Thursday September 6, 2012 year: 132 No. 92
the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern Construction truck strikes student biker
sports
Kristen mitchell and lindsey barrett Campus editor and Copy chief mitchell.935@osu.edu and barrett.684@osu.edu
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Not doubting Thomas
OSU junior forward Deshaun Thomas is expected to have a starring role for the basketball team this season.
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A crowd of about 100 students stopped to watch as an 18-year-old student was taken away in an ambulance after a cycling accident Wednesday afternoon near a campus construction site. One witness, Xiao Yue, a first-year in finance, said the cyclist was riding his bike near a construction site off Woodruff Avenue, when he was struck by a truck backing out of the site. She said the Monesi Trucking vehicle paused for a few seconds after striking the student, then continued to back up the vehicle. Yue said the student who had been struck was screaming, and bystanders in the area yelled for the driver to stop. An ambulance arrived shortly after and took the cyclist away. Deputy Chief Richard Morman said Ohio State Police was notified of the incident at 2:47 p.m. Morman said that an 18-year-old OSU student was riding his bike when he was struck by a dump truck across the street from 146 Woodruff Ave. Morman said the student was transported to the Wexner Medical Center. He said Wednesday afternoon that the cyclist’s name would not be released until the victim’s parents had been notified. The victim’s parents were notified Wednesday afternoon; however, Wednesday at about 11 p.m., University Police was still not releasing the cyclist’s name. A representative from Monesi Trucking verified that the company is working on the construction site of the
daniel chi / Asst. photo editor
Police investigate the scene of an accident Wednesday afternoon after an 18-year-old student was struck by a construction truck while riding his bike on North Campus. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry (CBEC) building between 19th and Woodruff avenues. The representative said he believed the cyclist steered his bike into the side of the truck but that he did not have more information about the incident and could not comment further.
A crowd of roughly 100 students stood to watch as the cyclist was loaded into the ambulance at about 2:45 p.m. Woodruff Avenue remained closed following the
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Obama, Romney contrast on LGTB rights
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A cinematic excursion
‘The Story of Film: An Odyssey,’ is scheduled to screen Sunday at the Wexner Center.
campus
Scoreboard raises energy concerns
Ally Marotti Editor-in-chief marotti.5@osu.edu This is the third story of an 11-article series leading up to the Nov. 6 presidential election that will break down the issues dominating political debates. Check back next Thursday for our segment on national security. President Barack Obama’s website has a tab that lists eight issues in the November election, one of which is equal rights, focusing mainly in LGTB equality. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s website has a tab that lists 25 of those such issues, but equal rights is not one of them. There are other topics on these lists that do not match up, such as women’s health, which appears
thomas doohan Lantern reporter doohan.4@osu.edu
weather high 88 low 63 partly cloudy
partly cloudy showers partly cloudy partly cloudy Daniel Chi / Asst. photo editor
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you’re a gay man and you’re a straight man,’ or whatever … (In) our club it’s the same way … We have a wide range of opinion, but at the end of the day, we all treat everyone the same,” he said. “Gay people are just as unemployed as straight people and they’re going to be just as passionate as ever trying to get jobs.” But Greg Mayer, a second-year in geographic informational sciences and member of the LGTB community, said equal rights is definitely a swaying issue for him. “I actually remember one day (Obama) talked about this and it was all over YouTube and Facebook and stuff like that, and it really helped me feel more comfortable and I felt like there was gonna be a brighter future for the community in general and … Romney really hasn’t talked about it,” he said.
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Beetles infect campus ash trees, cost Columbus $12M
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F 87/66 SA 70/54 SU 73/55 M 76/54
on Obama’s list but not Romneys, or immigration, which is on Romney’s list but not Obama’s. Mollie Blackburn, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Ecology and co-director of OSU’s Sexuality Studies program, said although neither candidate is ideal in his stance on lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual, or LGTB, rights, it’s hard to look at the issue from a nonpartisan standpoint because Romney “doesn’t have much to offer there.” “If you’re just looking at equal rights its really hard to compare the candidates,” Blackburn said. “In terms of morale of LGTB people in the United States, I think it really meant a lot to some people.” But Drew Stroemple, president of Ohio State’s College Republicans, said he doesn’t think LGTB rights is something that’s going to have a “serious impact on the election.” “(Republicans) don’t think of people as, ‘Oh,
Trees at Ohio State and in Columbus will be removed due to damage from an invasive beetle.
This fall, one species of trees on Ohio State’s campus might not be dropping leaves. That’s because some might have no leaves to drop. Ash trees around campus were without leaves this summer as a result of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) and in many cases the trees have been cut down in the past few years or will be cut down in the future. EAB is a beetle from Asia, and the invasive insect is responsible for killing ash trees was introduced to the U.S. in the 1990s. Reports of it killing ash trees in Detroit and Windsor, Canada, began in 2002, and the insect was reported to be in Ohio by 2003, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture website. “We have taken out quite a few (ash trees) on campus,” said Stephen Volkmann, OSU’s university landscape architect. Columbus City forester Joe Sulak said the plan to protect Columbus from the damage of the infestation will cost the city an estimated $12 million over 10 years. EAB larvae eat the phloem, the part of the tree
that carries nutrients. According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture website, North American ash trees die within three to five years of infestation. Pierluigi Bonello, a professor in plant pathology at OSU, said while EAB easily kills North American ash it does not kill Asian ash. The relationship between tree hosts and insect pests is a “tug of war,” Bonello said. “In the course of co-evolution, you have one side of the interaction, which is the pest, which develops new weapons to attack the host. Over time, the host evolves to develop counter measures,” Bonello said. He said the EAB and North American ash species were never able to go through this process, and therefore have no defense against the insects. “We think that is basically what is driving the epidemic. Not so much the absence of enemies for the insect, which is another possibility,” Bonello said. According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, EAB has spread to 63 of Ohio’s 88 counties, including Franklin County and OSU’s campus. Columbus has a plan to handle the infestation. “The primary effort is removal to prevent hazards,” said Sulak. “The insect attacks trees from the top down, so they can basically fall apart.” He explained that if a large windstorm came,
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