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September 19, 2016 Vol. 54 No. 9

Lasting effects USF researcher examines potential consequences Page 3 of sewage dump in Tampa Bay

Candidates’ health Soccer player makes the Marching band new focus of election starts new tradition most of walk-on role Page 4

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the Oracle the University of South Florida’s student newspaper since 1966

Editor in Chief Jacob Hoag oracleeditor@gmail.com Managing Editor Miki Shine News Editor Abby Rinaldi oraclenewsteam@gmail.com Sports Editor Vinnie Portell oraclesportseditor@gmail.com Opinion Editor Breanne Williams oracleopinion@gmail.com Lifestyle Editor Nicole Cate oraclelifestyleeditor@gmail.com Multimedia Editor Jackie Benitez oraclemultimediaeditor@gmail.com

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The Index

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News Briefs

NEWS

Sewage in bay may have repercussions

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Terrorist attack in Minnesota

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UP investigates sale of stolen books at campus bookstore

By Abby Rinaldi N E W S

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

The FBI is treating a stabbing in Minnesota as a terrorist attack, according to BBC World News. The attack occurred on Saturday at the Crossroads Center mall in the city of St. Cloud.

A man wielding a knife injured eight people in the mall, though none of their injuries were life threatening, the BBC reported. The man wore a security uniform and made references to Allah during the attack. He was shot and killed by off-duty police officer Jason Falconer, according to the Washington Post.

“Starting tomorrow, things won’t be the same,” St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson told the Post.

Dumpster explodes in New York City

An explosion inside a dumpster in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on Saturday injured 29 people, according to multiple reports.

The device used to cause the explosion appeared to be homemade, and a second device presumed to be a pressure cooker was found later, several blocks away, and removed. New York City’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, said investigators have not found any terrorist links so far.

After Hurricane Hermine, hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage entered Tampa Bay. The exact effects the sewage will have on life in and around the bay remains to be seen. ORACLE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ

By Morgan Blauth S T A F F

W R I T E R

H

undreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage and wastewater were released into Tampa Bay for 10 days following Hurricane Hermine, causing researchers to look into its effect on the Bay. USF researcher Suzanne Young is unsure of the exact consequences that a sewage dump of this scale will have on both human and aquatic life in the bay area, but she knows the current situation is not a good one.

“Anything you can find in raw sewage, including viruses and chemicals and all of the fecal-associated pathogens, those all pose a risk to people,” she said.

However, Young clarified that the hydrology of the area

will lessen the effects of the untreated sewage. “(Tampa Bay) is a huge body of water and the Gulf (of Mexico) is a huge body of water, so a lot of the health risk is kind of being over-exaggerated because of how much mixing happens,” she said. “The spread of (pathogens) is kind of affected by the hydrology, or the geography of what the water bodies are, and what kind of mixing there is.”

Young credits the country’s high standards of sanitation for keeping most health risks at bay.

“So far, we’ve been lucky in Tampa that there haven’t been (any) bad outbreaks of waterborne disease, and I think the actual volumes of untreated waste are low enough that it’s not as big of a public health disaster as it’s currently being viewed,” she said.

According to a Tampa Bay

Times article, wastewater officials estimate that the dumping that occurred during Hurricane Hermine was only 10 percent raw sewage; less concentrated than previous estimates. “(The city) did the best they could with treating as much as they could,” Young said.

“So that was another underreported thing was the level of treatment that most of this wastewater/sewage received. I think the city didn’t know how much of it had been treated, so they were still gathering that information.”

But Young said the tainted water will have negative effects on marine life. “(A sewage spill) can really upset the balance of food webs and just how sensitive aquatic animals are to those kinds of extreme changes,” she said.

Young said the issue of

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E D I T O R

The search continues for two individuals who were identified as selling books — believed to have been stolen — to the USF Bookstore, according to University Police (UP).

UP listed the two individuals as Jacob Tillman and Heidi Leheup. UP Public Information Officer Renna Reddick said the two were identified based on prior arrests and information from other agencies.

“Bookstore staff conducted inventory after these subjects tried to sell back books and the inventory showed they were (two) books short,” Reddick said in an email.

The incident under investigation occurred on Aug. 30, when Tillman and Leheup entered the store at approximately 4 p.m., according to a UP notification.

The two left and entered a gold 2002 Toyota Camry with Florida tag 9059TZ. Leheup returned after about 30 minutes to try to sell two books back to the bookstore and then left in the same Camry.

The investigation is currently ongoing and UP is working to locate Tillman and Leheup.

“Community alerts have been posted and the bookstore on campus have the subjects’ photos and names,” Reddick said.

UP encourages anyone with information related to the theft or the location of Tillman and Leheup to contact UP.

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OPINION

The odd debate on candidates’ health UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Restore voting rights to felons

By Breanne Williams C O L U M N I S T

JACKIE BENITEZ

ADAM MATHIEU

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, on their visits to USF prior to the focus on the candidate’s health records. ORACLE FILE PHOTO

By Jose-Andres Leon-Gil C O L U M N I S T

Last week, Hillary Clinton visited a 9/11 memorial service and rushed out, feeling overheated. Videos of her collapsing and supposedly fainting surfaced on major media outlets and social media sites like Twitter.

This sparked controversy and debate as questions of her medical well-being were once again brought about.

It seems odd to many voters that the overall fitness of a candidate is being given much attention. After all, Franklin D. Roosevelt won four presidential elections while suffering from Polio. Granted, his use of a wheelchair was hidden from the public, but it was not exactly a well-kept secret.

John F. Kennedy suffered from illnesses for the majority of his life, and when his political opponents tried to make it an issue, the public made it obvious they weren’t seriously concerned about it.

However, in 2016, Clinton is finding herself having to vehemently defend her brief pause on the campaign trail while

she recovered from pneumonia — her health is now another obstacle in her way to the presidency.

After Clinton’s incident at the memorial, Donald Trump took his thoughts and concerns to Fox & Friends to respond to the controversy surrounding Clintons health.

“I hope she gets well soon,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on.”

Critics of Trump believed he would not hesitate to strike during the controversy in order to garner support for his campaign, but they quickly realized that is not the case.

Instead of bashing Clinton for her poor health, Trump took the high road by wishing her well and a speedy recovery — a good move on Trump’s behalf, as attacking her at her time of vulnerability would have undoubtedly backfired on him.

Trump continued this trend of neutrality on the subject of Clinton’s health status in another interview with Fox News.

“I just don’t want to get involved with it,” Trump said. “I just hope she’s going to be fine and she’ll continue onward.”

However, Trump did not let what may become a crucial issue entirely slip by. He wasted no time in flamboyantly promising to release his own medical records moments after Clinton’s health blew up on the internet.

Volunteering to sit down with Dr. Oz and comb through his records was a tactical strategy by Trump, as concern for the medical well-being of the presidential candidates has exploded recently.

During the interview with Dr. Oz, which aired Thursday, Trump released a statement on his now-finished medical report. He then spoke about his weight loss goals and how he has managed to lower his cholesterol by taking the drug Statin.

His ostensibly good health gives him an advantage over Clinton, and in such a tight race, every advantage counts.

Though Trump did not comment negatively about Clinton’s health, some in the Democratic Party began to harass the Republican candidate about his fitness.

“He’s 70 years old, he’s not

slim and trim,” Harry Reid, Senate Democratic leader of Nevada, said. “He brags about eating fast food every day.”

Unfortunately, this was a bad move from the Democrats.

A select few chose to bash Trump’s health just from judgment and assumptions, which backfired on the party once Trump’s medical report came back without any major issues.

This election is shaping up to be one of the most wild, unpredictable, downright entertaining races in our history. A loud figure like Trump and a political titan like Clinton inarguably make this election one to remember.

This may be the first election to focus on the issue of health with such vigor but it surely won’t be the last. While presidents have been able to run for office before regardless of their doctor’s reports, it seems that may quickly and permanently change.

Jose-Andres Leon-Gil is a freshman majoring in mass communications.

Florida may soon be on the path to restoring voting rights to felons, according to reports from state election officials this week.

Florida is one of nine extremely restrictive states that require a governor’s action or court action to restore the voting rights to felons.

This oppressive ruling has banned 1.5 million Floridians from voting.

In 2007, Gov. Charlie Crist pushed to reform the unjust process by seeking to accelerate the restoration procedure for those nonviolent offenders who had completed their sentences and made restitution.

The move allowed over 155,000 people to regain their rights.

However, Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General of Florida Pam Bondi made it their goal to revoke those rights, placing Florida back in the category of most oppressive states toward felons.

While 38 states and the District of Columbia restore voting rights to felons either automatically upon release or completion of sentence, Florida refuses to grant its citizens the most valued right offered in this nation.

However, that may soon change.

A petition has received nearly 71,000 signatures from registered voters who support amending the law. Now Bondi and the Supreme Court of Florida must review the initiative.

If Florida’s politicians realize it is time to join the majority of our country in having fair laws protecting the rights of citizens the amendment may be on the 2018 ballot.

No one is advocating for the rights of murderers or sex offenders to be restored, but it’s not fair that those who were incarcerated for minor crimes should be prevented from having a say in the government that controls their lives.

Bondi and the Supreme Court of Florida need to recognize that as long as millions of Floridians’ voices are not valued, they will continue to keep our state in a unjust regime.

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LIFESTYLE

A budding USF tradtion

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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HOT band performs for students on nights before football game days

By Nicole Cate L I F E S T Y L E

E D I T O R

Students can usually only see them in the middle of the student section at home football games, but now people can catch USF’s Herd of Thunder (HOT) marching band performing right outside dining halls and dorms on select Friday nights.

Members of the HOT band put on a short performance outside of the Fresh Foods dining hall the night before USF football’s season opener, but this won’t have been a one-time occurrence.

Student leaders in the HOT band came up with the concept at a leadership retreat in August after they decided to start a band tradition. Part of their inspiration came from older bands with long-running customs. The HOT band is fairly new, as it came about in the late ‘90s.

Razanne Oueini, a senior double majoring in chemistry and music studies, explained that the idea was also developed as a way for the band to encourage and inspire the students.

“In college, all we do is entertain; There is no competition aspect whatsoever,” Oueini said. “What we do is we entertain audiences and we support the athletic teams.”

After the idea was brought up at the meeting, there was no turning back. All the leaders, and most of the band members, loved it.

At first, they were only going to perform the nights before the season opener and the Florida State University game.

They enjoyed their first performance so much that they wanted to do it again the night before the Northern Illinois University game. Unfortunately, it was too late to organize the band members by the time they decided on doing a second

Members of the USF HOT band started a new tradition where they played for students on the Friday night prior to the football season opener. ORACLE PHOTO/JACOB HOAG appearance.

They will be performing again this Friday and they hope for a larger turnout. The last time they played, it was Labor Day weekend and classes were cancelled because of Hurricane Hermine, so only a few students were on campus at the time.

The video Oueini took and posted on Facebook of that performance received over 2,500 views and 77 shares as of Friday night.

However, they decided not to

advertise their informal concert because they wanted to surprise students.

“A lot of things are advertised and everything’s planned and scheduled, but this is one of those things where it shouldn’t feel planned,” said Nicolas Remy, a junior majoring in music performance. “It should just feel like a tradition.”

Remy, a bass drum section leader, said that after the band was finished, the drum line went over to the tennis courts

beside the Cypress Apartments to continue playing because they enjoyed the experience so much.

“It’s just such a raw experience,” Remy said.

Matthew McCutchen, associate director of bands and director of athletic bands, said that he first heard about it at the leadership retreat, but it was the student leaders who planned and organized everything.

“We realized a long time ago that a lot of the best ideas come

from the students,” McCutchen said. “They take a lot of pride in the organization of the band and coming up with new ideas.”

Remy and Oueini hope that this continues long after they’re gone. Their wish is that this becomes something so big that incoming freshmen look forward to it and accept it as USF tradition.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing, and I hope it continues,” McCutchen said.

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BAY

Continued from PAGE 3

sewage dumping is not only important to city officials and fishermen. Students can learn from this problem too.

“It’s a good opportunity (for students) to get involved in local politics because these are all measures that are partially related to what the city council does, and your local government offices … have an impact as to where tax money goes,” she said.

Young explained that each person’s water use adds to the water flowing through the treatment plants. She suggested that people avoid doing laundry or running the dishwasher when it is raining to help the city avoid unnecessary dumping.

“The rain water, the storm water overflow, the sewage, all

JOURNEY

Continued from PAGE 8

“He’s a guy that we actually got to tell him to work less sometimes, because he always wants to work extra,” Kiefer said.

“On the road there was a match where, after the game at the hotel, he went and did some stuff on his own to make sure he was keeping himself fit.”

Al Balushi also gives back to the community in Oman by coaching soccer at an academy for young children. He said it was a good learning experience to see the game from a different perspective — that of a coach rather than a player.

Although soccer is a huge part

KEY

Continued from PAGE 8

“It was a slow start, but we had to collect ourselves on the sideline, tell each other to calm down and just play football like we normally do,” Adams said.

“We calmed down and things started going our way.”

Adams has now scored 16 touchdowns in his last 12 games dating back to 2015 and looks to keep up his rapid pace as USF heads into their biggest test of the Taggart Era. Despite then-No. 2 FSU getting ran out of the building 63-20 at the hands of No. 9 Louisville,

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T H E O R AC L E

of it’s going to the wastewater treatment plant and adding to that volume so when they reach that max volume, that’s when they have to start just dumping (untreated waste),” she said.

According to Young, it doesn’t help that Tampa Bay’s sewer system is “old and leaky.”

In 2015, the city closed down the Albert Whitted treatment plant — St. Petersburg’s oldest sewage treatment plant — that had a capacity of 12.5 million gallons. Officials told the Times that this worsened the overflow problem during Hurricane Hermine.

The Times also reported that the St. Petersburg City Council recently approved a budget with $58 million designated to update the City’s sewer system.

“I think (the sewage dumping) is going to keep

happening because it’s too big of a problem right now, as far as our infrastructure and capacity,” Young said.

“So I think they’re working on building and preparing infrastructure for the future.”

Young said that being educated about environmental issues is a good first step in solving problems like this one.

“I think people at least are paying attention now, and the Tampa Bay-area governments are aware of that and are kind of taking a lot of heat,” she said.

“Our population is growing, we’re creating more waste, and we have to figure out sustainable ways to treat our waste,” she said. “(We should learn) how to recycle waste or use different methods to treat waste, figure out how to reduce the storm water flow that’s going into the plants so that they don’t overflow.”

of his life, the midfielder said he knows there are larger things out there. To complete his high school diploma, he had to complete service projects through which he got involved with the National Association for Cancer Awareness in Oman when a woman came to an event and spoke to him about the organization.

“As soon as I heard her speak, it was all a matter of being a good person, which is what we advocate in (the USF soccer) program as well,” Al Balushi said.

After getting involved with the organization, he had an opportunity to go to a hospital and visit children affected with cancer. He said the event resonated deeply because he was able to see how he is able to change lives.

“That was a tough experience,” Al Balushi said. “But at the same, it was unbelievable to see how just your mere presence can impact a human being that’s been suffering a lot.”

Al Balushi said he is grateful for the opportunity to play for USF and the opportunities it gives him to positively impact others’ lives, further his education and to continue playing the game he loves. Kiefer said he is pleased the 21-year-old decided to walk on to his team and is excited to see the end of his USF story in the upcoming years.

“There are a million stories of wanting it to turn out like this that don’t,” Kiefer said. “So when it does turn out like this, it’s really special.”

next week’s matchup doesn’t seem to have lost any of its edge.

After suffering its worst loss since joining the ACC in 1992, its not surprising that the Noles were left with a bad taste in their mouths — a taste they will look to avenge against the Bulls.

“I don’t want to experience this ever again,” FSU defensive end Demarcus Walker told reporters after the rout. “You will never see somebody out-hustle, run to the ball, lead, out-work me from now on.

“I promise, I promise, Nole Nation, I promise you you’re going to see a different team. A different identity.”

A 17-point deficit could end

up being a blessing for USF if FSU does in fact come out looking for blood Saturday when the Noles visit Raymond James Stadium.

With the offensive firepower FSU showed in its opening game against Ole Miss — scoring 33 unanswered after falling behind 28-6 — paired with USF’s slow starts so far this season, being resilient may be USF’s key to an upset.

But, for now, Taggart is simply enjoying the win.

“I would say I can’t wait, but I want to enjoy this one for 24 hours,” Taggart said. “Then we’ll be on to FSU.”

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Sports

Appreciating the journey 8

Men’s Soccer

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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International USF student earns walk-on roster spot for the Bulls

By Will Kennedy

Football

Resilient play proves key for Bulls

C O R R E S P O N D E N T

After being passed over by all major soccer programs in the United States, Omar Al Balushi took matters into his own hands.

Undeterred, he moved to the states after high school to pursue his goal of playing collegiate soccer.

When Al Balushi received a list of American universities from his high school — St. George’s British International in Rome, Italy — the now-redshirt sophomore decided USF would be the best place for him to continue his education.

His aim was to find a good academic environment to pursue a degree in economics and also earn a spot on the soccer team roster.

“I was actually a walk-on,” Al Balushi said. “My plan was initially wherever I go, I’d try and get in with the team right away, and if that doesn’t work out, I’d probably transfer out.”

Luckily for Al Balushi, he impressed the coaches enough at his tryout to earn a spot for the spring team and again later in the fall season. Coach George Kiefer said he’s seen the forward continually get better since he’s given him an opportunity.

“Every time Omar gets something, he always pushes and earns more,” Kiefer said. “He’s even started a game this year, all through a walk-on try out.”

The redshirt sophomore admitted that although he was confident going into his try out, he was nervous.

“You’re always anxious because you’re there and everyone is looking at you,” Al Balushi said. “But I knew that if I do my thing I would make it on to the team.”

Although he wasn’t recruited,

Senior receiver Rodney Adams led the Bulls with three touchdowns Saturday.

Despite not receiving a scholarship offer, Omar Al Balushi earned a spot on USF’s roster after trying out in the spring of 2014. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ he is no stranger to playing on ple were talking in this (different) tegic system coaches want to big stages. The midfielder was language,” he said. “I looked at implement.

Kiefer believes that with his born in the Middle Eastern nation my mother and told her, ‘Mom, last two years at USF on the of Oman, but has lived in several please get me out of here.’”

However, through all the dif- horizon, Al Balushi will be able countries because of his father’s ficulties, soccer has been there to to grow more and develop as a work as a government official. player to emerge as a potential Al Balushi was able to play for help him through “After some time, you start star for the USF program. the Omani national soccer team “Omar fits in to how we play,” for four years. But though it is to acclimate, learn the language, the nation of his birth, he had to and soccer helped me a lot,” Al Keifer said. “He’s always a player relearn the culture at age 16 as he Balushi said. “I’ve been able to who will fit in here. We’re very make a lot of friends just from pleased we have him for a few had been away for so long. more years.”

“I experienced a culture shock playing.”

He believes all the traveling Al Balushi doesn’t care if he coming back to my own country,” he said. “I had to get used to the has helped him learn new skills in becomes a star; he is just focused people and the culture, which is soccer that have made him a bet- on making the team better by ironic because it’s my country. ter player today; specifically, he imposing his tireless work ethic But as soon as you wear that contrasted the strict disciplinary in everything he does.

“I’ll definitely work as hard national jersey or you hear that style of playing in Germany and as I can and help the team as national anthem, it’s one of the the more laid-back style of Italy.

“In my first training session, I much as possible,” Al Balushi proudest moments (of your life).”

Throughout his life, Al Balushi was five minutes late,” Al Balushi said. “Hopefully we can go on to has struggled to make friends said. “The coach told me ‘OK, do big things together. It’s a great because of the many changes of if you do that again you’re out opportunity and we cherish every environment. For instance, while of the team.’ They don’t tolerate moment out there. I’m just lookliving in Switzerland, he begged those kinds of things. Then, in ing forward to what’s coming.”

According to Kiefer, Al Balushi his parents to take him out of Italy they have a much more laid is a player you have to watch in his kindergarten class because back and relaxed atmosphere.”

These different styles have order to keep him from overof the difference in culture and given Al Balushi a chance to get working himself. language.

“I felt like I was an alien, peo- acclimated to any type of stran See JOURNEY on PAGE 7

SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/BRYAN CEREIJO

By Jacob Hoag E D I T O R

I N

C H I E F

After one quarter against Syracuse on Saturday, USF lay in a 17-point hole dug out by miscues and sloppy play.

But no one on the USF sideline panicked.

“I told them when (adversity) comes, we’re not gonna flinch; we’re gonna look it in the eye and say, ‘Bring it on,’” USF coach Willie Taggart said after the game. “Sure enough, we’re down (17-0), no one panicked or anything. Guys just said, ‘Let’s go, we’re all right.”

The 17-point deficit was the largest comeback since overcoming a 20-point hole against Tulsa in 2014.

Despite the sluggish start, USF rattled off 28 unanswered points in the second quarter and finished the game on a 45-3 run, due in large part to the offensive burst of senior wideout Rodney Adams who had three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving) in the game.

n See KEY on PAGE 7