Daily Toreador The
FRIDAY, FEB. 1, 2013 VOLUME 87 ■ ISSUE 81
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City Council passes ordinance banning synthetic marijuana By EMILY GARDNER STAFF WRITER
The Lubbock City Council unanimously passed an ordinance banning the sale, use and possession of synthetic marijuana at its meeting Thursday. Synthetic marijuana also is referred to as incense, K-2, legal, spice, spongebud and scooby snax. There will be a second reading and vote on the same ordinance at the Council meeting Feb. 14, Mayor Pro Tem Karen Gibson said. After the second reading, the ordinance will go into effect in 30 days if approved, she said. “It’s a good first step,” Gibson said. Gibson, Councilman for District 1 Victor Hernandez and Councilman for District 3 Todd Klein worked with the city’s legal department to come up with the ordinance, said Gina Johnson, a nontraditional freshman secondary education major at Lubbock Christian University. Johnson said there were probably a dozen people at the meeting in support of the ordinance. “It’s a poison,” Johnson said. “It has got to be removed from our community. It kills people without warning. It isn’t like most of the other illegal drugs because of the fact that one use could do you in.” At the meeting, Johnson read a poem by an unknown author titled “My Name is ‘Meth.’” Johnson said she chose to read the poem to let the public know synthetic marijuana is just like every drug, and that it acts like crystal meth.
Michael Phillips, a Lubbock resident, said he has not used synthetic marijuana himself, but he has used mind-altering products including marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine. He also has a relative who uses synthetic marijuana daily. “To me he’s acting the same way I would with methamphetamine,” Phillips said. “It’s changing the chemistry.” His relative’s actions, he said, can be compared to the way the “That 70s Show” characters acted when they would meet in a circle. Phillips said he was concerned with the lack of ingredient labels on the product, the side effects of using the product and its availability to children. “They could do a city ban, start there,” he said. “That’s the only thing the Council really can do right now is do it, and then we start education.” Councilman for District 2 Floyd Price said the ban on synthetic marijuana is just the beginning of what should be done, and he credits Johnson with getting him back on track in reference to drug protection. Councilwoman for District 6 Latrelle Joy said she spoke on the phone 30 minutes before the meeting with someone whose brother-in-law used synthetic marijuana and is dead. “The images that he saw when he used this substance,” she said, “those images were so horrible that he’d do anything to get them to go away so he shot himself.” CITY COUNCIL continued on Page 3 ➤➤
Smoke-free campus, concealed carry to appear on SGA ballot By MATT DOTRAY STAFF WRITER
On February 27 and 28, students at Texas Tech will vote for more than just positions in the executive and legislative branches of the Student Government Association. During Thursday’s meeting, senators passed two resolutions that will place a referendum on the upcoming election ballot. The first resolution, Senate Concurrent Resolution 48.11, passed with 98 percent of the votes. According to the bill, the referendum will be put on the ballot to gather opinions of the students about becoming a tobaccofree or smoke-free campus. Katherine Lindley, a graduate senator and human development and family studies graduate student from Colleyville, who was one of the writers of the resolution, said she was not able to gather a big enough sample during the two town hall meetings she hosted about the possibility of making Tech smoke-free or tobaccofree campus. On the ballot, she said students will have the option of choosing whether or not they are in favor of Tech adopting a smoke-free policy, or if they do not have an opinion. “All we are seeking to do is basically a fact-finding mission,” she said during the meeting. “We are going out there and just gathering data so that future generations of SGA can use this data to see if students are increasingly
INDEX Classifieds................7 Crossword..............3 Opinions.....................4 La Vida..........................5 Sports........................7 Sudoku.......................6 EDITORIAL: 806-742-3393
wanting to become tobacco-free.” With the results from the election ballot, Lindley said she does not have any plans to write a bill. The purpose of this, she said, is for senators in the future to be able to compare data from previous Tech students. However, the town hall meetings were still beneficial, Lindley said. “It was suggested that we need to go back and revamp the current rules,” she said after the meeting. “Move ashtrays from the doors, correct the signage that does say 12 feet to 20 feet, things like that. So that’s what we’re working on right now.” Another referendum on the ballot, Senate Concurrent Resolution 48.12, passed with 82 percent of the votes. Matt Pippen, a senior mechanical engineering major from Monahans and senator for the College of Engineering, said referendum 48.12 will have students vote about whether or not they are in favor of individuals with a concealed handgun license being able to carry guns throughout campus. The Texas Legislature is debating the issue, he said, and the purpose of the resolution is to gather a poll about what students think. Depending on how many students vote, SGA will decide if it accurately represents the overall opinion of the university, Pippen said. If it does, he said SGA might present the information to the Texas Legislature. SGA continued on Page 3 ➤➤
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City issues all-clear for gas leak A six-inch wide gas line was punctured at the corner of University Avenue and Glenna Goodacre Boulevard at 10:22 a.m., causing an area-wide evacuation. A Texas Tech emergency alert sent to students, faculty and staff at 3:23 p.m. said the Lubbock Fire Department issued the all clear. All streets and local businesses were cleared for normal activities to resume. According to a news release issued by the City of Lubbock, Advanced Communications hit the gas line. Advanced Communications is a company contracted by the City of Lubbock that is working to install fiber optic cable for a traffic communications update. Traffic, according to the release, was blocked from University Avenue from Mac Davis Lane to 10th Street. Glenna Goodacre Boulevard from University Avenue to Avenue X also was blocked. According to a news release by Deputy Fire Marshal Robert Loveless, the gas leak at University Avenue and Glenna Goodacre Boulevard was shut off. Loveless said no injuries were reported and an initial estimate of two hours was expected to fix the gas leak. A call to LFD was made at 10:22 a.m. and reported a gas leak at Glenna Goodacre Boulevard and University Avenue, Loveless said. Loveless said LFD was on the scene at 10:26 a.m. A Tech emergency alert was emailed to all students, faculty and staff at approximately 11 a.m. notifying them of the leak and advising them to avoid the Overton Park area. Chris Cook, managing director of the Office of Communications and Marketing, said nothing on the Tech campus was affected by the gas leak. Cook said buses were re-routed and he encouraged people to stay clear of the area. Jordan Fowler, a sophomore journalism major from Amarillo, said the leak had inconvenienced people, but she said it was nice Tech alerted the students. Lance Fine, a junior animal science major from Orange Grove who lives at
PHOTO BY BRAD TOLLEFSON/The Daily Toreador
MATERIAL SPRAYS OUT from a six-inch gas line after it was cut into by a ground borer Thursday at the intersection of Glenna Goodacre Boulevard and University Avenue. Businesses from 7th Street and Broadway Avenue along University Avenue were evacuated during the leak.
the Village at Overton Park, said traffic was an issue with the closure of the streets. People were advised to avoid University Avenue north of Broadway Avenue and Glenna Goodacre Boulevard from University Avenue to Avenue X.
“Surrounding businesses have been evacuated,” Loveless said. Some of the businesses, Loveless said, that were evacuated included City Bank, FedEx, Starbucks, Dion’s, Whataburger and Chipotle. ➤➤eduarte@dailytoreador.com
Weymouth Residence Hall fire under investigation By CATHERINE MCKEE NEWS EDITOR
An investigation is under way for a fire that occurred on the seventh floor of Weymouth Residence Hall at 10:17 p.m. Wednesday. Texas Tech Fire Marshal Andrew Lawson said a door was lit on fire most likely by a lighter, and caused minor burns to the door number plates and ceiling tiles. No students were injured. Students were evacuated from the building once the fire alarm was activated by the smoke detectors and were allowed to re-enter only after the Tech Police Department and fire department had investigated the scene and collected evidence. The fire was classified as arson, and they are still searching for the culprit, Lawson said. Emergency personnel reached the hall approximately three to five minutes after the fire was reported, he said. The fire had been extinguished by the time the fire department reached the building, Lawson said, by a student. Erik Rueda, a freshman finance major from Round Rock, said he smelled
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a strange odor, walked out of his room, and saw a flame on the number plate of room 708. Rueda said his first thought was to put out the fire. “I looked to my left, and I noticed a pretty big flame coming from room 708, like outside of it,” he said, “so I kind of went into panic mode, banged on their door and yelled, trying to get them up, and they came outside in like five seconds. I blew it out, and I was surprised that it went out so easy because I thought it would be a little harder.” However, Rueda said he has no idea who started the fire. “When I came out in the hall it was completely empty,” he said. “I really wish (I knew who did it) because that really pissed me off. That was really stupid, whoever did that.” Although mischief often occurs on campus, Lawson said arson is unusual. “This is the first set fire in a dorm in quite a while,” Lawson said. When freshman arts and sciences major from Jimenez, Chihuahua Jorge Carlos heard the fire alarm, he said he thought it was another drill. “I was just in my room and it just
started, the alarm,” Carlos said. “There was a fire inside the building and I just had to come out. I didn’t think it was real. I just had to follow the rules, I guess.” Chad Ervine, a freshman business major from Denver, Colo., said he quickly realized the fire alarm was not part of a drill when he smelled smoke. “The fire alarm went off and I just turned off my Xbox and went downstairs,” he said. “They told us to evacuate and go in the parking lot. I saw smoke coming out in the air but that’s it.” Ervine, who lives on the seventh floor, said he was told he could not return to his floor until the police and fire department had completed their investigations. Arson, Lawson said, is a seconddegree felony when it occurs in a residential area or educational institution and is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. If students have any information regarding the arsonist, they should contact the Tech Police Department at 806-742-3931. ➤➤kmckee@dailytoreador.com
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