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I ^HHHH New election codes spark controversy in Senate by Amanda Silva The Gamecock A controversial period of ques fo? tion about a new bill proposed by the Elections Committee to amend the election codes dominated student senate’s meeting Wednesday night. The bill is a revision of the cur rent election codes and an attempt by the committee to clarify the cur rent election process. “I just want the election process to be as fair and precise as possible,” Elections Commissioner Angie Alpert said. The bill was met with heated op position, and some senators who didn’t agree with the wording or the content of the codes suggested sev eral changes. The meeting threw the fate of the ‘legislation, which is the first to be taken up by the Senate since Sept. 26 and tlje first binding bill to be con sidered this year, into doubt. The main concern surrounded person-to-person campaigning on election day and campaigning in USC buildings. “Online voting started last year,” Alpert said, so one of this year’s main concerns is distribution of campaign materials in buildings with comput er labs which serve as official polling locations. The bill wasn’t voted on but could potentially be voted on next week if it’s reopened by the Senate. According to Vice President Corey Ford, the Senate must approve the codes as soon as possible in or der to get them signed by SG Presi dent Jotaka Eaddy and USC Presi dent John Palms in time for upcoming elections in February. Amendments to the codes are done as soon as possible in the first semester in order for them to be en acted by second semester, Alpert said. President Protempore Melissa Fletcher also said the bill needed to be passed soon. “I think it is important to clari fy the issues surrounding the elec tions so that they will run as smooth ly as possible,” she said. Fletcher said it was also impor tant to discuss any new issues from last year that could affect the elec tions, such as the computers in the Russell House being used as part of the polling stations. However, Sen. Michael Kozlarek said he had concerns about the bill’s content and the speed the spon sors wanted to move it through the ^ Senate. In addition to having concerns about the vagueness of some of the bill’s provisions, Kozlarek said he op posed a provision restricting person to-person campaigning to election day and barring such campaigning in any buildings with official polling places. “What’s wrong with people hand ing out their stuff?” Kozlarek asked in a phone interview after the meet ing. He added that, while he had no problem with banning candidates from polling locations and creating a buffer zone around the locations, he didn’t believe a ban on the en tire building where a polling place is located was necessary. At the Senate meeting, Kozlarek proposed that Ford appoint a group of five or six senators to look into re vising the bill. Ford rebuffed the sug gestion. Kozlarek said he had concerns with rushing the bill through only to have it contain problems that might draw a veto from Palms. _ “I’d rather do it at the front end than wait for him to correct it and send it back,” Kozlarek said. Kozlarek was attempting to meet with Alpert and Fletcher before the next Senate meeting in order to address some of his concerns. If that* doesn’t work, Kozlarek said he planned on proposing at least the six amendments he has already drafted. Eaddy said Thursday she might veto the bill if the restriction on per son-to-person campaigning before election day was removed. Ford said it has been a matter of precedence that the codes are amend ed every year, and that it’s always a controversial issue. The next Senate meeting will al low for debate on specific content of the revised bill, if it is re-opened. Absences from the meeting in cluded Sen. Faiyaz Dossaji and Sen. Kenny Hinson. Brandon Larrabee contributed to this report. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@ho6mail.com. Wednesday, Oct. 25 • Illegal use of telephone, South Tower. Reporting officer R. Shir er spoke with a resident who said an unknown subject who identified ° himself as David was making ha rassing phone calls to her room. The victim said she didn’t know who David was. • Auto break-in, larceny of CD play er, Roost parking lot. Angela Malek said unknown person(s) gained ac cess to her vehicle through the pas senger’s side front door and re moved the Pioneer CD player from her car. The reporting officer was C.Morales, and the estimated val ue is $150. • Water damage/Malicious, Snow den dorm. Student Douglas Shear er told reporting officer R. Osborne that unknown person(s) by un known means damaged the fire hose and sprayed water from the hose, causing damage to the residence hall. • Trespassing after notice, Byrnes Center. Reporting officer M. Moore observed Derek Neal, 38, picking through an ashtray outside of the above location. The reporting offi cer stopped Neal, who gave the false name Arnold Jackson to the offi cer. After a NCIC check, it was confirmed he had an outstanding city of Columbia warrant for foigery. Tuesday, October 24 ' • Auto break-in. Complaintant said unknown person(s) broke out the driver’s side-front window and re moved between one and 22 CDs from his car. Also taken from the car were two 12” kicker speakers, one speaker box and a CD player. • Found property, 1200 Heyward St. Reporting officer L. Forte spot ted a bicycle lying in the grass be side the road. A search of the sur rounding area for an owner was conducted with no contact. Forte brought the bike back to the station for safekeeping. Police are willing to give the bicycle to its proper owner upon a complete description of bicycle. — Thursday, October 26 • Malicious injury to real proper ty, 3000 Two Notch Road. The complaintant, a worker for Enter prise Rentals, said he was operat ing a company vehicle at the inci dent location when an unknown subject used unknown means, pos sibly some type of firearm, to shat ter the left-side rear glass window of the vehicle. The complaintant was unable to provide any further details. However, he said he smelled an unusual sulfuric scent after the window shattered. Estimated dam age is $200. Reporting officer was J. Whittle. • Disregarding red light, driving un der suspension, 3100 Two Notch Road. The suspect, Jermaine Davonn Allen, was stopped for run ning a red light at the incident lo cation. Allen said his license was suspended, which was confirmed through dispatch. Allen was arrested and taken to Richland County Detention Center. Reporting offi cer was J. Fisher. • Trespassing in an unsafe building, 2112 Sumter St. While checking property at the incident location", reporting officer Laney found the suspect, Clifford Rawls, inside. The Columbia Inspection Department had previously posted several “No Trespassing” signs in locations around the building. The property has been declared uninhabitable. Wednesday, October 25 • Petit larceny, 360 Harbison Blvd. The victim, Marcella Shirey, said that an unknown subject stole her navy blue leather purse out of her grocery cart buggy. The purse con tained a South Carolina driver’s li cense, a Wachovia checkbook and $22 cash. Estimated value is $74. Reporting officer was W.L. Buff ington. • Petit larceny, 401 Columbiana Drive (Columbiana Ridge Apart ments). The complaintant, Hyacinth Salmon, said her son left her cel lular phone unattended in the breeze way of her apartment build ing. During that time, an unknown suspect stole the phone, a black SunCom model. The serial number is unknown. Estimated value is $180. Reporting officer was W.L. Buffington. • Simple assault, 4311 Grand St. The victim, Karen Stanley, said an unknown black female subject hit her on her hand, head and back with a stick. Reporting offi cer Carillo couldn’t see any visible signs of injury. Southeastern Fertility Center has helped many couples achieve pregnancy since 1983. We are in need of Egg Donors to continue to help infertile women. -Young healthy women between 21 - 32 -Procedures are done in Mt. Pleasant, SC -Requires a month of your time -Compensation is $2000 Hodges from page 1 South Carolina,” he said. Reflecting on this statistic, Hodges mentioned the focus on teacher salary in South Carolina. He voiced his support of raising pay dramatically. Hodges has proposed raising salaries for the state’s teachers to the national average. “While it didn’t seem to mat ter too much in the past, salary must now be carefully considered,” Hodges said. “Within six years we want to move toward the national average of $43 thousand to $44 thousand.” Hodges also advocated an in creased concentration on classroom discipline and teacher-training pro grams so more learning can take place. “We are concerned with what can be done to better prepare teach ers for the classroom,” he said. The governor also addressed an attempt to lower class size to 15 students per room. “We need to immediately be gin from pre-kindeigarten to col lege, an educational system that ad dresses all aspects. The goal is for South Carolina to be a national leader in education.” The city/state desk can be reached at gamecockcitydesk@hotmaiLcom. Health : from page 1 “The military retirees were promised health care for life when they initially enlisted,” she said. “But after the invention of Medicaret in stead of the military paying for their health care, Medicare did. Basically, the military was not keeping their • promise to these retirees, and Sen. Hollings has wanted to change that.” Another problem with military re tirees’ health care being provided by Medicare-, according to a Hollings’ press release, is there is no prescrip tion drug coverage. The bill will provide military re tirees with two options for purchas ing prescription drugs. The retirees will either be able to purchase a 90 day supply of drugs from the Nation al Mail Order Pharmacy for $8, or they will pay 20 percent of the cost for pre scription drugs from the Defense De partment’s Retail Pharmacy. “This bill goes a long way toward restoring the promises that the Unit ed States made to its military,” Hollings said. “These jnilitary retirees were promised health care for life upon twenty years of service, and it is im portant to me that we'keep that promise. It is one of many ways that we should honor these retirees who selflessly laid lives on the line fight ing for our nation’s values and free doms,” Hollings said. Hollings has long advocated restor ing health care to U.S. Medicare-eli gible military retirees. Earlier this year, fie co-spon sored Sen. Tim Johnson’s bill to pro vide military retirees with access to the federal government’s health care system, but that bill didn’t pass. The bill that passed on Oct. 12 was a com promise proposal. The city/state desk can be reached at gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com. 1 Halloween2000 Witch lEfannnn Costumes Hats Popcorn Masks Decorations Favors Make-up Balloons Candy Candy Apples ,_1__ ; www.cromers.com