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TUESDAY OCTOBER 27, 2020
136th YEAR ISSUE 9
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1884
Student charged with DUI MSU students and faculty reflect on the candidates for driving scooter stolen for upcoming House of Representatives election from disabled veteran MAGGIE PHILLIPS
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
HANNAH BLANKENSHIP MANAGING EDITOR
Yet another hopedashing loss of Mississippi State University’s football team was not the only tragedy to occur in Davis Wade Stadium this Saturday. A student stole a Hoverbound Mobility Scooter from a disabled American veteran attending the game. The student then rode it out of the stadium towards the Cotton District. Another student was found driving the scooter and was charged with a DUI, although he was discovered not to have been responsible for the initial theft of the scooter. The identity of the student who stole the scooter was unknown for a period of time, and the MSU Police Department and Starkville Police Department shared surveillance camera footage on their social media
platforms requesting help in locating the culprit. William Fryery, the owner of the scooter, said he did not press charges against the student arrested for DUI but planned to press charges against the student responsible for stealing his scooter. “When it was located three hours later by the Starkville Police Department, this young man was in possession of it, but he just happened to be there when someone dropped it off. He was not the culprit that stole it, so I’m not pressing any charges against him because I would love to know who the hell got my damn scooter,” Fryery said. Fryery, a Vietnam War veteran and 1963 MSU graduate who has not missed a home football game in years, said he parked his scooter at the bottom of the ramp where he normally does. SCOOTER, 2
On Nov. 3, voters in Mississippi’s 3rd Congressional District will decide between two
candidates for the House of Representatives. Republican candidate Michael Guest will be running again after originally being elected in November of 2018.
According to Guest’s campaign website, his focuses have been on foreign affairs and policies, promoting and protecting constitutional freedoms and rights and maintaining public safety by
fighting for border security. Dorothy “Dot” Benford, the Democratic candidate running against Guest, is promoting liberal views and promising change to a longtime conservative state. According to her campaign, Benford is focusing on reducing gun violence through increased gun regulation, acknowledging and working against climate change as a national emergency, defending Roe v. Wade and fighting systemic racism. Dallas Breen is the executive director of the John C. Stennis Institute, a public service and research organization located on Mississippi State University’s campus. Breen is actively involved in helping train and provide opportunities to students interested in political science through the Stennis Institute, one of the most notable being a trip to Washington D.C for 25 to 30 active students in the institute, where students have had opportunities to meet with Representative Guest in HOUSE, 2 the past.
Starkville mayor carves the competition Back the badge or the police? at MSU’s second annual Talladegourd race defund Comedian, panel bring civil discourse JOSHUA STEWART
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On Oct. 20, the University of Mississippi’s Everybody Loves Lincoln club hosted an event over Zoom discussing the “Defund the Police” movement versus the “Back the Blue” movement. The event was attended virtually, with viewers capped at 40 people. The event included a monologue from comedian Tehran Von Ghasri and a forum that included panelists such as David May, a sociology professor and data scientist from Mississippi State University; Sykina Butts, a senior English major from Delta State University and member of the Social Justice club on campus there; Jeff McCutchen, chief of the Oxford Police
Department and Lauren Moses, a senior political science and economics major from Ole Miss and member of the Young Americans for Freedom club. The event began with the aforementioned comedic monologue from Von Ghasri, who riffed on various topics and current events. He took aim at Democrats and Republicans alike, as well as the state of American discourse. He spoke about the partisan nature of America and the need for unity. “Left wing, right wing, it’s all the same bird! If one side sinks, we both sink,” Von Ghasri said. Von Ghasri also commented on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the need for masks. POLICE, 2
Mary Georgia Hamilton | The Reflector
From left to right, Ethan Welford, Landon Casey and Clayton Spaulding send their pumpkins down the ramp. With the help of the Idea Shop, the pumpkins were equipped with wheels and a chassis.
MARY CAITLYN WRIGHT STAFF WRITER
On Oct. 22, Starkville businesses, citizens and students gathered downtown for the second annual Talladegourd 500, hosted by the Mississippi State University Idea Shop in conjunction with the Greater Starkville Development Partnership. Jeffrey Rupp, the director of outreach for the college of business and the MSU Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (E-Center), worked with the E-center
TUESDAY HI: 76 LO: 65 SKY: Mostly sunny POP: 20
Idea Shop to put this event together. “We did this event last year for the first time, and the Idea Shop was relatively new then,” Rupp said. “It’s a public maker space where folks can come in and make things. We wanted folks to get to know us, and we wanted to bring them into the Idea Shop. So we thought we’d have a pumpkin race where people would pay money and come into the Idea Shop where they would paint the pumpkin, put wheels and axles onto the pumpkin. So, they
WEDNESDAY HI: 75 LO: 61 SKY: Showers POP: 80
THURSDAY HI: 69 LO: 49 SKY: Cloudy POP: 20
would use the Idea Shop to make their pumpkin, and then we raced them down Main Street during Pumpkinpalooza last year. After the race, the money was then given to charity.” Funds were collected from this year’s Talladegourd 500 as well and were given to two different charities. There were two divisions this year, the first division being the business division which helped raise money for the Oktibbeha County Humane Society. The second division was the family division which helped raise money for
projects for children at the Idea Shop who are not able to afford it ,like the Boys & Girls Club of the Golden Triangle-Starkville Unit. Last year, wheels and axles were put on each pumpkin, but this year, chassis were used. The chassis were built out of wood with wheels and a big spike, so each pumpkin had a uniformed look. “The pumpkins this year have been reengineered, and they are going to sail down the street,” Rupp said. “I am anticipating massive pumpkin carnage.”
FORECAST: Expect a rainy week going into Halloween! A beautiful sunny day on Tuesday is followed by high chances of rain on Wednesday and possibly Thursday. Temperatures will be going down throughout the week, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s by the weekend.
Courtesy of National Weather Service
RACE, 2
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