The
S TUDENT P RINTZ www.studentprintz.com
SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927
April 16, 2013
Volume 97 Issue 52
NATIONAL
Hub City runners safe after Boston bombings Mary Margaret Halford Executive Editor Three people were killed and more than 140 were injured Monday afternoon when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and several Hattiesburg residents were in attendance at the race. Those who traveled from the Hub City were close to the explosions, but they were not injured in the attack. Jeanetta Bennett, who works in the communications department at South Mississippi Electric, was with four runners from Hattiesburg who participated in the race, including her boyfriend, John Chandler. “We had been right across the street from the explosion about an hour before,” Bennett said by phone Monday night. “All of the Hattiesburg runners got in before the bomb. I didn’t see the explosion, but I saw the fire trucks. I didn’t know what was going on.” Bennett said one Hattiesburg runner, Ginny Dufrene, made it across the finish line about five
or ten minutes before the bomb went off. “She heard it and saw all the smoke,” Bennett said. “I was waiting on Ginny to get in, and I really didn’t know what had happened until I got back to the hotel.” The two blasts occurred within about 12 seconds of each other and happened about 100 yards apart, just near the finish line of the 26.2-mile race. According to CNN, of the 144 who are injured, 17 were in critical condition while 25 were listed as serious Monday night. One of the three fatalities was an 8-year-old boy. “It’s really hard to comprehend how someone could do this,” Bennett said. “You’re sitting there watching all the injury numbers continually go up, and it’s a difficult thing to process.” After the explosions, cell phone service in Boston was temporarily inaccessible. “I’ve cursed Facebook many times, but this one time I was very grateful for it,” Bennett said.
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Michael Ivins-USA TODAY Sports Police officers investigate the scene of a bomb that detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
NATIONAL
USM to play major role in aftermath of marathon attack
Southern Miss has a leading role to play in the response to the Boston Marathon bombings, said Lou Marciani, Director of the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at Southern Miss. “I think our university is a leader, an academic leader in the area of sports safety,” said Marciani, who was named one of the nation’s top security professionals by Security magazine in 2011 . That’s because NCS4, which has been housed in the Trent Lott Center on campus since 2006, is the only institution in the country that focuses on research and training in the area of sports security and safety.
NCS4 works closely with the Department of Homeland Security in the event of terrorist attacks – like the one in Boston. “Any event with multiple explosive devices – as this appears to be – is clearly an act of terror, and will be approached as an act of terror,” NBC News reported a White House official as saying Monday night. “However, we don’t yet know who carried out this attack, and a thorough investigation will have to determine whether it was planned and carried out by a terrorist group, foreign or domestic.” If confirmed as a terror attack, it would be the first on the American homefront since 9/11. The role of NCS4 really comes in once that investigation is complete, Marciani said.
BEAUTIFICATION
WEATHER
Ashton Pittman Printz Writer
Courtesy Photo
From left: Terri Ward, John Chandler, Jeanetta Bennett and Ginny Dufrene stand in Boston Sunday afternoon.
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“The University of Southern Mississippi will be a facilitator of the best information that facilitates the best practices and training,” he said. “Our role is to digest this issue, work with the field, work with those that manage these events and first responders, and gather all we’ve learned from this tragedy so that in the future people can feel free to go to events like this and feel safe.” NCS4 has previously focused on preventing terrorist attacks at sports stadiums, but Monday’s events may change that. “We have been concentrating on stadiums since the beginning of NCS4 because of the risk factors, but we’ve kept in touch with open space events,” Marciani said. “I guess we all thought we were pretty safe in the
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INDEX
Calendar ........................ 2 News................................3 Arts & Entertainment......4 Opinion...........................6 Sports...............................7 News................................8