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Show Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Page 4 AggieLif• Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman. Streaking part of officers' anecdotes BY D. WHITNEY SMITH copy editor A bag with two human hands in it — one right and one left — lay atop the Engineering Building, and a member of Facilities located the bag and notified USU Police, said Capt. Steve Milne while recalling a true story of an experience he had years ago. "We thought, 'Well, there's no way it can be human hands, there has to be an explanation," Milne said. "And we got up there, and sure enough, there was a right and a left hand — nice, clean cuts made at the wrists." Milne said police figured the hands must have come from the cadaver lab or could've been some sort of prank. He said the cadaver lab, however, reported it had all of its hands accounted for. At that point USU Police contacted area law enforcement to see if any of them were investigating a "dismemberment or missing body parts." "We were taking them down to the crime lab to see if they could help us," Milne said. "The best they could tell was that they were — I believe they said — female, and older. Beyond that, they couldn't tell us anything." A day or two later, Milne said, a graduate student working on a project regarding artificial knuckles came forward to claim the missing mitts. The student had reportedly gotten the hands on loan from a local doctor for research purposes, and Milne said instead of keeping them in the department refrigerator, the student would climb out on the roof and leave the hands there during the winter. The student ended up feeling somewhat sheepish, but Milne said nothing could be done legally. "Unless you've got a crime to tie it to, you're kind of left holding a bag of hands," he said. It's likely that most cops have stories they'll remember — things that break up the monotony of walking the beat, riding on patrol or typing up reports at a desk — but Milne and fellow USU police agreed it's not every day a pair of actual human hands is found. However, medical incidents occur all the time, and USU Police Sgt. Trevor Dunn, who used to work for Logan City Police, said in 1988 he and a fellow Logan officer responded to a dispatch regarding a drunk, middleaged man who was passed out in downtown Logan. "We pull up there and there was an intoxicated male, passed out, and I looked in his eyes to see if they were responsive, opened it up and it was fixed," Dunn said. "I said, 'We need to get this guy to the hospital,' and ... it was before you called the ambulance out for transport." Dunn said he and his partner loaded the man into the back seat of their squad car. "We folded his legs up and took off to the hospital," he said. "We got to the hospital, pulled him out of the car and were throwing him up on the gurney, and we missed the gurney and he rolls off the other side." Ultimately the officers were able to transport the man to the emergency room to be seen by a doctor. The reason the man's eye seemed so unresponsive is because it was a prosthetic, or "glass eye," Dunn said. Body parts, real and artificial, seem to be the subject of many anecdotes police officers remember. Officer Kim Ellis, who's worked for USU Police for about 10 years, said he formerly worked as a cop in Rexburg, Idaho, at Ricks College — before it became BYU-Idaho. While there, he said the biology department reported a full skeleton, made of human bones, missing. "While I was interviewing (the suspect) I said, `Where's the skeleton?'" Ellis said. "And he goes, 'Well, it's buried in the snow next to one of the buildings,' and I go, 'Why'd you bury it in the snow?" The student explained that he thought it would be funny for someone to find a skeleton in the grass after the snow melted, Ellis said. Unfortunately for the student, he said, the theft was a felony case since the cost of the skeleton exceeded $1000, which resulted in one somewhat expensive prank. Pranks are not all con- A STREAKER IS LED by the USU Police officers from a basketball game in 1993. File photo sidered criminal acts; cops engage in pranks frequently, too, Dunn said, and his colleague Officer Andy Barnes agreed. Barnes said he lay in wait, crouching in another officer's locker for at least 20 minutes so he could jump out and scare the officer when he came in for his shift. "It was the morning we also had apparently a 12-alarm fire at the Bio-tech (Building)," Barnes said. "Come to find out he was only coming on at 7 o'clock ... but this was like 5:40 when I got into his locker. At like five to 6, I get a fire alarm call and I'm inside his locker. It never happened. It was quite embarrassing." Other pranks go off without a hitch, though, such as the time Dunn said he salvaged a driver's-side car window from a local body shop. He said he took the window with him to a location at which a rookie officer had responded to a call. While the officer was indoors, Dunn used his own universal car key to unlock the squad car and roll the window down. "We're really good at pulling jokes," he said. "I pulled the glass out right next to (his car) and break it and shatter it, so half of it goes in the car and half of it is on the ground. Then we (stole) all his computers and radars, and then we opened his trunk and put all his stuff in his own trunk and then we leave." Dunn said he was the officer in charge that night, so ► See POLICE, Page 6 Students balance class, parenthood BY NADIAH JOHARI staff writer Thinkstock photo Lacey Haggan was a freshman at College of Southern Idaho three years ago when found out she was pregnant. One of the first things that came to her mind how she could continue her college career. "(I said) there's no way I can stay in school," Haggan said. Haggan, a senior majoring in communications studies, said although being pregnant in college was challenging, because she had to give up a lot of things, it was also a motivating experience. "When I got pregnant I decided that college wasn't just an option for me, it was a priority," Haggan said. "I wasn't going to skip class. But the things that made college fun, I had to forfeit a lot of those to make sure I was taking care of myself and my body." She said her friends and family were supportive when she got pregnant. Both she and her sister, Sheree Haggan, took the same classes to help Lacey with homework, and her mother quit her job to take care of the baby while Haggan went to classes, she said. "I gave birth to my son on Sunday and I was like, 'Oh, crap, I have school tomorrow, guess I can't go," she said. Haggan went back to school the next Monday, she said. She said although she did not receive any help from her son's father when she was pregnant, she recognized she was not alone. As a single mother, she said she takes her son to volleyball games, basketball games and other school activities because they are usually free. This allows her to still experience college life and spend quality time with her son, she said. She said some people were judgmental when she became pregnant in college, while others asked her how she could juggle work, school and pregnancy. "Know that you can't do it alone," she said. "Whether you have a mother, father, best friend, cousin or sister, someone is willing to step alongside you and say, let me help you.' When you're in that kind of situation, you just learn to humble yourself and let people know, 'I need help.'" Christena Law, a sophomore majoring in family, consumer and human development, is currently six and a half months pregnant. She said her motivation for school has decreased because when she feels sick it is difficult for her to get to class. "Sometimes you never know when you're going to throw up," she said. "Lately, when I get in a classroom with a lot of people, I get these hot flashes." However, she said her situation is not as bad as other pregnant women who she has talked to. Though at most times she feels tired, she keeps herself energized by making sure she is constantly hydrated and bringing snacks to school to eat during classes, she said. She said she tried to attend supplemental instruction sessions, since she has to skip some classes, but she found that to be difficult as well. In order to catch up with schoolwork, she gets help from her classmates and reads through her textbooks, she added. "I sit at the back of the room, which is hard for me because I like to sit in front to pay attention, but I have to sit at the back just in case I needed to get up, walk out and not be disruptive," she said. Law said she plans to take online classes after her baby is born. Beth Booton, the Family and Women's Health Care Nurse Practitioner at USU Student Health and Wellness Center, said a healthy diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables, protein and dairy products may reduce nausea during pregnancy. If nausea is severe a mother can take vitamin B6 to hopefully feel better, she said. Booton said adequate sleep at night is important. Though women who work out more often have easier pregnancies, they should not begin an exercise program when they get pregnant, she said. Utah is one of the few states in the US where women try to be both pregnant and be a student, she said. "I encourage women to really think strongly about being pregnant and being a student, because I think it slows them down," Booton said. "Everybody has to make that decision for themselves." The Student Health and Wellness Center provides preconception counseling, pap smear tests, prenatal vitamin prescriptions, Rubella screening, nutritional counseling and psychological support for pregnant students. However, it does not offer prenatal care. Kyle Ivins, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship, said he is a bit nervous about becoming a father while still in college. He said his wife, Danielle, is seven-months pregnant and has missed several classes because of sickness. He said her college department was not understanding and would not consider giving her an incomplete grade. "That was frustrating for me," Ivins said. "I think (professors) should make (pregnant students) make up work late if they are willing to do the work." He said his wife will take two semesters off before transferring to the University of Utah to complete her education. Once the baby is born, he's willing to wake up at night whenever the baby cries, he said. "Some husbands don't get up, but I want to because your baby is only that small for so long," he said. "We're only going to be pregnant students once. We're just going to love it ... it's all going to be way worth it." - nadiah.johari@aggiemail.usu.edu |