Monday May 10, 2010 year: 130 No. 104 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com arts & life
Metal band: Every Time I Die
thelantern Flights lift WWII vets’ spirits KATHY CUBERT Lantern reporter cubert.1@osu.edu
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student voice
Anonymity of online posts
KATHY CUBERT / Lantern photographer
Ken Ruth, a Navy Word War II veteran and Bruce Barber, his guardian, tour the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Thirty veterans of World War II took a trip from Columbus to Washington, D.C. on Saturday to celebrate their military service and visit memorials created in their honor.
Imagine a look of shock, bewilderment, then joy. Multiply it times 30. Those were the looks on the wrinkled faces of World War II veterans as they saw the scores of people waiting for them in celebration of their military careers. John Kear’s arms reached out to the crowd as if he wanted to hug every person there as he was wheeled into the baggage claim area of the Port Columbus International Airport on Saturday night. Kear, an Army combat photographer during the war, was one of the veterans returning from an Honor Flights Columbus trip to Washington, D.C. Honor Flight gives free ˜ ights to the veterans to help them celebrate their military careers. The Columbus group
takes about two trips a month from April to November. The number of trips depends on contributions and fundraising. Each ˜ ight costs about $13,000. Ken Ruth, a Navy veteran, walked in wearing brown polyester pants, an honor ˜ ight T-shirt and a glisten in his eye. He shook hands with everyone as he walked through the crowd. All around them were children waving ˜ ags, people holding signs saying “thank you” and a deafening roar of cheers as all the veterans returned from a long, exciting day. It was a celebration of their service they never expected to see. The majority of veterans came home after World War II was over and went right back to work and on with their lives. This weekend, the veterans returned
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BEN BROWN Lantern reporter brown.2959@osu.edu
sports
Like the Greeks and Romans of old, Ohio State fraternity foes battled for glory Thursday in a chariot race. But instead of Circus Maximus, the arena was 15th Avenue, and instead of trumpets blaring, a disc jockey was scratching. The brutality was there, but whips were replaced by colorful silliness. Greek Week had yet to begin, but fraternity and sorority partners teamed up to compete in the Red Bull-sponsored race tournament that used humans for horses. The national program, which began last year, was “designed by Smartacus, pulled by Gluteus and Maximus,” according to redbullchariotrace.com. This year, it visited 12 colleges beginning with the University of Tennessee on March 27. Thursday’s OSU race was the ÿnal stop on the 2010 tour to celebrate greek life, school spirit and rivalry. Rivalries in OSU’s greek system produced 13 teams vying for the Hermes Prize. The chariot that outraced all others earned a private after-party upstairs at the O Patio and Pub for any fraternity or sorority members who helped make or support it. The event had more than 650 attendees, according to Facebook, and many of them wore togas to the party to get a free Red Bull and vodka cocktail. Participants had to design and build their own chariots from scratch. Speed was not the only thing that mattered. The Archimedes Award went to the team with the most creativity and well-built chariot. The combined
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Struggling down the stretch
The OSU baseball team needed a comeback victory Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of Illinois.
thelantern.com
Video: OUAB’s CarnOval for May Week
Professional society voices support for Lantern photographer SAMANTHA HECKATHORN Lantern reporter heckathorn.12@osu.edu The dust has yet to settle from the April 21 incident that left Ohio State student photographer Alex Kotran in handcuffs. Although OSU is not charging Kotran, he is still waiting to meet with the Ofÿce of Student Life. Meanwhile, outside groups are beginning to voice their opinions. The Society of Professional Journalists’ Central Ohio Pro Chapter, mailed a letter on May 5 to the university that condemned the decision of OSU Police Ofÿcer
William Linton, according to a May 5 news release from SPJ. SPJ’s First Amendment Chairman Jonathan Peters, who graduated from Ohio University in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, wrote the letter to OSU Police Chief Paul Denton and also sent it to President E. Gordon Gee. The directors of the local SPJ chapter decided to get involved by writing a letter, Peters said in an e-mail. He said they believed Linton was wrong to detain Kotran under the circumstances. “As a student journalist, I was hassled and yelled at,
JONATHAN PETERS
ALEX KOTRAN
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Mayor leads Ohioans in signing petition for renewable energy DANNY PETERSON Lantern reporter peterson.329@osu.edu
weather high 65 low 48 mostly sunny
TU 72/60 rain WE 74/55 few showers TH 79/62 t-storms FR 74/55 t-storms www.weather.com
TYLER JOSWICK / Lantern photographer
Members of Delta Chi and Evans Scholars fraternities race chariots Thursday on 15th Avenue.
JOE PODELCO / Lantern photographer
Mayor Michael Coleman signs the 131-foot long turbine blade.
It was not the type of petition he is used to signing. With a permanent marker, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman scrawled his name on a 131-foot wind turbine blade Friday morning as it sat outside Nationwide Arena. Hundreds of Ohioans, led by Coleman, signed the seven-ton traveling petition for the increased wind energy and jobs the wind turbines will create. The General Electric blade stopped for two days in Columbus as part of its Capture the Wind tour. It is now on its way to Dallas for the Windpower 2010 Conference and Exhibition. The Capture the Wind tour will take the blade more than 2,400 miles through nine states. Signatures will be collected along the way, and the purpose is to create awareness of the need for renewable energy policy change at the federal level. “I’m helping to build America’s energy future” is the tour’s message, printed in large letters on the blade. “It’s a behemoth to move around,” said Milissa Rocker, communications manager for General Electric. She said the beneÿts of taking the blade
on such a tour outweigh the cost. General Electric purchased carbon offsets to cover the trip. Columbus was chosen as a stop for a number of reasons, Rocker said. They include: the renewable energy policy at the state level, General Electric’s desire to be a part of Columbus’ Clean Air Fair and Columbus’ attention to science. The blade made a stop outside COSI on Thursday. Ohio has one of the strongest renewable portfolio standards in the nation, Rocker said. Renewable portfolio standards are state requirements for electricity providers to obtain a percentage of their power from renewable energy sources, according to the U.S. Department of Energy website. As a result, General Electric has planned current and future projects in Ohio. The wind turbines in Bowling Green, Ohio, are an example of an existing project, Rocker said. She said General Electric is also in talks about placing off-shore turbines on Lake Erie near Cleveland. However, Lake Ontario is focused on off-shore Lake Erie turbines, as well. Rocker said she thinks it will be a matter of “who gets in the water ÿrst” because energy can be sold from a power grid across national boundaries. Lake Erie is a great place to start because of its shallow water compared to the other Great Lakes, she said.
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