Massachusetts Daily Collegian: March 24, 2014

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Columnist Hannah Sparks:

Gun lobby perpetuates public health crisis

‘Young Tricksters’

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THE MASSACHUSETTS

A free and responsible press

DAILY COLLEGIAN DailyCollegian.com

Monday, March 24, 2014

a dance cut short

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Problems persist for Perkins, OHAG Area gov’t preps for impeachment

By Patrick Hoff Collegian Staff

TAYLOR C. SNOW/COLLEGIAN

The UMass basketball team struggles with its loss against Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament last Friday. For full coverage, see page 8.

Death tolls rise in Washington mudslide

By Maria L. La GanGa and Matt Pearce Los Angeles Times

ARLINGTON, Wash. — Worries of a rising death toll continued to mount Sunday when rescuers could not penetrate a forbidding mudslide that killed at least three people and left as many as 18 more missing in northwestern Washington, officials said.

“Mother Nature holds the cards here,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday afternoon. He added that the devastation left behind by the Saturday mudslide into a cluster of rural homes along the Stillaguamish River, just east of the small town of Oso, “is just unrelenting and awesome– there really is no stick standing in the path of the slide.”

As of Sunday, rescu-

ers had been unable to find the source of voices heard among the mud and wreckage Saturday evening, despite a search that included helicopters and hovercraft, officials said.

Some firefighters waded into a square-mile slurry of mud and became stuck up to their armpits, officials said, needing to be pulled out by rope.

Despite the effort, however, there have been no more residents rescued since seven people were extricated on Saturday, officials said.

“We have families across the state this moment who are wondering about their family members, and the anxiety of that is beyond description,” Inslee said.

“Every human possibility is being explored here to rescue and find their loved

ones.”

Among those missing are Reed Miller’s son, Joseph, 47, who he said is mentally ill. Miller, 75, had been standing in the grocery-checkout line in Arlington on Saturday when ambulances began to scream by.

“The grocery lady said there was a big mudslide in Oso, and to call her back when I got home OK,” Miller said Sunday. “I never got there. Nope.”

His home was among those damaged or destroyed by the mudslide. Officials said up to 30 homes may have been affected.

A steady stream of worried people made their way Sunday to the shelter set up in Arlington.

Caroline Neal was among them. She had come looking for word of her

Serving the UMass community since 1890

father, Stephen, a plumber who was servicing a hot water tank for a woman who had just moved to Oso. The woman is now missing, as is the cable guy who was working on her home at the same time. And Neal’s father, Stephen, 52, is nowhere to be found, either.

“He thinks fast on his feet,” said Caroline Neal, clutching photos of her father. “If he had any warning, he would have done everything he could to stay safe.”

The mudslide, which has blocked an important rural highway as well as the Stillaguamish River, came after an unusually heavy month of rain.

An evacuation order for residents downstream was see

MUDSLIDE on page 2

Two weeks after his presidential campaign was taken off the Student Government Association election ballot, Orchard Hill Governor Seth Perkins and his cabinet have been called before the Senate for an impeachment trial.

“Mishandling of funds is a very serious act – in fact, the Rules and Ethics Subcommittee of the Administrative Affairs Committee has already examined the evidence presented in the audit by Secretary Vitale, and has chosen to pursue impeachment proceedings against all four of the OHAG officers,” Stefan Herlitz, chairman of the Rules and Ethics Subcommittee, said in an email to the Daily Collegian.

He added, “All four impeached officers are still to be considered innocent at this time. The Rules and Ethics Subcommittee has decided that the charges are both serious and credible enough to warrant removal from office – actual guilt may only be established by a vote of the full Senate, which shall occur on (March) 31, after those impeached are given the opportunity to present their cases.”

Lt. Gov. Isilda Gjata, Treasurer Victor Paduchak, Secretary Cameron Locke and Gov. Perkins all were notified via email over the weekend. Herlitz pointed particularly to Perkins and Paduchak, who as treasurer was in charge of writing purchase orders and financial statements.

In an interview before spring break, Perkins was adamant that he had not done anything morally unsound.

“If you asked me personally as a matter of conscience, I did not do anything wrong,” Perkins said.

“I did not try to do anything

corrupt or anything of that nature.”

One of the issues addressed in the audit was the purchase of headphones as school supplies, an action that Perkins qualified as a “mistake.”

“We see headphones as very, very, very much school supplies because language students use them,” he said. “In the … audit it was said that we used them to incentivize and that the first 10 people who showed would get them, which we did … they were used as an incentive. However, they are school supplies we believe because language students and also other students (use them). … So we fully believe that they are school supplies.”

He added, “If we had said headphones on the purchase order, it would have been caught by Lloyd or the people down at the student business center as not being proper.

So it really was a mistake that we didn’t write them on the purchase order. So that’s where that all comes from – us interpreting them as school supplies and it not being by SGA standards or by the student center standards.”

Perkins added that the cabinet had spoken to a former SGA president who now works with Student Legal Services about the matter, and the former president told them he saw no grounds for impeachment.

OHAG’s accounts and finances are currently frozen due to the results of an audit conducted on the area government by Finance Secretary Lindsay Vitale. In the audit, Vitale found that money had been misused in a number of ways and thus froze the accounts until further notice, potentially putting Orchard Hill’s Bowl Weekend in jeopardy.

Perkins said that he had considered resigning in order to unfreeze the accounts and allow for see

PERKINS on page 3

3 missing Ukrainian Story on rape becomes officers held by Russia a First Amendment issue

By SerGei L. Loiko Los Angeles Times

MOSCOW — Three Ukrainian military officers on the Crimean peninsula remained missing Sunday and were believed to be held by Russian forces, a Ukrainian official said, as the Russians continued to seek full control of the peninsula’s military sites.

Col. Yuli Mamchur, the commander of an air force unit stationed in the town of Lubimovka near Sevastopol, had been missing more than 24 hours Sunday evening after he was taken by Russian troops, said Alexei Mazepa, a Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman.

The deputy com-

mander of Ukraine’s navy, Ihor Voronchenko, was also unaccounted for and believed held by the Russians after he left navy headquarters in Sevastopol, which is under Russian control, Mazepa said.

Another officer, navy Capt. V. M. Demyanenko, was taken by the Russians in Sevastopol on Sunday morning and his whereabouts remained unknown by evening.

Russian forces occupied Crimea late last month, sur rounding most Ukrainian military bases and units. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last week that his country was taking over Crimea after a referendum

among the region’s voters, a majority of whom speak Russian, backing annexation.

Since then, Russian troops and pro-Russian militia have been seizing military sites still in Ukrainian hands. The Russian Defense Ministry press service reported Sunday that its nation’s flag has been raised and the Russian national anthem sung at the sites of 189 Ukrainian military units deployed in Crimea.

On Saturday, Russian troops used six armored vehicles to break through the fence around Mamchur’s air force unit and then fired into the air, see

UKRAINE on page 2

By andrew PHiLLiPS Milwaukee Journal Sentinel FOND DU LAC, Wis. — When Tanvi Kumar wrote an article about what she perceived as her high school’s casual attitude toward rape, she talked to victims of sexual assault, visited an abuse treatment center and combed through the article with her adviser before publishing it.

Still, she never thought that her story would be read aloud and discussed in Fond du Lac High School classes, or that a teacher would approach her in the halls with her own story of sexual violence.

“I was never prepared for something like that as

a student,” said Kumar, a senior. “I think that just goes to show how powerful these topics can be.”

That power reverberated through Fond du Lac this month. District administrators reacted to Kumar’s story by enacting a censorship policy, touching a nerve among students and faculty and leading to a controversy over First Amendment rights.

Though they are not hopeful the policy will be changed, students plan to crowd a school board meeting Monday to continue pressing the issue, Kumar said.

In advance of that meeting, the school’s English department released a

statement Friday urging the board to overturn the guidelines or at least rewrite them with community input.

The story, titled “The Rape Joke,” was published in the February issue of Cardinal Columns, a student magazine produced by a journalism class.

Kumar is the publication’s co-editor-in-chief.

It reported the stories of three sexual assault victims in the school, whose names were changed in the article, and documented the effects on victims of what the article referred to as a “rape culture” including the prevalence of rape jokes and victimsee

RAPE on page 2

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THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, March 24, 2014

THE RUNDOWN ON THIS DAY...

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels of petroleum in Prince William Sound in Alaska after running aground. It was the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

AROUND THE WORLD

Weekend Box Office LOS ANGELES — Any talk of a curse on youngadult film franchises was put on hold this past weekend with the estimated $56 million opening for “Divergent,” the first adaptation from a series of novels by Veronica Roth, while “Muppets Most Wanted” underperformed and “God’s Not Dead” surprised some with a strong turnout from faith-based audiences.

“Divergent” solidly met expectations without exceeding them. By comparison, the first “Hunger Games” film opened at more than $152 million in March 2012, and the sequel, “Catching Fire,” opened in November 2013 to $158 million and went on to be the top film at the box office last year.

“This is a great start to another franchise,” said Richard Fay, president of domestic distribution at Lionsgate, which released “Divergent.” “We’ve got a lot of runway ahead of us.”

In second place this past weekend was “Muppets Most Wanted,” which took in an estimated $16.5 million - far short of when “The Muppets” relaunched the venerable series on Thanksgiving weekend in 2011 to the tune of $29 million. James Bobin directed both films, but “Most Wanted” featured new lead actors in Tina Fey and Ricky Gervais.

“Overall it’s a little disappointing,” said Dave Hollis, president of global theatrical distribution at Disney. While noting that tracking had “Most Wanted” opening at more than $20 million, he added that the film is “an asset of the company across many lines of business.”

He said it “will likely hit $100 million or more worldwide on a budget of $54 million” and has “a lot of business left to do.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise was “God’s Not Dead,” coming in at No. 5 with an estimated gross of about $8.6 million on just 780 screens. The faithbased film, about a college student defending his beliefs against a professor, features Kevin Sorbo, Dean Cain, Willie and Korie Robertson from the “Duck Dynasty” television show as themselves, and the popular Christian rock group Newsboys.

The film will likely expand to at least 1,000 screens next weekend, he said.

Also noteworthy in the U.S. top 10: “Need for Speed” fell 56 percent to finish sixth at the box office, with about $7.8 million; and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” climbed to seventh, with $7 million in its slow rollout nationwide.

Los Angeles Times

RAPE

MUDSLIDE

continued from page 1

blaming.

Initial reaction to the story was overwhelmingly positive, with teachers reading the article aloud in class and inviting discussion, Kumar said.

But on March 10, almost a month after the issue’s publication, principal Jon Wiltzius visited the print journalism class that produces the publication. He informed students that the district was implementing a quarter-century-old school board policy subjecting student publications to “school guidelines as determined by the principal.”

The guidelines, now in place for the first time, allow the principal to refuse to publish student work deemed to interfere with the educational process or other students’ rights, or to align the school with a controversial political position. Work that is poorly written or researched, libelous or vulgar may also be withheld.

After Wiltzius’ announcement, students attended a March 10 school board meeting to ask about the new policy. None of the board members had heard of it at that point, said Kumar.

Superintendent James Sebert, who directed Wiltzius to create the guidelines, spoke to the journalism students on March 12 after Kumar published an open letter to him criticizing the policy.

He told students they had done nothing wrong but said they needed to collaborate more with the school’s administration, Kumar said.

“I had hoped we would get more of an explanation as to what he found so inappropriate or unsuitable for immature audiences,” she said. “I still don’t feel that I understand at this point.”

Sebert said the rape culture article and an editorial in the same issue informing students of their right not to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance raised ques-

tions in his mind. Sebert said he also took issue with a photo on the magazine’s first page, which showed a female student bare-shouldered, lying amid cardboard boxes and covered by a poster.

“Cardinal Columns is created as part of the print journalism class at Fond du Lac High School,” Sebert wrote in an emailed statement.

“District resources are utilized and the publication represents the school and the district.

(Prior review) is a reasonable expectation for a school-sponsored publication.”

Sebert did not respond to requests for comment, and calls to school board members were not returned.

Wiltzius and Sebert did not know about the article before it was published, Kumar said, but the paper’s adviser, journalism teacher Matthew Smith, edited it.

As for the photo, a previous Cardinal Columns issue had featured a shirtless male student on the cover, Kumar said, and administrators never complained.

Kumar said she was stirred to write the story after hearing rape jokes in school hallways and seeing what appeared to be a student-run Twitter account that poked fun at rape.

“I was appalled by that, and it upset me to the point that I felt like I had to say something or do something about it,” Kumar said.

Linda Selk-Yerges, director of the Fond du Lac sexual assault victims group ASTOP, said the organization has had a significant increase in calls and walkin visits since the article was published. The organization provided Kumar statistics and contacts for the story and was featured as a local resource.

As for the three sexual assault victims profiled in the story, none felt their anonymity had been compromised, Kumar said.

“I think they were really

angry by the sudden shift in perception by the administration,” she said. “I don’t want (the new policy) to give off the impression that we want survivors to be silent after they’ve spoken up and shared their stories about some truly awful things in their lives.”

One of those survivors, who went by the pseudonym Sarah in the article, said she is glad the piece has encouraged other victims to share their stories.

“I always knew this would be a controversial article, but I hope people see good in it rather than how it is tainted by the administration,” Sarah wrote in prepared remarks.

“Being silent should be a choice, not a requirement.”

A 1988 U.S. Supreme Court case, Hazelwood v.

Kuhlmeier, allows school districts some license to censor school-funded student publications. But that censorship still has to be educationally justifiable, said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, a national legal support group that has been in touch with the Fond du Lac students.

“This should be a nobrainer,” LoMonte said.

“All of the legal considerations and all the educational considerations point in one direction. I can’t believe that a competent school lawyer is going to tell the board to stay the course and defend an indefensible decision.”

Kumar said even if the policy remains in place, the students will continue pursuing stories like “The Rape Joke.” They have even received offers to publish censored work elsewhere.

“We’re going to continue to write - maybe not publish, but write - cuttingedge pieces about issues we’re passionate about,” Kumar said. “If they choose not to include it, then we’ll have to go from there. ... We’re never going to stop writing.”

Calif. investigates possible breach credit card processing By kate MatHer and Carla rivera Los Angeles Times

The California Department of Motor Vehicles said Saturday that it was investigating a potential security breach of its credit card processing services, but officials said the agency had no immediate evidence that its computer system had been hacked.

The agency “has been alerted by law enforcement authorities to a potential security issue,” a DMV spokesman said in a statement.

“There is no evidence at this time of a direct breach of the DMV’s computer system,” the statement said.

“However, out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of protecting the sensitive information of California drivers, the DMV has opened an investigation into any potential security breach in conjunction with state and federal law enforcement.”

“Protecting the identity and security of our customers is our highest priority and we fully understand the potential impact any breach of security can have,” the DMV said. “The department has implemented heightened monitoring of all DMV website traffic and credit card transactions.”

“We will immediately notify any affected DMV

customers as quickly as possible if we find any issue.”

Security blogger Brian Krebs - who broke the story of the blockbuster breach of Target customers’ credit card data last year – cited several financial institutions that received private alerts this week from MasterCard about compromised cards used for charges marked “STATE OF CALIF DMV INT.” MasterCard said it was “aware of and investigating” reports of a potential breach involving the DMV. The credit card company is communicating with its customers, but cannot provide any details on what information may have been compromised or how many cardholders may be affected, said spokesman Seth aEisen.

Eisen urged cardholders to review their account statements and to call the number on the back of their card if there was any unusual activity. He also emphasized that the MasterCard system itself had not been affected.

It remains unclear how many people might be affected by a potential DMV breach, but Krebs reported that one bank received a list from MasterCard of more than 1,000 cards that were potentially exposed.

Krebs reported that the information stolen included credit card num-

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bers, expiration dates and three-digit security codes printed on the back, but that it remained unclear if other sensitive information - such as driver’s license or Social Security numbers - was also taken.

The potentially problematic transactions were believed to have been made between Aug 2, 2013, and Jan. 31 of this year, Krebs reported.

According to the latest information released by the DMV, more than 11.9 million online transactions were conducted with the agency in 2012, marking a 6 percent increase from the year before. Online services include transactions such as payment of registration fees and the purchase of specialized license plates, The potential breach comes on the heels of last year’s massive Target hack.

Up to 40 million Target customers’ credit and debit card accounts were illegally accessed from Nov. 27 to Dec. 15, while as many as 70 million shoppers may have had their names and home and email addresses stolen over an indeterminate amount of time.

The incident now appears to rank as the nation’s biggest cybercrime against a single retailer.

lifted Sunday morning, but officials warned it could be reinstated. The water was building up behind an artificial dam created by the mudslide and could give way again, officials said.

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene said the community of Darrington, about 12 miles east of the slide, has been “isolated” because the mud destroyed Highway 530, which provides an important route for that community of 1,359 residents to reach Washington’s populous Pacific coast.

Inslee said it wasn’t

UKRAINE

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known when that highway would be restored.

“There is literally not a vertical stick standing in that square mile” of mud, Inslee said. “Everything within that path has been leveled, and that is something I have certainly never seen before.”

Inslee’s office issued a declaration of emergency on Saturday night, and he said state officials were in contact with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to seek emergency funds.

continued from page 1

subduing the bas’s personnel. One Ukrainian officer reportedly was injured.

Maze pa said of Mamchur: “To save lives he refrained from ordering armed resistance on Saturday when the Russian troops and local (pro-Moscow) militia stormed his unit.”

Some Ukrainian units have complained that they were given no instructions from Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, in the face of Russian agg ression.

Mazepa said it was possible his nation’s leadership was delaying in hopes of action this coming week by the United Nations General Assembly.

“It is a possibility that the U.N. General Assembly may declare Crimea a demilitarized zone and demand the withdrawal of both Russian and Ukrainian troops from it simultaneously,” Mazepa

said. “If there are no Ukrainian troops by that time left in Crimea, this question can’t be considered. This may explain why Russians are doing their utmost to capture as many of Ukraine’s remaining bases as they can and raise their flag over them.”

At least two Ukraine army units and three naval vessels also were still resisting the Russian troops, said Dmitry Tymchuk, a Ukrainian defense expert.

“The situation is very volatile and Russian pressure is growing by the minute,” Tymchuk, head of Kiev-based Center for Military and Political Research, said in a phone interview. “The way the Russians move they can capture these units and vessels within the next few hours.”

Barge spills oil near wildlife sanctuary

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Los Angeles Times

HOUSTON — Oil spilled from a barge in Galveston Bay, blocking the Houston ship channel and threatening some birds at a nearby wildlife sanctuary, officials and environmentalists said.

U.S. Coast Guard officials said as much as 168,000 gallons of oil may have spilled.

Michael Lambert, spokesman for Galveston County Office of Emergency Management, called it a “significant spill,” but not based on the amount of oil.

“The real issue is that it’s in the ship channel, near environmentally sensitive areas. So there’s an economic impact and an environmental impact,” he said.

Crews were skimming oil and laying absorbent booms to contain the spread of the spill, which occurred in the channel that runs between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula, Lambert said.

On Sunday, the spill prevented dozens of ships, including a few cruise ships, from transiting the channel, one of the world’s busiest petrochemical transport routes.

The spill comes on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Exxon oil spill in Valdez, Alaska, which took a devastating toll on wildlife. That spill involved 10 million gallons of oil.

The last major spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the Deepwater Horizon or BP oil spill, which dumped 210 million gallons four years ago.

“On the scale of the Valdez, this is not even a blip. It’s a lot of oil, but it’s not a Valdez or a Deepwater Horizon,” Lambert said.

But Richard Gibbons, conservation director for the Houston Audubon Society, said he has already received reports and photographs of oiled birds at the Bolivar

Flats Shorebird Sanctuary near the spill. Staff there reported smelling the oil on shore, but had yet to spot the oily sheen on the water.

Oiled birds that have flown into the sanctuary, Gibbons said, include ruddy turnstones, laughing gulls and American white pelicans, and some shore birds have also appeared with oil - a sign the oil has made it to shore.

The sanctuary attracts 50,000 to 70,000 shorebirds annually to its shallow mud flats. Gibbons said he was working with state officials responding to the spill to ensure the environmental effects are limited.

“We just want to make sure the boom is going in where it needs to be,” he said.

The spill was reported at 12:30 p.m. Saturday by the captain of a 585-foot Liberianflagged ship, Summer Wind, that had struck the barge, Coast Guard officials said.

The cause of the crash was still under investigation Sunday, according to Coast Guard Lt. Sam Danus. Two crew members aboard the tug and barge were hospitalized as a precaution due to exposure to hydrogen sulfide, Danus said.

The barge was carrying nearly a million gallons of marine fuel oil and was being towed by the Miss Susan tugboat, Danus said. He said only one of the barge’s tanks was breached, and although it contained about 168,000 gallons of oil, it was not clear how much oil had spilled.

Crews were working Sunday to remove the remaining oil from the barge, he said.

Greg Beuerman, a representative of Kirby Inland Marine which owns the tug boat and barge, told The Times that the spill may turn out to have been less than feared once officials finish their cleanup.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

DailyCollegian.com

Monday, March 24, 2014

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Marijuana industries find new allies among conservatives

By Evan HalpEr Tribune Washington Bureau WA S H I N G T O N — Hoping to get marijuana legalized in Nevada, an investment company specializing in the fast-growing marijuana industry invited the ballot initiative’s backers to pitch 150 financiers at a Las Vegas symposium.

Within 10 minutes, they raised $150,000.

Political contributors are not the only ones taking notice of the new realities of the marijuana business, said San Franciscobased ArcView chief executive Troy Dayton, who estimated his group will spend about $500,000 this year to support legalization of pot. Officeholders and candidates now jostle for the stage at investor meetings, he said.

“A little more than a year ago, it would have been worthy of a headline if a sitting politician came to talk to a cannabis group,” he said. “Now they are calling us, asking to speak at our events.”

No clearer example of the change exists than the industry’s newest fulltime lobbyist, Michael Correia. An advocate for the 300-member National Cannabis Industry Association, he is a former GOP staffer who for two years worked as a lobbyist for the American Le gislative Exchange Council - the powerful conservative advocacy group that works with state lawmakers to block health care reform, clean energy incentives and gun restrictions.

“People hear the word ‘marijuana’ and they think Woodstock, they think tie-dye, they think dreadlocks,” the San Diego native said. “It is not. These are legitimate businesses producing revenue, creating jobs. I want to be the face of it. I want to be what Congress sees.”

Correia doesn’t smoke pot. It makes him sleepy, he said. And he hasn’t been in the trenches for years fighting for legalization.

For him, the work is largely about the federal

government unnecessarily stifling an industry’s growth. Any conservative, he said, should be troubled when companies can’t claim tax deductions or keep cash in banks or provide plants for federal medical research.

“I have legitimacy when I walk into these offices and say, ‘This is a cause you can get behind,’” Correia said.

“I am not the stereotypical marijuana movement person. I grew up supporting these principles of limited government and federalism and fairness and individual liberty. This is the ultimate poster child for all of that.”

As pranksters and protesters give way to lobbyists and consultants in pinstriped suits, longtime pot advocates welcome the reinforcements, but sometimes bridle at the bottomline agenda.

Officials at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws expressed annoyance, for example, when some industry players in Maine recently opposed a legalization bill in their state. Full

Turkey shoots down warplan made by Syria

By MitcHEll protHEro McClatchy Foreign Staff

BEIRUT — Turkish air force jets intercepted and destroyed a Syrian fighterbomber Sunday along the two nations’ shared border, leading the Syrian government to claim that the plane was in Syrian airspace and the incident was “unwarranted aggression.”

Turkish Prime Minister Tiyyap Erdogan, who faces increasing hostility from voters over a series of scandals and the unpopular decision last week to block the popular Twitter social media service, used the incident to rally supporters at a campaign stop.

“A Syrian plane violated our airspace. Our F–16s took off and hit this plane,” he told a cheering crowd in northwest Turkey. “Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard.”

Video shot by a Turkish news crew showed the MIG23 aircraft crashing into a mountain on the Syrian side of the border. Turkish government accounts said that the plane was one of two that had crossed into Turkish airspace near the Kasab border crossing.

Turkish media accounts said Turkish forces warned the planes four times to leave Turkish airspace

before shots were fired.

The second plane escaped back into Syria unharmed.

The Syrian government immediately rejected Turkish versions of the event, saying that neither plane entered Turkish airspace and that the attack should be considered an unprovoked act of war.

Syria’s foreign ministry said Turkey’s “flagrant aggression against Syrian sovereignty in the Kasab border region over the past two days proves its involvement in the events in Syria.”

Anti–government rebels, apparently led by the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front and including groups associated with the umbrella Islamic Front, have been fighting to take control of the Kasab crossing for two days. The crossing is in Latakia province, and its capture would provide a place through which the rebels could move supplies from Turkey to their forces fighting to take control of Latakia, the mountainous coastal area that includes the ancestral home of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Rebel units appear to hold the crossing itself, but heavy fighting continues.

A statement by the monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human

Rights, said the MIG-23 has been part of a two-day bombing campaign intended to repulse the rebel offensive.

Syrian rebel commanders have said that control of the Kasab crossing is critical now that government forces have consolidated their control of the eastern border with Lebanon. The government success has pushed thousands of fighters into Lebanon, where Syrian planes regularly conduct airstrikes without Lebanese permission.

It was the second time an aircraft had been downed as conflict raged near the border. In June 2012, a Syrian anti-aircraft missile took out a Turkish fighter jet that had strayed into Syrian airspace. At first Turkey acknowledged that the aircraft had entered Syrian airspace, but then complained that it was over international waters in the Mediterranean when it was downed. Searchers found the plane’s wreckage in Syrian waters.

Turkish troops also have regularly fired artillery at Syrian government positions in retaliation for Syrian mortar rounds that have struck inside Turkey, where as many as 600,000 Syrian refugees have taken shelter.

legalization threatened to break the monopoly on pot sales that current medical marijuana sellers enjoy.

“A lot of these companies are just in it for the money, the way any entrepreneur is,” said Erik Altieri, a lobbyist with NORML. Moreover, some marijuana advocates confess, the all-business approach has taken a bit of fun out of the job.

“I used to go to cocktail parties, tell people I was a lobbyist for marijuana, and their minds would be blown,” said Dan Riffle, who advocates for the Marijuana Policy Project.

“You could see their eyes light up. They would be like, ‘Whoa, that is a real job? Tell me more.’”

Now, Riffle said, “I tell people and they are like, ‘Oh. OK. I work for the energy sector.’”

But along with a certain staidness comes new partners.

Correia’s association, for example, recently formed an alliance with Grover Norquist, the antitax activist who runs

PERKINS

Americans for Tax Reform.

In the fall, Norquist stood at a news conference with a longtime nemesis, Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, one of the most liberal members of Congress, to promote a measure that would allow marijuana enterprises to deduct business expenses from their taxes.

“Grover’s view is government should not pick winners and losers,” Correia said. “It is a fairness issue. This resonates with him.”

Now that the industry has legitimate money, politicians would like the favors to go both ways.

The Marijuana Policy Project used to get a request for campaign donations about once a week, Riffle said. Now, “I oftentimes just don’t answer the phone when I see a 202 area code because I know it is going to be someone calling asking for money.”

Pot lobbyists acknowledged that passage of any of the half-dozen measures they currently support probably remains at least

a couple of years away. But the federal government can only be out of sync with a growing number of states for so long, they said, arguing that victory is inevitable as soon as the politics of pot catch up with fastchanging realities on the ground.

The Marijuana Policy Project recently purchased a building in Washington’s vibrant Adams Morgan neighborhood, complete with a rooftop deck. On a recent warm evening, it hosted its first fundraiser there for a Republican, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California.

T he next day, Rohrabacher noted the “evil weed” some loiterers had been inhaling outside the building: “They were smoking tobacco,” he said.

Rohrabacher is a coauthor of a bill that would require the federal government to defer to state laws that allow marijuana sales.

“If it was a secret ballot,” he said, “the majority of my Republican friends would vote for it.”

continued from page 1

OHAG to continue planning for Bowl Weekend, but Vitale told Perkins that his resignation would not have an effect on Orchard Hill finances.

“I truthfully care for my constituents and I thought at the time that my resignation would unfreeze our accounts and we could continue our work on Bowl Weekend,” Perkins said, adding, “I was willing to, so to speak, be the martyr, I guess, and doing that for the sole purpose of unfreezing our accounts, but

that isn’t the case anymore.

So I personally don’t see any reason why I should have to resign or be impeached with that knowledge being known.”

Perkins said that he has spoken to Vitale and she has told him that the accounts will be unfrozen in time for Bowl Weekend.

“Lindsay says she likes Bowl Weekend and she will do everything she can to get that to be mobilized,” he said. “It is a bit of a setback

because spring break is coming and I need to start renting inflatables and we need to have purchase orders and the power of the purse by then, but we haven’t been able to do that yet. But that doesn’t mean that stalling will prevent us from doing so.”

Also, the officers have the option to resign at any time prior to the vote by the full Senate and have the charges dropped.

Patrick Hoff can be reached at pphoff@umass.edu.

Opinion Editorial THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, March 24, 2014

“If the structure does not permit dialogue, the structure must be changed.” - Paulo Freire

Editorial@DailyCollegian.com

Guns are bad, m’kay?

Though crime rates are drop- 307 House and Senate backed ping in the United States over- by the NRA were victorious … [and] about half of incoming Hannah Sparks House members got NRA backing.” all, gun violence will replace And as the logic goes, when car accidents as the top cause the NRA rubs your back, you of death for Americans ages rub theirs.

15-24 next year, according to Run-of-the-mill governmenThinkProgress. This fact may tal corruption aside, the gun elicit some mild surprise, but lobby wields its power in more it’s hardly shocking given the insidious, blatantly harmful nature of truly informed fire- ways. One of its worst tactics is arm debate in the United States, stymieing government research which hardly seems to exist. into gun violence from a public In public discourse, the tan- health perspective. The lobby’s gible facts about the true dan- first target was the National ger guns present are drowned Center for Injury Control out by knee-jerk reactions to sensationalized news stories and cries for individual rights.

The issue of public safety, an equally if not more important talking point, deserves more time than it gets.

Questions of public safety often seem to lead to immediate action, while overtly politicized issues of any kind are left to rot in ceaseless debate. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of young people killed in car acci- and Prevention, a part of the dents in the United States fell Centers for Disease Control from around 12,000 to just more and Prevention (CDC), which than 7,000 due to a concerted was conducting important data effort by car manufacturers, collection on gun violence in legislators and other groups to the mid-1990s. improve car safety. Though car Members of Congress allied accidents still kill people every with the gun lobby altered day, all in all, the multi-pronged funding for the CDC in a way effort to make the roads safer – that explicitly prevented it whether by building cars differ- from advocating for gun conently or passing stricter drunk trol. Recently, the National driving laws – was a success.

Institutes for Health has gotGun control and safety ten similar treatment from advocates, on the other hand, Congressional Republicans for cannot say the same of their similar research. Funding for efforts to curb another deadly studies by public institutions everyday occurrence, shooting like these is all but dry, and deaths. This isn’t entirely their private researchers just can’t fault, however; in this case, do the same kind of work as the the influential groups actually CDC and NIH do. capable of bringing about posiThis lack of long-term epidetive change seem to be interest- miological research, which the ed in doing anything but that.

CDC was engaged in, especially Most prominently exempli- in an era replete with data on fied by the NRA, the formidable gun violence, skews the debate, pro-gun lobby holds immense as the amount of real inforsway over Congress. Since the mation we have about guns early 1990s, the NRA alone has is tainted by rhetoric. Rather spent over $100 million on lob- than taking a broad view of bying, campaigning and other how guns typically impact political activities. It has been their owners and those around money well spent, for them: them, we focus more attention according to the Washington than is statistically necessary Post, during the 2010 midterm on exceptional cases, like mass elections, “80 percent of the shootings or the threat of gun-

In this case, the influential groups actually capable of bringing about positive change seem to be interested in doing anything but that.

confiscating government officials.

Focusing on exceptions ignores the rule: everyday violence takes more lives and constitutes an arguably bigger threat to our society and our personal safety than either mass murderers or an overbearing, draconian government.

We may not know for sure what motivates mass murders, but what we do have is numbers. With those numbers comes the ability to research trends into gun violence - if only the NRA would allow it.

As Chelsea Parsons writes at ThinkProgress, “without this research, policymakers, legislators, community leaders, and parents are left without much direction regarding how to best protect children and teenagers from gun violence.”

And so we don’t know what the solution is. We don’t know how to address the fact that the most well-armed U.S. states see the most gun violence. Or, for that matter, how to deal with the fact that more guns are being bought now than ever before, but that the total number of gun owners remains largely unchanged. Or even how we would come to terms with the most crushing bit of data, that, according to Mother Jones, “for every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.”

So much for standing your ground.

But, as the decrease in car accident deaths shows, the world becomes a safer place when cooperative groups of individuals and institutions, public and private, can identify dangers and troubleshoot for their consequences. Gun control isn’t solely a matter of individual rights; it’s an issue of public safety. And as long as public institutions are prevented from doing the necessary research due to political grandstanding, the public is not as safe as it should be.

Hannah Sparks is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at hsparks@umass.edu.

On Woody Allen Woody Allen, one of the all time no sense for him to drive up to great comedians and directors, has Connecticut to surround himself by people who hate him and go into Isaac Simon the basement of Farrow’s house – a basement he had only been in once been in the news lately for reasons before – and molest Dylan. unrelated to his films, tarnishing A couple of weeks ago, Farrow his reputation and putting a black sat down with a writer from Vanity mark on his name.

Fair to discuss in-depth the molesIn the summer of 1992, Allen was tation case of 1992. In addition to in the process of a tough separa- the piece in Vanity Fair, Nikolas tion with Mia Farrow. The relation- D. Kristof, an Op/Ed columnist for ship lasted 11 years, with Farrow the New York Times, devoted a colappearing in many of Allen’s best umn to Dylan Farrow, in which she films. Dylan Farrow, Farrow’s discussed the inappropriate things adopted daughter, claimed that she Allen had done to her. was sexually abused by Allen when What this all lead to was a backshe was seven years old in the stabbing of Allen at the Golden basement of Farrow’s Connecticut Globe Awards when he received the home. According to Dylan, Allen Cecil B. Demille Award. Although touched and molested her, which Allen was not in attendance (Diane are allegations Allen has and con- Keaton accepted the award on his tinues to deny. behalf), Ronan Farrow, the son In an interview with Steve Kroft of Mia Farrow and Allen went of 60 Minutes conducted the same to Twitter, writing, “Missed the year, Allen reiterated his inno- Woody Allen Tribute – did they put cence. He said that it would make the part where a woman publicly

confirmed he molested her at age seven before or after Annie Hall?”

While it seemed as if Ronan was simply defending his sister, others felt as if it was just meant to cause controversy.

It is situations like these that make Allen look like the bad guy.

It is particularly unfair that Allen is seen in the minds of some as a child molester when there has never been substantial evidence

where he continued to proclaim his innocence.

The Farrows’ relentless attacks have not stopped with Allen. They have criticized both Diane Keaton, Allen’s longtime friend and former lover, along with Cate Blanchett, for appearing in his films. Both Keaton and Blanchett have nothing to do with this case whatsoever.

Neither of them ever asked for trouble and suddenly they have

in the news, it casted doubt on Blanchett’s chances, and it would have been a shame if the power of the media brought down such a star. The issues of the allegations against Allen and the acting ability of Blanchett should not be intertwined, and to have intertwined the two would not only have been unfair but offensive.

Now that the Oscars are over, hopefully this controversy can

It is situations like these that make Allen look like the bad guy. It is particularly unfair that Allen is seen in the minds of some as a child molester when there has never been substantial evidence to prove it. to prove it. It is also troubling that Mia’s family feels compelled to attack Allen in recent years. Allen has always been an extremely private man, declining most interviews, avoiding cameras whenever possible and almost never appearing at award shows. In fact the outcry of attention that this issue has received forced him to write an op/ed in The New York Times

become victims through no fault of their own. That is unfair especially as Blanchett was nominated for Best Actress in Allen’s most recent film “Blue Jasmine.” What is interesting is that many critics and bloggers were certain that Blanchett was going to win, but some changed their minds after the controversy resurfaced. Ever since the scandal 20 years ago resurfaced

die down. Allen, who has continued to make movies, is working on his next film “Magic in the Moonlight” which features Emma Stone. If it is not clear, Allen has used Hollywood’s biggest females in his movies; that will not stop, but hopefully this controversy will.

Isaac Simon is a Collegian contributor and can be reached at isimon@umass.edu.

t h e m a s s a c h u s e t t s D a i ly C o l l e g i a n

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OPINION & EDITORIAL

ARTS & LIVING

SPORTS

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O p /E d ASSISTANTS

ARTS ASSISTANTS

SPORTS ASSISTANTS

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The Massachusetts Daily Collegian is published Monday through Thursday during the University of Massachusetts calendar semester. The Collegian is independently funded, operating on advertising revenue. Founded in 1890, the paper began as Aggie Life, became the College Signal in 1901, the Weekly Collegian in 1914 and the Tri–Weekly Collegian in 1956. Published daily from 1967 to 2013, The Collegian has been broadsheet since January 1994. For advertising rates and information, call 413-545-3500.

WEB PRODUCTION MANAGER - Zac Bears NEWS DESK EDITOR - Katrina Borofski O p /E d DESK EDITOR - Zac Bears | Brandon Sides ARTS DESK EDITOR - Jackson Maxwell SPORTS DESK EDITOR - Nick Canelas COMICS DESK EDITOR - Tracy Krug

GRAPHICS DESK EDITOR - James Desjardin

Arts Living THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, March 24, 2014

“I got to second base for the first time here. She was my cousin, but you know, tough times.”- Caleb Followill

Arts@DailyCollegian.com

LOCAL BAND PROFILE

Meet the finest ‘Tricksters’ in the Pioneer Valley

By ToMMy Verdone Collegian Staff

In yet another charmingly grungy Amherst basement, four young musicians work their way downstairs to set up their equipment for practice. Over on one side of the dimly lit room sits an old looking couch with a tiny, fairly intune nylon stringed acoustic guitar sitting atop it.

Across from the couch is a makeshift practice space filled with unassembled gear, from drums and amps to guitars and pedal boards. The group explains that they haven’t had a chance to put their gear back together since their EP release show, in which they headlined at the Iron Horse in Northampton, a couple of nights prior.

Within 10 minutes, The Young Tricksters had their instruments and monitors set up and were playing songs off of their recently

released EP “Ripples.”

The band ran through a series of songs ranging from tracks that they wrote long before “Ripples” came out, up to pieces they’ve just started working on.

The quiet and dusty basement now filled up with a warm, energetic sound.

After a few of the songs they played through, they discuss what changes they’d like to make, or what they like.

The Young Tricksters are a band that aren’t afraid to take their music in all sorts of directions, but that being said, all of their songs share the same consistency. Even from their earliest demos, songs like “Boy Who Cried Wolf ” and “Sagittarius” passively bridge the gap between dreamy indie rock and sludgy, riff-heavy music.

Many of The Young Tricksters’ songs can be characterized by their

SHAINA MISHKINI/COLLEGIAN

Drummer Aaron Noble playing at The Young Trickster’s band practice.

Above left to right: Lucas Soloranzo, Ryan Severin and Jesse French.

seamless buildup of slow, welcoming vocal harmonies that delve into crunchy and spacey riffing. The self-proclaimed “explorative rock” fourpiece is made up of Ryan Severin (guitar, vocals), Jesse French (bass, vocals), Aaron Noble (drums) and Lucas Soloranzo (guitar, vocals).

The members of the group are all Amherst natives, having grown up and gone to school in town, but this is the first time all four of them have been in a band together.

“Me and Ryan weren’t actually in a band together until this one,” said Noble, “but we knew each other musically pretty well just from jamming. We were both drummers at the time, so we used to do drum battles and stuff.”

“But then we ended up just kind of joining forces the summer after freshman year of college,” said Severin, “And then we were looking around for a bassist for a while, and we got Jesse when we put a little ad up towards the end of sophomore year.”

“We tried out maybe four other bassists or something like that,” said Noble, “But yeah, we just knew with Jesse” “Fifth one is the charm,” added Soloranzo.

A plight seemingly as old as rock music itself, coming up with a band name that sticks can be tricky.

Noble and Soloranzo talked about coming up with name ideas, playing word scram-

bles and compiling a list of words they liked, focusing on the word ‘youth.’

“We’d been a band for several months and we still didn’t have a name, so we just decided to compile a list of words we liked, and young and tricksters happened to be there,” said Noble.

When asked where they practice, they all said “down there,” and pointed to the floor, referencing the basement they had just put back together after their Iron Horse show.

“Down in the dungeon,” said French.

“We go through phases where we practice as much as we can, you know, several times a week, but it’s tricky sometimes because we’re all on different schedules,” said Severin.

“But we try to line up our work schedules so we’re out by late afternoon, and usually we can try and practice in the evening. We try to get a few evenings every week,” said French.

“Yeah, that’s the goal,” responded Noble, “Before our Iron Horse show though, the week and a half before we played almost every day because we were like ‘this is important.’”

The Young Tricksters say that they usually play a show each weekend, with a break here and there depending on their schedules and who is around.

But, being a locally based band, their shows can range from makeshift basementvenues, to well-known bars in the area.

“Our biggest show in terms of audience was probably the Academy of Music, but I feel like that last Iron Horse show was the biggest symbolically,” said Noble. “You know; EP release, we’re headlining, it’s our show.”

The band’s release show at the Iron Horse seemed like a milestone for them.

While they’ve been making a name for themselves around the area over the last year or so, this has certainly been their biggest headlining event.

People who’ve known the band members for years, whether in person or just by ear, came out to support and sing-along with the Tricksters on this monumental day.

As for the band’s interests, French explained that he had been listening almost exlsively to Elliot Smith in recent weeks.

Severin has been getting back into Queens of the Stone Age, which he explained as a big musical influence for him, and they added that both Radiohead and The Mars Volta have been big influences on the band.

“We all like the Beatles,” added Severin, which French responded, “We do disagree on what Beatles we like though.”

“Right, right, but we all like the later stuff though, right?” asked Severin, and everyone laughed in agreement.

An EP release with an accompanying performance at a well-known

local bar is no small feat for a group of musicians.

As with every band that is just beginning to gain some recognition, it’s natural to wonder, either as a fan or a band member, what comes next?

“I still think there are a lot of sides to us that people haven’t even seen yet. We have so many little pieces and things that aren’t songs yet, but we really hope to do something with them eventually. Some of it is really heavy, some of it is a lot softer and more mellow,” said Noble. “We still haven’t even had a lot of time since the show to talk about it and figure it out.”

“We have to have a band meeting to figure it out or something,” said Severin, and the band nodded.

“Since the EP we’ve already started played a few new songs, we played two new songs at the Iron Horse,” said Soloranzo.

It’s not easy for a band to make a name for themselves in the Pioneer Valley, whether they’re a career band or just a group who’s having fun. But one thing is for certain, and that is that The Young Tricksters have done a great job making themselves known to the local scene.

Their most recent EP, “Ripples,” can be downloaded on their Bandcamp page at http://youngtricksters.bandcamp.com/ for $4, and all five songs are up for stream.

Tommy Verdone can be reached at tverdone@umass.edu.

CONCERT PREVIEW

Sahara based desert rock band Tinariwen to play in NoHo Grammy winners come to Iron Horse

By Jackson Maxwell Collegian Staff

This Thursday night, Saharan desert-rock band Tinariwen will stop by the Iron Horse Music Hall as part of an ongoing world tour in support of their new album, “Emmaar.”

Hailing originally from the vast deserts of Northern Mali, and drawing from the different sounds they heard during the years they spent living in different regions of northern Africa, Tinariwen are an entirely unique band. They effortlessly combine the spiritual music of their native Tuareg people, Arabic pop, Moroccan chaabi protest music and western pop and

rock music into a tantalizingly original concoction that has won them worldwide acclaim and success.

Although Tinariwen have only in the last few years come to international attention, the band actually dates all the way back to 1979. Tinariwen’s story, one that the Irish Times described as “the most rock‘n’roll of them all,” is as fascinating as their music, and helps Tinariwen’s western fans understand the context that surrounds their songs.

Founded by Tuareg refugee Ibrahim Ag Alhabib in Tamanrasset, Algeria, Tinariwen were at first a loose quartet of guitarists who formed to play at local weddings and parties. Without even a name, they began to develop a reputation amongst locals,

who dubbed them “Kel Tinariwen,” which in the band’s native Tamashek language translates roughly to “The Desert Boys.”

The collective soon moved to Libya, where they, amongst other Tuareg refugees, received nine months of military training from Muammar al-Gaddafi’s army. Relatively safe in Libya, the quartet soon met other Tuareg musicians who were active in the Tuareg people’s rebel cause.

Singing of the issues that faced the Tuareg, a race that had been expelled from Mali and been labeled as refugees virtually everywhere else, Tinariwen’s membership swelled to around eight, with various members consistently coming and going. During their stay in Libya in the

1980’s, Tinariwen vowed to record music free of charge to anyone who supplied a blank cassette tape. The resulting tapes were heavily sought out for in the Sahara region, and bolstered the collective’s reputation across a much wider region.

In 1989, Ag Alhabib and the collective left Libya to return to Ag Alhabib’s home village of Tessalit, Mali. Ag Alhabib had not been to Tessalit since 1963, when, at the age of four, he witnessed the execution of his Tuareg rebel father at the hands of the Malian army. In the subsequent Tuareg rebellion against the Malian government, some of the members of Tinariwen participated as rebel fighters. Once the violence quieted down, Tinariwen settled more

firmly in Mali, cementing their reputation further by performing to Tuareg groups all across the Sahara.

In 2001, Tinariwen first came to international notice with their headlining performance at the Festival au Désert in Essakane, Mali.

The attention from the festival enabled them to record their first album, “The Radio Tisdas Sessions.”

After twenty-two years of making music, Tinariwen were finally able to reach ears across the world.

With each subsequent album, Tinariwen’s unique, stunningly evocative sound won them not only increasing critical success, but celebrity supporters like Carlos Santana, Thom Yorke and Chris Martin. “Tassili,” their 2011 album, featured

guest vocal spots from New York indie rock band TV On the Radio, and won the collective a Grammy the following February for Best World Music Album.

“Emmaar,” released earlier this year on Feb 11, plays into Tinariwen’s greatest strengths. Guitars, percussion, and the band’s almost circular melodies and harmonies envelop the listener like a sandstorm.

Six albums and thirty-five years into their career, Tinariwen have never sounded better.

Tinariwen will be joined English afro-pop band the Melodic. Doors open at 6PM and the show starts at 7PM. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door.

Jackson Maxwell can be reached at jlmaxwell@umass.edu

6

Monday, March 24, 2014

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BLOWOUT

ESHO

continued from page 8

over the hump.”

UMass opened the game with back-to-back missed layups. By the end of the first half, point guard Chaz Williams said the team was told they had missed nine.

The Minutemen found opportunities to score but couldn’t convert as the game quickly slipped away, shooting just 30 percent in the first half.

“I felt like we were getting whatever we wanted on the floor, honestly,” Williams said. “We just weren’t finishing baskets. … I feel like it was more so us, you know. I turned the ball over early. I wasn’t really making layups.

There was nothing they really did.”

C o nve r s e ly, the Volunteers showed no signs of slowing down. They exploited UMass’ lack of size in the paint and limited any kind of outside offense. The Minutemen didn’t score a single first half point outside of the painted area or free-throw line.

Tennessee received strong scoring efforts from forward Jarnell Stokes and guard Jordan McRae. Stokes scored 26 points and added 14 rebounds while McRae chipped in 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Fourteen of McRae’s 21 points came in the first half, setting the tempo for

TAYLOR C. SNOW/COLLEGIAN

Sampson Carter is one of three seniors to have finished their UMass careers in Friday’s loss to Tennessee. the rest of the game.

Williams, who finished with 12 points, said that despite the team’s strong preparation, UMass did indeed feel jitters throughout its rocky start.

“I think it was mostly jitters than anything,” Williams said.

“I think that kind of took away from what we wanted to do, because we had a couple of great practices these past couple of days.

It felt like we were going to come out great. Once you get under the lights and the

BASKETBALL ond round exit.

There was a time not so long ago – November and December to be exact – where envisioning UMass playing the role of the aggressor in March appealed to many. The Minutemen steamrolled competition to the tune of a 16-1 start, winning the Charleston Classic and defeating four soon-to-be NCAA Tournament teams in their out-of-conference portion of the schedule.

Life was good in Amherst. With success came notoriety, climbing to No. 13 in the AP Top 25 in addition to becoming fixtures in premature bracketology. The UMass basketball “brand” carried a swagger and the potential to explode in living rooms up and down the east coast.

But something changed.

As the calendar flipped and conference play began, UMass stumbled, finishing the season with an 8-8 record which was aided by multiple second half rallies. Suddenly, a veteran team loaded with confidence played apprehensively. The Minutemen knew what they needed to do to win – play strong defense and push the ball in transition – but did it for portions of games instead of mul-

crowd starts roaring, you start second guessing,” he added.

Maxie Esho and Gordon were the only other two Minutemen to score in double digits, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Sixteen years passed in between NCAA Tournament appearances for UMass. In the immediate aftermath of the loss, Carter noted it will take a few days for things to sink in, but there’s reason to be both proud of the Minutemen’s accomplish-

ments and upset at the way things ended. After starting 16-1, UMass stumbled to an 8-8 finish to end the season.

“You kind of get unappreciative during the season because you want more and want more,” Carter said. “You get addicted to winning. But it’s been a bittersweet year and we’re kind of bitter right now.

But when you think about the past and the future, you appreciate everything.”

Mark Chiarelli can be reached at mchiarel@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.

7

continued from page 8

ing role and have me come off the bench,” Putney said. “Try to bring extra energy and that’s the line we went, nothing else to that.”

But the decision to start Esho in the biggest game of the season may have had more to do with mentality than the actual game.

Esho had been accustomed to coming off the bench throughout the season, inserting his energy through that role rather than having to channel it right from the tip. It was obvious that he was over anxious at the beginning when he jumped the opening tip-off, forcing a restart. That was only a sign of things to come for the rest of UMass as it fell behind 16-8 within the first seven minutes of the game.

“My energy came off better and more efficient when I came off the bench,” Esho said. “This being my first time starting, it was kind of different. I had jitters and it was different. It was my first time starting in my college career.”

The decision to potentially start Esho over either Putney or Sampson Carter has been discussed since the Minutemen last played in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, when Esho

“My energy came off better and more efficient when I came off the bench.”

Maxie Esho, UMass forward was UMass’ best player in its two games, averaging 18.5 points per game and seven rebounds.

Despite his nerves to open the game, he still finished tied with Chaz Williams for the team lead in points for the game with 12 and also grabbed six rebounds.

Still, it wasn’t the best time to experiment with something completely new to a team that was already struggling over the last month. And even though it wasn’t the deciding factor in the game, hindsight will allow for a lot of secondguessing to happen.

At least the Minutemen can live with the decision that was made.

“We all play the same amount of minutes,” Putney said. “I’m a starter, he’s a starter, even if he went somewhere else, he could be a starter. He deserved that role at this time and point in the season.”

Patrick Strohecker can be reached at pstrohec@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @P_Strohecker.

BASEBALL

continued from page 8

tiple games at a time.

The inconsistency pushed on, as did a downward trend in effectiveness. Williams shot just 36 percent from the floor over his final 10 games.

Center Cady Lalanne went from routinely producing double-doubles to scoring in double-digits just twice over that same span. The starting redshirt senior duo of Raphiael Putney and Sampson Carter combined to average just 15.8 points per game over their final 10 appearances.

And it culminated in an early quarterfinals exit from the Atlantic 10 Tournament and an even earlier dismissal from the Big Dance. With a season built on promise and expectation, it was hard to imagine it ending like this.

“Fifteen years (without an NCAA appearance) has been a long time,” Carter said grimly after the loss.

“You kind of get unappreciative during the season because you want more and want more. You get addicted to winning. But it’s been a bittersweet year, and we’re kind of bitter right now.

But when you think about the past and the future, you appreciate everything.”

Carter’s snapshot evaluation of the season – an

Monday, March 24, 2014

incredibly difficult thing for a senior fresh off an underwhelming final college appearance to do – is accurate. This UMass group finally knocked down 15 seasons worth of barriers and should be commended for that. But it also graduates three seniors and needs to spend the coming months evaluating what’s next.

Four years from now, will this team be remembered as the one which dug up the ground and laid the foundation? Or will the loss of a transcendent ability like Williams push it closer to the land of one-anddones?

These are questions without answers, but they also shed light on the importance of this season for the Minutemen. They’ll be the first to tell you, it’s a long and winding road to the NCAA Tournament.

To end the season on such a decline after displaying stretches of brilliance and overall domination undoubtedly left all facets of UMass basketball wanting more.

And potentially wondering what could’ve been.

Mark Chiarelli can be reached at mchiarel@umass.edu and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.

Minutemen take weekend series in Atlantic 10 opener UM drops finale at La Salle, 3-0

By Chris Corso Collegian Staff

The Massachusetts baseball team showed signs of life at the perfect time.

After losing all but one of the first 13 games of 2014, the Minutemen won two out of three games against La Salle to open their Atlantic 10 conference schedule in Philadelphia this weekend.

Prior to the series, UMass senior first baseman Dylan Begin said that the team would use the tough start in a positive light heading into A-10 play.

“I think the tough start has really showed us how to fight and how to show heart especially when you’re down and losing. It shows a lot of character and I think our team can build on that character,” said first baseman Dylan Began, who went 3-for-10 at the plate with a home run and two runs batted in for the series. “It gives everyone a chance to get some confidence and we’ll

“We had some pretty good wins on Friday and Saturday, so I thought we would take it to them (Sunday) and that just didn’t happen.”

Mike Stone, UMass coach build on that as a team.”

UMass coach Mike Stone was happy with the first two conference wins, but was focused on the 3-0 loss to the Explorers that was “fresh in his mind” Sunday afternoon and seemed disappointed with his team’s performance in the last game of the series.

“We had some pretty good wins on Friday and Saturday, so I thought we would take it to them today and that just didn’t happen,” Stone said. “You know you can’t feel good about what we did today. Our effort was not good offensively and it was a disappointing result.

If you get a chance to sweep somebody you have to be more aggressive.”

The Minutemen’s (3-13, 2-1 A-10) offense came to a halt Sunday after scoring 16 runs in the first two games of the series. La Salle (4-18, 1-2 A-10) starter Shawn

O’Neill allowed just one hit, four walks and fanned eight UMass batters in six scoreless innings. The Minutemen collected just three hits for the game.

The Explorers scored first for the third-consecutive game tacking on a run when Kevin Baron scored on a fielder’s choice in the first inning.

La Salle added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on two costly errors by UMass pitchers Aaron Plunkett.

“We had a defensive lapse in the eighth inning and that put them up 3-0 as opposed to being down just one,” Stone said. “We made it more difficult for ourselves. You can pretty much say we beat ourselves (Sunday).”

Chris Corso can be reached at

ccorso@umass.edu and followed

on Twitter @ChrisCorso5.

M E N ’ S L AC RO S S E

Late third quarter surge leads Minutemen past Hartford

By Andrew Cyr

Ryan Curley – who hasn’t made a huge impact on the Tied at 5-5 with three scoresheet this season – was minutes, 18 seconds remain- in the right place at the right ing in the third quarter, time to give UMass the 6-5 the Massachusetts men’s lead.

The Minutemen never lacrosse team found itself looked back, in another game that scoring six was destined to go UMass 12 c o n s e c u t i v e down to the wire. goals to quickBut sometimes in Hartford 6 ly put the lacrosse, one goal is game out of all it takes to jumpreach midway start an offense.

And on Saturday, the No. 11 through the fourth quarter.

“It was a tie game at that Minutemen’s late offensive explosion proved to be the point and we knew we needed key in their 12-6 win over to start transitioning the ball to the offensive end,” Connor Hartford.

Jeff George fired a shot Mooney said. “We were movat Hartford goalkeeper Frank ing the ball, breaking their Piechota that caught a piece guys off the dodge, making of his stick and trickled out one or two passes that we in front of the net. Then were able to finish it.”

Collegian Staff

Mooney led UMass (7-2, 1-0 Colonial Athletic Association) with two goals and four assists. Nick Mariano also contributed with three goals and an assist for his fourth hat trick of the season, his first since March 1 against Brown.

Eight different Minutemen recorded points in Saturday’s game, six of whom contributed with at least two points.

“It’s really rewarding for them,” UMass coach Greg Cannella said. “They work hard every day and they deserve to reward themselves. It’s expected of us, as coaches, for guys to put in guys that are going to produce for you.”

With six seconds left in the third, Mooney attacked

the cage and dumped it off to Mariano, who converted the goal to give UMass a 9-5 lead after three quarters. Just 1:27 into the fourth, Mooney found Mariano again. The freshman converted the wideopen man advantage goal to double the Minutemen lead.

“We had struggled throughout the game in terms of connecting on offense,” Cannella said. “At that point we had good things going our way. That was the stretch of the game that made us play so relaxed in the fourth quarter.”

“It’s awesome,” Mariano said when asked about playing with Mooney. “Even when I’m not open he knows I’m open. He’s great with both hands and always finds

a way to put the ball in my stick whenever I need it.”

The Hawks (4-4) made it difficult for UMass to run away with the game from the start. Trailing 5-3, attackman Kevin O’Shea juked out Kyle Karaska, fired and beat goalkeeper Zach Oliveri to gut the Minutemen lead to one. Less than a minute later, O’Shea found Andrew Cacchio for a goal that tied the game at five on a play that goalkeeper Oliveri had no chance to stopping.

O’Shea led all Hartford scorers with three goals and an assist. He became only the 17th member in its program history to eclipse the 100point mark.

“It’s great when everyone is getting involved,” Mooney

said. “It really shows how well our offense can click when everyone is playing together. It’s great to see certain players step up in different parts of the game.

“On offense we are moving the ball really well.

We are pretty unselfish. It doesn’t matter who’s scoring the points or who’s getting the goals as long as we are scoring them.”

The Minutemen have a long two-week layover before resuming conference play on April 5 against Towson.

“It’s definitely going to be a mental break more than a physical one, that’s for sure,” Cannella said.

Andrew Cyr can be reached at arcyr@ umass.edu and be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.

THE MASSACHUSETTS DAILY COLLEGIAN

Monday, March 24, 2014

Sports@DailyCollegian.com

@MDC_SPORTS

MEN’S BASKETBALL

ROCKY TOPPED 86

NCAA TOURNAMENT PNC ARENA RALEIGH, N.C.

67

UM crushed by Vols in Big Dance

By Mark chiarelli Collegian Staff

TAYLOR C. SNOW/COLLEGIAN

Derek Kellogg and the UMass basketball team had a sour return to the NCAA Tournament with a 86-67 beatdown at the hands of Tennessee in the second round on Friday. It was the Minutemen’s first appearance in the Big Dance since 1998.

Hard not to wonder what could have been for UMass

W

hen Massachusetts men’s basketball fans reflect on the 20132014 season, they’ll do it with warmth and positivity. And years from Mark now, when fans pass Chiarelli along tales of what it was like to watch point guard Chaz Williams, they’ll recall one of the best players to call Amherst home.

Or at least they should.

And fans will. But in

the immediate aftermath of UMass’ abrupt 86-67 departure from the NCAA Tournament to Tennessee on Friday, emotions naturally ran rampant. It was no different for Williams, whose career ended at PNC Arena without any of the customary flair or dazzle that follows him.

As Williams trudged off the court with about two minutes left in the game, the finality of the situation appeared to hit hard.

His pace slowed as he departed and during the ensuing timeout, he stood behind his team which huddled around Coach Derek Kellogg, unable to stand still. Soon, he placed

a towel over his head and tears followed shortly thereafter.

It’s never easy to see a career as distinguished as Williams’ come to an end.

In a tournament where only one team walks away the victor, an eventual disappointing ending was presumed. Or at least it’s presumed by most.

“It still hasn’t hit me yet and probably won’t because we just lost,” TAYLOR C. SNOW/COLLEGIAN Williams said. “It probably will never hit me until the Chaz Williams scored 12 points in his final UMass basketball game.

NCAA is over, because I feel like we’re supposed to get to set sights on, it’s far-fetched to imagine the be playing until April 7.”

Minutemen playing deeper not unsurprising to hear While the National into March than their secsuch a declaration from Championship Game is see BASKETBALL on page 7 an incredibly bold tarWilliams. And it’s also not

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Massachusetts men’s basketball team collectively took on the appearance of a boxer sensing a fight slipping away, staggered against the ropes.

At first, the Minutemen appeared shell-shocked, unable to plug multiple deficiencies which Tennessee exploited. And as the Volunteers continued to expand on their lead – it grew from six points to double-digits to as high as 24 points – UMass continued to seek answers it ultimately did not have.

By the end of their 86-67 loss to Tennessee on Friday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, many of the emotionally-drained Minutemen could do little more than drape towels over their heads. From start to finish, the game was never in hand.

“I guess we got on the ropes for a little bit and a couple people had a couple jitters and everything,” UMass forward Sampson Carter said.

UMass trailed by 19 points at halftime, but opened the second half with a miniresurgence. The Minutemen sparked a 14-4 run to cut the Volunteers deficit to 46-36.

For a team notorious for slow starts and second half charges, it felt as if UMass had one last trick up its sleeve.

Tennessee shut that door quickly.

The Volunteers surged back, using a Josh Richardson tomahawked chase down block on a Derrick Gordon layup to gain energy and push the lead to 17 points.

As quickly as the Minutemen had gained momentum, it had slipped away.

“We definitely felt like it was going to be a turning point. I can’t even tell you what went wrong,” UMass forward Sampson Carter said of the second half comeback attempt.

Kellogg cited the Richardson block as a major turning point in the game.

“I thought our guys fought in the second half, cut (the lead) to 10 or 12,” Kellogg said.

“A few bounce plays didn’t go our way. We couldn’t get see

BLOWOUT on page 7

Lineup change does little to spark Minutemen Maxie Esho makes his first career start

season and tinkered with his starting lineup, inserting Maxie Esho in favor of fifth-year senior Raphiael Putney. The end result was

By Patrick Strohecker not what he was looking Collegian Staff for.

“Putney and I had a RALEIGH, N.C. — If meeting and we kind of just there was one consistency all year long for the discussed that he thought Massachusetts men’s bas- maybe him coming off the ketball team, it was the bench with his scoring and Maxie’s energy to start the starting lineup.

But, even that was subject game would potentially to change in the NCAA be a good way to do it,” Kellogg said.

Tournament.

All season long, Esho On Friday afternoon, UMass coach Derek Kellogg provided energy off the did what nobody thought bench for the Minutemen, was going to happen all giving the team a boost

whenever they seemed to be stuck. That energy didn’t carry over into his first ever college start.

UMass never got into a rhythm and struggled to knock down shots, while Tennessee picked apart the defense.

Esho’s energy was there at the beginning for the Minutemen, but it was the wrong type of energy, which only added to the rocky start.

“I thought we had good energy, whether it was nervous energy or jitters. … I thought we were so energized that we missed a lot

of easy (shots),” Kellogg said.

Looking back on it, it’s a decision that deserves some second-guessing.

UMass’ energy wasn’t instilled the right way and Putney, who finished the game with two points in only 14 minutes of action, was virtually non-existent.

While Putney, much like the rest of the team, failed to find a rhythm, he didn’t see any reason to secondguess the decision.

“I went to Coach Kellogg and told him (Esho) deserved to be in that startsee

ESHO on page 7

TAYLOR C. SNOW/COLLEGIAN

Maxie Esho made his first career start for UMass basketball in Friday’s NCAA Tournament loss to Tennessee.