The Oklahoma Daily

Page 1

MONDAY APRIL 20, 2009

THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT VOICE

ANYTIME AT OUDaily

com

Tomorrow’s Weather

news Enjoying the warmer weather? S So do bursay, after a glars, police say seasonal ssurge in automobile breakautom kins is seen inn in Norman. 3

The men’s team took third and to six gymnasts won All-American A honors hono at the NCAA NCA Championships. ship sh ipss 8

Manchester Orchestra and The City Lives rocked the Oklahoma Memorial Union this weekend. 12

48°/73°

TWEET FROM SATURDAY’S NORMAN MUSIC FESTIVAL #NMF, AND BE SURE TO FOLLOW @OUDAILY FOR THE LATEST UPDATES ON THE DAY-LONG MUSIC PARTY. OUDAILY.COM OUDAILY COM » TAG YOUR TWEETS

Debate heightens over marijuana regulation Marijuana legalization proponents cite overcrowded prisons, cost as reasons to change current laws JAMIE BIRDWELL The Oklahoma Daily

April 20, known as the “420” holiday in certain circles, is an infamous date dedicated to one illegal practice: marijuana use. The date’s significance can be traced to 1971 San Rafael, Calif., when a group of teenagers would meet every day at 4:20 p.m. after school and smoke marijuana together, said Norma Sapp, a Norman member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The ritual of smoking at 4:20 p.m. subsequently spread and became a national “cannabis culture” holiday.

NORML is an organization that seeks to legalize adult marijuana use for recreation and medicine, Sapp said. She said taxing and regulating the drug like alcohol would be more cost effective than prohibition in protecting against any harm marijuana causes. There should be an age limit and laws prohibiting driving under the influence of marijuana, Sapp said. In Oklahoma, a person caught in possession of marijuana can be subject to a year in prison with a misdemeanor charge on the first offense, according to NORML’s database of state drug laws. A subsequent offense can carry two to 10 years in prison, and growers can face anywhere from two years to life in prison. Sapp said Oklahoma law enforcement agencies’ time would be better spent fighting violent crimes rather than drug offenses. She said Oklahoma spends too much money on putting MARIJUANA CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

ELIZABETH NALEWAJK/THE DAILY

Up In Smoke II, a smoke shop located on Elm Avenue in Norman, advertises “4/20” specials in its window. Each April 20, proponents of legalizing marijuana celebrate their beliefs. However, Oklahomans who choose to partake can spend up to a year in prison for their first possession of marijuana, and two- to 10-year sentences on subsequent charges.

BIG EVENT FLOURISHES DESPITE POSTPONEMENT Norman, OKC metro areas benefit from day of student volunteer service CADIE THOMPSON The Oklahoma Daily

More than 4,200 students dedicated their time to community service Saturday by participating in the 10th OU Big Event. Although originally 600 more students signed up to participate before it was postponed for three weeks, there was no lack of community spirit, Big Event Chairwoman Amanda Holloway said. The event, which was originally scheduled for March 28, had been delayed because of weather concerns. The change in schedule contributed to the reduced participation, Holloway said. “Nobody expected the date to change, but yet the turnout was still fabulous and people still came out and said ‘Yeah, we’re still going to do this,’” Holloway said. Kaleb Potter, associate chairman for the Big Event, said there were only a few unexpected changes to job sites that were not available on the new date. Potter said he spent most of the day making sure supplies were making it to job sites. Everyone the organizers expected to turn out for the event did as planned, he said. Some groups that originally signed up to participate, and had scheduling conflicts because of the date change, found other ways to stay involved in the Big Event. Though Alpha Gamma Delta was unable to participate on Saturday because the event conflicted with the group’s 90th anniversary celebration, members still helped out on Friday by making sandwiches for the event, Holloway said. The students who were able to volunteer on Saturday impacted 145 community organizations in Norman and the Oklahoma City metro area.

MERRILL JONES/THE DAILY

Willow Creek resident Samuel Vatts, 8, hands a pipe to University College freshman Erin McColm Saturday in Oklahoma City. More than 4,000 people participated in the 10th OU Big Event Saturday, a day of volunteering service to benefit Norman and Oklahoma City metro communities. Tasks for students ranged from yard work, building projects and cleaning windows to visiting the elderly in nursing homes. The Little River Zoo in Norman was one local organization that received help from students. More than 30 students made their way to the zoo to help out and shared in a variety of tasks, said April Jenkins, a senior animal care specialist for the zoo. She said the students were most helpful

in preparing for the zoo’s annual Kids for Kindness Earth Day Festival event hosted on Sunday at Reaves Park. They prepared thousands of containers for the event, Jenkins said. Students also helped clean monkey cages and paint the walls of the cages. “They are just such a great help,” she said. But community organizations that host EVENT CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

CLARIFICATION SCARS CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

The Daily incorrectly printed Friday that the number of participants “plummeted” after the original Big Event was postponed. The number of participants dropped by only 12 percent, as 4,800 people signed up for the original date and 4,200 people participated Saturday.

Lightning strikes OU employee not twice, but six times OU Physical Plant worker is a human lightning rod LAUREN STALFORD The Oklahoma Daily

AMY FROST/THE DAILY

Carl Mize, an OU Physical Plant employee, has been struck by lightning six times since 1978, and in April was hospitalized after a utility truck collapsed on him. FREE — ADDITIONAL COPIES 25¢

Carl Mize might want to think about asking for hazard pay. The OU Physical Plant employee has been hospitalized three times for injuries sustained in the line of duty, twice when he was struck by lighting and then again April 8 when a utility truck collapsed on him while he was doing landscaping work at Boyd House. Then there are the four other times he was struck by lighting, bringing his personal injury total to six lighting strikes and a truck accident. “Some people say I’m unlucky, but I think I’m kind of lucky to be alive,” Mize said. The first lightning strike came in 1978, when Mize was riding bulls at a rodeo. The rodeo was temporarily shut down because storms were coming in. Lightning hit his truck as he was touching it. It knocked him

back about five feet, but no serious dam- at his home. Mize said his wife rushed age was done. the family to the cellar because tornadoes The second incident was in 1994, when were nearing Norman. While his family Mize helped a friend move a playhouse. was in the cellar, Mize was outside holdMize said he was holding a crowbar when ing onto a swing chain when lightning hit lightning struck a telephone pole next to a nearby tree and went into the chain. him. The lightning went through the pole Mize admits it wasn’t the smartest deinto the crowbar, which cision to be outside, but he blew out of his hands and think it would be pos“Some people say I’m didn’t jolted him, Mize said. sible to get struck again. The third event was in unlucky, but I think The fifth hit came in 2005 1996, when he was working I’m kind of lucky to be while Mize was on the north on street-light cables on the alive.” side of campus repairing a South Oval. He was lying water main break during a on his stomach repairing storm. Water had saturated CARL MIZE, OU PHYSICAL the cables when lightning the ground, and one of his split open a Cyprus tree PLANT EMPLOYEE shoes had a hole in it. on the east side of the oval. Lightning struck where The lightning current went the workers were, traveled down the tree, through the cable wires, through the water on the ground and up and came out his chest. through the hole in his shoe. He spent four “I thought somebody had hit me with a days in the hospital because he had an abclub,” Mize said. “It hurt like heck.” normal heart rate following the incident. Mize was hospitalized for three days “I’ve been struck twice in the same pair and had a large burn mark on his chest. Strike No. 4 occurred on May 3, 1999, LIGHTNING CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

© 2009 OU PUBLICATIONS BOARD

VOL. 94, NO. 136


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.