The Good
More brain drain. Last week the nation’s No. 1 high school basketball prospect, Harrison Barnes, announced he will play college basketball at North Carolina. Barnes, a senior at Ames, averaged 19.7 points and 8.8 rebounds last season and led his school to a 26-0 record and the Class 4A state title. Barnes is a 2009 Advanced Placement (AP) Scholar and named to the Academic All-Conference Team in 2007 and 2009.
The Iowa State Student Union Board held “The 12-Hour Famine: A Glimpse of the Real World” last week as part of ISU’s International Week’s Awareness Day. Participants were able to get a taste of hunger, poverty and racism that people around the world experience each day. Participants also fasted from eating and performed community service during the day. SUB’s mission is to provide students with a series of diverse cultural, recreational, social, educational and entertainment programs. Now it’s back to the all-you-can-eat buffets and beer binges.
The Bad
Alcohol and sex associated with frat houses? Apparently so. News reports indicate that in the span of two weeks, Drake University fraternities had two high-profile problems. Nathan Erickson, a 19-year-old freshman, was admitted to the hospital two weeks ago with a blood alcohol level of nearly .50. According to the police report, Erickson sent text messages stating, “They were making me do full cups of Everclear,” and he had consumed “five beer can shots.” The fraternity involved, Phil Delta Theta, 1245 34th St., is under investigation and could be sanctioned numerous ways, including forcing the chapter to leave campus. If that wasn’t enough, last weekend an 18-year-old female Drake student was allegedly sexually assaulted after drinking alcohol at another frat, Sigma Chi, 3212 Forest Ave. The female stated that after consuming three or four mixed drinks and noticing the alcohol affecting her more than usual, she walked to a bar, met a male student and went to his off-campus apartment. She told police the man wanted to have sex, but she kept telling him no. The victim woke up a few hours later with no clothes on.
Gov. Chet Culver has been under fire recently for a number of accusations and missteps, and potential voters are letting him know how they feel. According to a recent Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, 40 percent of those surveyed approve of Culver’s performance, which is a drop of 10 percentage points since mid September. In head-to-head match-ups, Terry Branstad defeats Culver by 24 percentage points. But here’s the worst part — only 34 percent believe the state is headed in the right direction. Culver’s approval has hit its lowest since taking office.
The Ugly
TereseAnn Lynch survived military tours in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, only to be killed by her estranged husband on American soil on Veterans Day. Last week, in Ashley Square Apartments, Randall Moore allegedly shot and killed Lynch. Moore, 38, allegedly kidnapped Lynch, 30, outside the Target Store at Merle Hay Mall and dragged her at gunpoint into the apartment where he murdered her. Moore then turned the gun on Officer Todd Roland, shooting him in the hand during the incident. According to online court records, Moore has a substantial record of violence, including domestic abuse in civil lawsuits four times by four different women since 2005. Moore is being held on $1.5 million bond — $500,000 for each of the three charges: first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and attempted murder.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a new study on sexually transmitted diseases. Even with all the effort put into informing teenagers, the numbers keep rising. The latest study found that 1.2 million cases of chlamydia were reported in 2008; nearly 337,000 cases of gonorrhea were reported; girls ranging in age from 15 to 19 had the most chlamydia and gonorrhea cases of any age group at 409,531; and 13,500 syphilis cases were reported in 2008, which was almost an 18 percent increase from 2007. Morals of this study — use protection and avoid skanks. CV
