Approximately 1,000 copies of Thursday’s The Daily Reveille were reported stolen and found in a recycle bin between University Methodist and University Presbyterian churches on Dalrymple Drive on Thursday morning.
The Daily Reveille office received a tip Thursday morning from an unidentified caller who said the papers were in a recycle dumpster.
Daily Reveille Editor-in-Chief Walter Gabriel called LSUPD and reported the theft, which he said was an “unusual” case.
Gabriel said he believed a front-page story related to marijuana with a picture that featured someone using the drug could have had something to do with the theft.
“When you have someone smoking weed on your front page, and you find 1,000 copies of the paper in the dumpster, it’s not a coincidence,” Gabriel said.
Daily Reveille Adviser Melissa Moore said the total value of the newspapers could equal a felony theft charge.
“It’s very distressing when people think stealing and throwing away newspapers is the appropriate way to control a free press,” Moore said. “It’s obviously illegal.”
Gabriel said The Daily Reveille staffers retrieved the papers from the dumpster and returned them to distribution spots in Free Speech Plaza and around campus by 1 p.m.
The first copy of The Daily Reveille is free to students and 25 cents for each additional copy, according to the paper’s policies and procedures, which are printed daily in the masthead on page two.
Maj. Lawrence Rabalais, LSUPD spokesman, said the department had no leads on the theft but said the department had not completed a full report as of press time.
 
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