131 years in print Vol. CXXXII Issue LIIi
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWS ORGANIZATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI | WWW.NEWSRECORD.ORG
THE NEWS RECORD MONDAY | MAY 2 | 2011
cats out-hit pitt Bearcats claim weekend series
sports | 6
farina gets
funky
entertainment | 3
Police respond to death at WLWT tower SEAN PETERS and erin Leitner | The news record
sam greene | online EDITOR
A TRAGIC MORNING Cincinnati police officers respond to the scene where a man reportedly fell from the tower.
Cincinnati police are investigating the death of a person who fell from the WLWT transmitter tower on Chickasaw Street in Clifton Heights early Sunday morning. Cincinnati Police Department officers responded to a call of a severed hand belonging to a white male found at the corner of Rohs and Warner streets. The death has not been classified as a suicide and no details regarding the person’s identity have been released as of press time. Initial reports indicate the death occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m. Police estimate the man fell approximately 900 feet from the tower, which stands at 1,018 feet, according to the CPD. “We don’t know much and we found the torso at the bottom of the tower,” said CPD Sgt. Jeff Gramke of the homicide department. A wallet containing a University of Cincinnati student ID card was found at the scene, but Gramke could not confirm whether the wallet actually belonged to the deceased individual. Officers found the torso in the wooded
At 4:30 a.m., I heard a noise and I looked up and I saw a body falling from the sky. —jacob westendorf eyewitness
area at the tower’s base and did not have any more details as of press time. The cause of death — whether it was electrocution or the wires — has not been officially determined. Jacob Westendorf of Delhi was standing out on the front porch of his friend’s house on the corner of Rohs and Warner streets when he heard a loud bang and looked up to see what appeared to be body parts falling to the left of the tower. “At 4:30 a.m. I heard a noise and I looked up and I saw a body falling from the sky,” Westendorf said. “I heard a thud and another thud.” Westendorf said he observed the body falling from approximately two-thirds of the way up the tower and said he believed the unknown individual fell from the top.
Westendorf looked for another person at the top of the tower but did not see anyone else. He also says he doesn’t know if the fall was intentional. “I didn’t know what to do,”Westendorf said. Westendorf said he left the house about an hour later, but returned to the scene to report what he saw to police. Justin Cerrato, a third-year pre-med biochemistry student at UC, lives at 2300 Rohs St., where the severed hand was found in front of his house. “At 9:15 a.m., the police banged on my door,” Cerrato said. “They asked if we heard anything, had seen anything or knew any reason why there would be a bloody hand in front of my house.” Upon learning of the scene in front of his yard, Cerrato, along with approximately 40 other bystanders, witnessed firsthand the aftermath of the unidentified individual’s fall. “The hand was bloated,” Cerrato said. “Since it rained last night … it must have sat there for a few hours.” Cincinnati firefighters, using a hose connected to their truck, washed blood and see tower | 2
Former UC star admits guilt
UCPD arrest 5/3 thief James Sprague | NEWS EDITOR
James Sprague | NEWS EDITOR A former University of Cincinnati basketball celebrity and member of the 1992 men’s Final Four team has admitted his guilt in a three-year long mortgage fraud scheme. Anthony Buford, current announcer of UC men’s basketball games on Fox Sports Ohio, entered a plea agreement in paperwork he filed April 22 with the United States District Court, Western Division, Southern District of Ohio. In the paperwork, Buford admits his guilt in a loan scheme he participated in with Jolie Neal, his girlfriend, between 2004 and 2007. The scheme consisted of the pair taking out nine loans on three properties they owned in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason. Neal, a closing agent and owner of Tri-State Title Company, and Buford, a mortgage broker with Dynus Financial Services, would process the loans for each other. Money from the loans was not used to pay off the existing mortgages on the properties, but for personal expenses instead, according to court documents. The scheme defrauded Fifth Third Bank and Lehman Brothers Bank of more than $2.7 million, according to court documents. Both Buford and Neal were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud, according to court documents. Buford faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and fives years of supervised release if his plea agreement is accepted by Federal Judge Herman Weber. A court date has yet to have been set for Weber’s decision on Buford.
associated press file photo
END OF AN ERA President Obama announced May 1 that U.S. forces have killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
BIN LADEN IS DEAD Body of al-Qaida leader, 9/11 mastermind in U.S. custody gin a. ando | editor-in-chief Nine years, seven months and 21 days after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, President Barack Obama formally announced to all America at 11:36 p.m. May 1 that Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the loss of approximately 3,000 lives in the hijackings of the World Trade Center and Pentagon, has died. Obama broadcast information recounting events up to the operation that led U.S. forces into Pakistan, where bin Laden was found and killed. Numerous news sources began breaking the information earlier in the night.
jason hoffman | senior reporter
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Read a full transcript of President Obama’s speech on bin Laden’s death @
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Protest voices opposition to ALEC group
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The president said he green-lighted the operation to raid the compound May 1. During his 10-minute address, Obama said he had heard rumors regarding bin Laden’s location last August. Since then, the president said he had been working with intelligence agencies to confirm bin Laden’s whereabouts. Bin Laden has been evading manhunts since late 2001, when the first American troops began fighting in Afghanistan. Since then, he was expected to have been constantly moving around the mountains on the Afghanistan
A 24-year-old man was arrested for allegedly breaking into the JTM Suite at the University of Cincinnati’s Fifth Third Arena Wednesday, allegedly ransacking the room of bottles of liquor and cans of soda. Cordaro Jackson, a Madisonville resident, was arrested after he was allegedly observed leaving the arena with a bag containing the beverages by a University of Cincinnati Police Division officer. Jackson, cordaro who is not jackson a UC student, a l l e g e d l y climbed up the arena’s bleachers and entered the private suite in full view of the UC Gymnastics Club, which was practicing in the arena. UCPD officers also allegedly found a bag of marijuana on Jackson’s person. Jackson has a record of previous criminal offenses ranging from attempted burglary, drug trafficking, drug possession and driving under a suspended license, according to the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts. Jackson was charged by the UCPD with burglary, a felony and possession of drugs. He was being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center on $5,000 bond.
Erica ESHAM | TNR CONTRIBUtor
STOP THE INFLUENCE Protestors gathered at Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati Friday to express their displeasure with the policies of the American Legislative Exchange Councils Spring Task Force meeting.
A group of conservative state legislators from across the U.S. met in Cincinnati last week and drew the ire of local college students and union members during a protest Friday. Nearly 100 people gathered on Fountain Square to protest the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) Spring Task Force meeting hosted at the adjacent Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel. ALEC, founded in 1973, is a group of conservative state lawmakers that share the belief of limited government, free markets, federalism and individual liberty, according to ALEC’s website. The protest was aimed at curbing the ALEC’s involvement in the state legislative process in Ohio and other states, said Adam Stant, a graduate student at Miami University (OH) and one of the event organizers. “[ALEC] was formed … to push conservative ideals through legislation,” Stant said. “They have been responsible for a lot of the legislation we see like Senate Bill 5 in Ohio and the anti-union bills in Wisconsin and Indiana.” The purpose of the Spring Task Force meeting was to discuss policy issues regarding education, health care reform, state budget crises and to share suggestions for public policy in the United States, according to ALEC’s website. “Our initiatives on health care, budget
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reform and environmental policies have all gained traction throughout the states thanks to our legislative leaders,” said Noble Ellington, a state representative from Louisiana and ALEC’s 2011 national chairperson. “Citizens are calling for more responsible and sensible policies, rather than the government running their lives.” The“impromptu group”assembled for the protest was composed of groups including local labor unions, the Cincinnati Coffee Party, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the Miami University Graduate Employees Organization and Defend Ohio UC. The groups amassed during the last month after learning of the ALEC’s meeting, Stant said. “[The ALEC] represents an extraordinary amount of collusion between businesses and government officials that should not exist,” said Greg Zoller, a third-year international affairs student who attended the protest with Defend Ohio UC. The demonstration began with a play portraying the ALEC as a monster attacking the rights of women, minorities and workers. At the end of the play, the event’s main organizer Aliya Rahman, a graduate student at Miami University, outlined measures the protestors want to see from the ALEC. The group wants full disclosure of donors that contribute any amount exceeding $200 to the ALEC and the names of all elected representatives who are members of the see ALEC | 2