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_Carolina News__ , ""” Candidate receives elections •infraction by Patrick Rathbun Assistant News Editor The Student Government Elec tions Commission met Thursday to de cide the ramifications of three alleged candidate violations. The first of the election code in fractions was filed Wednesday against senate candidate Chanika Williams for a poster-placement infraction. Ac cording to the description of the vio lation, “Mrs. Williams apparently mis placed her signs illegally on the first floor of Gambrell Hall. This inexcus able infraction cannot go unpunished. Mrs. Williams has multiple posters hung on the bulletin board” Williams wasn’t present to defend herself at the meeting, but released a statement to the committee explaining the mistake as an “oversight.” The elections committee issued a warning to Williams for the alleged infraction. Another alleged violation was filed monaay agaipsi presidential candidate Katie Taylor for an online infraction. According to the description of the vi olation, “Ms. Taylor has a hyperlink to USC’s VIP online on her Web site. When you click on the link, it takes ^ you directly to VIP.” Taylor’s cam paign manager, David Taylor, was pre sent at the meeting and presented a re buttal. Taylor said as soon as he heard the site was violating the candidate’s packet, he changed it so it wouldn’t provide a link to the VIP page. The committee concluded that ignorance wasn’t an excuse and issued an infrac tion to Taylor. The last alleged infraction was brought against presidential candidate Mark Hartney, who was accused of person-to-person distribution of his campaign and/or election information. Hartney said that he generally made a point of avoiding hand-to-hand dis tribution of materials and that he didn’t specifically recall handing out any information. The committee didn’t reach a final decision as to the pun k ishment of the alleged violation. GciS prices highest in 10 years Staff Reports * Associated Press The highest gas prices in South Carolina in a decade are putting the pinch on business and state agencies’ fuel budgets, with things likely to wors en. Fuel-cost overruns for the state’s 5,600 school buses are approaching $3 million, said Donald Tudor, trans portation director at the state De partment of Education. The depart ment is using unspent money from last year and hoping to make up the dif ference a year from now, he said If prices keep rising, some travel may be restricted, said Lexington County Administrator Art Brooks. ► A A «Tollnn nf linlpaHoH rptnilar »v. V O erages $1.25 in South Carolina Tom Crosby of AAA Carolinas predicts a 10- to 15-cent per gallon increase in the next few weeks. “There’s nothing on the horizon that says it’s going to come down,” Crosby said. Prices haven’t been this high since January 1990, seven months before the Persian Gulf crisis, according to AAA. A year ago, a gallon of un leaded regular averaged 84.6 cents, AAA said. The Charlotte, N.C.-based consumer travel group gets its num bers from the Oil Price Information Service, which samples 15,000 gas sta tions in the Carolinas. This year’s increase is caused by production cutbacks that began in 1998 ^i by renewed demand from recov ering Asian economies, Crosby said. Government agencies are moni toring the rate increases. So far, the • overage is small enough that agencies can absorb them, officials said. Civil War submarine might be lifted from watery grave by Jim Davenport Associated Press The Confederate submarine Hunle> could be lifted from its watery grave b> mid-July. The Hunley Commission accepted a proposal from Oceaneering Internation al Inc. on Thursday to lift the vessel. That sets in motion a multistep approval process to raise the Hunley. Oceaneering International is the same company that raised the Liberty Bell 7 space capsule last year and has been im volved in several aircraft wreckage re coveries operations. Representatives of the company set July as a goal for having the Hunley out of the water. That work would take about 60 days. The Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship. The vessel, which had a hand-cranked pro peller and was fashioned from locomo tive boilers, went down with its nine-man crew in February 1864 after sinking the Union blockade ship Housatonic. Why it sank off Sullivans Island has remained a mystery. Officials hope the expedition to raise the vessel will get under way late this spring. The Hunley Commission had origi nally projected raising the sub in 2001. But a conservation tank and lab at the old Charleston Navy Base should be complete •by April, allowing an earlier start. Officials hope to raise the sub some time in June or July, before the height of the hurricane season. Project manager Robert Neyland has said workers could spend as long as two months around-the-clock over the site off Sullivans Island, just outside Charleston’s harbor where the submarine was found buried almost five years ago. Workers are expected to craft a steel frame around the submarine to support it. Then a crane will lift the frame and the sub to the surface. The project’s cost is estimated at $ 16 million, which includes an endowment for future maintenance. After the Hunley is raised, it will take about a year to excavate the inside of the sub, which includes recovering the crew’s remains. The outside of the sub marine will be kept in near-freezing wa ter to protect it as the work proceeds. The vessel will eventually be moved to the Charleston Museum for display. ATTENTION CIVIL VGINEERS!! 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