Safety First Junior safety Chad Jones has breakout game, page 5.
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THE DAILY REVEILLE BUMPER TO BUMPER
Volume 114, Issue 21
WWW.LSUREVEILLE.COM
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
CRIME
An average of three to four traffic accidents occur on campus at each home game
71 MIPs handed out Saturday
By Adam Duvernay Senior Staff Writer
By Kyle Bove Senior Staff Writer
As Tiger Stadium’s lights fade into Saturday night skies, drivers’ headlights beam through campus area streets, keeping postgame thoughts illuminated for hours in streams of traffic. Contraflow, fender benders and road rage around campus during home games are all as much parts of game day tradition as chanting “Tiger Bait” and tailgating with friends. And when Tiger Stadium empties for the evening, more than 92,000 fans clog the streets. “It’s absolutely insane,” said Bryant Stark, biology freshman. “I make
every effort to not drive after football games.” Stark, who lives off College Drive, said he always tries to stay at a friend’s house after games to avoid getting stuck in traffic. About 450 officers from the LSU Police Department, Baton Rouge Police Department, Sheriff’s Office and other state agencies manage traffic, parking and security details at the games, said Maj. Lawrence Rabalais, interim Chief of LSUPD. Rabalais said it’s much easier to manage traffic before kickoff because fans arrive anywhere between 7 a.m. and noon for tailgating and TRAFFIC, see page 11 BENJAMIN OLIVER HICKS / The Daily Reveille
Drivers faced traffic at a stop-and-go pace on Aster Street before turning northbound on Highland Road after the LSU football game against Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday night.
The LSU Police Department and other local authorities issued 71 summons for minors in possession of alcohol during Saturday’s game, said Maj. Helen Haire, LSU Police Department. Only 13 MIPs were issued during the Vanderbilt game one week ago. She also said more large groups of underage drinkers were cited than during the previous home game. Sean Jensen, geology sophomore, said three of his friends were issued MIP summons while tailgating near Skip Bertman Drive. Jensen said two of his friends were carrying beer cans and another had an empty red plastic cup when they were stopped. He said the officer upturned the red cup and cited his friend on the few drops of beer which fell. Jensen said he saw police officers all over campus during the game — many more than he saw last year, and it made him uncomfortable. Haire said LSUPD was not patrolling more or less than during past games. “I don’t think there should be as many officers because it’s game day,” Jensen said. “You’re supposed to have fun on game day.” Contact Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@lsureveille.com
RELIGION
Survey shows decrease in La. Catholics Population down 16 percent since 1990 By Xerxes A. Wilson Staff Writer
Scott Louque grew up indoctrinated in the Roman Catholic Church. After 22 years in the faith, the agricultural business senior abandoned his upbringing looking for something more. American Religious Identification Survey shows the population of
Catholics in Louisiana has decreased 16 percent compared to survey figures gathered in 1990. “Younger people by and large are more likely not to identify with their parents’ religion,” said religious studies assistant professor Michael Pasquier said. “It isn’t a rule, and it isn’t that they won’t start calling themselves Catholic 20 years from now.” Pasquier said younger people not always identifying with the Catholic church and older members passing away can cause some shift in number of Catholics.
This generational gap, along with migration of citizens out of Louisiana for economic reasons, has played a major part in this reduction of number of Catholics in the state, Pasquier said. Louque converted from Catholicism to a non-denominational faith when he was 22 . “I went through confirmation and everything but was never able to get a lot of questions answered,” Louque said. “There is only a handful of people I would call devout Catholics that CATHOLICS, see page 11
MEGAN J. WILLIAMS / The Daily Reveille
Education sophomore Amerlie Passaro dips her fingers in the holy water at Christ the King Catholic Church on Sept. 13.