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Thursday, February 16, 2017 www.usustatesman.com (435)-797-1742 Free single copy NEWS | Soulful STUDENT LIFE | Olympians SPORTS | Blazing Start USU students celebrate Black History USU has its own brand of Olympians on USU softball and women’s tennis each start Month with their own culinary history. campus. the season with strong play. see PAGE 2 see PAGE 4 see PAGE 6 The life before TORREY GREEN the jumpsuit thing and everything,” said Samantha McCa- By Alison Berg rver, a childhood friend of Green’s. NEWS STAFF WRITER McCarver also said Green was very charita- The past year has been a rollercoaster of emo- ble and caring about others. tions for Torrey Jordan Green, a former USU “He constantly puts others before himself student and linebacker for the football team. and wants to see others succeed just as much, Green first made headlines in April 2016 if not more than he would like to succeed when he signed a free agent contract with the himself,” she said. Atlanta Falcons — one of seven Aggies to ei- Green told Mosher he was surprised because ther be drafted or sign free agent contracts Kendall Olsen — the Logan City Police de- with the National Football League teams tective who investigated the case, told Green during the 2016 NFL draft process. he “saw what kind of person he was and knew Green, who has nine siblings, grew up in Ru- he couldn’t be capable of something like this.” bidoux, California — a town of approximately Many who knew Green enjoyed his presence 34,000 people located near the Riverside area and have faith in his innocence, including his in the southern part of the state. family, who declined to comment for this sto- JJ Mosher, Green’s high school football ry. coach, described Rubidoux as a “poor, low-in- “That’s definitely not the Torrey I knew,” said come town ... but (with) great, small town Kyra De’Nae, a high school friend of Green’s. people.” “He was shy and respectful, not like the other Green studied journalism and communica- boys.” tion at USU and achieved several accomplish- In addition, those who knew Green through ments on and off the football field. USU’s journalism program also thought high- As a reporter on Aggie TV news, a news sta- ly of him. tion run by broadcast journalism students, “I thought he was really funny … I didn’t Green won a student Emmy — along with the think he’d ever do that,” said Chris Campbell, rest of his fellow classmates. a former USU student who had several jour- However, Green never accepted the Emmy, nalism classes with Green. nor did he suit up for the Falcons in Super Campbell shared a story in which he and Bowl 51. That’s because the Falcons released Green worked together on a project in their Green in August after accusations of sexual introduction to video class. assault during his time at USU came to light. The idea of the project was to create a basic Mosher said he and Green sat together, video introducing yourself and answering a shocked as they read the article published by few questions. However, Campbell wanted to The Salt Lake Tribune, which laid out the ac- be creative in the video so he invited Torrey to cusations of four women. participate. PHOTO BY John Zsiray, Herald Journal Mosher said Green confirmed he had en- “I wanted to make a video where Torrey kid- Torrey Green appears in court with his lawyer, Skye Lazaro, on Oct. 25. gaged in sexual relations with the alleged vic- napped me, I wake up and Torrey is me in the Green is facing seven charges of rape, forcible found innocent of the allegations against tims, but insisted the encounters were all con- future — which seems ridiculous because Tor- sex abuse and aggravated kidnapping. He will him.” sensual. Mosher believes Green has been rey looks nothing like me,” Campbell said. be heard in 1st District Court March 29-31, Lazaro said she plans to discuss the media’s wrongfully accused, and he’s not alone in that Campbell was nervous Green would decline and is being held in the Cache County Jail un- role in the case, because five more women sentiment. to participate and think the project was was til then. came forward after The Salt Lake Tribune’s Green is described by those who knew him dumb, “but he was really willing and nice Green’s publicist, Zack Teperman, and his at- original story. while he was growing up as a devout Chris- about it,” Campbell said. torney, Skye Lazaro, said in a statement they tian. Campbell also thought Green “always said “maintain that once all the facts and new evi- — [email protected] “Torrey is a man of God. He is driven by his funny things on camera,” and he was excited dence comes out in court, our client will be @alison__berg faith in God each and every day, despite any- when Green signed with the Falcons. Cache Valley air hits decade Can idling cars be stopped by young high for fine particulate matter citizens? Logan leaders hope so at Utah State University. “Chemicals that are school to other areas of the community, Rog- By Eddie Collins emitted from those create our problem.” By Matilyn Mortensen ers said. UTAH STATE NEWS SERVICE UTAH STATE NEWS SERVICE Periods of cold, stagnant air are able to easily “Immediately the impact is the school — trap pollutants in the valley, according to Cou- clean up the air right outside the school,” Rog- The concentration of fine particulate matter Logan city leaders and volunteers are work- lombe, and people who are affected rely heavi- ers said. “But there are sort of secondary in the air reached a high of 102.6 micrograms ing to improve air quality by educating resi- ly on storms to break up the stagnation and spinoffs. One would hope that education goes per cubic meter on Friday — a level of un- dents about the effects of idling — and they’re provide a clean slate for the air. home with the parents.” healthiness that even those in often-smoggy starting by taking small steps with young al- The frigid conditions of late January and ear- Logan Councilman Herm Olsen is hoping Cache County haven’t experienced in a long lies. ly February are gone, at least for the time be- children will help encourage their parents to time. “Early on we were looking for this silver bul- ing, and forecasts don’t indicate a repeat of think about the pollution caused by idling. “I don’t think we’ve had levels that high in let or this grand thing that’s going to improve Friday’s haze any time soon. When school kids catch on “that cars run- probably 12 years,” said Josh Greer, the air our air quality,” said Paul Rogers, a community “If we can keep it a little bit warmer, maybe ning, running, burning, burning, exhausting, quality program manager at Bear River Health volunteer. “Well, it’s now become clear, I think with a little bit of air movement and moisture, exhausting, day after day in the pick-up zones Department. “Best way I can categorize it is to all parties, that it’s going to take a lot of we’re probably not going to get quite as bad as really will affect them,” Olsen said, “I think the definitely unhealthy; doesn’t really matter who little fixes to improve our air quality.” before,” Greer said. kids then become the motivating factor to say, you are.” One “fix” is the 2014 amendment to the Lo- Cache Valley is expected to have good air ‘Mom, if we’re going to be here five minutes, The levels of particulate matter 2.5, which is gan anti-idling ordinance. This made it illegal quality for the next few days, without any re- turn it off.’” responsible for the decreased visibility and to idle a vehicle for longer than two minutes in stricted actions. Ending idling in school parking lots may not general toxicity of the ambient air, were nearly temperatures above zero degrees — something Residents of Cache Valley can access regular change the air quality from a red day to a green triple the Environmental Protection Agency’s that tends to happen a lot around schools as air quality updates and historical information day, Olsen acknowledged. However, he said standard for allowable concentration. parents wait to pick up their children. on the Utah Department of Environmental this is one of many small changes that can add PM2.5 is particularly dangerous due to its To combat this, Rogers is working with the Quality’s website. up to improving the air. ability to penetrate deep into a person’s lungs, Logan City School District, and alongside “If we start riding the buses more, and driv- causing serious health issues for anyone with other volunteers, to put up signs informing — www.usns.usu.edu ing our cars less, that helps,” Olsen said.