The Daily Helmsman

University of Memphis students interested in showing off their singing, dancing or other unique skills are invited by the Student Activities Council to audition for its talent show.

The second annual SAC Talent Extravaganza auditions are this week, with tryouts today and tomorrow in the University Center.

Auditions take place today in UC Ballroom C from 3-5 p.m. and tomorrow in UC Memphis Room A at the same time. Students inter-ested in auditioning are asked to arrive 30 minutes early to receive a tryout number.

Because of last year’s success, SAC expanded its audition times this week in hopes of an even larger turnout, said Angela Norwood, coordinator of SAC.

“We saw all kinds of talent last year, including everything from students playing instruments to poetry readings,” Norwood said. “We hope to see a similar turnout this year from any student with a talent they wish to share.”

The talent show will take place March 22 at 7 p.m. in the Michael D. Rose Theatre.

University of Memphis President Shirley Raines received a nomination several months ago for the University of Kentucky presidential opening, which she turned down.

Raines, 62, served as vice chancellor of academics and dean of education at Kentucky before she assumed The U of M presidency in 2001.

“It was an honor to have been nominated by Kentucky, but I really want to stay at The University of Memphis,” Raines said in an interview with The Daily Helmsman. “Kentucky is a wonderful university, no doubt, but this is a wonderful univer-sity, too.”

University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Jr.

announced last September that he will step down in June, end-ing his decade at the institution.

Raines said she could not recall the exact date when Kentucky officials contacted her, but she subsequently refused the nominations.

University of Kentucky spokesman Jay Blanton said the committee had no comment on any candidates at this time.

Raines said that she wants to see The University through the 2012 centennial and thinks Memphis is the right place for her.

“Wonderful things happen on our campus with our honors program and emerging leaders,” Raines said. “Between the com-munity and The University, I feel like I’m a good match and good fit for this position, so I would like to stay rather than go to a place I was already at.”

DailyHelmsman

Vol. 78 No. 088The

Independent Student Newspaper of The University of Memphis www.dailyhelmsman.com

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Tigers must fend off feisty Pirates to keep hopes of C-USA championship alive

see page 8

UM vs. ECU: By the Numbers

Raines dispels speculationabout Kentucky candidacy

Dubious circumstances surrounding Tech Hub layoffs raise questions

Four student workers of the University Center’s Technology Hub were terminated Sunday with what they considered an insufficient explanation from their employer, Shundra White. They said they believe White fired them due to budget con-cerns, but White said the decision stemmed from misconduct.

Several others were put on a 30-day probation-ary period at the same time.

While the terminated workers, who were all paid more than minimum wage, said they were shocked by the news, all had been either warned or put on suspension prior to being fired.

White, a manager in the Client Support Services department at The University of Memphis, said each fired individual had previously been con-fronted about misconduct on the job and “no one came in on Sunday thinking the world is grand and beautiful — thinking they had done no harm.”

“The decisions were based 90 percent on poor conduct,” White said. “Ten percent was us being good stewards over our budget.”

She said if workers aren’t doing their jobs, paying them is doing an injustice to the students coming to the Tech Hub.

Derrick Brown, a first-year graduate student studying special education, was terminated Sunday after working in the Client Support Services department for four years. He said

White mentioned that the department was going through a budget cut during a five-minute speech delivered to those fired or put on probation.

“Judging by the people fired, we were all the most experienced,” he said. “We had been work-ing there the longest and were the ones mak-ing more money. To justify it, (White) said we were all bad workers. She just checked off poor performance (on a report given to the students terminated).”

Brown made $9.20 an hour. White confirmed that she spent five to seven

minutes telling the students her decision was final and wouldn’t take any questions that night before leaving the room.

She said it was just a coincidence that those fired were all seniors with the department and noted that others who had been working just as long are still on staff.

“With longevity should come some level of responsibility and maturity,” she said. “Anybody that I terminated was (fired) because they were not doing things that were standard and basic.”

White said she told anyone with a complaint to schedule an appointment with her through her assistant for details, but the four students ter-minated said she never mentioned meeting with them further during Sunday’s meeting — only that there would be no further discussion on the matter.

White said she expects her employees to take

BY CHELSEA BOOZERNews Reporter

BY JOHN MARTINSports Editor

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Got skills? Prove it!

MC

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BY ROBERT MOORENews Reporter

see Layoffs, page 3

Auditions for the Student Activities Council’s Talent Extravaganza are underway today and Thursday in the UC.

U of M President Shirley Raines says she’d rather stay in Memphis than return to the University of Kentucky, which nominated her for consideration for its presidency.

www.dailyhelmsman.com2 • Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Across1 Sierra Nevada resort6 Like some checking accounts11 Scand. land14 Observe Yom Kippur15 Neptune’s realm16 When repeated, a Latin dance17 Feature of the answers to starred clues19 Children’s author/illustrator Asquith20 Icky stuff21 Common flashlight power source22 Endure23 *Poker holdings25 Actor Dillon et al.26 Hwys.27 Chinese discipline28 Cut’s partner31 *Subdued34 First N.L. 500 home run club member35 Indictment37 “__ pales in Heaven the morning star”: Lowell38 *Prepared to jog40 Less refined42 Degree requirements, at times43 Convert to leather, as a hide44 Minor cost component45 *Stained51 Ship of Greek myth52 European toast53 Fit54 Living in Fla., maybe55 Feature of the answers to starred clues57 Morse unit58 Racket59 More repulsive60 Many IRA payees61 Landlord62 Really dumb

Down1 Zesty flavors2 Leaning

3 __ society4 Cocktail preparation phrase5 Sushi fish6 Tally symbol7 Large wedding band8 Strikes one as9 Viscount’s superior10 One-third of ninety?11 *Pocketed the cue ball12 Obligatory joke response13 Park Avenue resident, e.g.18 ER tests22 Secular24 Imagines25 Young food court loiterer27 Afternoon service28 Gift shop items on a rotating stand29 Where to see a caboose

30 *Fortes31 USC or NYU32 Prov. on James Bay33 Amer. currency36 IV units39 __ perpetua: Idaho’s motto41 “__ My Heart”: 1962 #1 R&B hit for Ray Charles43 Going rate?45 Coil of yarn46 Western chasers47 Ply48 “¿__ usted español?”49 Paula’s “American Idol” replacement50 Steel plow developer52 Winter forecast55 John Lennon Museum founder56 VII x VIII

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Volume 78 Number 088

YOU REALLY LIKE US!Yesterday’s Top-Read Stories

on the Web1. Miss Tennessee could be at U of M

by Chris Daniels

2. Athletic dept. has no love for lacrosseby Scott Hall

3. Dearth of devotionby John Martin

4. Students’ excuses are inexcusableby John Martin

TIGER BABBLEthoughts that give you paws

“Shirley Raines has more fortitude than John Calipari.”— @ScoHa

“No, they just wouldn’t let me take R.C. to my ‘dream job.’”

— @FantasyShirley

“The plastic wrap on these sandwiches in the UC is harder to get into than Gringotts.”

— @megs_brianne

“100 * 600 ≠ 6,000. You fail @ math tenfold.”— @alexvranas

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The University of Memphis Wednesday, March 2, 2011 • 3

their jobs seriously. “It’s a real job, and we pay

real money,” she said.Three of the four fired said

they had been approached by White beforehand and were given a warning or told of some-thing they were not doing right.

Senior English major Daryl McKinney, who was making $9.25 an hour, was a team lead-er before being fired. He said White told him he was originally set for termination Wednesday morning after he didn’t report that some of his employees were sleeping on the job and didn’t manage the situation well when one lost a student’s U of M ID card.

White told him that he wasn’t made for management, McKinney said. Nevertheless, he said he was shocked to read of his termination at the mass meeting Sunday.

“My means of supporting myself was through that job. Now I have to worry about mid-terms, graduation and getting a new job,” McKinney said.

White said one reason for McKinney’s dismissal was that he had lied on Wednesday about not being at work during a par-ticular instance with one of the employees under his watch.

Senior Antavius Flagg, liberal studies major who was making $7.75 an hour, has worked for the department for five years and said he was given a warn-ing when he didn’t show up for work once over Christmas break.

“Still, this should have been handled on a personal basis, not made the spectacle it was,” he said.

McKinney, too, said he thinks the way the firing was handled was unprofessional because

White told the workers who weren’t fired or put on proba-tion that the others were.

“She should have been con-fidential about it,” he said. “It was like she was boasting about it. These are my peers, not just my co-workers. I have to go to school with these people. I have to go around in shame — walk-ing around (when) they know I got fired.”

White said she told the other groups because she needed to explain to them why she was asking them to pick up extra hours this week.

“I didn’t think there was a problem with that,” she said. “I had to get rid of the ‘he say, she say’ rumors that were bound to happen.”

Anther student who was fired, senior information tech-nology major Gary Johnson, was earning $9 per hour and said he was once given a week’s suspension for telling a student using the Tech Hub, “You should know better.”

Johnson said that the night before he was suspended, he was actually told he would not be working again after that night, but he was given another chance until his dismissal Sunday.

Jeremy Sexton, senior biology major, is a current team leader in the Tech Hub and said those who were punished weren’t doing their jobs well.

“There was unsatisfactory performance almost across the board. Work morale was low, and there was very unsatisfacto-ry performance for certain indi-viduals,” Sexton said. “There were definitely reasons for dis-missal or probation, and there are guidelines that we all have to adhere to. If you get in trouble for one thing, it is okay. This was (due to) recurring issues and things of that nature that warranted punishment of some sort.”

Wednesday, 3/16Wednesday Night Live:

Music of Timbre8 p.m. • UC River Room

Coming UpFriday, 3/18

Friday Film Series7 p.m.

UC Theatre

Opinion

For the first time in my 10 semesters at The University of Memphis, I’m going to say this and really mean it: “Thank you, Shirley Raines.”

Thank you for turning down a presidential nomination at a fairly prestigious university in favor of Memphis, for choosing Bermuda over bluegrass and barbecue over whatever it is they eat in the hills of Kentucky (squirrel?).

It’s been less than two years since John Calipari made his exodus to Lexington and left this campus and this city in shambles. Despite the senti-ments of some, those wounds have only begun to heal, and a presidential defection to the same school that Memphis’ for-mer favorite son skipped town for would have opened them right back up.

Would hundreds of students gathered at Raines’ house to try to change her mind as she tried to leave? Probably not, but there’s no doubt that it would have stung.

Raines came to The U of M from the University of Kentucky — who would have blamed her for going back?

I know there are plenty of students who, for one reason or another, wish Raines had tried to turn in her blue blazer for one emblazoned with the UK logo. They’ll likely say, “I wish she had taken her old butt to Kentucky. It’s time for her to go,” or something along those lines.

But is that what The University of Memphis needs, to have the leader of this University abandon ship on the eve of its centennial?

I don’t think so.That would put a nice, dark

cloud over the celebration, wouldn’t it?

The University brass would be scrambling to find Raines’ replacement and dealing with the internal domino effect set off by her decision to split town.

We’d be a school without a leader on its most monumental occasion. That would’ve been too fitting for this city.

Living in Memphis can turn you cynical. I’ve been here for a decade, and I’m no exception.

There’s a trend of thought in this town that getting out of Memphis is the only way to be “successful” — because that’s when you know you’ve made it, when the bluffs fade away in your rearview mirror.

Coach Cal left. He’s “successful.”

But Raines, a native of Bells, Tenn., about 75 miles from Memphis, chose to remain, even after a decade in this place.

School pride is fleeting among almost everyone at this University, but at least we know our president has some.

I’ve indulged in many sar-castic Raines jokes during my U of M tenure, but today I won’t partake. So go ahead, Shirley, and take your blue blazer to the cleaners — I’ll foot the bill. And pick up a new one (on your tab). You’ve earned it.

When graduation day rolls around on May 7 and I walk across the stage to receive my diploma, rather than thinking of some joke about Raines’ per-fectly coiffed hair to tell later, I’m going to shake her hand and politely say, ”Thank you.”

And I’ll mean it.

Shirley, I can be seriousBY MIKE MUELLERManaging Editor

Students should recognize selfless commitment to University

Layoffsfrom page 1


The Writing On The Wall Project

BRICK PAINTING SESSIONSCome Paint Bricks to Contribute to the Writing On The Wall Project

MASS BRICK PAINTING

March 21 - 23 • 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.Rose Theatre Lobby

Sign up in UC 210 or UC 211 for a time slot, starting March 1

(When your organization signs up for a time slot, SAC needs to know how many people will be painting cinder blockers so enough

supplies will be made ready.)

OPEN DOOR PAINTING

March 14 - 29 UC Operating Hours

UC 227A, inside the Involvement Zone

Just Stop By!(For individuals or small groups)

The School of Public Health and College of Communication and Fine Arts are relocating on campus to better fit students’ needs.

Robison Hall, a former dormi-tory, will serve as the new building for the School of Public Health, while the Cecil C. Humphreys Law building will house the College of Communication and Fine Arts.

With U of M stimulus funds, Robison Hall will be transformed into faculty offices and research labs for students and nurses.

“Enhancing the School of Public Health will offer students another choice,” Provost Ralph Faudree said. “There is no other school in West Tennessee that has our program.”

Faudree said the School of Public Health will guide and assist in building programs to address critical health issues in the Memphis community.

The plan to renovate both empty buildings has been in effect for three years, since the decision to move the law school downtown was confirmed.

Art courses currently housed in Jones Hall, a few blocks away from the main Communication and Fine Arts Building, will move to the law building. Offices of College of Communication and Fine Arts faculty on the second floor of the Communication and Fine Arts Building will also move to the law building.

“The faculty of both (the com-munication and art) departments in close proximity will be benefi-cial to our students,” said Richard Ranta, dean of Communication of Fine Arts.

However, the old law building must undergo layout changes and HVAC updating. Tri-State Heating and Plumbing Inc., which assisted with the University Center, is cur-rently updating the building.

The Communication and Fine Arts Building will create an art gallery to exhibit student artwork permanently in the vacated space in addition to current rotational student exhibit space.

Equipment for both schools will be moved to the law building as early as this summer. Summer courses for the schools are sched-uled for the summer term, but offi-cials expect buildings to be fully operational by Fall 2011.

Construction

Renovations begin on abandoned UM structures for future School of Public Health, CFA buildings

Construction workers at the future site of the School of Public Health wade through debris while renovating the former dormitory.

by B

rian

Wils

on

BY HANNAH OWENGANews Reporter


Talent Extravaganza TryoutsMarch 1, 2 & 3

The University Center

Doors Open @ 2:30 p.m.Early Arrival is Suggested

Tryouts ONLY from 3 - 5 p.m. each day

March 1: Iris Room (338)March 2: Ballroom C (320C)

March 3: Memphis Room A (340A)

For more information, contact Heather Maclin [email protected]

4

minutes

to

show

your talent!

Campus Crime

University of Memphis stu-dents’ vehicles may be more at risk for an accident while parked on campus than during the commute to it.

Bruce Harber, director of police services, said anyone involved with any type of vehicular acci-dent should notify Police Services immediately.

“Hit-and-runs are basically the

same thing as leaving the scene of an accident,” he said. “You have a responsibility if you’re involved in a motor vehicle accident. You should leave a letter or call the police. You need to do the right things.”

Harber said the phrase “hit-and-run” was used in 43 of 238, or 18 percent, of on-campus, auto-related accidents in 2010. Streets located between Poplar and Park and between Highland and Goodlett are considered campus streets, according to Derek Myers, deputy

director of Police Services. Lesley Cruz, graduate student

studying health administration, said she was the victim of a hit-and-run Feb. 24 at R.P. Tracks, located near campus on Walker Avenue.

“I was parked parallel to R.P. Tracks. I was there with my friends for probably about two hours — about 8:30 to 10:30 at night,” she said. “And when I left, I noticed my mirror was hanging on by its wires, basically. I didn’t really notice the paint or the dents at first.”

Cruz said she was disappointed

and couldn’t believe no one made an attempt to notify her of the accident.

Cruz did not file a police report or talk to her insurance company about the accident. She said she was not expecting to get money or try to punish anybody for the acci-dent because she understands what college life is like.

“It just seems like a reoccurring theme within our age group that if something happens, they’re either quick to point the finger some-where else or they don’t want to

take ownership of their mistakes, and I think that’s a problem,” she said.

Students who witness a hit-and-run should notify Police Services and file a report so police might be able to find the person responsible, Harber said.

“If we get (license) tag numbers, notes, witnesses, then we will iden-tify the individual who’s respon-sible if we can,” he said.

Filing a report covers the stu-dent from an insurance standpoint as well because he or she will have a report on file to make a claim and get the car repaired, Harber said.

“If it’s not serious damage, most people are probably going to want to just make a claim or file,” he said. “We look at it from a statutory standpoint, making sure a report gets filed for insurance purposes for the victim, the person whose car is damaged, and also get it in to the judicial affairs system.”

Parker Rhett, State Farm insur-ance agent, said the first thing vic-tims of hit-and-runs should do is see if any witnesses can help draw up a report.

The next thing to do, Rhett said, would be to file a non-emergency police report to let officials know what happened and see if there is any way to generate evidence as to who may have caused it.

Rhett said after filing a police report, victims should speak with their insurance agents.

Hit-and-runDrivers fleeing the scene cause headaches and frustration for many U of M students

BY CHRIS DANIELSNews Reporter

see Hit-and-Run, page 8

by C

hris

Dan

iels


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Campus Events

At the funeral were 17-year-old Marcus Matthews, a baby girl and a young mother. The mother was dead, the baby was four months old, and Matthews, the child’s alleged father, was confused.

Matthews, now 30, didn’t believe he fathered the child and had a paternity test per-formed a month before the mother’s death.

A month after the funeral, a paternity test confirmed Matthews’ doubts about the child. She wasn’t his.

“I don’t want anyone to go through what we went through,” said Matthews, coor-dinator for The U of M’s high school publication, Teen Appeal. “I want to tell people my story so they don’t have to retell it firsthand.”

Today at 6 p.m. in the University Center Memphis Room, Matthews will host an open discussion entitled “Sex, Dating and DNA: Discussion with Marcus L. Matthews” about his book “I Am Not the Father: Narratives of Men Falsely Accused of Paternity.”

Free and open to the pub-lic, the event will also mark the beginning of filming for Matthews’ documentary about false paternity claims and pater-nity fraud.

“Since my book was released, I have heard some amazing sto-ries about men who have been

victims of paternity fraud,” he said. “We were looking at a movie, hiring actors and turn-ing it into a motion picture, but I said we needed to go deeper into paternity fraud first. A movie is great entertainment, but it’s not necessarily as infor-mative as a documentary, and a lot of people don’t know what paternity fraud is.”

Steve Conn, director of local business Medical Testing Resources, said paternity fraud is when a woman knowingly accepts resources, such as child support, from a man while knowing that he is not the child’s father.

Conn is also known as DNA Steve, a radio personal-ity who conducts paternity tests and reveals the results on local Hip-Hop and R&B sta-tion WHRK. He has done more than 600 DNA Steve shows in the last six years and called Memphis “fertile grounds” for those in need of DNA and pater-nity testing.

He said about 2,500 people a year come to Medical Testing Resources for paternity test-ing. Medical Testing Resources performs 90 percent of private paternity tests in Shelby County.

The number of men whose paternity tests reveal they are not the father varies by month, he said.

“In February, about 48 per-cent of the (paternity) cases turned out to exclude the man who was tested,” he said. “Our highest month was October,

when it was 71 percent.”Conn said there are two types

of paternity tests: a legal test and a personal knowledge test.

A legal test is $460 and can be used in court, while a personal knowledge test is $380 and can-not be used for legal purposes because identity requirements are not as strict, he said.

Conn said he has recently seen an increase in the number of paternity tests run on aborted fetuses.

“It doesn’t happen often, but it is occurring more and more,” he said.

He said testing an aborted fetus is tricky, but people want to know. Equally difficult, he said, is paternity testing right after childbirth.

Tennessee state representa-tive G.A. Hardaway is currently working on legislation to make paternity testing mandatory immediately after a child is born.

House Bill 25 by Hardaway, first drafted in 2007, says, “Regardless of the relationship between a child’s parents, a genetic test shall be adminis-tered as provided in § 24-7-112 to confirm the paternity of the child before a father shall be listed on the birth certificate.”

“A child has the inherent right to know, ‘Who is my dad?’” Hardaway said. “That should be a basic right, and we have the technology to make it happen.”

Hardaway said if the bill pass-es, the Tennessee Department of Human Services would pay for the $55 test if the parents were

below the poverty line or no more than 25 per-cent above it.

Everyone else would have to pay for the test.

Matthews said as someone who has experienced the effects of false pater-nity, he could appreci-ate Hardaway’s leg-islation. He said if a DNA test had been per-formed the day the little girl he was accused of fathering was born, the results would have become clear before the mother died.

“Her mother would have been alive to address that I was not the father of the child, but instead, we take the test three months after child is born. She dies when the child is four months old, and we get results when child is five months old,” he said. “It’s not fun and games anymore. It’s not a trivial thing. This girl is dead, and there’s a baby who will never get to interact with her mother on this side of reality, and we don’t know who the father is. We would have been able to move forward.”

Matthews said he hopes his documentary will be done by July of this year.

Author explains the nuts and bolts of paternity DNABY ERICA HORTONNews Reporter

Scholarship OpportunityThe Donald K. Carson Leadership Scholarship

Applicants must demonstrate a strong capacity forleadership and be able to show how their leadership

helps create opportunities for the growth anddevelopment of other people.

Requirements:• Current, full-time U of M undergraduate student• Completion of at least 12 credit hours• Minimum cumulative 2.8 GPA• One or more years remaining before graduation

One or more scholarships totaling $5,500will be awarded for the 2011-2012 school year

Students may be nominated or apply themselvesFreshman students are especially encouraged to apply

Pick up applications in Office of Dean of Studentsin 359 University Center

Completed applications must be returned byFriday, March 18 by 4 p.m.

Bird is the word. Follow us!

@DailyHelmsman @HelmsmanSports


Republican governors from across the country made clear this week how much they think Obama administration initiatives interfere with their states’ rights.

In the West, Republican gover-nors are especially riled up about the possibility that more federal land could be designated as wil-derness, and they fear it might slow energy development in their states, said Idaho Gov. Butch Otter.

“I see it as a job-killer,” said Otter, who along with fellow Republican Gov. Gary Herbert of Utah, testified Tuesday before a House of Representatives commit-tee about their concerns with a new Obama administration policy. It could extend federal protection without congressional approval to millions of acres of wild lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced late last year that the government will begin invento-rying BLM holdings across the country in an effort to identify and protect wilderness-quality land. Many Republican lawmakers and Western governors say they worry that the inventory — on pause during the Bush administration — could make it more difficult to develop oil and gas or other energy and mineral resources on BLM land.

States were “totally ignored,” when the inventory was announced, said Otter, who was among the GOP governors in Washington for their annual win-ter gathering.

He said he’s particularly con-

cerned about what would happen to geothermal energy projects and potential wind power complexes proposed on BLM land in Idaho, as well as plans for transmission lines across some BLM land. The agency manages nearly a quarter of the land in Idaho, or about 12 million acres.

“Nobody called me and said, ‘In 60 days or in 90 days or 120 days we’re going to put out this

secretarial proclamation. What do you think?’ “ Otter said. “Even in that short period of time, I could have suggested a lot of opposition to it.”

The Interior Department has been actively fighting the way the BLM inventory is being charac-terized by Republicans, particu-larly those on the House Natural Resources Committee.

The Interior Department had to fight to persuade the committee to allow BLM direc-tor Robert Abbey to participate in the hearing. The agency also put out a fact sheet countering some of the charac-terizations of their inventory process, includ-ing claims that it could hurt the ability to develop wind and other energy resources on BLM land.

The BLM proposed 24 solar energy zones within 22 million acres of public lands identified for solar development, Abbey said. In 2010, the agency approved nine large-scale solar energy projects anticipated to generate enough electricity to power as many as a million homes.

Entering the 2012 election cycle, wilderness issues are likely to remain divisive in the West, where President Barack Obama will be working to repeat his election victories in Colorado and New Mexico, and when Democrats hope to retain Senate seats in states such as Montana.

It’s a political discussion that will resonate with many Westerners, about private proper-ty rights, states’ rights, and “trans-parency, jobs and public access,” said Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg of Montana, who’s seeking the Senate seat held by Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.

Both Rehberg and fellow Republican Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho on Tuesday introduced

separate bills that would prohibit the establishment of any national monuments in their states without congressional approval.

Abbey, who was shoehorned in

at the end of the hearing, follow-ing the governors and a panel of local officials, said the agency was aware of the politics it faced when it issued the inventory order.

But “it was needed,” Abbey said. Since 2003, his agency hasn’t had any consistent means of cat-egorizing land that could be desig-nated as wild lands. Also, the law and the courts require the BLM to do the inventory, he said.

“Ultimately, the public will be involved in the land-use planning deci-sions that will reflect how best to manage lands with wilderness characteristics,” he said. “In some cases, it will be to protect them; in some cases it will be a determina-tion not to.”

In a sign of how the House’s

priorities have changed since Republicans regained control, no environmental groups were asked to testify at Tuesday’s hearing.

Solutions

Did injustice ruin their lives?

“The Media’s Role in the West Memphis 3 Case.”A panel discussion featuring Mara Leveritt, author of

Devil’s Knot, a book about the case, and Lorrie Davis, wife of incarcerated Damien Echols

Thursday, March 247 p.m. • UC Theatre

Sponsored by U of M Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists, and Student Event Allocation

Politics

BY ERIKA BOLSTADMcClatchy Newspapers

Western governors fuming over Obama plan for wilderness areas

Governor of Idaho C.L. “Butch” Otter, alongside Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert, testifies before the House Committee on Natural Resources about the impact of the Obama administration’s “Wild Lands” policy on jobs and economic growth at the Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

“Ultimately, the public will be involved in the land-use planning

devisions that will reflect how best to manage lands with

wilderness characteristics. In some cases, it will be to protect them; in some cases, it will be a

determination not to.” — Robert Abbey

BLM director

MC

T


“(You need) to see whether or not you want to file a claim because most people who have car insurance on their policy — they have uninsured motorist coverage, which basically accounts for any-one who hits them or causes any damage to their car,” he said.

Victims’ insurance costs will not increase if they make a claim because they are not at fault, Rhett said.

“If it’s minimum damage and it’s just a couple hundred bucks or something like that, then they might want to pay it out of their pocket and not report it to insur-ance,” he said.

Rhett said if a motorist hits a car and the driver of the dam-aged car isn’t present, the driver at fault should leave his or her contact information on the vehicle.

“Hit-and-run incidents happen pretty often — I don’t think there is an exact number to it, but it’s cer-tainly not a rare occasion,” he said. “It happens quite often, which is very unfortunate. The main places we hear of it happening are park-ing lots.”

Culprits of vehicular accidents have an obligation of reporting the incident to the police, Harber said.

“If they don’t, depending on damage and other factors, especial-ly on a city street, they’re going to be charged with leaving the scene of an accident,” he said.

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Basketball

Hit-and-Runfrom page 5

By the numbersMemphis Tigers vs. East Carolina Pirates

If freshman guard Will Barton can focus on fundamen-tals, the Tigers’ chances of winning will be much great-er. Barton has seen his playing time diminish recently.

The Bottom Line:In order to boost their NCAA tournament chances, the Tigers have to win their next two games. It starts tonight.

20

17

#541

38

... percent shooting from the field for the Tigers in the Jan. 8 matchup.

... percent shooting from the field for the Pirates in the Jan. 8 matchup.

... amount of turnovers committed by the Tigers in their last game. Without question, UM needs to take better care of the ball if it wants to turn their season around.

... points scored by ECU center Darrius Morrow in the Tigers’ last meeting. UM must contain this threat and keep out of foul trouble.

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