North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 7, 2016 Page: 2 of 18
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Page 2
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
NTDAILY.COM
CAMPUS
More campus carry
info sessions this week
By Evan McAlister
Staff Writer
@evan_McAlister
The UNT Police Department is
explaining the university’s policy on
campus carry during information
sessions this week, well ahead of the
law’s Aug. 1 enactment date.
One session took place Tuesday,
with the next set for 4 p.m. in the Union
Lyceum.
UNT police officer Kevin
Crawford covered the policy with
about 10 students at the first meeting,
telling them about the legal regulations
on campus carry. The biggest change,
Crawford said, was the name of the
license from Concealed Handgun
License to License to Carry Holder.
“UNT is committed to the safety
of students, faculty and staff, and this
policy does not take away from that,”
Crawford said. “What we’re trying
to do is prepare the community with
information so that they’re ready
ahead of time.”
On even-numbered years, the
university must re-submit its policy
to the Texas Legislature for further
approval.
All faculty, staff, students, guests,
visitors or individuals on campus
property must follow UNT’s policy.
This includes all land, parking lots,
buildings and portions of buildings
owned or leased by the university.
Denton police, however, patrol roads
on campus.
Crawford advised students to “be a
good witness” when a concealed gun
is visible and not to “freak out” if you
see a gun.
“Take a second to evaluate the
situation, don’t confront the person
and know their description,” Crawford
said. “Start with race, gender, clothing
and if you have time look for other
unique attributes, and then tell us
where that person went.”
Campus carry is nothing new.
Texas joins eight other states with
campus carry laws.
People who want to carry on
campus are required by law to meet
age requirements, clear a criminal
history evaluation, mental health
check and background check before
they take part in an educational gun
safety course.
“I had read the policy prior to
the session and I came to see how
other students were responding to
it,” business computer information
sophomore Lyle Holly said. “I feel
confident that people with an LTC are
going to be responsible.”
Summer orientation will now
include campus safety and security
seminars to help educate new faculty,
incoming students and their parents
on the carry policy. Other programs
will cover active shooter scenarios,
weather related events, medical and
fire emergencies, and bystander
interventions.
“We’re going to make sure that this
information is available so that there’s
no confusion,” Crawford said. “We
want our community to be prepared
for campus carry and any other
potential emergencies.”
Delays continue on Fry
Street addition
DENTON CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
to add more parking and are looking
for more options,” Erksin said. “At one
point they will go back to the planning
and zoning committee.”
EdR is headquartered in Memphis,
Tennessee. It’s one of the largest
collegiate housing owners, developers
and managers in the United States.
Company officials could not be
reached for comment at the time of
print.
Long range planning administrator
for the City of Denton, Ron Menguita,
said EdR has spent time this year
answering questions from people in
the neighborhood.
“There are new designs being
proposed, and new designs have been
back and forth between the design
team and city council,” Menguita said.
“I know they want another meeting
with the community to share new
plans but have yet to tell us when that
will happen.”
The project planners want the
apartment to have 300 bedrooms and
222 off-street parking spaces. The
biggest concern of residents is heavier
traffic potential traffic on Fry Street
and and a strain on already gridlocked
parking.
Students who park for class as well
as customers who frequent the many
bars and restaurants in the area already
pack the spaces along Fry and Hickory
streets to capacity, even spilling over to
Highland and South Welch streets.
At the public hearing on April 5 no
residents spoke on the matter, but City
of Denton manager George Campbell
said an entirely new case comes
with a withdrawal of consideration.
Councilwoman Kathleen Wazny
clarified during the meeting that the
Fry Street proposal will have to start
all over again before it can go back to
city council.
“Everything will occur in due
course,” City of Denton attorney Anita
Burgess said. “There will be a notice
of another public hearing as required.”
Menguita’s job on this project is to
manage the project and follow through
with plans, but agreed parking is the
biggest problem at hand.
“Parking is an issue as new
development comes in, and in my
opinion, UNT and the city need to
address it collectively,” Menguita said.
“We have been working on this project
for some time now, we have listened
to the community’s concerns and we
want to move forward. The plan is
being prepared to discuss parking. We
anticipate other development and want
to be proactive and prepared for other
projects coming in.”
Bill Nye talks life and science during lecture at UNT Week
Kristen Watson | Visuals Editor
SPEAKER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Bring water, there’s not much, and air. There’s
hardly any. You’ll notice automatically.”
A graduate of Cornell University in
1977, Nye studied under Carl Sagan, who he
referenced many times during the lecture.
“I got into Cornell, there was a mistake in
admissions,” Nye joked. “I took astronomy
[with] Carl Sagan. I took one class and he
talked all the time about Mars. It turned
out that later in life, his kids watched the
‘Science Guy’ show.”
Nye said he started the “Science Guy”
show for fun but it went on to air on Disney
from 1993 to 1998.
One of the controversial topics Nye spoke
about was climate change.
“The thing I am most concerned about
this year is climate change. It is my opinion,
which you know is correct, that this year is
pivotal,” Nye said. “Really think about the
environment when you think about voting
for your president. The U.S. president is the
most influential person in the world, and if
that person is in denial about climate change,
the next few decades will be difficult.”
Nye pointed to a slide with photos of
John Kasich, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz,
claiming that they were not for fixing the
environment, again saying to think about
who you vote for in the upcoming election.
Nye showed graphs of how the climate
change was like a rollercoaster, with
temperatures rising and falling, but more
recently having an extreme rise.
As photo of Nye’s house was projected, he
spoke about how it is mostly solar powered.
He said his electric bill is $10 every 60 days.
“You folks get 10 percent of your
electricity from the wind. Wind resources
here are enormous. You cannot outsource
the putting up of wind turbines, someone
here has to do that work,” Nye said. “These
are focal jobs, what is there not to love.”
History major Ryan Blakey said he
loved the lecture, and it was everything he
expected it to be.
“When he talked about the true
scope of things, about how we are
all little specs in the universe,
was really deep,” Blakey said.
“I did expect a lot of talk
about space, but not so much
about the sundials his dad
invented. It was a pretty neat
discussion.”
A student who is less
familiar with Bill Nye the
Science Guy, media arts major
Brenna Castro, said she did not
know what to expect.
“I didn’t think he would talk
about the history of his parents and
stuff,” Castro said. “I just heard the
name Bill Nye and wanted to know
what it was about so I came to the
lecture.”
Nye went on to talk about alternative
energy sources, another highly discussed
topic relevant in Denton today.
“The earth’s atmosphere is really
thin... People take it for granted,
that’s all we got,” Nye
said. “We’ve got a
thin atmosphere,
and seven
billion people
trying to
breathe here.
What I want
you all to
do, is be the
next great
generation.
I want
you all to
change the
world.”
SGA fumbles on allowing potential candidate to run
CAMPUS GOVBtNMBfT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“I think that was an oversight on
Lachlann’s part,” Alattry said.
It took 10 days for Lachlann to get
a final ruling from the Election Board
on whether he could run for vice
president. The deadline to file for vice
president was March 22. He began to
search SGA March 19 for a ruling on
whether he could run.
Lachlann said he did not address his
eligibility sooner because of personal
conflicts. He was out because he was
sick and suffered from hip and joint
pain at the beginning of the semester.
Additionally, his dad had a stroke over
spring break
“It was a series of unfortunate
events,” Lachlann said. “But I certainly
wasn’t being lazy.”
The SGA Supreme Court gave its
ruling March 21, saying the Election
Board should make a decision
before the court should. As a result,
Lachlann’s move to appeal to the
court, which Coffey and Alattry
advised him to do, “was improper as a
matter of procedure.” So the court sent
Lachlann’s case to the Election Board,
which is what the SGA bylaws say to
do in the first place.
“Article V, which lays out the
rules on elections, indicates that
election ‘regulations are subject to
interpretation only by the Election
Board,”’ the SGA Supreme Court said.
“These regulations include ‘questions
of candidate eligibility.”’
One of the justices who ruled in the
court’s unanimous decision is current
SGA presidential candidate John
Andrews. The SGA president appoints
justices, according to SGA’s Student
Constitution.
Lachlann said he lost time because
of the unnecessary court hearing.
“That wasted another two days of
time I could have spent making sure
everything was 100 percent before
applying,” Lachlann said.
The SGA Supreme Court deferred
ruling on Lachlann’s eligibility to the
Election Board, but the SGA Election
Commissioner interceded, and with
that, Coffey decided he could run.
“Christa and I decided we would
allow him to run almost immediately,”
Davis said.
The next problem
When the SGA Supreme Court first
took up Lachlann’s issue, it also ruled
he and whomever his running mate
would be could bypass the application
deadline because of the misstep.
Lachlann was first going to run as
SGA College of Arts and Sciences
senator Mia Muric’s vice president.
Lachlann and Muric applied under
one ticket minutes before applications
closed because Davis told them Muric
could be eligible if she completed a
May-mester.
Muric later found she could not
meet 60 hours to be classified as a
junior by June 1, a requirement in the
SGA bylaws.
Lachlann then asked College of
Arts and Sciences senator Miller to run
with him after the deadline. Davis said
Miller could not run with Lachlann
because he said candidates are not
allowed to file on two tickets. People
who want to change running mates can
do so if they meet the filing deadline.
In Lachlann and Miller’s case,
Davis said Lachlann could not change
running mates because it was after
the deadline - even though the SGA
Supreme Court ruled the deadline did
not apply to Lachlann and whomever
he ran with because of the first misstep.
“This is my ruling,” Davis said in an
email to Lachlann. “I cannot allow an
entirely new ticket to join the election,
as it would be unfair to candidates that
have been turned down since the close
of applications.”
After that, the Election Board
upheld Davis’ ruling with a 4-0 vote
to deny Miller and Lachlann from
running together. The board ruled
switching running mates “creates an
unfair advantage.”
Because Davis gave an opinion
first, Lachlann and Miller argued
only the Election Board has power to
make rulings “on matters pertaining to
elections.”
SGA bylaws state the Election
Commissioner can only make
interpretations of the Election Code,
not make rulings before the board can
hear cases.
Davis argued his power to make
“interpretations” of the Election Code
allowed him to say Lachlann and
Miller could not run together.
“When it comes to things like
eligibility, I don’t generally have to go
to the Election Board because it would
be going to the Election Board for 80
candidates,” Davis said.
Coffey said the same-ticket
requirement is on the application
but not in the Election Code. Davis
can only make interpretations on
the Election Code and based his
interpretation on it, not the application.
Writing the rules
“[The Board’s] consensus seemed
to be that there was a lot of protocol
not followed,” Lachlann said. “Not by
myself, but by the Commissioner and
the other members involved.”
Davis and Coffey said Davis wrote
the policy and rules, which govern
what the SGA election commissioner
can and cannot do. Davis said he
understands why it would seem unfair,
but argues the SGA senators approved
of the rules before elections started,
so all parties knew the rules before
playing
“Here you have a member
appointed by the president of SGA
who then was given the power to
write his own rules and regulations,”
Lachlann said. “[They] basically are
the only way you can fight decisions by
the Election Board.”
MARIJUANA
Local law makers still against cite-and-release policy
By Kristen Watson
Visuals Editor
@kbwats
A state law that went into
effect in 2007 may still change
the way UNT students deal
with low-level drug possession
charges, but some Denton
County authorities have
refused to side with the greater
population of Texas.
According to a 2015
University of Texas and Texas
Tribune poll, 70 percent of
Texans support reducing
punishment for possessing
marijuana. About 10 percent of
Texans don’t support that.
Texas House Bill 2391,
commonly referred to as the
cite-and-release law, went into
effect in 2007. Denton is one
of many Texas counties that
has not adopted the policy. It is
widely held that a policy like
this could save residents time
and tax dollars while allowing
police officers more time to deal
with violent crimes rather than
arresting marijuana smokers.
Texas lawmakers left it
to counties to decide if and
how to implement the change.
Implementation of cite-and-
release would allow officers to
give tickets instead of arresting
for possession of marijuana
under 4 ounces.
According to the University
of Michigan’s Monitoring the
Future study, one in every
17 college students smoke
marijuana at least 20 times per
month. The study also found
the percentage of students using
marijuana one or more times per
month rose from 17 percent in
2006 to 21 percent in 2014.
According to public arrest
records, UNT police made more
than 275 arrests for possession
of marijuana under 4 ounces
between 2013 and 2015. The
Denton Police Department
arrested 248 people for
marijuana-related offenses in
2013, 269 people in 2014 and
221 people from January to Nov.
19, 2015.
According to current Denton
County Sheriff William
Travis, who lost his re-election
campaign to Tracy Murphree, it
costs about $60 to cover all costs
associated with housing inmates
in Denton County Jail. That
would mean it cost the City of
Denton about $16,500 to jail the
275 marijuana possession arrests
made by UNT police between
2013 and 2015. For the 738
people arrested by the Denton
Police Department, it cost them
approximately $44,280.
Travis has made it clear he’s
opposed to the legalization of
marijuana and cite-and-release.
“We take a hard line against
possession of all drugs, [and] we
are against decriminalization of
marijuana and will continue to
arrest for Class B possession,”
Travis said. “Cases must be
filed with the District’s Attorney
Office. To issue tickets for Class
B misdemeanors, we would have
to create a process to file Class
B cases with the DA, the County
Clerk and the County Courts.
A change such as this would be
too costly for Denton County
taxpayers.”
Denton NORML executive
director Caroline Turner thinks
a cite-and-release policy could
really benefit Denton. She said
the UNT community is open to
cite-and-release.
Turner took issue with
students being kept out of class
because of an arrest and how
that might affect their education.
She hopes cite-and-release
will help people keep their
jobs and motivate them to give
back to their community more
enthusiastically.
Murphree, who beat Travis
on Super Tuesday, promised
to “bring integrity back to
the department” during an
interview with the Denton
Record-Chronicle early in the
race. In the same article, he
said he plans to focus on drug
enforcement officers getting
dealers in jail instead of allowing
civil forfeitures, where law
enforcement officers confiscate
the drugs without charging the
person with a crime.
“I think Denton will most
definitely be in line to implement
cite-and-release,” Turner said.
“But, we have a few obstacles
still in place. The thing about
cite-and-release is that there
isn’t one single way to go about
implementing it, so we have a
lot of options and a lot of elected
officials who are in support of
this change.”
At w of total costs per inmate at
DENTON COUNTY JAIL,
the city of Denton paid ^ 00
to jail the 275 marijuana possession arrests
made by UNT police between 2013 and 2015
Denton paid a total of ^44^30
to jail the 738 marijuana possession arrests
made by Denton police in the same three years.
$5
per meal at
MEALS ON WHEELS,
this would pay for
3,300
8,856
meals from UNT police and
meals from Denton police.
Erica Wieting | Staff
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Friedman, Nicholas. North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 7, 2016, newspaper, April 7, 2016; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth861711/m1/2/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.