Tuesday 2/4/14

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statenews.com | 2/4/14 | @thesnews Michigan State University’s independent voice C o ur t

CASTEEL SENTENCE IN PONTIAC TUESDAY By Geoff Preston gpreston@statenews.com

Editorial suggests ideal locations for Obama visit

Best and worst basketball moments halfway through season

opinion, pG. 4

Senior guard Keith Appling. Julia Nagy/The State News

sports, pG. 5

Highly trained therapy animals comfort some students By Kary Askew Garcia

nn

kaskew@statenews.com

See CASTEEL on page 2 u

Spartans so far

MORE THAN a FURRY FRIEND

THE STATE NEWS

The possible motive behind a man who randomly shot at multiple cars on the highway might not be the most complicated thing about the Raulie Casteel trial. The MSU Casteel alumnus will be sentenced Tuesday morning in Oakland County after pleading no contest to assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder along with several felony firearms charges in October. Casteel, 44, shot at cars along the I-96 corridor in October 2012. He was convicted of several felony charges in Livingston County Circuit Court last week. Throughout his trials, Casteel’s mental illness remained the subject of his testimony. As part of a court order, Casteel underwent an independent psychiatric evaluation and discovered he suffers from delusional disorder. Casteel testified during his trial in Livingston County that he believed people in the cars he shot were part of a large government conspiracy against him. He said he believed his phones were tapped into and that he was being monitored by government helicopters. He later gave a detailed account of his family history with mental illness, including a history of paranoia and delusional thoughts on his mother’s side. Judge David Reader later told the jury to disregard his comments about family ties to mental disorder. To a person with delusional disorder, there is often no difference between imagination and reality, MSU psychiatry department chair Jed Magen said. He said a delusional disorder diagnosis is in the same family as someone with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, but it’s a mutually exclusive diagnosis. “People acting on these

Where will Barack be?

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inding solace in times of stress is something many students struggle with daily. But for Kate Londy, comfort can be found in a rather unique way. Londy, an osteopathic medical student, finds that her cat offers her more than just companionship. She offers her major relief. Jasmine, her one-year-old gray domestic long hair, is a certified therapy cat. Londy lives with lupus and arthritis and said Jasmine’s companionship has helped her cope with the stress of school in addition to the symptoms of her diseases. Londy has been involved with animals her entire life, beginning with family members and later getting involved with training service dogs for blind and disabled persons. For Londy, petting her cat stretches the muscles in her hand, and Jasmine’s warm body temperature relaxes her joints. It was a no-brainer for her to adopt Jasmine to serve both as a companion and a therapeutic release. The road to being a therapy animal is a difficult one, and only is reserved for animals of a calm temperament. Although they don’t provide the same care that service animals such as seeing-eye dogs can, many people like Londy are finding relief in their pets. Pets as partners Becoming a therapy animal demands them to be non-aggressive and requires them to submit to crucial training. “It’s been proven that interacting with animals alleviates depression, decreases sensations of pain (and) basically takes their mind off their situation,” said Paula Scott, the marketing coordinator for Washington-based organization Pet Partners. Pet Partners trains volunteer animals for therapy. Animals who “graduate” from therapy programs such as Pet Partners are able to perform community service in local hospitals, schools, libraries and prisons, Scott said. Scott has advocated for animalassisted therapy because of how

photos by Erin Hampton/The State News

Graduate student Kate Londy studies with her therapy cat Jasmine last week at her apartment in East Lansing.

it helps people with everything from stress to physical ailments. Many people don’t know it, but there is a difference between service animals and therapy animals. A major difference between service and therapy animals is their training. Although therapy animals have to be trained to keep calm, service animals are more intensively trained to the specific needs of the disabled owner. “Service animals are very important to provide independence for people with disabilities,” she said. “Therapy animals and pets are very important to everyone for comfort and companionship, easing feelings of loneliness.” Jasmine has provided Londy relief from her illnesses, even sensing when her owner is about to get a migraine. “She preemptively sits in my lap, sometimes even before I’m having a migraine,” said Londy, who can then grab some Excedrin to hopefully prevent some of the pain. Jasmine also assists Londy with motivation to get out of bed in the morning, which can be difficult because of her arthritis.

Graduate student Kate Londy holds Jasmine’s identification tag Jan. 27 at her apartment in East Lansing. Londy said no matter what kind of day she is having, she can count on Jasmine to make it all better.

To see more information about therapy animals and their benefits, visit statenews.com. Her extremities tend to get cold at night, making it more painful to get out of bed on a chilly winter morning. Jasmine provides encouragement, Londy said. “I find that I am more relaxed when there’s an animal around. Whenever I was an undergrad and there were no animals...I got stressed out more easily, I had

p o l i t ic s

flares more frequently,” Londy said. “And then I would go home and there was the dogs and the family, my cat,” she said. Providing freedom Sometimes animals are needed for more than just therapy. For journalism senior Nick Vanderwall, his golden labrador Toby

isn’t just a dog — he’s his eyes. Animals like Toby provide freedom to persons with disabilities. Vanderwall’s Seeing Eye dog has helped him tremendously with navigating MSU’s enormous campus, he said. After an accident when he See ANIMALS on page 2 u

t ec h n o l o g y

Snyder kicks off re-election campaign Facebook celebrates 10-year anniversary

By Simon Schuster sschuster@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS

By Sara Konkel

nn

skonkel@statenews.com

LANSING, Mich. — On Sunday night, MSU students and voters across the state crowded around televisions to experience the sensory barrage of advertisements and football that is the Super Bowl. Midway through the game, they witnessed a wetsuit and snorkel-adorned Gov. Rick Snyder emerge from a pool, pulling off his scuba mask as a narrator hails him as “the comeback kid” over a jazzy saxophone solo. The commercial served as a preview of sorts to Snyder’s official announcement Monday that he will seek re-election as Governor. Snyder spent the day kicking off his campaign — first in Detroit, then Lansing and later See SNYDER on page 2 u

Erin Hampton/The State News

Gov. Rick Snyder laughs with Lt. Gov. Brian Calley during his re-election kick-off speech Monday at Two Men And A Truck, 3400 Belle Chase Way, in Lansing.

In 2006, all people needed to have a Facebook page was to be 13 years of age and to have an THE STATE NEWS nn email address. Tuesday marks the 10th anniUltimately, Facebook became the second most popular versary of the social media site on the web behind site many young people know, love and use Google. for hours on a daily “It’s more incluFacebook basis — Facebook. sive,” public relamonthly Facebook has tions and social traveled a long way media assistant users top from Mark Zuckerprofessor Saleem 1.2 billion berg’s Harvard dorm Alhabash said while room. Now 81 percent comparing Facebook of its 757 million daily to other social media active users are outside of sites. “It is adaptable.” the U.S. and Canada. Facebook’s Facebook is continuously monthly users have topped 1.2 updating and changing its forbillion. mat to keep users intrigued and What began as just a net- to avoid slipping away to a thing working tool for Harvard stu- of the past, such as Myspace. dents eventually spread to othOne such update is Paper, er Ivy League schools, surround- a new phone application that ing Boston colleges and then to several other public universities. See FACEBOOK on page 2 u


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