The Murray State News

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The Murray State News March 10, 2016

TheNews.org

‘I WAS REALLY LUCKY’ One student survives a car crash without being buckled up. Meanwhile, officers have made more than 100 seatbelt stops in 2016.

Vol. 89, No. 22

Ku Klux Klan fliers appear around Murray Ashley Traylor

President Bob Davies reinforced that the university will atraylor@murraystate.edu not tolerate racism, intolerance or insensitivity to any Murray residents found Ku group, he wrote in a post on Klux Klan, or KKK, recruithis Instagram page. ment fliers in their driveways, “Our campus community and they are concerned about must continue to actively what this means for Murray, engage in open and respectthe 2012 Friendliest Small ful discussions based on the Town in America. merits of one’s intellectual Concerned residents took pursuits, not based on steto Facebook to express their reotypes and discrimination,” unease on the matter. Davies wrote. Matthew Bradley, a Murray City of Murray Human community member, posted Rights Commission Chairon Facebook that he was dewoman Jody Cofer Randall pressed and disgusted to see and Vice Chairwoman JesKKK fliers around Murray. sica Evans Citizens released “While our nation protects a statement about the fliers, the right to speak their mind, and encouraged people to including the KKK, it also speak out against the KKK protects my right to say this: and other hateful groups beYour time is past [sic], your cause it does not exemplify power is broken and your the spirit of the Murray comdays are numbered,” Bradmunity. ley wrote. “I adjure you in “We denounce the matethe Name of the Living God, rials distributed in Murray which you defame with your and all that the literature reppropaganda: Get out of our resents,” the statement reads. town.” The KKK wants to see The fliers invite people to America’s races separated, as join the KKK’s fight against God intended, because when drug-filled streets, rampant races are integrated, it damcrime and immigration. ages society, according to Murray the Loyal State alumW h i t e nus Marc Knights of Peebles, the KKK. who is a Peebles, Murray reslike Bradident, said ley, took he went for to Facea morning book, but - Marc Peebles, Murray community member run and saw his friends a rolled-up had a difscroll. He was surprised to ferent reaction to the post find it was a KKK recruitment and some people were blamletter, as he believed Murray ing the KKK revival on polidid not have hate groups. ticians, especially Republican “We are more accepting Donald Trump. Peebles said of our students, foreign stuhe knows Trump has no indents, minorities, other relivolvement in the appearance gions, sexual orientation and of the KKK fliers in the city. of all the differences that we Peebles’ post has received have,” Peebles said. “We are a lot of attention, with 181 not a community of hate.” shares. Peebles said he wor Fliers suggest the KKK is ries that his post has done not hateful, but advocates as what the fliers in the drivea Christian organization fightway couldn’t. ing for constitutional rights. This is not the first revival There is a 24/7 KKK hotline of the KKK in western Kennumber and the voicemail tucky. Last December, KKK said, “I would like to thank fliers were found in neighborour California Grand Dragon hoods of Marshall County. and his members for showing If anyone feels they are a the Black Panthers and the victim of fear and discriminaBlack Lives Matter movement tion, contact Murray Human protesters plus some … MexiRights Commission or the can members that the KKK is Kentucky Commission on here to stay.” Human Rights. The Southern Poverty Law Murray State will continue Center tracks more than 1,600 to be a safe learning environhate groups in the U.S. and ment for students, despite the classifies the KKK as a hate circulating recruitment letgroup. ters, Davies wrote in his post. Staff writer

Photo illustration by Kalli Bubb/The News

Abby Siegel

Assistant News Editor asiegel@murraystate.edu

S

he was driving the short route home to the Chase. She was pulling out from the CFSB Center in the evening on Feb. 8 when the stoplight turned green, signaling it was her turn to proceed. That’s when a State Trooper hit her blue 2003 Saturn Vue with his blue lights flashing as he rushed through the intersection to the scene of a crime. Her car fishtailed, flipping on its side. Her Saturn was totaled; its windows shattered from the impact of the collision. The State Trooper’s vehicle barely showed signs of the crash. Ellie LeBeau, senior from Belleville, Illinois, wasn’t wearing her seatbelt the day she was hit in the collision that was neither her fault nor the State Trooper’s. “I was so thrown off,” she said. “I didn’t see the lights until the second he hit me.” Within five minutes, LeBeau said she was rushed to the hospital. Her injuries included bruising on her leg, head pain and a chipped front tooth, which caused her to need a fake tooth. She said she has fully recovered from the collision that occurred about three weeks ago. “I know I was really lucky,” she said.

IT’S THE LAW

Between Jan. 1 and March 7, Public

You have to watch out, even if you are following all the laws. - Ellie LeBeau, senior from Belleville, Illinois

Safety and Emergency Management officers have conducted 100 traffic stops for people not wearing a seatbelt or not wearing it properly on or around campus. The 100 reports are inclusive of drivers of any age, not just Murray State students. Public Safety’s Captain of Operations, Robert Bringhurst, said about 80 percent of people on the road wear their seatbelt and about 20 percent do not within Murray. Public Safety officers patrol the city when days are slow regarding calls, but they don’t intentionally seek to give citations, he said. LeBeau said she often didn’t wear her seatbelt before her wreck because of the small size of Murray and the fact that it only takes “two minutes to get anywhere.” According to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Office of Highway Safety, most crash deaths occur within 25 miles of the driver’s home and at

speeds less than 40 mph. According to the office, an unbelted person hitting the windshield going 40 mph would have the same force on the person hitting the ground after falling from a fivestory building. Kentucky has a primary seatbelt law, meaning drivers can be stopped if anyone in the vehicle is not wearing a seatbelt. Because of the state law, all $25 fines attached to seatbelt citations don’t go back to Murray State or Public Safety. The Calloway County Attorney’s office created an aversion program in which the fee would still need to be paid, but the citation would not go on the driver’s record unless the citation occurred a second time, Bringhurst said.

HABIT CHANGE

Since her accident, LeBeau said she has made a habit change from the “scarring” incident. She said her perspective has changed on the importance of always wearing a seatbelt. “I think I got a call from every single person in my family saying ‘you’re an idiot, wear your seatbelt next time’ and ‘I hope you learned your lesson,’” LeBeau said. The habit of not wearing a seatbelt spans all ages, but people ages 30 to 50 are more apt not to wear their seatbelts, Bringhurst said. “When those folks were learning to drive, there wasn’t a mandatory law,” he

see SEATBELT, 2A

We are not a community of hate.

Trump wins caucus, loses Calloway to Cruz Mikayla Marshall Staff writer

mmarshall5@murraystate.edu

Ashley Traylor Staff writer

atraylor@murraystate.edu

Republican presidential candidate and front-runner Donald Trump won Kentucky with 35.9 percent of the votes Saturday in the Republican presidential caucus. However, he fell behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 37.26 percent to Trump’s 26.89 percent in Calloway County. Party leaders wanted to give Kentucky Republicans more influence on the presidential race at a time when candidates are still competing to win more states and delegates to secure the

WHAT’S

INSIDE

presidential nomination, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. “I am encouraged in a sense ... that people are talking about it,” said Greg DeLancey, chairman of the Calloway County Republican Party. “More Republicans are animated and out about it. They are coming out in record numbers to vote. Everyone is trying to make their mark. The part I am not so happy about is the silliness that appears in some of the debates.” Registered Republicans in Calloway County gathered at the George Weaks Community Center to hear more information about the remaining candidates and cast

see CAUCUS, 2A

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SPEAK YOUR MIND Chalice Keith/The News

A line for voting in Saturday’s Republican caucus forms as community members wait to cast their votes.

Write a Letter to the Editor! Send an email to aborthwick @murraystate.edu.

SELF SERVE

OUR VIEW

SEASON CLOSE

CAMPUS POLITICS

Winslow’s Salt and Pepper line changes it up, 3A

KKK: A threat to the Murray community, 4A

Top five moments from men’s and women’s basketball, 1B

A glimpse into where Racers stand on the election, 5B


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