The Auburn Plainsman 03.04.2020

The Auburn Plainsman online at THEPLAINSMAN.COM

A SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID • NEWS SINCE 1893

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

VOL. 127 • ISSUE 23 • FIRST COPY FREE THEN 50¢

ELECTION

Tuberville, Sessions race heads to GOP runoff

By NATALIE BECKERINK Lifestyle Editor lifestyle@theplainsman.com

It’s the night of Super Tuesday. As people file into Auburn Oaks Farm, their voices echo through the large, open clubhouse. Discussion of the results that are trickling in can be heard all around, but the race that is mentioned most is the

Alabama Senate race. They are all there to show their support for Tommy Tuberville.

Former U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions and Tuberville, who was the head football coach for the Tigers from 1999 to 2008, are heading to a runoff for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Voters will pick between the two on March 31.

Under Tuberville’s leadership, the team played in eight bowl games, won five SEC Western Di-

vision titles and won one SEC championship.

But in 2019, Tuberville decided to compete in a different capacity — in a race for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

When developing a platform, Tuberville focused on areas such as immigration, gun rights and protecting life. He has also closely

CORONAVIRUS — AU recalls all students studying abroad — Officials form task

force — Experts advise caution See Page 4 for coverage

» See SENATE, 2

COMMUNITY

A year later: Beauregard mourns CAMERON BRASHER / VIDEO EDITOR

By CORY BLACKMON, TRICE BROWN and EVAN MEALINS Community Writer, Campus Editor and Assistant Community Editor community@theplainsman.com

A new house is being built on Lee County Road 38 in Beauregard, Alabama.

Behind the house, fallen trees with roots ripped from the earth a year ago are collected in piles.

Across the street, Cindy Sanford’s small white dog runs around the front porch of her trailer.

Sanford had been awake since 3 a.m. Saturday morning, unable to sleep, cleaning the house that wasn’t there a year ago.

“I lost everything,” she said.

Even then, she was lucky.

Her home was destroyed by the EF4 tornadoes that ripped through Lee County and killed 23 people.

Sanford, 58, was listening for news of the storm while still in her home with her oldest grandson. Suddenly, she heard that she should take cover.

“You could tell in his voice that it was serious,” she said. “I looked at my grandson and I said, ‘Let’s go.’”

They got into her car and headed to Providence Baptist Church so they could take shelter in the basement. The rain was so thick that she could barely see. They missed the tornadoes by minutes.

“I probably got over that hill down there, [and]

it hit already,” Sanford said.

Before she made it over the second hill, she thinks everything was already gone.

“If I had not left,” she said, before lowering her voice. “I wouldn’t be standing here.”

Three of her neighbors died in the storm.

Sanford pointed to an empty space near her trailer. Charlotte Ann Miller lived right there.

Where a new double-wide trailer is now, Irma Gomez-Moran lived there a year ago. Behind Sanford’s trailer was the home of Mamie Roberts Koon.

They were still at home when Sanford drove off.

She was one of the last to leave, but also one of » See BEAUREGARD, 2

A day of remembrance Families comfort one another at the ground breaking of a memorial in Beauregard to honor the lives lost in the tornado that swept through Lee County on March 3, 2019.

Photo taken by Cameron Brasher, Video Editor

SPORTS Unique Thompson’s journey into the Auburn record books The junior forward recently broke the program mark for double-doubles in a career. Page 8

www.theplainsman.com

go online

News 24/7 on our website Go online to theplainsman.com SCAN ME!

@TheAUPlainsman

@TheAuburnPlainsman

@TheAuburnPlainsman

news

2

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

THEPLAINSMAN.COM

COMMUNITY

Beauregard remembers tornado victims

By TIM NAIL Assistant Campus Editor campus@theplainsman.com

As families, friends and a community looked and listened intently, the choir of Providence Baptist Church sang the gospel melody, “I’m Gonna Make It.” “Through so many dangers and toils of this life, I have already come,” the choir sang. “But He keeps on giving the grace and the strength to just keep pressing on.”

Families gathered who had loved for years and lost in only minutes. Families whose lives were forever changed by the events of a tragic day one year ago. These were the families of Beauregard and Smiths Station, Alabama, and they came together for a night of remembrance on March 3.

Twenty-three people from those two communities died on March 3, 2019, after an EF4 tornado tore across Lee County. So, people gathered in memory to honor those they cherished through spirit, speech and song.

“Good to see you,” said Rusty Sowell, senior pastor of Providence Baptist Church, as he shook hands of families seated in the front row of chairs filling the chapel.

“People came to help us when we couldn’t help ourselves,” Sowell said after taking the podium at 6 p.m. before the congregation and first responders. “We’re here tonight to honor victims, to grieve families and to celebrate lives.”

Earlier that evening at 5 p.m., they did so by breaking ground on a new memorial in front of the chapel. The memorial will commemorate the 23 victims, each with a black granite impression circling around a cross. Families of the victims dug 23 shovels into the ground as their names were called to perform the ceremony.

“It’s a symbol of the whole time moving through the recovery effort and people who came to help us,” Sowell said. “It’s three tiers. The first tier has etchings of the victims’ names, dates of birth, date of death. The second tier has an expression of appreciation to all the volunteer fire departments and career units that came that day. The top tier has ‘Beauregard Strong’ and the shadow of the cross.”

The church is also seeking to build what will be called the Four Children’s Library, named after the four children who passed.

It would be a repurposed train caboose or dining car, Sowell said, and would be a library promoting literacy among local kids.

Later, as Sowell opened the service, he welcomed the Rev. Laura Eason before the audience, who has been involved in the recovery effort since the day after the disaster. She began by allowing each affected family to light their own candle to pay tribute to their loss. Sniffles through-

SENATE » From 1

associated himself with President Donald Trump and his policies, claiming on his website that he “will stand with President Trump and fight any attempt to discredit his Presidency.”

Belinda Middlebrooks is 62 years old and has lived in Alabama her entire life.

She sat with her husband, his hand around her shoulders as they talked quietly with each other.

“I was born here, and I guess I’ll die here,” she said. “[Tuberville] stands behind the issues that I care about — immigration, the border, term limits, his faith and we need somebody different.”

Two women, a few tables away, stood glancing around the room. Both Auburn students, they came to the event as Tuberville supporters after hearing about it earlier in the day.

The connection that Tuberville has established with Trump’s policies made him a desirable candidate, said Anna Wooten, nursing student at Auburn.

“My family is a big Trump supporter,” she said. “I like that Tuberville is a big Trump supporter and that he will do stuff hand-in-hand with him.”

Wooten also emphasized the fact that Tuberville not being a career politician held a lot of weight in her voting decision.

“I think that says a lot about him because it would make him a lot more likely to do stuff for the people rather than what’s going to get him elected,” Wooten said.

The theme of “draining the swamp” floated around the room all night and was chanted around a table at one point.

Greg Lane, 46, was standing farther from the noise with his brother. He said that along with Tuberville’s stance on term limits, this was something he focused on as well.

“He’s not a politician,” Lane said. “He’s

out the room preceded each lighting followed by thoughtful smiles after.

“Please know your community is here to help you heal,” Eason, chaplain of East Alabama Medical Center, said as she addressed the crowd. “We live in an incredible place with an incredibly generous community.”

As an EAMC employee, Eason was one of the community’s first responders, and she soon learned that 241 homes were destroyed, 140 were damaged and around 100 people were injured.

“One of our first tasks, the hardest task by far, we coordinated with County Coroner Bill Harris,” she recalled. “[We] negotiate[d] with all of the funeral homes to make sure all of the 23 funeral expenses were covered, and we were even able to pay for the cemetery headstones and grave markers for all the victims.”

Eason and other EAMC employees established MEND two days after the tornadoes, initially a hospital committee to handle immediate effects of the disaster that evolved into more of an organization that aims to “rebuild Lee County, one life at a time.”

“What started as the hospital’s way of helping with communication and coordination of recovery efforts so as not to have duplication morphed into a community-wide effort to bring hope and healing to our hurting neighbors,” she said.

The group eventually reached out to 80 faith groups, various nonprofit organizations such as the American Red Cross and Team Rubicon and religious charities like Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Association. Eason said its strongest partner, however, was the Chattahoochee Fuller Center.

“We partnered with the Chattahoochee Fuller Center to build 16 new homes,” she said.

MEND is continually constructing new homes with the center, as well as with Samaritan’s Purse, which gifted 13 mobile homes in the area and built one house.

MEND’s goal is to have 32 houses built by the end of April. Some groups contributed to housing needs in other ways, such as the 10th Street Church of Christ, which provided furniture for new homes at a cost of about $3,500 per family, according to Eason.

“We figured out that it cost $50,000 for the materials, and we used a lot of volunteer labor,” Eason said. “The professionals — HVAC, plumbing and electrical — we used the professionals to come in and do that, and they were able to do it at cost or donate their time.”

All of this came free to displaced residents, who did not have to pay a mortgage because of the Fuller Center, she said.

But Eason attributed much of her grati-

tude to the center’s director, Kim Roberts, who followed Eason in sharing her stories of involvement in Beauregard and Smiths Station.

“We built 11 houses in the hottest week of the year,” Roberts told the congregation. “That was a joy building all those homes in the midst of the heat.”

The Fuller Center had some experience building homes from previous relief efforts, but the March 3, 2019, recovery brought on some all-new challenges.

MEND requested that the organization initially build three houses in a month, when the most it had built before was four in a year.

“Three houses went to six, six houses went to eight, eight houses went to 16,” Roberts said. “16 sponsors came forward and paid for every house.”

She added that 320 volunteers from 24 states assisted in the construction process.

Following these updates, Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama State Board of Missions, appeared to provide encouraging words to the community. His speech consisted of describing to listeners “what you do when you don’t know what to do,” a feeling he connected with losing his father at age 18.

He said this made him “learn to cry” as someone who was told avoid crying growing up.

“I think, and this is presumptuous, if the 23 people who passed could be here tonight, they would be very proud,” Lance said.

Those in the audience who were directly affected by last year’s events said they were grateful for the evening’s proceedings.

“Things are still kind of hard. They don’t get easy at all,” said Sara Crisp, who lost someone close on March 3, 2019.

“With ceremonies like this that happen, everyone involved is still recovering.”

First responders faced their own considerable adversity in taking immediate action in the wake of the tornadoes. Mike Holden, fire chief for the Beauregard Volunteer Fire Department, said his team was thankful for their recognition but feel the families are priority.

“No amount of training, no amount of planning could ever prepare you for what we walked into,” he said.

“I hope this has brought closure for a lot of the families,” Holden said. “I know it’s been hard on a lot of them.”

The Providence Baptist Church choir concluded by singing another gospel piece, “No More Night,” in front of a now reassured gathering of people on what was a difficult day to remember.

“No more night, no more pain,” the choir sang. “No more tears. Never crying again.”

already said he has plenty of money and that every bit of money he makes will go to the veterans or some sort of charity. I believe he’ll stand by that.”

As the night went on, more people crowded into the venue. The adults sipped drinks and watched more results come in, while girls with large, orange bows ran to grab pieces of red, white and blue cake.

Multiple male college students stood around a table with star-shaped confetti and an American flag. They were Auburn students interning for Tuberville’s campaign. Gregory Marshall, sophomore in political science, also emphasized the sentiment that Tuberville wasn’t a career politician.

“He came out of the woodworks — well, he’s a well-known individual — but he came out with a different point of view, and he’s going to show people something new,” Marshall said.

Watching the results come in between Tuberville and Sessions, which remained close throughout the night, Slade McLendon, freshman in wildlife ecology, said that name recognition is what carried Sessions.

“I think it’s tight because Jeff Sessions is a known person in politics,” McLendon said. “It’s also tight because people realize that Tuberville has made it clear that he wants to work with Trump, and Sessions kind of quit on him once. Who’s to say he won’t do it again?”

About an hour before any decision was made in the race, Joe Potter, 69, stood in front of a TV and watched as Fox News continued calling races. He wore a bright red Trump shirt as he chatted with the people standing around him.

At this point there was about a 3% difference in polling between Tuberville and Sessions. Potter said that he didn’t want to see another “swamper” in Washington again, which is why he wouldn’t vote for Sessions.

“I’m very disappointed that Sessions decided he wanted to go back to the swamp,”

he said. “I have a TV, and I watch TV enough to know that Sessions laid down and became a rug. Even though Trump was making American great again, he allowed the Democrats to put Trump through hell.”

Around 9:50 p.m., supporters began to gather closer to the stage awaiting Tuberville’s speech. Two women, however, stayed in their seats that they had been in all night. They had come from Trussville, Alabama, as members of the Republican Women of Trussville.

Judy Hamrick, 66, was one of the representatives from this organization. She said that Tuberville had come to speak at one of their meetings and gathered a lot of support after he spoke because of the difference between himself and Sessions.

“Jeff is a career politician, and he will not talk about why he recused himself,” Hamrick said. “If he talked about it, he might have people who supported him, but he won’t, so why would I send him back?”

Rebecca Haston, 76, wore a blue and orange tie-dyed Auburn shirt to the event.

She mentioned that Tuberville was an Auburn man and that her son had also attended Auburn.

Knowing where Tuberville came from made her vote for him as well.

“The reason we like Tommy is that he’s not a politician,” Haston said. “That’s what we want. We need someone to go in there and help Trump drain the swamp.”

As the majority of the precinct began to come in, Tuberville’s campaign staff notified the crowd that a runoff election would occur between Tuberville and Sessions. According to NBC News, after 99% reporting, Tuberville ended with 33.4% of the vote compared to Sessions’ 31.6%.

Now that the race is “going into overtime,” Tuberville said he is ready to take on this runoff.

“It looks like a great night for us,” Tuberville said. “And a bad night for the swamp.”

NEWS

BEAUREGARD » From 1

the first to come back. She moved back to the area in May. “It still didn’t feel quite like home yet,” she said.

She said it still doesn’t.

Tony Robertson, 75, also missed the storm by a few minutes. He didn’t know the tornadoes were coming his way.

“We had thought it was going to rain or something,” he said.

“We didn’t know it was going to get rough.”

Robertson and his wife went to Dollar General right as the tornadoes swept over their home. When they came back, the damage had already been done.

Then, they had to deal with the aftermath.

“Well, it ain’t no good feeling,” he said. “I’m just lucky my house is still standing. It tore the roof off.”

His car shed and enclosed horse trailer were blown away.

At the edge of the woods, the trailer stood upright. He said it looked like a bomb went off.

William Baugh, a resident of Beauregard, was at his home when the tornadoes touched down in the fields across the street.

“What I saw was a wall. It was just a black wall,” Baugh said. “You couldn’t see very far once it was on us. You could see something fly by every once in a while.”

Baugh was caught outside watching one of the EF4 tornadoes tear through the countryside in the distance when he realized another was barreling toward him from the opposite side of his home.

“Everything felt real weird.

The wind wasn’t doing anything.

There was no rain, and I didn’t hear any kind of wildlife. It was a strange feeling,” Baugh said. “So I bounded up the stairs and went in and closed that door and told my wife we were fixin’ to get hit.

And we did.”

Baugh, his wife and daughter took shelter inside their home as the tornado hit, knocking two trees into their home.

“My wife and daughter both have PTSD out of the whole thing. They can’t stand storms now; they freak out,” Baugh said.

“They used to be not afraid of the weather at all. Now they are — very much so.”

Baugh said he and his family were not able to make it to their safe room before the tornado crashed into their home.

“I was inside there, so I saw the limbs come through the window, but I never heard it crush the chimney,” Baugh said.

Beyond damaging the house, the tornado also uprooted approximately 90 trees according to Baugh, producing problems both above and below the ground.

“When it rains, this is a whole underground river,” Baugh said.

“We found out that out here is basically like an underground lake.”

Without the trees’ roots binding the ground together and sucking up the water, the land transformed into a hidden swamp of sorts, sucking in trucks, bulldozers and even shifting the foundations of sheds in his yard.

Baugh said in the year following the tornado, many challenges surprised him.

“My biggest problem has been the bank. The insurance company was great, but the bank is being a pain,” Baugh said. “They are trying to micromanage me from out in California. I thought they would cooperate with me, but no, they are fighting me every step of the way.”

Baugh was given about a week and a half off of work to begin the process of rebuilding his home. It was nowhere near enough time to clean up the damage on his own, he said.

“Since all our damage was on the back, nobody could tell we got hit, so everybody just walked by,” Baugh said. “We found out if you aren’t homeless or dead, then they pretty much ignore you.”

Baugh said his family was

lucky to be able to remain in their home while they rebuilt, knowing some of his neighbors lost everything.

Baugh didn’t want to complain about the lack of help he received or the insufficient amount of time off he had to rebuild his home.

“I knew it was going to be difficult. I expected it to be worse than the storm. I just didn’t expect it to be this bad,” Baugh said.“I’m still working out here, and it’s going to be well over a year before I get finished.”

On March 2, 2019, Ellis Williams lived in a paid-off home near Lee County Road 38 in Beauregard. He had a shed he called his shop and a truck. That changed after the tornadoes.

“My old home was blown away,” Williams said. “The shop was blown away. My truck was blown away, and I was in my truck when it got blown away.”

Williams had a picture on his phone of his truck, which was mangled and twisted from the damage, but the driver’s side was left intact enough for him to escape from it. He said he awoke in the hospital, where he stayed for three days to recover, at least partially, from the broken vertebrae in his neck and spine.

“I’ll tell you, it’s a funny feeling when you wake up in a hospital, when you don’t have a home, when you don’t have no vehicle, when you don’t have nothing left,” Williams said.

Williams left the hospital with nothing. Without a home, and unable to even tie his own shoes, he had to rebuild. He said his Alfa insurance paid for all of the reconstruction and repairs, and he found help from family and friends to construct the parts of the home they could while he recovered from his broken vertebrae.

“If it hadn’t been for family and friends, I wouldn’t be here; I wouldn’t be here with this,” Williams said. “Pretty much everything that’s been done around here has been family and friends.”

He couldn’t go to his job at the sod farm for five and a half months because of his injury.

Once he was in good enough shape to work, he started to work on his home himself, “just a little at a time.”

He’s got a home now with a porch, a new shop and a truck.

But some things, like the trees, torn down in a matter of minutes, can’t be so easily replaced.

He’s started to plant new trees in his yard, which was once all forest, in hopes of seeing them grow tall and shady.

“I put 20 more trees back in my yard,” Williams said. “Because one day, somebody might get something out of a shade tree. I’m almost 62 years old. I don’t know if I’ll ever see them get to be that big or not — I hope I do.”

And there’s still plenty to be done.

“It’ll take me another year to get back to the point where I was at, when I could walk out of my house on a Saturday morning and didn’t have to do nothing,” he said.

Sometimes, Williams said he feels like his friends, those who weren’t affected by the tornado, don’t realize just how much it still affects his life, how much work still has to be done.

“Because they’ll call and ask me, ‘Why don’t you come over to the house this Saturday, and we’ll cook out and drink a few cold ones?’” Williams said. “I say, ‘Man, I ain’t got time.’ And everybody says, ‘Well, what’ve you got to do?’ I say, ‘Ride down to the house, and I’ll show you.’”

Throughout the process of picking up the pieces of destruction, it’s hard to escape the tragedy that created it, Williams said.

At times, he may hear a sound and find himself reminded, once again, of March 3, 2019.

“The other day I was in Columbus, over there by Airport Freeway, and I was getting ready to unload my truck over there, and all at once, I heard it,” Williams said. “That jet took off from the airport over there, and it sounded just like that day here.

Put cold chills on me.”

opinion

3

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

THEPLAINSMAN.COM

OPINION

EDITORIAL

Alabama should help make voting easier

By EDITORIAL BOARD Spring 2020

Earlier this week, thousands of Alabama citizens ventured to their local polling stations and completed their civic duty of voting. But for many, that constitutional right wasn’t available to them. Over the last decade, Alabama has come under scrutiny for policies that disproportionately affect minorities voting rights.

Now, rather than arguing whether or not these implemented guidelines disenfranchise people, the state should make it easier to vote and dispel any type of misinterpretation.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill doesn’t subscribe to this philosophy. According to the Montgomery Advertiser, he has removed 780,000 voters from the electoral base since 2015.

His administration has enforced voter ID laws, enacted proof of citizenship mandates and drastically decreased polling stations. Despite these obstacles, voter registration has steadily increased. It’s the turnout that’s a different story. This year, voter turnout was 33.25 percent, down from the 2016 primary which was 41.4 percent.

Still, Alabama isn’t going out of its way to further increase registration. By increasing the number of those eligible to vote, turnout im-

proves as well. This starts with letting people register to vote on the day of elections.

Right now, the deadline to register to vote is two weeks before the primaries take place.

For most people, registering to vote isn’t at the front of their mind weeks before the actual voting takes place.

Of the 19 states with same-day registration available, eight of them were in the top 10 of voter turnout according to USNews. The two on the list that didn’t have same-day registration were ranked nine and ten.

The reason why Alabama is hesitant about moving up the deadline is the concern of voter fraud. What’s interesting, however, is there are many requirements set in place for citizens to prove who they are once they vote that it doesn’t seem like this would be a widespread issue.

Alabama has done a good job of making a free voter ID card available to those without a form of identification, usually minorities. The problem is that it’s usually not easy to get to the locations where they’re given. Each county only has one Board of Registrars office that may be too difficult to reach. The state tried to counteract this by sending a mobile unit around that is licensed to provide them to people, but that requires people knowing ahead of time where it’s going to be. You shouldn’t have to jump through so many hoops to prove that

you’re yourself. Nor should you have to skip a day of work or travel tens of miles to get a card with your photo on it.

In the past, there is well-documented evidence of voter suppression in this state. This week marks the 55th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,’’ where civil rights marchers were

forcibly prevented from voting. These connotations already surround how elections in Alabama are talked about nationally. By putting in policies that indirectly stop more people from voting, this only gives that idea more validity.

Alabama has the chance to change this perception and help thousands vote.

LOUIS MARTIN / CARTOONIST

COLUMN

Coronavirus doesn’t excuse any racist remarks

By LANEY MAYFIELD

Group chats that were once filled with encouraging daily texts are now infested with silly memes and Students at Auburn University tips on how to avoid contracting are washing their hands excessive- the plague. ly and avoiding large crowds for The disapproval surrounding fear of catching the coronavirus. the pandemic has prompted emThe madness surrounding the ployees at various on-campus virus has questionably affected stu- restaurants to purify facilities on a dents as well as made an impact on grander scale. their daily lives and conversation.

I recall an employee at a popThe phenomenon has sent stu- ular cafe on campus vigorously dents on the Plains into a state of wiping a table while crying out, frenzy.

“This restaurant will be filled with Whether I am at the Chick-fil-A germs, and we are going to catch in the Student Center or a week- the coronavirus if we don’t scrub ly club meeting, the coronavirus this place from ceiling to floor.” is often the topic of conversation.

This widespread outbreak has Lifestyle writer

caused some to generalize Asian students in the Auburn community.

Some within the campus community are under the impression that everyone of Asian descent who attends Auburn University has contracted the virus.

I have overheard countless conversations that include a plethora of racist remarks as it pertains to Asians and their culture on campus.

I once heard a student utter that a popular Asian-based restaurant on campus is selling “Corona(virus) Chicken.”

I found that comment to be ig-

norant and dim.

Though officials believe the virus originated in Asia, students should be mindful of the comments that one may deem offensive and distasteful.

I believe that Asians on this campus are being stereotyped. I have witnessed several incidences where students on transit buses relocate to another seat away from Asian students.

Those students were brazened and obnoxious with their actions.

I recall a time where I was stereotyped by a friend’s mother.

She shared with him that she is opposed to the idea of us “getting

too close” because she believed that African American women are “too aggressive.”

I believe that racial equality is out of touch for those who grace Auburn’s campus.

As someone who has been stereotyped both at school and in the workforce, I can empathize those offended in the Asian community.

It’s repulsive to have preconceived notions formed about someone based on their ethnicity.

I humbly encourage those who have expressed unsavory and loathsome comments to reevaluate and educate themselves on the virus and act accordingly.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Auburn citizens need to participate in the 2020 US census

By RON ANDERS Auburn Mayor

Over the next couple of weeks, every Auburn household will receive a postcard from the U.S. Census Bureau, leading up to April 1 — Census Day 2020 — which is an important day for Auburn’s future.

Residents should expect to receive their postcards anytime from March 12 to 20.

The City of Auburn, in coordination with the U.S. Census Bureau, is asking every household to follow the instructions on that card to complete their 2020 census form by April 1.

It’s important for the continued success of our city that

each of us be counted. There are multiple ways to complete the census, and new this year is the ability to complete it online. You can also fill out a paper form or respond by telephone.

Participating in the 2020 census allows all of us to contribute to an accurate count of Auburn’s population as well as provide a proper picture of its demographics.

It’s important to note that all data you provide in this process are confidential and protected by federal law.

Your submission will not be shared with any agency and will only be used to produce statistics.

So please, don’t throw that postcard away.

Just one person being unaccounted causes Auburn to miss out on federal dollars that go toward making improvements in our city. For each person counted in our state, Alabama will receive $1,567 per year over a 10year period to fund programs you and your neighbors rely on daily.

Auburn’s population count also contributes to how many seats Alabama gets in the U.S. Congress. On a state level, the census determines the amount of representation for each state, and recently, Alabama has been in danger of losing one of its seven representatives, which limits our voice nationally.

Every Auburn resident counts. That includes college students who live here the majority of the time. Students living in Auburn, I ask that you do not rely on your parents to include you on their census forms this year, but that you look for your local household’s postcard in the mail and fill it out accordingly, with each roommate accounted for.

I encourage you to be proactive and designate a roommate to look for the card and coordinate its completion or set up a time when you all can fill it out together.

Let’s take a closer look at how the census has an impact on our home, right here in Auburn.

COLUMNS & EDITORIALS

The Auburn Plainsman welcomes letters from students, as well as faculty, administrators, alumni and those not affiliated with the University.

The opinions of The Auburn Plainsman staff are restricted to these pages.

Letters must include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification.

Submission may be edited for grammar, style and length. Please submit no more than 600 words.

This editorial is the majority opinion of the Editorial Board and is the official opinion of the newspaper.

The opinions expressed in columns and letters represent the views and opinions of their individual authors.

These opinions do not necessarily reflect the Auburn University student body, faculty, administration or Board of Trustees.

CONTACT

Letters must be submitted to editor@theplainsman.com before 4:30 p.m. on Friday for publication.

policies and programs that encourage positive change and growth in our city, and the results of the 2020 census will influence all of these things.

I hope you can see how valuable your participation in the census will be for our community and our state.

If you have any issues while completing your form, call us at Auburn City Hall and city staff will help how it can or connect you with someone from the census office. Community members are also welcome to utilize the Auburn Public Library’s computers and free WiFi to complete their forms.

Together, let’s make Auburn count.

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

OPINION PAGE POLICIES LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Federal dollars that are brought to our area because of census results help to fund key public services in the areas of health care, schools and infrastructure.

Businesses and industries often turn to census information when selecting where to locate, and when they choose Auburn, an investment is made, jobs are created and more tax dollars are generated.

Census data also drives planning decisions. Last week we kicked off a crucial planning initiative — the Auburn 2040 plan. Through resident involvement, we will create and adopt a vision for Auburn’s next 20 years.

We will set new goals,

EDUARDO MEDINA

JACK WEST

LOREN KIMMEL

Editor-in-chief

Managing Editor, Operations

Managing Editor, Standards

ELIZABETH HURLEY

TRICE BROWN

BRYCE JOHNSON

Community Editor

Campus Editor

Opinion Editor

EVAN MEALINS

TIM NAIL

MARIE LIPSKI

Assistant Community

Assistant Campus

Photo Editor

NATALIE BECKERINK

NATHAN KING

CAMERON BRASHER

Lifestyle Editor

Sports Editor

Video Editor

LOUIS MARTIN

SUMNER MARTIN

JADA WALKER

Cartoonist

Assistant Sports Editor

Social Media Manager

Newsroom: news@theplainsman.com Sports: sports@theplainsman.com Opinion: opinion@theplainsman.com Editor: editor@theplainsman.com Advertising: admanager@theplainsman.com

334-844-9108

344-844-9101

campus

4

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

THEPLAINSMAN.COM

CAMPUS

DIVERSITY

Braswell’s Jopwell opens doors for minorities in tech

HEALTH

AU students abroad come home amid coronavirus concerns

By JACK WEST Managing Editor

With the number of coronavirus cases increasing globally, some Auburn students are beginning to feel the effects of the outbreak.

As of March 4, there are no reported cases of the coronavirus in Alabama. However, travel restrictions and warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have caused Auburn students to return home from semesters abroad.

Jamie Bass, junior in architecture, was part of a study abroad program in Rome, Italy, this semester but recently had to return to her home in Kingsport, Tennessee.

“I was studying architecture with about 24 other Auburn students,” Bass said. “I think we were there for right at eight weeks before we got pulled back.”

Bass said she and her classmates had been told by the University to “keep an eye on things” after the virus was found in Italy in late January.

However, since Auburn has now suspended University-funded international travel, it has also recalled all of its students who are currently traveling abroad.

Bass said she received an urgent email from the University around 2 a.m. Central European Standard Time on Saturday, Feb. 29.

The email informed the students, their parents and emergency contacts that the “U.S. Department of State and the CDC both moved Italy to Level 3.”

According to the CDC, this Level 3 distinction denotes that all nonessential travel to that country should be avoided.

It was also the level of threat that triggered the

By VIRGINIA SPEIRS Campus Writer VIA AUBURN UNIVERSITY

A digitally colorized scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image reveals ultrastructural details of the coronavirus viral particles.

University’s recall of its students.

“After we got the email Saturday morning, we just immediately started looking at flights,” Bass said.

“I think at least most — if not all — of us were out of Rome by early Monday morning.”

For students who were expecting a spring semester full of coliseums and cappuccinos, this news was a bit frustrating.

“It was pretty stressful,” Bass said. “Not because we were all worried about getting the coronavirus or anything — just having to do that quick turn around and trying to get flights together in a short amount of time wasn’t easy.”

Many of the students already had flights scheduled for the end of the semester, which made returning home easier. However, some students were planning to travel around Europe this summer and had a more difficult time scheduling a flight on such short notice.

“I know there were at least a couple of students who hadn’t planned on coming home right after the semester was over,” Bass said. “They didn’t have any flight, and they had to just basically pay around $2,000 if not more for a flight to get home.”

Preston Sparks, director of University communication services, said the University plans to work with those students to offset the costs incurred by this change of plans.

“The Office of International Programs and the Office of Risk Management will be working with individual programs and students on reimbursement,” he said in an email.

As of publication, The New York Times is reporting that over 3,000 people in Italy have tested positively for the virus with over 100 people dying

because of it.

However, none of the reported cases have been near Rome, where the students were.

Regardless, students who were studying abroad in Italy have been asked by the University to not return to campus for the rest of the semester.

“The virus hadn’t spread anywhere close to us, but they still knew that we were going to be going through airports and stuff,” Bass said. “So, to make sure that none of us have gotten it or are carrying it and don’t even realize it, they’ve asked us not to come back to the University itself for the rest of the semester.”

Sparks confirmed to The Plainsman that some of the students coming back from studying abroad are being told not to return to Auburn.

“Currently, the University is only requiring a self-imposed quarantine for those students traveling from countries designated as a Level 3 by the Centers for Disease Control,” Sparks said. “Those countries are currently China, South Korea, Iran and Italy.”

For the students who suddenly found themselves back home, having only completed half of a semester, questions regarding credit hours and tuition costs are still in the air.

Officials in the Office of International Programs did not respond to a request for an interview.

“I think they’re still trying to get everything organized and figured out exactly how it is going to go,” Bass said.

Despite all the frustration, Bass said she is happy the University recalled them.

“It really stinks that we’re being sent home early, she said. “But from what I can tell, they’re more

University suspends foreign travel, recalls students

By EDUARDO MEDINA Editor-in-chief

After the recent surge and spread of the coronavirus around the world, Auburn University announced Monday that it’s recalling all of its students who are currently traveling abroad and suspending all official international travel for students, faculty and staff.

The University said it’s taking these measures “out of an abundance of caution for safety and following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” according to a press release.

The CDC recently advised universities in the U.S. to consider postponing or canceling upcoming student foreign exchange programs.

“The recall will begin immediately and will be undertaken as carefully as possible,” the press release stated.

Auburn abroad programs span across Europe, Asia, South and Central America, Australia and the Pacific Islands, Africa and the West Indies.

The University said students, faculty and staff who have reason to believe they may have been exposed or have symptoms associated with the coronavirus need to call the Auburn University Medical Clinic at 334-844-6125 before visiting the clinic.

During after hours or on weekends, they should call 334-7493411 before going to the ER at East Alabama Medical Center.

“Our number one goal is the safety and well-being of our students,” said Bill Hardgrave, Au-

burn’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

“We are aware of how this recall impacts programming for those students currently abroad and for those who have trips planned in the coming months. We are making provisions for students affected to continue their coursework.”

Prior to this latest decision involving travel abroad programs, Auburn had already temporarily suspended all University travel to China, Italy, Iran and South Korea due to the coronavirus.

Auburn officials are also advising caution to those who are planning travel abroad during the upcoming spring break.

“Students, faculty and staff should be aware of the potential implications of international travel,” said Dr. Fred Kam, medical director for the Auburn Universi-

ty Medical Clinic. “We strongly discourage personal travel to any country classified by the CDC as a level 3 risk for COVID-19. Beyond that, we urge everyone to seriously consider the possibility of quarantines or restricted travel back to the United States for any trips outside the country.”

The CDC updates a website that details travel warnings and alerts for airline and cruise ship travel to specific countries related to potential coronavirus exposure.

Auburn University President Jay Gogue has formed a task force to monitor the potential impacts of the coronavirus on campus according to Campus Safety and Security.

The task force is made up of health experts, emergency management personnel and other campus leaders.

INCLUSION

Camp teaches children about asthma, how to manage

By SARAH GIBSON Campus Writer

One in 13 people have asthma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Children who are currently living with asthma feel like no one understands them, so by bringing them together they can share with one another and learn from each other,” said Linda Gibson-Young, associate professor and School of Nursing outreach coordinator.

During Tiger Giving Day, Asthma Camp Eagle

raised $10,580. The day camp is for kids ages 7–12 who are on daily medication for asthma. The camp is held June 8–11 at Children’s Harbor in Lake Martin, Alabama.

The goal of this camp is to help children better cope with their asthma and advise them on information they need to know about living with this condition.

The way children are taught to manage their asthma is through the American Lung Association’s Open Airway curriculum, which is a six-ses-

sion asthma education set.

The curriculum explains what asthma is, what asthma causes in the lungs and what happens due to this inflammation. It explains what happens when certain allergies or triggers to certain air pollutants like perfume or smoke affect asthma and how to deal with those situations.

It also teaches those affected how to use their medication daily.

“One of the reasons we did Tiger Giving Day is so we can turn the camp into an overnight camp, and open it up, so kids from all

over Alabama can come,” Gibson-Young said. “Currently it is a day camp, and we bus children in from their environments.”

The camp lasts from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The camp is free and currently focuses on helping children from rural settings in Alabama.

The camp has different activities like swimming, canoeing, water barreling, fishing, nutrition, mini golf and basketball. Last year, there was an appearance from Aubie.

“On Tiger Giving Day, we filmed some of our campers, and they had al-

ready thought of things that they wanted to share with the Auburn Family,” Gibson-Young said. “To share what we do each and every year at asthma camp was just so special.”

This was the first time Asthma Camp Eagle linked its fundraising with Tiger Giving Day. Through its fundraising, Asthma Camp Eagle aims to send fifty children to camp this year.

The camp gives children the opportunity to learn activities they might not have ever gotten the chance to experience.

Porter Braswell is the CEO and co-founder of Jopwell, a technology platform that helps black, Latinx and Native American students find opportunities for career advancement.

Braswell shared his story with Auburn students as part of the University’s Critical Conversations speaker series on March 3.

Braswell talked to students about building a business, becoming an entrepreneur and his passion for diversifying the workforce. A Yale graduate, Braswell and his business have won many awards from magazines such as Entrepreneur, Business Insider and Vanity Fair.

Braswell had the idea to start a tech company that would build community and give referrals to people who belonged to a racial minority. He and his co-founder started Jopwell by working with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Facebook and MasterCard.

He explained how Jopwell, as a company, has a mission focused on getting to know people on a level that goes deeper than a resume.

Through Jopwell, people can upload their information and things about themselves that could qualify them for jobs they might not be able to find on their own, he said.

“By a member creating their profile and giving us their information, we can not only be that connectivity but can also be that friend or that mentor that they may not have access to,” Braswell said. “We like to operate in the middle and be that connective tissue for both the companies and for the individuals that are leveraging the platform.”

He explained how diversity is a crucial aspect in the workplace.

“We believe that the value of diversity is that when you bring people with different experiences, contacts and backgrounds into an organization, they’ve experienced the world in different ways, they should help fix problems in a different way than the majority might,” Braswell said.

Braswell discussed how, by 2040, people of color will be the majority of the population in the United States. He said it’s important for businesses to have leadership roles that represent changing demographics.

He said it has been proven that a more diverse workforce leads to bottomline success, adding that diversity drives innovation.

“As you think about selling products in a changing demographic, if you don’t have people in the room in leadership positions that reflect that demographic change, you will not sell as many products as you could,” Braswell said. “From a business perspective, it is incredibly important to truly understand and relate to that community.”

Braswell was also asked to share advice for any students in the audience that may be thinking about entrepreneurship.

“For anybody that wants to be an entrepreneur, you have to be solving a problem,” Braswell said. “You have to solve a problem that is worth being solved.”

The Auburn Plainsman

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020 INNOVATION

Makerspace plans to open to students

PAGE 5

OUTREACH

By DESTINI AMBUS Campus Writer

The Brown-Kopel Engineering Student Achievement Center houses a design and innovation center that will, in the future, be open to all engineering majors.

For now though, the makerspace remains unavailable to students as policies are cemented and staff are chosen and trained.

The space, located on the first floor of Brown-Kopel, will be a “large place with really cool tools and a place to make them,” said Garon Griffiths, the director of the Brown-Kopel makerspace.

“It’s kind of built into the name,” Griffiths said. “It could be a closet with a 3D printer in it, or it could be something as elaborate as we have here.”

The makerspace is an area where work tables stretch out in rows across the length of the room and long, floor-to-ceiling windows look out toward campus.

The space includes a machine shop, a metal shop, a welder and a prototyping shop with laser cutters.

There are also 3D printers of various types, a wood shop, a table saw and an electronic shop.

The idea for the space was inspired by the fact that large engineering schools are turning away from hands-on work in the classroom, Griffiths said.

“You’re only in college for a certain amount of time, and the bookwork is the important part that students need to get,” Griffith said. “So makerspaces begin popping up to give students that outlet to do something with their hands.”

Holly Blair, senior in mechanical engineering, is excited for the makerspace for this reason.

“If we want to build a model car or a model rocket or maybe something that we won’t get to pursue in a class, the space gives us a chance to practice our engineering skills,” Blair said. “If we can build something and make it work, that’ll be something we can put on our resumes.”

In fact, Blair already has plans for the space. She and her designs for a portable Keurig wait eagerly for the opening of the makerspace.

“It’s something that I wouldn’t be able to do anywhere else because I don’t have the tools or the space for it,” Blair said. “But I can either make it out of wood in the woodshop or the prototyping shop with the 3D printer.”

Not only will students be able to use the space as a creative outlet, but Griffiths said it will also be integrated into some of the curriculum.

“It just depends on the professor,” he said. “They can meet with me, and we can figure out a way to incorporate some of their projects into the makerspace.”

Some clubs have already been utilizing the space.

The American Society of Civil Engineers is using it to work on their steel bridge, Griffiths said.

“We’re not 100% sure yet, but either people can apply to use the space or once you’re trained you can just go in whenever,” Griffiths said.

The training process includes an orientation on the space and basic power-tool safety and training by specific rooms, followed by a certification piece students will be required to make to verify they know how to use the machine.

The space will be facilitated by both students and faculty.

“We’ll have some full-time staff that will just provide general oversight,” Griffiths said. “We’ll have a good bit of student workers that’ll be our eyes and ears and make sure everyone’s doing everything safely and following the training procedures that we laid out.”

Griffiths has hope it will open sometime in the summer and is looking forward to seeing all of the things students come up with.

CONTRIBUTED BY JACKSON TUCKER

Brianna Jarvis, sophomore in music education, teaches a lesson on dynamics to a class.

Students teach music at Loachapoka

By TIM NAIL Assistant Campus Editor

A few Auburn music education students feel that a public school without a music class would be flat in its course of study.

Loachapoka Elementary was without a music class until late last spring, and it was those Auburn students who stepped in to enrich their curriculum.

“Last spring we initiated a program at Loachapoka,” said Jackson Tucker, freshman in music education. “We have our music education students go over and teach a 30- to 45-minute lesson.”

This semester, the program was in need of new instruments so student instructors could introduce new lesson plans. Tiger Giving Day supporters raised $16,605 to see that happen.

“We needed ukuleles, and we’re trying to get slap-top cajons so they have a percussion instrument to play,” Tucker said. “We were lucky enough to have some new ones shipped from Africa last year.”

Auburn students visit the school every Friday morning to teach classes focusing on various groups of instruments from around the world to provide a diverse education.

The program not only benefits Loachapoka’s children, but also provides the Auburn students with first-hand teaching experience.

“The other schools have an art teacher that comes out and works with [them],” said Natasha Foster, principal of Loachapoka Elementary School. “We were trying to collaborate on how we could get some music in the school and help the College of Education out [by having] their students get a little experience in working with the elementary school.”

Foster said her school hopes to continue

its partnership with the University for the next three to five years, with the eventual goal of hiring a permanent music teacher.

The school would like to secure a grant with the assistance of the Lee County School District and the University to create the position for a daily class.

“I’m prayerful that it will be [a recent Auburn graduate] and somebody that’s actually been through this program,” Foster said.

“Someone with good experience and relationships here with the students.”

Each group of Auburn music education students develop their own lesson plan based on grade level and previous knowledge of music. Some students work with band students at Loachapoka High School as well, according to Tucker.

“Since we started last year, our third graders had music education last spring, but our second graders that I have did not,” Tucker said. “We’re having to start from the beginning with rhythm and steady beat.

Next week, we’re moving into singing, but I know the fourth graders moved into playing recorder because they learned all the notation of all the music.”

Kathy King, assistant clinical professor for the College of Education, and Jane Kuehne, assistant professor of the program, launched the partnership with the previous principal of the school to give children a fun class that prepared them for higher-level music, Tucker said.

The classes also provide children with an outlet that might otherwise be unavailable to them, Foster said. She noted the price that comes with personal instruction.

“We’re a Title I school, so most of our students won’t get private lessons,” she said. “[The Auburn students] push into each classroom and we have two [Auburn] students per classroom. We’re getting music in

as early as kindergarten now.”

One advantage of the classes is Auburn students can incorporate them into their own degree without the need to commit to an internship, which can take until junior year for some majors to reach.

“We had some people that weren’t sure if they wanted to teach kids, and this kind of reassured them that that’s what they wanted to do with their career,” Tucker said. “They didn’t want to teach private lessons to college kids; they wanted to get out to elementary and high schools.”

The Tiger Giving Day project went over its $15,000 target, and some funding may be used in purchasing innovative instruments such as touch-tone keyboards for the next school semester. “[With those,] you can just plug a node into a vegetable and you can hit it and it’ll play a note,” he said.

Tucker said he is confident in his own dreams of seeing children become musically inclined because of his participation in the program.

“It’s very exciting seeing [students] light up when we walk in the door,” he said. “I had one student who saw me at the door run and say, ‘We’re having music today!’”

He said he is pleased to know the impact music can bring to an underfunded school like Loachapoka Elementary, something he is aware of from his own background.

“My grandmother taught math in a Title I school for 28 years, and so I’ve seen firsthand children who didn’t have music growing up in those underfunded community schools,” Tucker said. “I’ve seen the impact in how these kids are more involved in the classroom. When they play music in P.E. and they run around, they will stomp to the quarter note, and it’s great seeing they’re applying music in other facets of their life.”

RECRUITMENT

Auburn’s annual E-Day sees highest attendance in its history

By VIRGINIA SPEIRS Campus Writer

Every year, Auburn University hosts thousands of 7–12th grade students for Engineering Day — a day designed for students and families all over the country to come and explore what the University’s engineering departments have to offer.

“E-Day gives students the opportunity to get a more in-depth look of a particular kind of engineering,” said Sydney Riley, K–12th grade student coordinator for the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. “Students ... get to see classrooms and lab spaces and get to see what being an Auburn engineering student is really like.”

Riley said that E-Day has been around since 1985, based on an ad itinerary from that year.

“Why it began, I’m not sure ... they used to have Engineering Week, so we think that E-Day used to be a day during Engineering Week,” Riley said. “We found

it’s easier just to pick a day in February, so we picked the last Friday in February, and that’s what we’ve stuck to.”

This University event is coordinated by the College of Engineering year-round.

“We actually start coordinating the Monday after E-Day every year,” Riley said. “E-Day takes place on the last Friday of every February, which is great because we know that date is never going to change. That next week we really see who actually came to E-Day, we see feedback surveys, we see in what way we can make things better.”

Riley said everything cranks up in August.

“That’s when I have to meet with all the different campus partners, parking, communications and marketing,” she said. “[I] make sure all that goes out to AU News Weekly, so I can make our map and itinerary.”

This is the first year E-Day was held in the Brown-Kopel Engi-

neering Student Achievement Center.

“We’re really excited to show our prospective students what we have to offer here, and this building is one of those resources for them”, she said. “Once they get here they can really see everything.

We actually sent over 12,000 pieces of mail to 7–12th grade students as well as schools that are in our database”.

Schools and individual students from all over the country make trips to Auburn just for this oneday event.

“This year we had 113 schools sign up,” Riley said. “We have a lot of schools that bring in a lot of students while they’re here, and then we also have individual registration.

She said last year, they had 1,200 students register individually that weren’t included with a school.

Riley said that the total count for last year was 2,645 students attending E-Day, not including students that registered the day of the

event.

“Usually we’ll have 200 – 300 students who do not preregister,” Riley said. “So that’s usually close to 3,000 students every year, and that does not even include their families.”

Students come from all over the country for E-Day; it’s not just schools in Alabama.

“70% will come from Alabama, just because it is more convenient,” Riley said. “30% of our participants are from out of state.”

Riley said that the University gets schools from states like California, Hawaii, New York, Texas, Colorado and Michigan.

“People will come, stay the night and just make a whole weekend out of it,” Riley said.

Auburn students are also a big part of making E-Day happen. Riley is in charge of the student volunteers for E-Day. According to Riley, close to 540 Auburn engineering students are part of E-Day. Those students are the ones that

volunteer for most of the outreach events.

“Every department will have their own tour, and it’s the students who lead those tours,” Riley said. “The students can also be a part of doing hands-on activities during E-Day.” This E-Day is Riley’s third E-Day working for the College of Engineering. Part of her role is to go and visit schools all over the state as an Auburn University representative.

“My role is really to show them what engineering is,” Riley said. “[Engineers] use their skills to solve a problem and tackle all the challenges of the world.”

In that time, she said she’s noticed that students in grade school levels who might have interests in engineering enjoy problem solving.

“Engineering is very much hands-on,” Riley said. “It is more than being good at math and science, and we’re excited to plant that seed in students early.”

community THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

6 THEPLAINSMAN.COM

GOVERNMENT

COMMUNITY

REMEMBRANCE

Council increases mayor salary to $45,000 a year

By CHARLIE RAMO Community Reporter

During Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the Council discussed increasing both the mayor’s and Council members’ compensations.

The proposed ordinance was to increase the mayor’s salary to $45,000 per year.

This ordinance was ultimately approved with a 6 to 2 vote.

Ward 3 Council Member Kelley Griswold and Ward 4 Council Member Bob Parsons opposed, and Anders abstained. This increase will take effect after the next municipal election in 2022.

A long period of discussion and several amendments preceded the vote, however.

Multiple proposals to increase Council member salary were rejected.

Auburn resident Bruno Ulrich brought the Council a list of salaries for similar council-manager governments. He stated that while Auburn’s mayor earns $16,000 per year, Phenix City’s mayor earns $35,000 and Tuskegee’s mayor earns $25,000.

Ulrich also stated that the mayor pro tem typically earns more than the other Council members. Mayor Pro Tem Beth Witten currently earns the same as the rest of the Council members, which is $7,200 per year.

Ward 6 Council member Steven Dixon proposed an amendment to the original ordinance, changing it from $45,000 to $31,360 per year. He also includ-

Current mayor salary 2022 mayor salary

ed a cost-of-living adjustment in line with adjustments made to the salaries of other City employees, maxing out at 3% for any given year.

“It has been 32 years since the mayor has received an increase in pay,” Dixon said. “I calculated that by 3%, which ends up being $15,360.”

Dixon’s amendment and an amendment made by Witten to increase salary to $36,000 with no cost-of-living adjustment both failed.

Parsons and Griswold voiced their constituents’ concerns over the mayor’s compensation increase. Griswold said other public servants, such as first responders and teachers, would end up making less than the mayor with the salary increase to $45,000.

“There are many people who probably would like to be sitting in this chamber tonight watching this but are working a second job,” Parsons said. “Therefore, [they are] priced out of the luxury of representation.”

Parsons did not want to vote on compensation and asked to postpone it for three months.

The idea to table the vote on the salary was put to a vote and did not pass.

“I think we sometimes fail to realize the importance of [the mayor’s] position and getting a good, quality candidate to lead the City of Auburn,” said Ward 8 Council member Tommy Dawson. “If the Economic Development Director has the owner of a multimillion-dollar company

coming in, he needs ... someone who doesn’t have to ask for time off from their job.”

Witten views the mayor’s compensation as a reimbursement of time and resources. She does not consider it a salary.

Mayor Ron Anders shared examples of his responsibilities as mayor. He held 44 meetings in January and 68 in February. He is also on the boards of multiple organizations and is a member of the Big 10 Mayors Conference.

Dixon used a yearly 3% increase to calculate his proposed Council member salary of $10,656.

“There’s no doubt there are people up here who will benefit by this vote,” Griswold said.

Dawson stated that he would not approve Council member compensation above $10,000.

Parsons agreed with Dawson, saying he is uncomfortable with doubling compensation.

Witten amended Dixon’s proposal, changing Council member compensation to $9,600 per year.

Dixon then retracted his initial proposal. Witten’s amendment failed in a 5-4 vote.

Dixon wanted to table the resolution, but this idea failed in a vote.

The initial resolution to raise Council member compensation to $14,400 per year also failed in a vote. Council member compensation will remain at $7,200 per year.

$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$ *one $ represents $4,000

CALEB JONES / SPORTS WRITER

Smiths Station residents held a day of remembrance for Lee County tornado victims on March 3, 2020.

Smiths Station observes moment of silence

By CALEB JONES Sports Writer

On March 3, 2019, an EF4 tornado took the lives of 23 people and injured 90 as it traveled nearly 27 miles through parts of Macon and Lee counties. On Tuesday, exactly one year later, the community gathered inside the Smiths Station Government Center to hold a minute of silence and reflect on the storm that wreaked havoc.

The minute of silence began at 2:03 p.m. — the exact time that the tornado hit Smiths Station last year.

According to the National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Prediction Center, the tornado was the deadliest single tornado in the state since the tornado outbreak in 2011, when three separate tornadoes ripped through Alabama.

The 2019 tornado ranks as the eighth-deadliest tornado in Alabama history since 1950, which is when the NWS began to keep fatality records.

Different communities throughout Lee County were in attendance for Tuesday afternoon’s minute of silence.

“That’s the part that amazed me,” said Gary Long, a resident of Smiths Station. “The people that showed up that Sunday evening to start doing

ELECTION

things for their neighbors, for just anybody.”

East Alabama Medical Center saw over 68 people come in that Sunday night in 2019, according to Laura Eason, a chaplain at EAMC who also serves as the chair for Mend, a long-term recovery service for those affected by the tornado.

“We’ve built over 30 homes right now with our partners,” Eason said. “‘Rebuilding Lee County one life at a time.’ That’s kind of our tagline.”

Several stores that were not destroyed in the tornado were ready to pitch in. Chris Allison, an operations manager at Home Depot in Phenix City, spoke with Smiths Station Communications Director Lisa Deason and Mayor Bubba Copeland about how to help.

“We saw the devastations from everyone else, and we just felt that it was our part to help our community,” Allison said. “The leadership here within the city itself, you can’t replace it.”

It’s been over a year since the tornado struck Smiths Station, but the impact the tornado had on the community still rests heavily in the hearts of its residents.

“The outpouring from the community was incredible,” Long said.

“As sad as some of it was, that’s the part that gives me chills.”

COUNCIL

City cancels school board interviews

By CHARLIE RAMO Community Reporter

JOSHUA FISHER / PHOTOGRAPHER

Residents went to one of Auburn’s five polling locations on Tuesday, March 3, 2020.

Residents share who earned their vote

By EVAN MEALINS Assistant Community Editor

Residents of Auburn went to one of the City’s polling locations to cast their vote in the Republican or Democratic presidential primary and Alabama Senate primary on March 3.

The polls opened at 7 a.m. and continued running until 7 p.m. The Clarion Inn, one of five polling locations in Auburn, was filled with voters at 6 p.m. Many voters said the polls were still running smoothly and quickly.

“It was very fast,” said Olivia Schweikart, fifth year senior at Auburn University with a double major in organismal

biology and animal science. “I was expecting it to maybe be a little bit more packed with it about to end.”

Despite a rush from individuals leaving work, voters found little to no waiting lines.

“No problems, I went right in,” said James Artis. “The line wasn’t too long right now, so we just went right in.”

Artis said he voted for Joe Biden in the Democratic Presidential primary. The most important issues facing the nation, to Artis, are climate change and healthcare.

Gabriel Rouse, 23, also said he was concerned with healthcare, but he thinks Sen. Bernie Sanders’ policies are a better solution. Rouse, who voted

for Sanders in the Democratic primary, also supports Sanders’ policies on education.

Because Alabama runs a closed primary, voters must declare a party affiliation and are not permitted to vote in any of the opposite party’s primary elections. In the Republican Senate primary election, former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville has become a frontrunner.

Paul Ridley voted for Tuberville over Jeff Sessions, who once held the seat that is up for election in November before being appointed to Attorney General.

“Jeff Sessions had his chance,” Ridley said. “I voted for Tuberville.”

Ridley cited Tuberville’s connection to Auburn as one of the things that made the candidate so attractive to him.

Troy Godwin, 52, also voted for Tuberville and said his Auburn connection was important, but he found Tuberville’s character more important.

“I think he’s an honest, hardworking guy,” Godwin said.

Godwin was enthusiastic leaving the poll and said he makes sure to vote every time he has the opportunity.

“My dad served in WWII, and he was a strong believer in the right to vote,” Godwin said. “I hope I pass that on to my children one day.”

During the Committee of the Whole before Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Ward 3 Council Member Beth Witten proposed that the Council suspend its rules for appointing someone to the Auburn City Schools Board of Education.

“I have been in conversation with the superintendent and her peers,” Witten said. “[They] would like to see [the incumbent] not only apply, but be nominated for a second term.”

Applications for the school board position are currently open to anyone until March 23. But the Council will not hold interviews for the position.

The proposal passed 7 to 2, with Ward 1 Council Member Connie Fitch-Taylor and Ward 2 Council Member Kelley Griswold opposing.

At the beginning of the City Council meeting, the Council and citizens in attendance observed 23 seconds of silence in remembrance of the victims of the tornadoes that struck Beauregard on March 3, 2019.

Mayor Ron Anders reminded residents that the 2020 U.S. Census will take place soon. The City needs full participation to receive

ample federal funding, he said.

Griswold took two items off of the consent agenda.

Both items dealt with intersection improvements at Auburn Camp Road and Shug Jordan Parkway. The Alabama Department of Transportation is providing the City with a grant worth $1 million to be given to the University.

“Without [the City] being the middle person, the University would not be able to get this money,” said City Manager Jim Buston.

The items passed, and Griswold opposed the item that involved the City’s responsibilities in the ALDOT contract.

The Council unanimously approved a tax rebate for the Winn Dixie on South College Street for nine years that will not exceed $420,000 in total.

The property manager of Tiger Crossing is working to keep Winn Dixie in the plaza, as the chain has closed a large number of stores, said Assistant City Manager Megan Crouch. “[Winn Dixie] was the first grocery store on our side of town,” said Ward 8 Council member Tommy Dawson. “Of course, now we have Wal-Mart, but it would be a shame to lose Winn Dixie.”

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

The Auburn Plainsman

ELECTION

Tuberville finds support in Lee County

By ELIZABETH HURLEY Community Editor

Former Auburn Football coach Tommy Tuberville performed well throughout the state, especially in Lee County, during the Republican Senate primary Tuesday.

Tuberville obtained more than 7,000 votes in Lee County to earn just more than 50% of the vote.

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions obtained 27.45% of the vote in Lee County.

Congressman Bradley Byrne obtained just over 13% of the votes, and former Judge Roy Moore obtained more than 5% of the votes in Lee County, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

Tuberville did significantly better in Lee County when compared to his results statewide. He obtained 33.39% of the vote and

Sessions obtained 31.65% of the vote statewide, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

Because no candidate received a majority of the vote, the race will go to a runoff election on March 31.

Wednesday morning President Donald Trump tweeted in response to a Politico article about the runoff election criticizing Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation while he was the U.S. Attorney General.

There was only one race specific to Lee County on the Super Tuesday ballot. That race was the Republican primary for the District 1 seat on the Lee County Commission.

Doug Cannon won the Republican primary for the District 1 seat on the Lee County Commission with 53.81% of the vote, according to the unofficial results

posted to the Secretary of State’s website. He defeated Republican F.D. “Butch” Brock, who received 46.19%.

The seat is currently held by Commissioner Sheila Eckman.

Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed the state with approximately 63% of the vote. He faired similarly in Lee County with approximately 58% of the vote. Sen. Bernie Sanders came in second in the county with approximately 20% of the vote. Sen. Elizabeth Warren received about 9%.

A total of 12,531 votes were cast for the Democratic presidental primary race in Lee County.

A total of 27,598 ballots were cast in either primary in Lee County. There are 116,913 people registered to vote in Lee County. That means the voter turnout in Lee County was approximately 23%.

ELECTION

Community Writer

Alabama voters had decisions to make this Super Tuesday, the most significant point in this election cycle to date.

On the ballots in Alabama was a presidential primary for one party and a Senate primary for the the other.

An amendment was also proposed on the ballot. The amendment, if passed, would allow Gov. Kay Ivey to appoint the state school board instead of having Alabamians vote to fill the places.

Voter turnout in Alabama ended up just more than 30%, with over 1 million total ballots cast, according to the 2020 statewide primary election results from the Secretary of State’s website.

Former Vice President Joe Biden won the Democratic primary in Alabama with 63.36% of

POLICE

JOSHUA FISHER / PHOTOGRAPHER

The Opelika Police Department is accepting applications until March 9.

Opelika gives residents insight into police work

By MY LY

Alabamians turn out for Super Tuesday

By TARAH YEAGER

PAGE 7

the total vote. Sen. Bernie Sanders followed with 16.33% of the vote.

Mike Bloomberg placed third earning 12.01% of the vote.

A total of 405,038 votes were cast in the Democratic primary race in Alabama on Tuesday, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

Of the 669,786 votes cast in the Republican primary race, President Donald Trump earned far more than the majority at just over 96% of the total vote.

The biggest Alabama race was the Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate, which was close, with former football coach Tommy Tuberville and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions forced into a runoff.

Tuberville ended up with 33.08% of the total vote. Sessions followed close behind with 31.41% of the vote. A total of 663,346 votes were cast in the Republican

primary for U.S. Senate, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

Since no candidate received a majority, the top two candidates will head to a runoff election March 31. There are some specific rules as to who can vote in this primary runoff election.

Those that voted in the primary election that is now going to a runoff election are entitled to vote in that runoff election, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

This means that a voter that voted in the Republican primary Tuesday is eligible to vote in the runoff election March 31. Any voter that did not vote or voted in the Democratic primary is not eligible to cast a vote in the Republican Senate primary runoff election.

Voters also rejected Amendment 1, which would have given the state the power to appoint members to the school board.

Community Writer

The Opelika Police Department recently opened up applications for the Citizens Police Academy, which is an eight-week program that provides citizens with the opportunity to learn more about the police department.

The police department is seeking to connect with any citizen older than 18 in order to educate them on what police officers do and the different ways the department operates.

Capt. Shane Healey discussed some of the classes that the citizens are taught during the course, which lasts from April to May. “We have multiple classes that talk about the different divisions and things we do within the police department,” Healey said. “We have weeks dedicated to different aspects of the department.”

The program provides real-life classes that educate citizens on things such as the patrol division, detectives, the narcotics unit, the canine unit, the swat team and how

they carry out traffic stops.

This is the fifth year the Opelika Police Department has offered this program to the public.

Healey said is open to anyone in the communtiy that wants to learn more about the police department.

“We get all kinds of people,” Healey said. “People from different walks of life, men and women.

Sometimes we get husbands and wives who come together.”

These people are applying for this program for a wide variety of reasons, as well. It’s not only a chance to learn, but also a chance to get involved in Opelika, Healey said.

“We also get younger people who are interested in ... police work ... who may want to join the field in the future,” Healey said.

“We also get older retired people who just want to get involved in their community and see what’s going on.”

Applications for the program will be accepted until March 9 at 5 p.m. Applicants are encouraged to contact OPD if they have any questions.

sports THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

8 THEPLAINSMAN.COM

SPORTS

BASKETBALL

Queen of the double-double Unique Thompson’s journey into the Auburn record books AUBURN CAREER DOUBLE-DOUBLES 1. Unique Thompson — 41 2. DeWanna Bonner — 40 3. Lauretta Freeman — 38 4. C.C. Hayden — 30 5. Le’Coe Willingham — 29

2020 NCAA DOUBLE-DOUBLES 1. Ellie Harmeyer (Belmont) — 22 2. Unique Thompson (Auburn) — 21 2. Rodjanae Wade (UNLV) — 21 4. Madison Nelson (Denver) — 19 5. Ila Lane (UCSB) ­— 19

IAN LOGUE / SPORTS WRITER

Unique Thompson (20) prepares to pass during Auburn women’s basketball vs. Mississippi State on Feb. 20, 2020, in Auburn, Ala.

By JAKE WEESE Sports Reporter

The art of the double-double is a mystifying stat. Players can reach it in numerous ways. They don’t even have to score points to record a double-double; they just have to record 10 or more in two of the five stat categories.

Just like how the double-double is mystifying, so is Auburn’s Unique Thompson.

The junior forward began her basketball career as a freshman in high school, played in AAU with future SEC opponents and used volleyball to help hone her craft.

That is why it is fitting that Auburn women basketball’s career record holder in double-doubles is Thompson. As she has learned and developed from each of her coaches, she has used it all to become arguably one of the best junior forwards in the nation.

Through her three seasons on the Plains — with the SEC Tournament set for this week — Thompson has recorded 41 double-doubles, surpassing DeWanna Bonner, who held the record for 11 years with 40 double-doubles.

This season alone, Thompson has recorded 21 double-doubles, besting her freshman and sophomore totals, which were a combined 20.

She was named first team All-SEC on Tuesday after being the SEC’s sixth-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder this past season.

An accomplishment that seemed more like a dream than a reality when Thompson first arrived at Auburn has now finally come true.

“It feels amazing,” Thompson told The Plainsman. “Coming here, I didn’t think that would be something that I would accomplish, but you know we all have goals, and we have dreams, but that is something that I am very proud of myself for being able to do.”

Growing up in Mobile, Alabama, sports did not always play a part in Thompson’s life. She grew up as a fan of her older brother Jalen Thompson and traveled to his various games, but it wasn’t until the ninth grade when she decided to play basketball at Faith Academy.

“So, my brother always played travel ball, so I just followed after my brother always going to his games,” Thompson said. “I was his biggest supporter.”

While Thompson may not have started playing basketball until the

ninth grade, it was her 10th-grade year before she was able to play in her first game for Faith Academy.

This was not by choice, of course, and not because of the coaches, but because of the state of Alabama. According to her high school coach, Thompson was required to sit out a year because she transferred to Faith Academy, which was in the same county as her middle school.

Thompson was able to practice with her teammates and learn from her coaches during her ninth-grade year, but she could not play in games.

She learned from her position coach, Gainey Sullivan, and current athletic director and former women’s basketball head coach, Woodie Head.

It did not take the coaching staff long to find out that the 6-foot-3 forward was going to be something special.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, and you know 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3 girls are rare, especially in South Alabama,” Head told The Plainsman. “I’ll tell you the first thing that impressed me the most of all about her was how she ran the floor. A lot of big girls don’t run the floor well, but she runs the floor extremely well. And then of course around the basket, she was really good and learned to play defense a lot better.

“So, I’d say around midway through the first year that we had her, we felt like she was going to be big-time.”

Basketball ability was not the only thing that the coaching staff saw in Thompson, as her leadership skills shined on and off the court.

She always asked what she could do to help her teammates on the court.

While off the court, she, at times, led the team in its Christian devotion lessons before or after practice.

Thompson did not just excel on the court in basketball, but also succeeded on the court in volleyball while at Faith Academy, a sport that she did not expect to play in high school. She just wanted to play basketball in high school.

She may not have wanted to play volleyball in high school at first, but understood later on that it helped with training for basketball. Volleyball helped her with “getting in shape” because the sport has a lot more running than people realize, she said.

The sport also helped Thompson with her rebounding as “going up to spike a ball is the same thing as getting a rebound.” While volleyball may not

Thompson SEC honors 2020 first team All-SEC 2018 Freshman All-SEC 3x SEC Player of the Week 2x SEC Freshman of the Week

Thompson 2020 stats 16.2 ppg (6th SEC) 11.3 rpg (2nd) 57.6 FG% (4th) 1.7 steals per game (1st SEC among bigs)

have been a sport she considered before high school, she impressed in her short time playing the sport, receiving numerous colleges offers.

In three years of high school basketball, Thompson finished with 1,856 points, 1,308 rebounds and 220 blocks.

Head believes Thompson could have set some of the school records if she had been with the program as long as Jasmine Rhodes, the record holder in points, rebounds and steals.

Rhodes played basketball for LSU from 2013-17 and had played on the varsity team at Faith Academy since her eighth-grade season.

The work to become a successful women’s basketball player did not stop for Thompson after the high-school season ended. Starting in the spring after her 10th-grade season, she began playing for the Southern Starz, which play in the Amateur Athletic Union organization.

Southern Starz is an AAU team located in Huntsville, Alabama, that has teams ranging from fourth grade all the way up through 11th grade. The teams are a mix of players that go to the program wanting to play, while some players are asked to join.

After going to watch Thompson play at Faith Academy, Starz director and Thompson’s AAU coach, Doug Bush, knew that she was a player that could benefit from playing for his program.

“In her case, I went and pursued her to come join our team,” Bush told The Plainsman. “I went and watched her play, I met with her high school coach, told him what I felt like our program had to offer, and he was very accommodating. Then I spoke to Unique and got to speak with her parents and told them what I thought that our program had to offer and how she could benefit and how it would help in her recruitment and kind of over the long term.”

Each team is called by its high school graduating class, and after joining the 2017 team, Thompson helped her team win an AAU national championship.

The team captured the AAU 10thgrade Division-I national championship in 2015, Thompson’s first year with the program.

It was in AAU where Thompson gained experience against competition from all over the country facing off against teams as far as New York, California and even Canada. The experience of AAU and getting to play

in front of all the coaches and players is one of the things that Thompson misses the most about her time in high school.

And she still faces off against familiar faces from AAU in the SEC. Myah Taylor, the starting point guard at Mississippi State, and Thompson were both on the same national championship-winning AAU team. Missouri also has one of Thompson’s national title teammates on it in guard Haley Troup.

Coincidentally, Thompson’s 40th double-double, which tied the program record came against Mississippi State, and the record-setting 41st double-double came against Missouri.

Not to mention two of Thompson’s current teammates also played AAU for the Southern Starz as freshmen Annie Hughes and Sania Wells played on the 2019 team.

It may seem like Thompson’s development came from just one program or one program was more beneficial than others, but Bush disagrees.

He understands what has helped make Thompson so successful is the advice and development from every coach along the way.

“I would say our program had a hand in that, but I would say that her development is an accumulation of, you know, everybody that played a part in it,” Bush said. “Her high school program, our AAU program, and I can tell you she has developed even further in her time so far at Auburn.

“There is no doubt that the staff at Auburn has also helped greatly with her continued development.”

Just like how a double-double can be achieved in so many ways, Thompson has become the player that she is by learning from all kinds of programs and coaches — which, in turn, has helped her become not only a great Auburn athlete but a great Auburn leader.

Even with this meteoric rise for Thompson, like most siblings, older brother Jalen stubbornly won’t give Unique credit.

Jalen, who played football at South Alabama from 2015-19, still does not want to admit his sister is better than him at basketball. A sibling rivalry that started when they were kids continues to this day.

“Even to this day, he still swears that he can beat me in basketball,” Thompson said.

“But we all know the truth.”

The Auburn Plainsman

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

PAGE 9

SOFTBALL

AU sweeps SEC weekly awards

By MATTISON ALLEN Sports Writer

Auburn softball swept the SEC awards for Week 4 of the season with three recipients.

Senior Alyssa Rivera, sophomore Samantha Yarbrough and freshman Carlee McCondichie took home the honors, marking the first time in Auburn history the Tigers have been able to sweep the weekly honors.

Rivera was given SEC Co-Player of the Week for the first time in her career.

In the Tiger Invitational, Rivera

batted two home runs out of her 12 hits, averaging a .667 batting average for the weekend. Rivera had a total of 10 runs scored along with four walks, six RBIs and seven stolen bases.

Yarbrough was awarded SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week as the weekend pitching anchor. The South Alabama transfer picked up three wins with one save in the circle during the nvitational.

Yarbrough led Auburn (14-8) to a complete-game victory over No. 18 Minnesota with her highest number of innings pitched this season at seven. Yarbrough was able to strike out

SOFTBALL

19 batters over the weekend.

Freshman infielder Carlee Condichie received SEC Co-Freshman of the Week. She recorded seven hits with a batting average of .500 over the weekend.

She was able to make six scoring runs, four RBIs and steal two bases, marking her highest running average since her start at the beginning of the season.

The Tigers went 5-1 over the weekend. They continue their season with a midweek matchup at Mercer on Wednesday before opening SEC play at Florida this coming weekend.

BASKETBALL

Auburn’s bracket predictions NBC

USA TODAY

*as of March 4

COLE TANGYE / PHOTOGRAPHER

Jaylin Calvert (24) in the batter’s box during Auburn softball vs. Georgia Southern on Feb. 28, 2020, in Auburn, Ala.

SEC play on deck

By HARRISON TARR Sports Writer

4 Auburn

4 Auburn

Sacramento

Sacramento 13 Vermont

13 New Mexico St.

ESPN

SB Nation

5 Auburn

5 Auburn Tampa

Omaha

12 UCLA

12 Northern Iowa

CBS

Stadium

4 Auburn

4 Auburn Spokane

13 Liberty

Omaha 13 Akron

Early season tournament play has reached its conclusion, and, on Friday evening, the Auburn softball team will take the field in Gainesville, Florida, to begin SEC play.

Head coach Mickey Dean and his squad said the Tigers’ approach to this weekend will not differ from any others to this point.

The skipper claims that, if his team wants to be successful, this has to be the group mentality for every contest for the remainder of the year: “For us, every game is a conference game. It’s got to be. With our youth, we can’t take any game lightly.”

Despite his confidence in the Tigers’ mental preparation, Dean also said that all assumptions that his squad is ready for SEC play – based upon the caliber of teams that the Tigers have played thus far – have yet to be supported, and only time will tell.

When asked about how

much help the early season challenges will provide, the third-year head coach’s answer was simple.

“We’re going to find out,” Dean said. “I don’t think we’re going to be scared of anybody, and that was the intention.

We’re going to go play softball, and we’re going to play hard.”

Freshman utility player Carlee McCondichie added that, despite her team’s consistent approach to each game, it is hard to discount the drastic increase in competition.

“SEC play is a lot different than regular tournament play,” Koepke said. “It’s a lot more competitive.”

Regardless of the outcome of this weekend’s series, it is clear that Dean’s goal for this season remains constant: get better every game.

“We can’t get so much focused on our opponent,” Dean said. “We need to focus on ourselves.”

Auburn will open its SEC season on Friday, March 6 at Florida. First pitch will be at 5 p.m. EST on SEC Network+.

BE THE CREED NOMINATIONS DUE MARCH 16 Nominate an outstanding student to be recognized as a Creed Honoree.

The Creed Honorees embody the values in the Auburn Creed and influence and encourage others to uphold and live by the Auburn Creed.

Go to aub.ie/Creed Honoree to make a nomination.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

The Auburn Plainsman

PAGE 10

SIERRA HULL MARCH 20

the jay and susie gogue performing arts center at auburn university

DON’T MISS THESE UPCOMING PERFORMANCES AT THE GOGUE CENTER Sierra Hull Friday, March 20 • 7:30 p.m.

Camille A. Brown and Dancers Saturday, April 18 • 7:30 p.m.

Dover Quartet and Bridget Kibbey Tuesday, March 24 • 7:30 p.m.

Zakir Hussain and Friends Tuesday, April 21 • 7:30 p.m.

The Oak Ridge Boys 20/20 Tour Friday, March 27 • 7:30 p.m.

Baby Shark Live!

Wednesday, April 22 • 6 p.m.

Alfredo Rodríguez and Pedrito Martinez Duo Tuesday, April 7 • 7:30 p.m.

Air Play by Acrobuffos Friday, May 8 • 7:30 p.m.

Tickets available now!

334.844.TIXS (8497) GOGUECENTER.AUBURN.EDU

lifestyle THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020

11 THEPLAINSMAN.COM

LIFESTYLE

FACILITIES

What it takes to maintain the Loveliest Village on the Plains NATALIE BECKERINK / LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Multiple departments and organizations work together daily to create and maintain Auburn’s landscape and grounds.

By ABIGAIL MURPHY and TIM NAIL Lifestyle Writer and Assistant Campus Editor

Auburn University’s campus is foremost a place of learning, but it is also a thriving community of 1,785 acres — an area that takes a number of hands and offices to make the “Loveliest Village on the Plains” live up to its nickname.

Justin Sutton, director of landscape services, said there are about 50 landscapers at Aubrun.

For daily maintenance, they have six zones, each with a supervisor and five to six employees.

“Those are mostly the people you see out and about every day,” Sutton said. “They maintain their area of responsibility, and that goes everything from mowing grass to trimming shrubs to applying fertilizers.”

Sutton said along with maintenance, landscaping has projects they plan and execute. They also assist with capital projects that are installed by a contractor and once the projects are complete, they keep up the maintenance.

He said the cost of maintenance and materials average around $340,000 a year for landscape services. About half of that cost is for the materials used for projects.

Within that number, pine straw and mulch average about $78,000, fertilizer and pesticides $53,000 and soil $3,600 respectively.

“This [soil] number is low due to a lot of our soil and amendment coming from our compost yard, and the soil that is milled off of Jordan-Hare Stadium,” he said.

Sutton said most of the plants on campus are drought-tolerant. However, their annual colors, like the flowers, rotate frequently, he said.

“We grow most of what we put on campus here at our facilities site and our greenhouse,” he said.

Sutton said he gives credit to the staff who earn each landscaping award the University receives.

“We got a lot of guys who are just dedicated to their job and are proud of what they do,” Sutton said. “They just keep campus going great no matter what time of year it is.”

Morgan Beadles, the director of the Donald

E. Davis Arboretum, said the arboretum helps with conservation.

Beadles said the upkeep takes a lot of specialized maintenance and hands-on work with pruning shrubs and fertilizing.

“We have a collection to protect, so we can’t have big machinery out here,” she said. “We can’t have big, heavy equipment moving around because you have to protect the roots in the collection.”

Beadles said the workload is always heavy, but the type of work changes with the seasons.

“There’s a balance between it feeling natural and manicured and not overly manicured, but still safe,” Beadles said.

Between student employees, repairs and materials, Beadles said they spend about $40,000 a year on maintenance.

She said they get a semi-truck load of pine straw, and this year, they got about 1,568 bales of pine straw.

Through this effort, Beadles said they have won the AU Spirit of Sustainability Award, the Eagle Award from the Auburn Chamber of Commerce and have been the American Public Garden Association’s featured garden of the week twice.

Maintaining scenery isn’t only about keeping campus visually appealing, but also about providing a learning space for certain majors to gain practical experience.

Some schools make use of Parkerson Mill Creek as a teaching tool for students, but because it runs through campus, it also requires annual cleanup.

“All the trash that’s on the streets that goes into the gutters ultimately ends up into the creek, and so we try to promote initiatives that keep the campus clean,” said Tom McCauley, environmental program manager of Risk Management Services. “We try to bring awareness to the fact that the creek is a resource. It’s an attribute to campus, and we should try to preserve that as best we can.”

Unlike other environmental affairs, the yearly creek cleanup is entirely a student and faculty effort. McCauley said it’s not financial funding but an investment of time and energy from the Auburn Family that allows the program to exist.

“All of our efforts are volunteer efforts,” Mc-

Cauley said. “We try to involve faculty and students as best as we can, [and] we try to partner with the City because we have a mutual interest.”

Not only has the cleanup benefited major programs like hydrology, aquatic behaviors and ecosystems and engineering, it has additionally helped the University receive a designation for its sustainable water system.

“The University was designated as a watershed of excellence, which means we’ve got the means to promote watershed conservation,” McCauley said. “There’s no better way to show it by example than creating a watershed here on campus that’s a preserved specimen.”

McCauley said cleanups usually occur in cooler months during late winter and early spring when volunteers might be more amenable to collect trash.

“Several times a year we’ll try to gather some momentum, get some involvement through some campus organizations,” McCauley said.

Its latest events were on Feb. 23, in a partnership with Omega Phi Alpha, and on March 1, in association with Alternative Student Breaks. It has one other cleanup planned for the semester on April 4, with the Office of Sustainability in advance of Earth Week.

Waste Reduction and Recycling is the department that sees the rest of campus land and litter maintained each year. This is a significant responsibility for an institution of 30,000 students, and the office receives strong financial backing by the University to uphold its mission: to “strive to make recycling accessible and convenient,” said Joan Hicken, WRR’s manager. “[Our] yearly budget is about $500,000, and the solid waste and recycling collection contract is about $600,000 annually,” Hicken said. “We want to encourage students, staff, faculty and visitors to incorporate recycling into their daily routine on campus.”

A sizable portion of this funding goes into upkeep for WRR’s containers and machinery.

These include over 400 hand-pick trash bins, 130 front-end loaders for solid waste and 200 95-gallon recycling bins, among other utilities.

Altogether in 2019, the University recycled 371 tons of cardboard, 219 tons of paper, 50 tons of scrap metal, 41 tons of plastic, alumi-

num and steel and 3.5 tons of printer ink cartridges and toner.

Most notably, WRR collected 2,041 tons of construction and demolition debris from on-campus projects in the past year that included sidewalks and sheds that were destroyed. The removal of Allison Laboratory, while not factored into this count, also brought the department a lot of recycled and reclaimed material.

“3,161 tons of concrete, 196 tons of asphalt, 129 tons of metal and 85 tons of wood were removed and recycled,” Hicken said. “In addition, 45,265 linear feet of lumber was reclaimed for future design use by the University.”

All concrete, metal and wood that made up Allison Laboratory was fully recycled by the department, she said.

Football season is perhaps WRR’s most important time of year; a plethora of people visiting campus for games means a wave of waste follows and is a high cost for the department.

They started the Gameday Recycling program to bring hundreds of recycling bins in and around Jordan-Hare Stadium to ensure fans put their trash in the proper receptacles.

“Gameday Recycling is an opportunity for the University to demonstrate to the campus community that recycling and waste reduction activities are not limited to the home,” Hicken said. “To provide waste and recycling services for each home football game is on average $15,000 per game. Each home football game generates, on average, 52 tons of waste and recycling.”

Hicken said WRR performs its functions in tandem with other offices such as Housing and Residence Life, Tiger Dining, Risk Management Services and Auburn Athletics to achieve the University’s land-grant mission of improving the lives of Alabamians and people beyond.

“The entire campus community plays a role in our progress to becoming a more sustainable campus,” Hicken said. “There is not an aspect of campus life that is not touched by waste and recycling.”

Keeping campus beautiful isn’t just a job for a single group. At Auburn, it takes a team of departments and organizations to maintain the campus landscape and promote a loveliness the University seeks to preserve.

INCLUSION

Students share struggles involved with transferring to four-year school

By LANEY MAYFIELD Lifestyle Writer

The transition from community college to a four-year institute can be challenging for some students. While some students relish and thrive in their new learning environment, others struggle to adapt to the changes that come with a larger university.

Students who once learned material in a smaller class setting are now expected to ingest information among a larger crowd.

Peers who shared laughs and memorable moments in a more intimate setting are now greeted with new faces in their new, unfamiliar surroundings.

This can cause students to become eager, forcing them to adapt to their new learning and social environment and alter their expectation of college in general.

Will Sellers, junior in animal sciences, said that upon his arrival from Southern Union State Community

College in Opelika, he was anxious to form lifelong friendships.

“I was very anxious for the fact that I didn’t have a social life,” Sellers said. “When I attended a local community college, I had many friends, and the environment was close knit.”

Sellers said he made it his mission during his first semester to make new friends.

“I know that there are over 30,000 students at Auburn, so I was confident that I would meet at least a couple of like-minded individuals,” Sellers said.

At Southern Union, Sellers worked as a media specialist in the library for three years.

“I knew almost everyone by name and was able to assist everyone,” Sellers said. “From there, I was able to form friendships with everyone at school because the school was much smaller, and I was friends with almost everyone. It felt homely and tighter knit as opposed to Auburn.”

Transfer shock refers to a temporary plunge in both the transfers’ so-

cial and academic life. This experience has had an effect on college students across the nation.

Terrance Butler, sophomore in forensic science, experienced the phenomenon for himself during his first semester after transferring from Chattahoochee Valley Community College in the fall 2019 semester.

“My first semester at [Auburn] challenged me academically and socially,” Butler said. “All my friends were back in Phenix City, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia. Last semester, I would walk down the Quad and feel completely out of my element.”

Out of his element and at a much larger school, Butler said he had trouble making new friends.

“I like to be familiar with my environment, so I enjoy communicating with those around me, but I didn’t know anybody on campus,” Butler said. “I even searched for students who attended my old school, but the campus is humongous.”

Though his GPA did not drop significantly, Butler said he noticed a

dip, which he attributed to his transfer to a four-year university.

“My social and academic life shifted a great deal once I transferred to Auburn,” Sellers said. “I went from hanging out with friends regularly from Southern Union to not having any friends at all at Auburn.”

Sellers said this affected his academics.

“My academic life was affected as well once I transferred,” Sellers said.

“Personally, Auburn’s curriculum is a bit more challenging than Southern Union’s. I managed to do well in all my classes, but the pace was faster than the pace at Southern Union.”

It took Sellers a semester to feel acquainted and prepared for the University’s academic expectations.

“I paced myself and developed better study habits,” Sellers said. “Transferring from Southern Union to Auburn has forced me to mature overnight because of the heavy demands.”

With a larger population came more diversity, according to Sellers.

“I have never experienced diver-

sity to this magnitude,” Sellers said. “[I] have friends from different backgrounds, but we all share common goals. I have made friends from Asia, India and Africa, and we enjoy each other’s company a great deal.”

Sellers said that these experiences have helped him grow as a person and have prepared him more for the real world.

“In the real world, society is made up of different races and ethnicities,” Sellers said.

He believes Auburn has better prepared him for this.

“The transition from CVCC to Auburn was not easy, but I learned a lot,” Butler said. “I learned the importance of having a one-on-one relationship with my professors and advisor, especially since I am at a bigger school. I learned a lot about those who are a part of various cultures and how to communicate with them effectively. Those experiences taught me how to be an effective communicator, which is a tool I will use in the real world.”

The Auburn Plainsman

THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020 ENTERTAINMENT

PAGE 12 RECREATION

DIY shop opens to foster community, make art

By JIAJIA LIU Lifestyle Writer

VIA FACEBOOK

Jeffrey Compton, chef de cuisine at Acre, said he is his best self when in the kitchen.

Acre chef to bring Alabama culture to the Food Network

By KARA MAUTZ Lifestyle Writer

At the age of 14, Jeffrey Compton realized he wanted to work with food. Now as an adult, Compton is gearing up to compete on the Food Network for the chance to be the head chef of a $10 million restaurant on the Las Vegas strip.

Compton, chef de cuisine at Acre, was selected as one of eight chefs to compete on the Vegas Chef Prizefight, a series that will premiere on the Food Network on March 5.

He is now the second chef from Acre to compete on the Food Network following head chef David Bancroft’s appearance on the Iron Chef Showdown in 2018.

Compton’s first job was working part time at McAlister’s Deli, where he worked the front of the house.

However, Compton said he admired the back of the house, and it

wasn’t long before he was moved and began cooking.

Originally from Destin, Florida, Compton attended Auburn University, majoring in accounting. He dropped out of school during his third year and began to focus solely on cooking.

“I realized that I loved cooking, and I wouldn’t be able to stand sitting behind a desk all day,” Compton said. “There is something about the organized chaos of a kitchen and crazy chaotic days. It’s almost addictive.”

He originally started at Acre as a saute chef, and it was not long after was promoted to sous chef. He was then promoted to his current position of chef de cuisine.

Working under Bancroft has been one of his favorite experiences, Compton said.

“David has taught me all sorts of stuff, not only food-wise but how to treat people professionally,” he

To Place an Ad, Call 334-844-4130 or email admanager@theplainsman.com

Line Classifieds

said. “We train each other and hold everyone accountable for their actions.”

Being involved in the claiming of the numerous awards the restaurant has received is one of Compton’s favorite aspects of working at Acre “Between Southern Living and Garden and Gun, I like to believe I hold some clout with that,” Compton said.

As for his experience competing on the Food Network, Compton said that he was approached to compete on the Vegas Chef Prizefight by someone who thought he would be a great competitor.

“I’m nervous, but excited to go [to Vegas] and show off my skills,” he said. “I’m excited to go and cook with the culture of Alabama in my mind. It’s an honor to get to go and show Alabama’s culture, and I’m my best self when I’m in the kitchen.”

TIGERMARKET

Display Classifieds

The Auburn Plainsman is not 15 words................$6 Local.......$11 per col inch responsible for the content of the ads. Ads that seem too good Extra Words............40c National..$16 per col inch FOR RELEASE MARCH 10, 2020 to be true usually are.

Bold Outline.....$1 per ad 1col x 4 min to 1col x 8” max

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 __-been: washed-up celeb 4 Shared again, as a story 10 Samantha Bee’s network 13 Frequently found in poetry?

14 One with a hunger 15 Go bad 16 Citrus drink in a sea breeze cocktail 19 Philosopher Kierkegaard 20 Dawn goddess 21 Bridal veil trim 22 Packed in a slatted box 25 Like bath mats 27 Frivolous legal entanglement 29 Prez on a fiver 30 “Cream of” concoction 31 Lonely place, so they say 35 Former 37 Part of rpm 39 Actress Russo 40 Bury 43 Frontier lawman Wyatt 46 HBO rival, briefly 47 French luxury retailer since 1854 50 Gives a hand 53 Celebrity socialite 54 One who stirs the pot 55 Former flier 57 “Live” sign 59 2011 Dolly Parton single, and what homophonically happens twice in 16-, 27- and 47-Across 63 Night before 64 Most authentic 65 Generation __ 66 “Lust for Life” singer Lana __ Rey 67 How theater seating is arranged 68 Hurricane center DOWN 1 Keeps to oneself 2 Early form of Latin jazz

3/10/20

By Amanda Rafkin and Ross Trudeau

3 Like the most twinkly sky 4 Boxing official 5 Musician’s asset 6 “Can’t deny that” 7 They might bring you to tears 8 Releases from a cage 9 Basketball’s Erving, familiarly 10 Dry run 11 Italian lawn bowling game 12 Pricey 14 Gossipy sorts 17 Podded plants 18 Coat named for an Irish province 23 “Music for Airports” producer Brian 24 Bra spec 26 Med. research agency 27 Tough spot to self-trim hair 28 Olympic swords 32 Simulated launch site 33 Taking a vacation, Brit-style 34 Lowly worker

After attending a DIY workshop, Kimeran Keahey noticed she could craft and spend time with her daughters, rather than worry about the cleanup.

Deciding to open a workshop of her own, Keahey opened AR Workshop Auburn, a DIY shop that supports handmade arts and crafts.

The workshop, located at 1214 Ogletree Village Lane in Auburn, opened in September 2019.

According to its website, it is a boutique and DIY studio that offers hands-on classes for creating custom home decor from raw materials.

To participate in the workshop, one must schedule a reservation in advance on its website.

The workshop only opens during the boutique’s session, and the session lasts around three hours depending on the project. It provides all of the materials, tools and instruction. All of the these are prepared and set up before the corresponding workshop session.

Customers can make wooden signs, framed signs, decor, pallet sign paintings, farmhouse-style pillow paintings, centerpiece boxes, lazy susans, chunky blankets and other projects.

Most adult projects in the workshop range from $45–$70, and children’s projects range from $40–$45.

While the workshop is currently only open during workshop sessions, it will open full time in several months, Keahey said.

Keahey grew up in Auburn and graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in interior design in 1995. She then spent 10 years in Chicago working in the interior design industry.

Keahey came back to Auburn

Monday’s Puzzle Solved

©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

36 English “L’chaim!”

38 Sitar master Shankar 41 Jan. and Feb. 42 Words introducing a plot twist 44 Road groove 45 Hit the buffet in a major way, say 48 “Scout’s honor!”

49 Singer Turner

3/10/20

50 Played a part 51 Push roughly 52 Jason of “How I Met Your Mother” 56 Guthrie of folk 58 Like avocados ready for guacamole 60 Bi- plus one 61 Tree with elastic wood 62 WWII spy gp.

because she wanted to be closer to her family ­— and because she loves Auburn.

“This workshop is about the experience,” Keahey said. “This is one place when you all come to the workshop and you’ll see a group of people gather together, and they won’t be on their phones.”

Most things in the workshop are made of wood with few elements of technology.

Keahey said she loves DIY projects, often beginning the next project before she has even finished the previous one.

Keahey has solved this problem since attending the DIY project sessions.

“The first time we went to a DIY workshop, we got to take a sign home [after] three hours,” Keahey said.

Keahey was instantly drawn to open a space after reading an article about AR Workshop, a space designed for a community to come together and create personalized projects.

The website states AR Workshop Auburn will be a place even the most “creatively challenged” can create and connect in town.

Keahey said AR Workshop Auburn is a family business because her kids helped build up the workshop and continue to serve.

AR Workshop Auburn once helped a customer make a sign of her grandmother’s handwritten recipe for her kitchen.

“We can do anything that’s not copyrighted; it depends on what you need,” Keahey said.

The workshop has a private table for a group of six or more.

The workshop offers to host private parties from Sunday to Wednesday, with a minimum size of 12 people. For private parties on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the minimum size is 18 people.

Print Deadline: Noon three business days prior to publication.

FOR RELEASE MARCH 9, 2020

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Seminary book 6 E-cigarette output 11 Media-monitoring org.

14 __-proof: easy to operate 15 How the cheese stands, in a kids’ song 16 “__ be in touch!”

17 *Fruity ice cream treat 19 Be litigious 20 Grandstand group 21 Cough syrup, e.g.

23 Chad or Rob of movies 26 Practical joke 28 Lacking a downside 29 Immobile 31 Chafing result 33 Smart set member 35 “Great Leap Forward” Chinese leader 36 Storybook fiend 39 Upside-down sleeper 40 Fixed, like the ends of the answers to starred clues 43 Put a jinx on 44 Messy roomie 46 Nourished 47 House speaker Nancy 49 Luggage tie-on 52 Shops with slicers 53 Gondolier, e.g.

55 Deviate from a course, at sea 57 MASH shelter 58 Declares to be true 60 Carpentry wedge 62 Nautical pronoun 63 *Knock one out of the park 68 Afternoon social 69 Chopin piece 70 Marble mineral 71 Write “mispell,” say 72 “Jurassic Park” critters, briefly 73 Well-known DOWN 1 Highchair wear 2 Wash. neighbor 3 TSA checkpoint container

3/9/20

By Fred Piscop

4 Shoes sans laces 5 Sicilian volcano 6 Seven Sisters college 7 Tyrolean peak 8 C-SPAN figures, informally 9 French crockful with a cheesy crust 10 Captured back 11 *Place for rural anglers 12 Crossword hints 13 Checkout worker 18 “Life of Pi” director Lee 22 Common jazz combo 23 Tree branches 24 Shaq of NBA fame 25 *Won 10 in a row, say 27 2/2/20, for Super Bowl LIV 30 Many coll. lab instructors 32 Roll of bills 34 Egyptian queen in Tut’s time 37 Amber, for one 38 Be 41 Like fresh nail polish

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

42 __ XING: crosswalk sign 45 Restrain, as one’s breath 48 Captive’s plea 50 Worked together perfectly 51 Serious cuts 53 Keep moist, as turkey 54 [none of the above]

3/9/20

56 Grinch victim 59 Zap with a Taser 61 Somali-born model 64 Pointless bother 65 Squeal on the mob 66 Rugged vehicle, for short 67 “Game of Thrones” patriarch Stark