The Auburn Plainsman A Spirit That Is Not Afraid www.theplainsman.com
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Vol. 117, Issue 33, 8 Pages
Youthful offender status denied by judge Natalie Wade Editor
All four former Auburn University football players accused of robbery and burglary will be tried as adults. Lee County Circuit Court Judge Chris Hughes denied requests for youthful offender statuses for Shaun Kitchens, Antonio Goodwin and Dakota Mosley earlier this week. According to state law, it is up to the judge whether to allow defendants under the age of 21 to be
Dakota Mosley
Antonio Goodwin
Shaun Kitchens
prosecuted as youthful offenders. The youthful offender classification would mandate court proceedings and records be sealed,
and sentences could also have been reduced. The cases have been put on the docket for the next block of
jury trials, beginning Oct. 31. Circuit Clerk Corinne Hurst said this doesn’t exactly mean the cases will be tried on that date,
Former nude model reminisces about past
but should be heard during the three-week block of trials. “These cases are always very fluid,” Hurst said. “Theoretically (they) could be continued again.” Hurst also said the postponement doesn’t mean lawyers couldn’t ask to go to trial sooner than the postponement date. For now, lawyers have time to build their cases. Mike McNeil, who was arrested at the same time, was too old to be eligible for the youthful offender status.
Lee County uses grant to track sex offenders Ariana Diaz Writer
Raye Hendrix / Associate News Editor
Terry Rodriguez, a local artist and Auburn’s first nude model, recently ran for a city council seat. » Read the story online at www.theplainsman.com
Extreme drought conditions affect county Natalie Yarid News Editor
With Lee County suffering from extreme drought, the second-highest drought level, the city of Auburn’s Water Works Board is asking customers to comply with voluntary water restriction. According to Laura Koon, Auburn’s water resource management director, last week Auburn’s drought levels increased from severe levels to extreme levels. Because of the drought, water customers have begun consuming more water than in the past. During May, the average million gallons of water used per day (MGD), was 7.61 in Auburn. This is the highest it has been all year. May was the second-highest average MGD since 1998. The highest average was in 2007, during an exceptional drought. “This concerns us,” Koon said. June 8 marked the second-highest peak day in water usage since 1998, with customers using 12.22 million gallons of water. Most of the extra water that is being used does not go to essential needs, but goes to washing cars, watering plants and use for warm weather activities, Koon said. The drought, issued in July 2010, is worsening and will most likely continue throughout summer. Koon said Auburn’s system is producing as much water as possible from the reservoir, but when there are demands for 12 million gallons of water
Water Usage
12,218,400
Gallons of water used in Lee County June 8*
7,607,129 80% 2007
average gallons used per day in May (highest all year) amount of water Auburn University has conserved since 2007 last major drought in Lee County area
*highest peak day since 1998
per day, it makes things difficult. The drought is an effect of the La Niña weather pattern, causing higher than normal temperatures and less than normal rainfall. With this information in mind, the city of Auburn’s Water Works Board issued a voluntary water restriction June 13. The Board hopes to educate customers and encourage them to be mindful of water usage, Koon said. The Board does not want to initiate a mandatory restriction and hopes the voluntary restriction will reduce the amount of water used. The voluntary restriction will remain in place until further notice.
Since the voluntary restriction has been in place, the average MGD has decreased to 7.36 million, Water Works reported June 19. Koon said Auburn University had a part in lowering this number. “The University is our largest customer,” Koon said. In the 2007 drought the University created a water-management plan, which is now showing its face again, said David Dipofi, Auburn University manager of landscape services. The University has complied with the city to help fix the problem at hand. “We are concerned about the water » See Water, A2
Inside Campus » A3 | Opinions » A4 | Intrigue » B1 | Sports » B3 | Classifieds » B4
The law enforcement agencies in Lee County are using a $110,500 grant to make the 170 sex offenders in Lee County easier to track. The Division received the grant in September, provided by the office of Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS), a program that helps fund new policing strategies. The funds will be distributed among the Auburn Police Division, Opelika Police Department and Lee County Sheriff ’s Department between Sept. 1, 2011 and Aug. 31, 2012. Capt. Tommy Carswell of the Auburn Police Division said $89,600 will go toward sex offender registration regulation enforcement and the remainder will go to software upgrades, training and covert computer operations. The U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal Service for the Middle District of Alabama nominated the Auburn Police Division for the grant. “I think the good work they were doing in this area was one of the reasons that prompted us to nominate them for the grant,” said Thomas Anderson, acting first assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama. The main focus of the grant is to pay off-duty officers for overtime. Officers will be working overtime verifying the addresses provided by the sex offenders are their correct locations. The officers will also check to make sure the location is at least 2,000 feet from a school or day care facility. “Our hope is to ensure the communities that they are safe, because we’re out there watching these people and to make sure that the offenders remain crime free because they know that we’re watching and compelling them to do so,” Carswell said. The grant will also provide funds to assist police in locating, incarcerating and prosecuting sexual offenders found on the Internet, said Tommy Dawson, Auburn Police Chief. Dawson said it is important to educate children about the presence of sexual predators on the Internet. “Don’t give all your information to people on Facebook,” Dawson said. “Don’t put on there when you’re going to be in town, when you going to be out late, things of that nature. “You always got to be careful. You could be talking to a sexual predator.” Keep in mind, Dawson said, that some sexual predators prey on young adults as well as young children. “You have to think ‘well, who are sex offenders?’” said Capt. James Majors of the Lee County Sheriff ’s office. “Some of them are your low-life dirt bags, but some of them are school teachers. Some of them are police officers. They’re from all walks of life.” There are currently 170 sex offenders registered in Lee County, but the number changes everyday, Majors said, because every day, someone gets arrested or bonded out. For more information on sex offenders in Lee County, go to the Lee County Sheriff ’s office website at www.leecountysheriff.org. “Those are the ones that we know about, but just because there’s not any on the website, that are registered in your area, doesn’t mean you don’t have to be safe and careful because there’s some out there that we don’t know about, some that haven’t been caught yet,” Majors said. Recycled paper