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The OU baseball team hosted Dallas llas Baptist last night.t. Recap on page 6.
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ZENTENO NAMED UOSA PRESIDENT Lawmakers Zenteno-Lloyd win run off after receiving 150 more votes than Glavas-McCullock ticket TROY WEATHERFORD Daily Staff Writer
With a 52 percent majority, Franz Zenteno and Cory Lloyd were named the victors of UOSA’s run-off election held Monday and Tuesday. President-elect Zenteno celebrated the news late Tuesday night at Lloyd’s house. “I want to congratulate all of the OU students for coming and voting, and I just want to say thank you to them,” said Zenteno, political science senior. Zenteno and Lloyd received 2,055 out of 3,960 total votes, election chairman Michael Ukpong said. Ally Glavas and Zach McCullock
vote abortion bills into law
were originally named the winners of the general election on March 31 with 2,246 out of 5,282 total votes cast. However, UOSA Superior Court ordered a run-off election because no candidate received a majority and the automatic electronic run off did not include just the top two candidates as required by the UOSA Constitution. “We want to bring everyone together and make a positive change so that everyone can be represented by student government,” Zenteno said. Glavas said that she had no comment about the results.
Run-off election results: Zenteno-Lloyd: 2,055 votes Glavas-McCullock: 1,905 votes Total votes: 3,960
State House of Representatives, Senate vote overwhelmingly against Gov. Brad Henry’s vetoes RICKY MARANON Assignment Editor
NEIL MCGLOHON/THE DAILIY
UOSA President-elect Franz Zenteno celebrates with Vice President-elect Cory Lloyd after the election announcement Tuesday evening at Lloyd’s house.
Students prep for cross-country bike trek Bikers will devote summer vacation to service-oriented bike ride across the United States CASSI TONEY Daily Staff Writer
Three OU students plan to bike across the country this summer to raise awareness of affordable housing in the United States. The students will ride in support of Bike and Build, a non-profit organization that encourages college students ages 18 to 26 to bike 4,000 miles across the country to raise money and awareness for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity. Brian Phillips, one of four trip leaders on his route, said there are eight routes across the country. Each route is approximately 4,000 miles long and has an average of 32 participants, said Phillips, psychology senior. “Bike and Build is an experience of a lifetime because it is a lifelong commitment to community service,” Phillips said. Phillips said approximately 255 college-aged people participate each summer. He said each participant must raise $4,000 to join. Bike and Build has contributed $2.3 million to housing projects in the last seven years, according to the website. The participants from summer 2009 donated $660,000. The team bikes an average of 75 miles per day for 11 weeks in the summer and members sleep in community centers and churches for free, he said. The team also volunteers at a Habitat project site once a week. Phillips, who participated for the first time in 2009, said his team plans to stop in Colorado Springs, Colo., for a full week to work on a Habitat project. “Last summer it was weird because you’re helping the affordablehousing cause, but you’re only on a job site for one day,” Phillips said. “This year I’ll actually feel like I’ll build something.” Phillips said he never owned bike before he signed up. “Riding a bike across the country sounds awesome and you’re doing it to help other people,” Phillips said. “I feel like I will definitely continue to give back whenever I can to the community because of this experience.” Kathryn Vculek, accounting senior, said she learned about Bike and Build through Phillips and decided in September to participate this year. “Anybody you talked to about doing it said it was an amazing and said they would do it again in a heartbeat, so I wanted to experience that,” Vculek said. Vculek said she hoped other OU students would do some volunteer work after they see the Bike and Build’s participants’ drastic actions. “If other students just like you are getting involved on such a drastic scale, why not get involved on one weekend?” Vculek said. Vculek said she wanted to participate to get more involved in community service, have a physical challenge and make new friends. “You meet 30 strangers when you arrive in Virginia, and by the time you arrive in Oregon, you’re family,” Vculek said. Amy Hamilton, psychology senior, said she heard about Bike and Build when she met Phillips in a class in fall 2009. “I asked him what he did over the summer,” Hamilton said. “He lifted up his sleeve to show his tan lines and said, ‘I just cycled across the country.’” Hamilton said she had heard about people doing things like Bike and Build and thought it sounded crazy but cool. She said she loves doing activities outdoors but she had never really ridden a bike before. “It was something I always wanted to do, but I never thought I
MARCIN RUTKOWSKI/THE DAILY
From the left: Amy Hamilton, pychology senior, Kathryn Vculek, accounting senior and Brian Phillips, psychology senior, pose for a picture. These students will participate in a cross-country bicycle trip to rise money and awerness for affordable housing.
would get the chance,” Hamilton said. Hamilton said she took a spin class and took a few rides per week to train for the summer. She said Oklahoma is a good place to train because of the hills and high winds. Hamilton said participants who finish the route get to keep their bikes. “I can’t imagine how you can put so much time, effort and even money into something and then quit,” Hamilton said. Hamilton said she wishes OU students knew Bike and Build existed and that there are students on campus trying to make a difference. “It would be nice for more students to be educated about affordable housing because it’s such a big issue,” Hamilton said. “It’s something that everyone needs to know about.” Bike and Build was founded in 2003 by Mark Bush who modeled the organization after the Habitat Bicycle Challenge at Yale, Phillips said. For more information and to donate to specific riders, visit bikeandbuild.org.
STUDENT CONGRESS DELIBERATES SUPERIOR COURT IMPEACHMENT Representatives air concerns over conflict of interest, potential breaking of Open Meetings Act TROY WEATHERFORD Daily Staff Writer
During the Undergraduate Student Congress meeting Tuesday night,
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The Oklahoma Senate overrode Gov. Brad Henry’s veto of two abortion bills Tuesday, one of which requires a woman to view an ultrasound before having an abortion. The other bill makes it illegal to sue a doctor claiming wrongful birth because the doctor failed to convince the mother to abort a child. Henry vetoed the two bills last week on the grounds that they do not protect victims of rape and incest. On Monday, the House of Representatives voted 84-12 against the governor’s veto, and the Senate voted 36-12 on Tuesdsay, making the bills law. Henry said he is disappointed with the override because it signals the beginning of another costly legal battle for the state. “Both laws will be challenged and, in all likelihood, overturned by the courts as unconstitutional,” Henry said by e-mail. “I fear this entire exercise will ultimately be a waste of taxpayers’ time and money.” Henry’s words came true Tuesday afternoon when a reproductive rights group from New York filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma County court. House Speaker Chris Benge said he was proud the House acted quickly in overriding the veto. “This is clearly not a partisan issue,” said Benge, R-Tulsa. “We must move to stop the degradation of human life seen in recent years and stand up for those who cannot defend themselves.” Senate Pro-Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, said the only way the bill will be defeated is in court, but Coffee said he is confident the laws will remain on the books. “I would remind the governor and those who would seek to overturn this action that the governor has already signed two prolife bills into law this session that had been previously overturned by the courts on a technicality, not substance,” Coffee said. “That same technicality applies to the two vetoes that were overturned today. The argument that these bills will be challenged in the courts is speculative.”
Graduate Student Senate Chairmanelect Silas DeBoer encouraged the Undergraduate Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against the entire UOSA Superior Court. DeBoer said the court issued fines against GSS and specific senators in a court proceeding that they were not present for or informed of. The Graduate Student Senate has
twice delayed a resolution to encourage impeachment. DeBoer, communication graduate student, said the Senate was ignorant in not recommending impeachment. “I’m doing this because one of my constituencies has been wronged,” DeBoer said. UOSA CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
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HENRY VETOES GUN BILL On Tuesday, Gov. Brad Henry vetoed a gun bill exempting buyers of Oklahoma-made guns from federal criminal background checks and other regulatory safeguards. Henry said the bill would make it easier for criminals to obtain a wide array of weapons in Oklahoma and endanger citizens and law enforcement officers in the process. “Any state effort to selectively ignore federal laws will certainly draw a legal challenge and result in a costly court battle that the state cannot win,” Henry said. “It simply makes no sense to continue to pass unconstitutional measures that run up legal bills and waste taxpayers’ money.” But the bill’s author, Sen. Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso, said just like the two abortion bill vetoes that also were overturned, he believed he had enough votes to overturn this veto. He said he would attempt to override the governor’s veto of SB 1685 as soon as possible. “The governor claims to be pro-life then vetoes pro-life bills. He claims to support the Second Amendment then vetoes legislation supporting it,” Brogdon said. “Actions speak louder than words — what he says he believes and what he does don’t add up. This bill would have given Oklahomans greater protection for their right to keep and bear arms.” Brogdon said the reason he wrote the bill was to preserve a citizen’s right to purchase a firearm, which he said was slowly being legislated away. —Ricky Maranon/The Daily VOL. 95, NO. 144