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SOONERS’ ROAD TO PLAYOFF • 6
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A long exposure photo of a car driving by 3rd Base on Buchanan Avenue on Nov. 1.
911 calls continue at 3rd Base Formerly Kong’s Tavern, new Campus Corner restaurant and bar remains location of frequent calls to NPD despite change in branding
BAILEY LEWIS @BaileyLewis75
The sound of “My Type” by Saweetie pierces the ears while walking through the open front entrance and, with only the dimly lit bar as a visual guide, it is nearly impossible to see anything but the silhouettes of those gathered to let loose on a Friday night. Welcome to a reopened Campus Corner establishment called 3rd Base Norman, formerly Kong’s Tavern. After Kong’s mixed beverage permit was suspended by the city of Norman in July and officially closed, ownership was reorganized, and 3rd Base opened in the same location at 563 Buchanan Ave. on Aug. 27. The location, both before and after the change, has been known to stir things up on Campus Corner. I n 2 0 1 9 , t h e No r m a n P o l i c e Department has been called to the location of Kong’s and 3rd Base a total of 116 times, according to data from the
department through Oct. 15. That is four and a half times higher than the number of NPD calls at other popular bars and restaurants on Campus Corner so far this year. In comparison to the 116 calls to Kong’s and 3rd Base, NPD has been called 25 times to Logie’s On The Corner, 24 times to O’Connell’s Irish Pub & Grille, 24 times to Seven47, 17 times to The Porch, 10 times to Volare and six times to The Deli in 2019. A manager at 3rd Base, who would not give his name to The Daily, said he was surprised by the high amount of incident calls because they have “a letter of support from the city.” “(The letter says) that our turnaround and our effort has produced results and ... made it a more positive situation,” the manager said. “So, we’ve done everything we can. We’ve gotten better. We’re still getting better.” Shyon Keoppel, one of the two co-owners of 3rd Base, said the majority of calls would occur even when “something wasn’t happening,” and
some people “just call and make false reports.” “When it comes down to actually police and fire and any of those types of people coming in, that has definitely gone down tremendously,” Keoppel said. Holly Morris, elementary education junior, described 3rd Base as a “vibrant place to go to” that has “the best music in town.” Dory Lieber, early childhood education senior, and Morris said 3rd Base is very loud, and Lieber said her experiences at 3rd Base have been “lackluster.” “During the night, it’s dark,” Lieber said. “The music is considerably louder than it was at Kong’s. The smells are the same — sweaty, pretty gross, liquor. The outside of 3rd Base is the same as it was with Kong’s — 3rd Base is Kong’s with a new name.” Lieber said she wasn’t surprised Kong’s shut down, but she was “surprised to see how fast 3rd Base went up.” “I’ve actually talked to some people
who worked there and told them that I thought it was the exact same as Kong’s, and they responded defensively, claiming that it was completely different,” Lieber said. “I guess I don’t see the major differences because I’m on the consumer side, and the physical setup of 3rd Base is the same as Kong’s.” The manager said 3rd Base has worked with the city and has done what has been asked of them. “It is a completely different situation,” the manager said, “and sure, there are things that are bound to happen in a place that gets so busy. But it’s a lot better than it was. It’s getting better every day, and we don’t condone the things that were happening before.” Physical differences aside, the location still brings in a significant amount of incident calls: 13 of 3rd Base’s 116 calls have taken place between the restaurant’s reopening on see 3RD BASE page 3
Norris, Gau ticket wins SGA election Other candidates discuss diversity issues, question voting process on OrgSync ARI FIFE @arriifife
Justin Norris said he was gratef u l a f t e r b e i ng e l e c t e d Stu d e nt Government Association president Wednesday night, defeating two other candidates with nearly 70 percent of the vote. Norris, a vocal performance and marketing junior, and political science sophomore Dalton Gau ran on a platform focused on uniting the campus and facing problems proactively. With a campaign slogan of “Tomorrow Together,” they emphasized partnership with registered student organizations, as well as greek organizations, among other things, in their campaign. Norris sent a statement to The Daily via text after his victory. “(Gau) and I are very humbled and grateful,” Norris said. “None of this would be possible without
the support of the student body. This is the first step towards our #TomorrowTogether!” African and African-American studies junior Jamelia Reed and electrical engineering pre-law junior Rosa SanRoman were the runners-up with 27.81 percent of the vote. Reed and SanRoman ran on a platform focused on intentional allyship with all groups on campus, but especially with the multicultural and LGBTQ organizations. Their campaign slogan was “Real Change Today.” “I expect nothing less from an institution that is predominantly white,” Reed said after the results were announced. “As a woman and part of the queer community, I expect nothing less ... We have an elitist, misogynistic, patriarchal system that is OU, and so I expect nothing less.” Reed also said she doesn’t expect Norris and Gau to handle the challenges of their position well. “When it comes to another blackface incident,” Reed said, “they’ll be running around campus with their heads cut off because they don’t
know what to do ... I do expect them to say something really nice ... but at the root of it, I expect nothing less than the same cycle to happen over and over again. When diversity and inclusion is a real concern, everybody has to be involved, not just the people who are affected by it.” Reed and SanRoman both said they were thankful for the support they have gotten throughout the campaign. “I think we gained a lot from this experience,” SanRoman said. “I know I gained a large community of leaders who are also tired of seeing what’s going on with OU and, as (Reed) said, we don’t really plan on sitting on our ideas, and putting them in a box, and putting them away for good.” Vivek Vijay and Behin Sanei, city planning graduate students, ran on a platform focused on increasing research initiatives, campus safety and reforming the SGA code annotated, among other things. Their campaign received 2.36 percent of the vote. Vijay told The Daily in an email that even though he congratulated his opponents, he did not think their
supporters wanted real change. “This is well-played politics, and they won,” Vijay said in the email. “And I would like to congratulate them. But from the logical perspective, it is clearly evident that whoever voted for them doesn’t really want to change anything but just needs someone who they know to be called president.” Vijay also said in the email he thought there were problems with the voting on OrgSync. Vijay said the SGA campus elections page on OrgSync had more than 28,300 members when the election started, but the member count is now is a round 27,000. Vijay said he doesn’t believe the number of enrolled students is exactly 27,000. “I would like to openly challenge the election commission to prove ... how they reduced the number and how did it exactly come up to a rounded figure of 27,000,” Vijay said in the email. Ari Fife
ariani.s.fife-1@ou.edu