Volume 77, Issue 5 Thursday, June 19, 2015OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF BUCKEYE BOYS STATE, THE AMERICAN LEGION OF OHIO

Exclusive Interview with Governor Carter

Governor Isaiah Carter swept the election at Buckeye Boys State. Governor Carter is from Slovenia, Ohio in Lucas County and lives in Garrity City here at Buckeye Boys State. Governor Carter states that the meaning of being governor to him is that, It means the opportunity to direct this state onto a clear cut path. Ultimately I believe when I was a candidate I had a lot of support be-cause I was direct, I was straightfor-ward, I was to the point. Ultimately in office, I plan to do the same thing and take charge. I cant do everything by myself, I have a strong staff If we work together and all the pieces come together, my job as governor is to make sure we at Buckeye Boys State continue smoothly. Before Governor Carter decided he would be running for governor, he says he was going to sign up to be a part of the Hetuck. I chose to run for governor because I wanted the op-portunity to meet people. Ultimately, if politics is 100% the field I would like to enter, the connections, the network, everything that the office of governor offers me, I would like to give back in politics when that is the field I go into. I had a lot of fun campaigning. I actually went floor to floor and I sat on every floor I sat there and let them ask my ques-tions, I answered every single one

of them, I told them a little about myself. I made sure they knew who I was going into the election. That way, in the real world, when I go into an election, I have the history, the experience, and the background of everything I learned here at Buckeye Boys State. Here at Buckeye Boys State we plan to keep the death penalty. When Governor Carter was asked about why we would keep the death penalty he answered that it would hopefully keep criminals from committing crimes. He says that if the person that committed the crime has a mental disability he would send the case to the Department of Mental Health. When it comes to education, the government wants to increase fund-ing vouchers for private school so that it will lower tuition for the stu-dents of the private school. Governor Carter says that as a whole he would like both public and private school to be more affordable and wants the students to be marketable on a global scale but also locally. The economy and taxes are always a problem in the United States. Gov-ernor Carter says that in order to keep

everything funded equally but also keep taxes down he is going to work hand and hand with the Department of Taxation and we may have a flat income tax rate of 3%. He says that as long as they balance the budget and we as a state have no debt we can keep the taxes lowered as a whole. Governor Carter says that if your mother is poor when youre growing up then 9 times out of 10, you will grow up poor, which is called gen-erational poverty. Carter says that if we partner with schools and give the kids of the younger mothers a better education, the generational poverty will be broken. Governor Carter won the election by 806 votes with his campaign slogan Work Harder, Work Smarter, Vote for Carter. Carter believes anyone will support you when you are straightforward and give logical statements. He believes that anything he said to anyone represents him as a person. He also believes the platform as a whole is practical. He believes when you combine those things with a strong candidate and a strong speaker. Anything is possible. He says he doesnt want to let anything get to his head even though he did win by a large deficit. He wants to stay humble and get his job done. At the end of the day all 971 people that voted for him would be disappointed if he didnt do what everyone expects him to do.

Michael VinceHetuck Reporter and Writer

Photo by: Liam Davis\Governor Isaiah Carter

2 The Hetuck

As I walked through the heatwave that attacked us Tuesday afternoon, I heard the familiar ring of an ice cream truck. After extensive inves-tigation of the situation, I realized that we in fact did have an ice cream truck right here at Boys State. As I ordered my usual $1 sour cherry Popsicle (which is delicious if you havent tried it yet) I realized that there was an advertisement for a book on the freezer. I asked him a few questions and it led to the ice cream man telling me a little bit about his story. His name is Pineapple XVI, and on the surface he just sells bomb pops and fudge bars to over-heated

teenagers. Sometimes though, we cant see the whole story, and if you ask Pineapple XVI (his actual name) you will understand the whole story of Lessons from an Ice Cream Truck, his new book. In the book (available on Amazon) he talks about his adven-tures from Missouri to Iowa, Illinois to Wisconsin, and Buckeye Boys State to Buckeye Girls State.While talking to Mr. XVI we were pleasantly surprised when he broke into song. He spoke in rhythm and poetry, or as most Boys Staters would say it, he rapped to us. In this song he spoke about his road to becom-ing an ice cream truck driver, and his ice cream dream. When asked if his cross country ice cream truck sales were simply just a marketing scheme, he vigorously replied, Not at all! I just love driving! To me this sounds like a dream come true for any of you ice cream enthusiasts out there at Boys State. If so, stop by and talk to Pineapple XVI in between Falcon Heights and Tower East.

Pineapple XVI: Genius Marketing or Impassioned

Work?Soren Gran Hetuck Editor-in-ChiefAlonzo Spears Hetuck Reporter and Writer

Photo by: Liam Davis

BBSs very own ice cream mogul: Pineapple XVI

Take FiveRyan OatesHetuck Reporter and Writer

Between taking bar exams and cam-paigning for office, it's sometimes nice to take a break and breathe a lit-tle fresh air. During their free time at Buckeye Boys State, delegates can be seen running around campus, snack-ing on ice cream and pizza from lo-cal vendors, and playing cards in their lounges. Throughout the day, lounges at BBS are alive with music and conversation. Its been great getting to know the guys, says Gabel City Councilman Garrett Shearer, everyone seems to be pretty nice, wanting to talk to ev-eryone and play card games. Del-egates are quickly becoming comfort-able with each other, and a certain sense of loyalty is eminent. Because of busy schedules and late nights, delegates can often be found taking naps in their dorms between major events. During my free time, Ive mainly been asking people if they voted for me, says Gabel City Citi-zen Jacob Rosech, even though Im now ineligible because I didnt pass my bar exam. I also just like to eat food and sleep. While a lot of sleeping and snack-ing is happening around campus, its also good to know that things are get-ting done. Delegates at BBS cram approximately six months of real-life campaigning into two days, and that in itself is very impressive. State primaries, general elections and the state job fair have taken place already. But for now, take a break. Go for a walk. Meet someone new. Stop and eat some ice cream in the sun. It just might do you some good.

The Hetuck 3

BBS State Highway Patrol

Soren GranHetuck Editor-in-Chief

On Monday, the first full day of Buckeye Boys State, I was walking back from the cafeteria to my dorm. On the way back, I passed a group of sweaty guys, presumably Boys Staters, who seemingly had just fin-ished a run. Who were these myste-rious young men and who were they running from? I later discovered that these were tryouts for the State High-way Patrol, but I still didn't know much about the program. Fortunately, I interviewed someone who did. I interviewed Logan Lacourt, the colonel of the BBS Highway Patrol. Logan is in the city Peltier and lives in Massillon, Ohio. He is the colonel of the BBS Highway State Patrol. He wrestles for his school and is team captain for next year, and his wres-tling team is ranked in the top twenty in the nation. Logan also participates in a community service organization, NHS, and Model UN. Logan's fa-vorite thing to do is to be with other people like his friends, since he's so busy and spends so much time doing schoolwork and other activities. What does State Highway Patrol do?

State Highway Patrol has many ac-tivities and roles. Logan told me that in the morning, SHP has PT (physi-cal training) and wakes up the other dorms. The past couple of days, SHP was learning how to march for proper drill and ceremony. Logan also men-tioned that SHP will be giving a spe-cial demonstration Thursday evening at Stroh Arena to commemorate all the state patrolmen who have died. SHP is also learning how to enforce the law, which is their main duty dur-ing BBS. Logan also said, "We will help the parents get around on Sat-urday and we'll work with the police chief. We will be representing Boys State." According to Logan, joining State Highway Patrol was a difficult task. Eighty guys tried out to be troopers and only twenty were selected. The candidates had to undergo both a writ-ten test and a physical test and their collective score determined whether or not they made the team, with only the top twenty scorers being selected. The physical test consisted of one minute of push-ups, one minute of sit-ups, and a 1.5 mile run. After the State Highway Patrol was selected, there are still various po-sitions to be filled by members of

Photo by: Liam DavisThe BBS State Highway Patrol

SHP. The positions, in descending order, are: colonel, lieutenant colo-nel, major, captain, staff lieutenant, lieutenant, and sergeant. Logan had the honor of being chosen colonel, the highest position. Logan said he was chosen because he demonstrated leadership by stepping up to lead the march on the first day. I asked Logan why he chose to try out for State Highway Patrol. He re-sponded, "I wanted to be more inter-active in a position. I have respect for all the other positions but I wanted to be more interactive and be tired all day. We wanted an active job. Also we have an interest in state highway patrol." When I asked Logan if he planned to pursue a career in State Highway Patrol, he said, "I do not see myself doing this in the future. I'm planning on going ROTC in college and going into the army as a career. I've always had an interest in law en-forcement and being in the police but the military has always drawn me in." "I'm really happy with our group and who we have," said Logan. "We work really well together as a group." State Highway Patrol is a prestigious role in Boys State and Logan and his fellow troopers have worked hard to attain this position. As a side note, Logan's favorite meal so far has been maca-roni noodles with meat sauce and breadsticks.

4 The Hetuck

At Wednesday nights assembly, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon L. Kennedy spoke, with assertions that, though running under the model of a republic, the United States is nevertheless a democracy, as persons vote for the representatives by whom they are represented. With her speech, Justice Kennedy further pushed a key Boys State message: voting is an important right and responsibility to exercise because it allows people to give their voice in the political process, but, shame-fully, only a slim majority of persons actually do. However, according to Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Pages 2014 study Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens, as published in Perspectives on Politics by the American Political Science Association, the state of American democracy may not be that simple. In their study, Gilens and Page focused on four political theories of rule: traditional majoritarian electoral democracy; majoritarian pluralism, characterized by interests groups of the electorate holding influence; the domination of economic-elites; and biased pluralism, which is chiefly characterized by business interests and trade groups dominating politics. What Gilens and Page ultimately found, after comparing existing public policy, proposed policy, public opinion, and business/economic-elite interests, is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. govern-ment policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

Their study found that, when public policy and public opinion did line up, it seemed to be either because public opinion matched economic-elite and business interests or because the particular matter of policy had no to minimal effects against the special-ized interests of economic-elites of businesses. In this case, it seems to be an onerous task for the average person to push their personal voice using representative elections. In fact, even if a person were to decide to do this, their vote may be extraneous anyway, as, according to The Rothenberg and Gonzales Political Report from Au-gust of 2013, approaching the 2014 midterm elections, only 49 out of the 435 national House of Representative seats were competitive, meaning that, in 386 congressional districts, wheth-er part of the majority or minority, no individuals vote had a reasonable chance to make a difference. In the conclusion of their article, Gilens and Page introduce that, though there is some progress with

Jack WarfieldHetuck Reporter and Writer

labor unions when it comes to increasing the influence of public opinion, business-interests groups still hold practically all influence in American politics, and, since net alignments of the most influential, business-oriented groups are nega-tively related to the average citizens wishes, until the power of these groups is somehow addressed, there can be little to no progress in terms of moving towards the goal of a ma-joritarian electoral system. The prob-lem of uncompetitive districts can be more easily addressed if, instead of partisan commissions drawing dis-trict lines, all congressional districts were to be redrawn by independent, non-partisan commissions. Until these problems are addressed, how-ever, there is no reasonable path to widespread public influence. Ending with a line from Gilens and Pages conclusion: All in all, we believe that the public is likely to be a more certain guardian of its own interests than any feasible alternative.

The State of Democracy

Photo by: Liam DavisJustice Sharon L. Kennedy speaks before the delegates of BBS at Stroh Center