Tuesday 10/29/13

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Starting out the season Men’s basketball to tip-off exhibition play against GVSU

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Michigan State University’s independent voice

Growing green

In the field MSU police officer shares special bond with K-9 unit MSU K-9 Gauge Danyelle Morrow/ The State News

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University uses rooftop space to furnish innovative environments, create sustainable atmosphere

Horticulture professor Brad Rowe speaks during a tour of one of MSU's "green" roofs on the Plant and Soil Sciences Building on Thursday. MSU has seven green roofs on buildings throughout campus.

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reen roofs on MSU’s campus might be hidden from sight to the average passerby, but they are gaining ground in the eyes of horticulture professors and students alike. A green roof, also called a living roof, is a rooftop farming operation that aims to replace the plant life that was removed for the construction of a building. The seven green roofs on campus feature a wide variety of plant life, including from the tomatoes and melons that grow on Bailey Hall to shrubs and Sedum, a relatively low-maintenance flower that is commonly used on many green roofs. Horticulture professor Brad Rowe spearheaded green

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wilder will go right to trial The man who admitted to committing four sexual assaults in East Lansing earlier this year will go directly to trial, according to his attorney. Oswald Scott Wilder, 26, was Wilder expected to appear for his pretrial Monday afternoon in Ingham County Circuit Court before Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. Because of court scheduling conflicts, Wilder will not appear until his trial, defense attorney Paul Toman said. The trial has not yet been scheduled. When he was arrested in August, the Vernon, Mich., resident detailed four sexual assaults he inflicted on MSU students between

Brody Hall

Brad Rowe, MSU horticulture professor Bailey Hall

roof research at MSU, and the growing number of green roofs on campus are largely a result of his research. As the university recognized Campus Sustainability Week last week, green roofs and other environmentally friendly initiatives were at the forefront of campus activities, including a tour of green roof facilities. Green roofing, past and present Rowe first began his extensive research of green roofs back in 2000, when he began consulting with the Ford Motor Company on the best methods to use when installing a green roof on a Dearborn, Mich., assembly plant. In consulting with the company, Rowe and his colleagues had to test methods of green

March 30 and May 16 in a handwritten confession. The attacks fueled fear among some area residents during the summer. In the same confession to police, Wilder admitted to using crack cocaine prior to at least three of the four assaults. He also said that sexual fantasy abuse videos fueled the attacks. Surveillance video footage taken from a local Meijer showed Wilder stalking one of his victims prior to the assault. Wilder faced testimony from all four victims at a preliminary exam in September. None of the four victims could identify Wilder based on appearance, something likely to be a key component of the defense’s case. Wilder has been charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two

See PRETRIAL on page 2 u

roof growing, including different types of soil the plants were to be grown in, the depth needed for certain kinds of plants and what care was required. The first green roof built on campus was not actually a roof at all but a series of platforms built at ground level to resemble the structure that might be built on a roof. “Part of (the research with Ford Motor Company) was they wanted things tested,” Rowe said. “The only problem with that was the plant was down there (in the Detroit area) and we didn’t have control of it. … Having it here, we had total control. We started out with 8-by-8 platforms in 2001 — the first actual roof was built in 2004.” The first full-scale green roof was built on the Plant and

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Green roofs across MSU’s campus

Farm Lane

THE STATE NEWS

“We started out with 8-by-8 platforms in 2001 — the first actual roof was built in 2004.”

Wells Hall

Harrison Road

odimmer@statenews.com

union FUELS BEIER’S BID FOR E.L CITY COUNCIL SEAT By Geoff Preston

Margaux Forster/ The State News

By Olivia Dimmer

election ’13

Shaw Lane

Wilson Road

Communication Arts & Sciences

Molecular Plant Sciences Plant & Soil Sciences Children’s Garden

Paige grennan | the state news

Soil Science Building as part of renovations done in 2004. Green roofs then were added to the Communication Arts and Sciences Building, Molecular Plant Sciences Building, Bailey Hall, the Children’s Garden Outdoor Classroom, Brody Hall and most recently Wells Hall, which was outfitted with a green roof in 2012.

The 8-by-8 platforms Rowe mentioned are located at the Horticulture Teaching and Research Center. The numerous green roofs built with the help of Rowe and the research team range in depth from 1 inch to 4 feet and in slope from 1 percent to See GREEN on page 2 u

East Lansing City Council hopeful Ruth Beier raised more than $8,000 for her city council candidacy in the Nov. 5 election, with most of the funding coming from members of the Michigan Education Association, according to campaign finance reports submitted to the Ingham County Clerk’s office late last week. Most of Beier’s contributions came from people who are not from the East Lansing area and were collected in April and May 2013. With thousands of dollars in donations coming from MEA members, Beier, an economist with the organization, was able to raise $8,399. She earned the most campaign funding of any candidate in the election by far, with council candidate Susan Woods coming in a distant second with $2,749 in total funds. The MEA is one of the state’s largest labor unions and represents public school teachers and staff. Beier said this is because she travels the state for work and asked her 102 colleagues affiliated with the MEA for donations. She indicated those See CAMPAIGN on page 2 u

Follow the money Contributions to E.L. council candidates

$8,339 Ruth Beier $2,749 Susan Woods $2,270 Kathleen Boyle $1,488 Joanna Bosse <$1,000 Ben Esseylinck (Has not filed report)

<$1,000 Samantha Artley (Was not required to file reporting information)

Source: INGHAM COUNTY CLERK

global

Earthquake in Japan draws attention on campus By April Jones ajones@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn

Mother Nature struck Japan again this past weekend, this time with a 7.1-magnitude earthquake rumbling the Pacific Ocean about 200 miles from the coast of Fukushima, Japan — a situation that caught the attention of MSU students and experts. Around 2:10 a.m. local time Friday, the quake rattled much of Japan’s east coast with an epicenter about 203 miles eastnortheast of Tokyo. It was presumably an aftershock from the earthquake that happened two years ago in 2011, said MSU geological sciences professor Kazuya Fujita. When a big earthquake like that occurs, the area remains active for years following, as everything tries to re-calibrate. “It’s likely the earthquakes will continue for years in the same general region,” Fuji-

ta said. “Things are adjusting from the March of 2011 movements — now, we have a lot of earthquakes that are kind of adjusting stresses and things like that are jostling around to readjust.”

Study abroad experts note that MSU programs are relatively far away from the location of the recent quake In March 2011, Japan suffered a 9.0-magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami reaching 32 feet. The resulting impact ultimately took the lives of more than 15,000 people and disrupting the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Despite the earthquake reaching a magnitude seven on the Richter scale, the quake Friday did not leave any major damage. Chad Cole, program coordinator for Japanese Center

“Things are adjusting from the March of 2011 movements — now, we have a lot of earthquakes that are … adjusting stresses.” Kazuya Fujita, MSU geological sciences professor

for Michigan Universities, or JCMU, said when sending students abroad in Japan, JCMU, along with the Office of Study Abroad, or OSA holds an onsight orientation where students learn ways to practice safety and health precautions. The tactics include weather and other emergency situations. Students who study abroad are usually stationed in Hickone, Japan, which is about 400 miles away from the recent earthquake regions. “Japan is a very earthquake active countr y,” Cole said. “We’re in one particular area in Japan and we generally have been so fortunate not to experience very many earthquakes, but we follow the standards that (the) OSA puts in for the

university if something were to happen.” Earthquakes are not out of the norm for Japan, said Japanese senior Joseph Canty, who serves as president of MSU’s Japan Club. Even though most MSU Japanese students in the Japan Club aren’t from Fukushima, Canty said the students from Tokyo are worried about the potential radiation issues that come from the disruption of the nuclear plants. “Japan really has no natural resources, so it’s really expensive to use any other form of energy,” Canty said. “Nuclear energy is most efficient and people are torn on whether

See EARTHQUAKE on page 2 u


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Tuesday 10/29/13 by The State News - Issuu