopping complex witnessed the incident and both shot multiple times. A Columbus Police press release said those shots “struck the man.” No other injuries were reported, and a handgun was later recovered at the scene. Police are still investigating the incident and looking for the man who was shot at by Rodgers, according to the press release.
The names of the officers involved were not available early Tuesday afternoon. Charlie Bear is located at 2885 Olentangy River Road. The club announced it was moving from its previous South Campus Gateway location at 1562 N. High St. in late October. Some said safety was one concern that led to Charlie Bear vacating the Gateway area. “There had been several safety issues and security instances over the course of the last couple of years that we had tried to address with Charlie Bear, and certainly their inability to work with us in trying to address those led us to some of our decision,” Amanda Hoffsis, president of Campus Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment, told The Lantern in November. Campus Partners is a private nonprofit corporation that works on community planning in the Ohio State campus area alongside the university and the city of Columbus. South Campus Gateway LLC is a subtenant of Campus Partners. Charlie Bear owner Ted Lawson, though, said his reasons for moving from Gateway didn’t have to do with safety. “I was told by (Campus Partners) that, in fact, they didn’t want Charlie Bear, because one, they don’t like the image. Two, they didn’t like the type of people I was bringing in,” he told The Lantern in November. “They felt that the image that Charlie Bear was giving the area was not good.” The Monday incident was not the first act of
violence reported at Charlie Bear — on Feb. 18, police said a person was stabbed at Charlie Bear’s South Campus Gateway location. Lawson did not respond to calls requesting comment about the shooting. Undergraduate Student Government Vice President Josh Ahart said the incident should serve as a reminder to students. “It reinforces that safety is always the top priority … we oftentimes forget when things calm down that there are still issues that happen all over the place,” Ahart said. “(Charlie Bear) is close to campus but it’s not like it’s in the Gateway or something, but I think it does still affect students because students do still go there.” He said the shooting raises questions about potential solutions. “We have to look at it and say, ‘What can we do better?’” Ahart said. “I haven’t personally been there since they moved but anytime that you get alcohol involved, there’s a potential to have issues, so it’s something that every bar can have that happen.” He said, though, he believes the action the officers present took was appropriate. “I trust (that) the Columbus Police and the officers there did their job correctly, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” Ahart said. Some OSU students said while the incident was unfortunate, there wasn’t much that could have been done to prevent it. “It comes with the territory I guess. If you’re going
SHELBY LUM / Photo editor
Charlie Bear: Land of Dance is located at 2885 Olentangy River Road. to have bars like that, I mean, there’s not much you can do. I don’t know what to do to prevent it, people are going to do crazy stuff. It just happens,” said John Miller, a second-year in aerospace engineering. Shelby Lum contributed to this article.
R.L. Stine ready 'to scare different generations' with speech HALIE WILLIAMS Arts editor williams.3948@osu.edu
Courtesy of OSU Libraries blog
OSU alumnus and Bexley native R.L. Stine poses for a photo in 1965. Stine was editor-in-chief of ‘The Sundial’ during his time at OSU.
R.L. Stine is used to writing spooky tales, but the mystery he’s currently working on is of a different nature. The author of the “Goosebumps” series is slated to speak at Ohio State’s Autumn Commencement Dec. 15 at the Schottenstein Center, but he isn’t giving any hints as to what his speech will entail. “I don’t want to give anything away,” he said in an interview with The Lantern Nov. 7. “I probably won’t be giving your standard graduation speech — I won’t be telling people to follow their dreams.” When asked if he could give any insight to what students could expect from him come graduation day, he quickly said “not a thing,” but stressed he wants his speech to be memorable. “I can’t remember who spoke at my graduation, not a single thing they said. My son graduated about 10 years ago from college and I can’t remember a single thing anyone said at (his) graduation,” Stine said. “You know, people don’t remember graduation speeches so I’m going to try to do something a little bit different so maybe they’ll remember what went on.” The OSU alumnus and Bexley native is most well-known for writing the popular fiction and horror series “Goosebumps,” which some university officials said makes him a suitable candidate to speak to the this semester’s graduates. “Bob Stine is one of the bestselling children’s writers in history,” OSU Interim President Joseph Alutto said in a released statement Oct. 31. “On behalf of this university, I am proud to have him return to address our graduates and their families. His journey from 9-year-old with a typewriter to English major at Ohio State to international author will be a fitting final chapter to inspire our graduates to pursue their dreams.” As his journey writing “Goosebumps” began in 1992, Stine is aware many 2013 Autumn commencement graduates grew up reading his work. “So many of the kids who are graduating were fans of my books
and grew up on my books and I’m finding that, I have to say that it came as a shock to me at first, that so many of my readers have grown up,” Stine said. “Now when I do book signings, I get 7-year-olds and 10-year-olds and 20-year-olds and 25-year-olds, and that took a little getting used to, but now I’m very happy about it and it’s kind of nice to be able to scare different generations.” But even with the more than 300 books for children and young adults Stine has written, which have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide, writing horror stories wasn’t his original plan. During his time at OSU, Stine was editor-in-chief of “The Sundial,” the university’s student-produced humor magazine, and even after graduating, he stuck with humor for a time by creating “Bananas,” a humor magazine for teens published by Scholastic Inc. “I never planned to be scary. I never thought about writing horror at all. I always wanted to be funny — I was ‘Jovial’ Bob Stine,” he said. “Then one day I was having lunch with a friend, she was an editor at Scholastic. And, this is kind of embarrassing because being scary wasn’t really my idea, but she said, ‘I bet you could write a good scary novel. Go home and write a book for teenagers called “Blind Date”’ — she even gave me a title. I didn’t even know what she was talking about but I was at that point in my career where you don’t say no to anything.” It was then, Stine said, that he realized the hidden potential in this genre. “I went home and wrote this book called ‘Blind Date,’ a horror novel for teenagers, and it was a No. 1 bestseller,” Stine explained. “Before, I’d never been close to that list, and I was like, ‘Oh wait a minute, I’ve stumbled on something kids want to read — kids want to be scared.’ And I’ve been scary ever since.” Some OSU students are looking forward to having the author at their graduation. “It’s pretty cool (he’s speaking),” said Erika Dahlby, a fourth-year in anthropology who is graduating Dec. 15. “I definitely read his books when I was younger so it’ll be cool to see what he has to say now that we’re all older.”
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