The Auburn Plainsman A SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID www.theplainsman.com
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Vol. 117, Issue 25, 20 Pages
IFC sobers up summer rush Colton Campbell WRITER
JILLIAN CLAIR / NEWS EDITOR
Three windows were shot out of a Toyota minivan which was parked in front of the Higginbotham Academic Center.
One dead in shooting at Southern Union
Jillian Clair NEWS EDITOR
Wednesday at 3:54 p.m., a shooting on the campus of Southern Union State Community College relating to a domestic dispute left one female dead and three females injured, according to Opelika Police Department Capt. Allan Elkins. Police have named Thomas Franklin May III, 34, as a suspect. May is a 5-foot8-inch white male and was last seen driving a white Jeep Liberty with an Alabama license place #BPW 2931.
A 63-year-old female was confirmed dead on the scene, a 93-year-old female was shot in the neck and back and was transported to Columbus Regional Medical Center via helicopter, a 36-year-old female was shot in the right arm and was transported to East Alabama Medical Center and a 4-year-old female was injured from flying glass and was also transported to EAMC. A Toyota minivan with three windows shot out was parked in front of the Higginbotham Academic Center, which is adja-
cent to the Health Sciences building. “We believe that the 36-year-old victim was actually a student at Southern Union and was being picked up or dropped off,” Elkins said. Elkins said all of the victims are members of the same family and are residents of Lee County. Elkins could not confirm if the victims were inside of the van at the time of the shooting, but Calvin Coleman, business student at Southern Union, said he saw all » See SHOOTING, A2
Auburn’s Interfraternity Council is taking steps to make all recruitment events held by Auburn’s fraternities completely alcohol-free. An excerpt from IFC’s new dry recruitment awareness plan reads, “Educating Auburn’s fraternity men on dry recruitment, implementing attainable dry recruitment guidelines and acting as a constant resource for all fraternities are the primary recruitment goals of the IFC for the year 2011.” Johnny Blankenship, junior in finance and president of IFC, said the policy of dry recruitment has been overlooked nationwide for years. “Auburn is unique in that we have summer rush,” Blankenship said. “At formal rush, once the semester has started, there is never any alcohol, and we have never had a problem with that. It’s the rush events held in the summertime that this policy needs to be for.” Several fraternities host weekends at a lake or trips to sporting events during the summer to jump-start their recruitment. “Summer recruitment gives fraternities an opportunity to begin filling their fall pledge classes while things are somewhat slow and quiet in Auburn,” Blankenship said. The Office of Greek Life’s strategy to address alcohol in fraternity recruitment says, “This policy strictly forbids the presence and/or use of alcohol during recruitment events. The use of alcohol in fraternity recruitment is an issue that continues to persist within the Auburn University Greek community.” Blankenship said filling a pledge class would be more difficult if fraternities weren’t able to recruit during the summer. “The goal of IFC is to assure the safety of both brothers and rushees while summer rush takes place,” Blankenship said. Bo Mantooth, assistant director of Greek » See IFC, A2
Judge blocks media from players’ hearing Jeremy Gerrard ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Lee County District Judge Steve Speakman announced Wednesday that he found probable cause for a grand jury to hear charges against four former Auburn football players for the alleged armed robbery which took place last month, court officials confirmed. Antonio Goodwin, Shaun Kitchens, Mike McNeil and Dakota Mosley were kicked off the football team by Coach Gene Chizik shortly after their arrests. Speakman barred the media and public from attending the preliminary hearing after granting a motion issued by Mosley’s attorney Davis Wittelsey. In the motion, Wittelsey sought closure of the hearing on behalf of his client as well as Kitchens and Goodwin, who are all under the age of 21. The three younger defendants could seek youthful offender status if the grand jury indicts. With the hearing scheduled for 11 a.m., media personal were given no notice of a closed hearing until one hour before. In response, The Auburn Plainsman contacted attorney Dennis Bailey to file a motion against the closed hearing. While motions were filed, the preliminary hearing went on in private as scheduled. “I would generally say that decisions to close court proceedings should not be made without giving the press and interested parties at least an opportunity to review the question in advance,” Bailey said.
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…Decisions to close court proceedings should not be made without giving the press and interested parties at least an opportunity to review the question in advance.” —Dennis Bailey ATTORNEY
“That wasn’t done here.” In the motion, The Plainsman requests that the court “conduct all future proceedings in this matter (and related matters) in open court as required by Alabama law and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.” They also requested that any records or filings made during Wednesday’s hearings be available to the public since no defendant currently has youthful offender status. With the motion filed, the Opelika-Auburn News was notified and decided to join The Plainsman in the initial motion and any others in this matter that may follow. Prior to the notification of a closed hearing, media outlets were issued an email from court officials Tuesday that indicated the proceedings were to be conducted in a normal fashion: pen and paper only and re-
EMILY ADAMS / PHOTO EDITOR
Michael McNeil walks into the Lee County Justice Center Wednesday morning. stricted use of recording devices was to be expected. “There was nothing in the file that indicated anyone wanted to do anything but postpone the hearing,” Bailey said. Wittelsey had previously filed a motion on behalf of Mosley March 28 to delay the preliminary hearing, which was subse-
quently denied by the judge. Throughout the hearing, only the defendants and their attorneys, as well as their families and families of the victims, were allowed in the courtroom. While Goodwin did not attend the proceedings, the other defendants pres» See TRIAL, A2
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