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Meeting
• The Long Beach Union’s
Ryan Holliday (left), managing editor, and
Elijah Bates, editor in chief, present the
reported theft of their most recent edition
at an Elections Commission meeting Tuesday
night. Tracey Roman / DailyForty-Niner
Reported Long Beach Union theft
cause for last minute Elections Commission
meeting
By
Jamie Rowe
and Lesley Nickus
Online Forty-Niner
After
the disappearance of Long Beach Union newspapers
Monday, Elijah Bates demanded at a Tuesday
night elections commission meeting that
action be taken against illegal campaign
tactics.
An estimated 6,000 newspapers were stolen
from Union stands on Monday. After discovering
a flaw in the printing quality, Union staffers
sent the copies back to the printer. Upon
receipt of the new copies, staffers promptly
redistributed them only to have them removed
shortly thereafter.
Throughout the course of the day, the stands
were emptied three times. According to Bates,
the copies were found in the trash and replaced
in the stands in hopes that students would
have the opportunity to read them.
“We reprinted [extra copies] at a
cost of $1,000 to the Union and ASI,”
Bates said.
A portion of student fees paid each semester
contribute to the general fund, portions
of which go to the operating budgets of
the Union, K-Beach radio, and the Gold Mine
Yearbook.
Bates also said three Union staffers –
Amanda Parsons, Summer Wagner and Kelly
Janke – were eating lunch in the food
court when campaigners for Ntuk approached
them. They later witnessed the campaigners
removing papers from the stands. Later the
three staffers noticed the stands in the
areas near the Liberal Arts buildings were
also empty.
Bates and AS Media Adviser John Trapper
said they both called Government Adviser
Kim Hinckson and asked her to tell Ntuk
to have his campaigners stop removing the
newspapers from the stands. Hinckson verified
both men had called her.
Members of the Union continued to replace
copies of this week’s edition up until
8:30 p.m. on Monday, at which time they
decided to place copies in the classrooms,
on student desks and tables at the front
of each classroom, said Bates. These papers
were missing as well yesterday morning.
Ryan Holliday, managing editor for the Union,
said, “I know that they were gone
specifically in FA4 because I walked through
the entire building when I arrived for class.”
“At 10:50 p.m. after we had finished
with the classroom distribution, we were
walking by LA 5 when we saw Jeb Sprague
tearing up copies of the Union in addition
to a blonde girl being there,” Bates
said.
Sprague is a key campaigner for Ntuk. According
to the 2004-2005 Election Handbook, in the
Behavior and Conduct section, stipulations
No. 2 and 3 state students are not authorized
to campaign if they are not registered as
one of the official campaigners and either
campaigning with or without the candidates
knowledge is also not permitted. Ntuk had
no direct involvement with the removal of
the papers.
In order to identify Sprague, Bates proceeded
to try to take pictures of him and claimed
he subsequently put on his hood and walked
away from the area.
At this point, Bates tried to take a picture
of the blonde girl, later identified in
a police report as Jayme Hall. Bates said
he performed a citizen’s arrest and
held her by the back of her sweatshirt until
Holliday was able to catch up.
“It seemed like the smartest decision
to make at that time,” Bates said.
Bates called University Police at 10:52
p.m. in regards to a disturbance, police
interviewed all parties and no one was willing
to pursue prosecution at that time, according
to Greg Pascal, university police dispatch
supervisor.
Hall filed a police report Tuesday at 5:21
p.m., in which she said she was posting
flyers in the north area of FO-2 when four
men approached her. She said Bates grabbed
her by the back of the sweatshirt and said
she was being held under citizen’s
arrest, she also said he spit on her.
“At no point ever was she put in harm.
At no point ever, and excuse me for my language,
I think this is the dirtiest word in the
world, did I ever call her a cunt. I never
spit on her. All I said was she violated
the First Amendment and she had to stay
until the University Police arrived,”
Bates said in response to an e-mail sent
out by Jeb Sprague, claiming he yelled obscenities
at Hall, and forced her to the ground and
pinned her down with his elbow in her spine.
“I don’t know where this [allegation]
came from. I’m trying to be rational
about it,” Hall said, also in response
to the e-mail. “I don’t want
this situation to be blown out of proportion.”
Sprague later said his email was written
in reaction to information with multiple
parties. He said he realizes that his statements
were based on information that may not have
been accurate.
Hall said she believes she was put under
false imprisonment and plans to press charges.
While Bates believes Hall was involved with
stealing the papers, Hall maintains that
she had no involvement in illicit campaign
tactics.
“I’m trying to help form a positive
campaign, it’s not my main agenda
to support [Ntuk]. I’m not an official
supporter. If it means I’m going to
get spit on, I don’t want anything
to do with it,” Hall said. “I
had nothing to do with [stealing Union papers].”
Pascal said the investigation is still underway
and the case is being sent to the Long Beach
city prosecutor for review.
Bates and Holliday both expressed a desire
to see the Commission hold the campaigners
and Ntuk to the standards in the Handbook
and punish them for the illegal acts.
Both men said the removal of the newspapers
constituted an infringement on both the
First and Fourth Amendments
.
“Currently there are two voices on
campus. One voice is being silenced because
someone took those paper,” Bates said.
Trapper cited a precedent case that happened
on campus approximately three years ago
when a group of students stole copies of
the paper. He said the group did distribution
for one day to settle the matter.
The Union only has 700 copies of this week’s
edition left in their office.
In response to the Union’s music editor,
and next editor in chief, Patrick Dooley’s
questioning of the process of the decision,
the Elections Commission stated that if
it ruled in the Union’s favor, the
candidate could appeal any action taken.
The Commission also stated it can only rule
on campaign tactics and candidates’
behavior.
If the Commission rules against the newspaper,
the staff will have to wait for judgments
from Judicial Affairs, with whom the Union
has already filed a complaint.
The commission declined to make a ruling
at the conclusion of the meeting.
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