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STATE More funds at hand to fix S.C. roads COLUMBIA (AP) - South Carolina’s deteriorating roads and bridges will get an unex pected boost this year. The state Department of Transportation will receive $569 ipillion in transportation aid. Much of this money, which comes from federal and state funds, is supposed to be allo cated based on factors such as state population, vehicle miles traveled and miles of road. However, members of a con gressional conference commit tee earmarked hundreds of mil lions of dollars from the $59.6 billion transportation bill for pet projects in the members’ home states, an Associated Press computer analysis shows. South Carolina had expect ed to receive about $510 million, so state officials were pleased about the increase, said Bob Probst, DOT’S deputy director and head of finance. King lost at oeacn found 36 years later MYRTLE BEACH (AP) - The stone might be greener than it was 36 years ago, and it might only fit her pinky, but Sandra Hughes couldn’t be happier to have her class ring back. Hughes’ boyfriend lost the ring on the beach during a va cation in 1966. The two would eventually marry and look for the ring when they returned to the Grand Strand on vaca tion. Hughes’ husband died in 1997. Gene Barnes found the ring more than 20 years ago. He died in 1994, but his wife, Marilyn, recently decided to find the ring’s owner. With the help of a magnify ing glass, Marilyn Barnes was able to determine the ring came from New Castle High School in Virginia. The ring had no name on it, but it was engraved with the initials “S.G.H.” She called the school, now Craig County High School, and they were able to find Hughes. I NATION Bush budget targets defense, tax cuts WASHINGTON (AP) - - President Bush is sending Congress a $2.12 trillion spend ing plan Monday that seeks to recognize the "new realities" con fronting the nation since Sept. 11. It proposes the biggest jump in defense spending in two decades and a record increase in money devoted to making Americans more secure at home. The budget tries to revive an anti-recession stimulus pack age that stalled late last year in the Senate. It also seeks billions of dollars more in future years to make permanent the biggest economic victory of Bush’s first year in office, a sweeping, across-the-board tax cut. Congressional Democrats are pledging a fight to restore spending for their priorities and to oppose tax breaks in Bush’s stimulus package for the wealthy and corporations. Rumsfeld says Iran is helping al-Qaida WASHINGTON (AP) - Some Taliban and al-Qaida members who escaped Afghanistan have "found refuge" in Iran, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday. Rumsfeld and other Bush ad ministration officials also charged that Iran was creating instability inside Afghanistan by funneling arms to various factions within the country. Iran has helped in creating the interim Afghan government and raising money to rebuild its war-shattered neighbor, Secretary of State Colin Powell said. But President Bush’s grouping Iran with North Korea and Iraq as part of an "axis of evil" supporting terrorism was justified, U.S. officials said. Iranian officials have de nounced Bush’s comments and denied giving any help to the Taliban or Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida terrorist network. Iran’s government had strongly op posed the Taliban regime before its eventual collapse last year. WORLD Mideast leaders take moderate tone JERUSALEM (AP) - Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon each took unusual steps Sunday: the Palestinian leader pledged to stamp out Palestinian "terrorist groups," while the Israeli leader announced he would continue cease-fire talks he began last week with senior Palestinians. Arafat, in an editorial in The New York Times, denounced Palestinian militants who car ry out bombings and shootings against Israeli civilians. "These groups do not repre sent the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations for freedom," Arafat wrote. "They are terrorist organizations, and I am determined to put an end to their activities." Sharon, who met last Wednesday with senior Palestinian leaders for the first time since coming to power last year, said he would hold more talks when he returns from a meeting this week with ProciHonf PncVi Turkish earthquake kills at least 45 SULTANDAGI, TURKEY (AP) - ' An earthquake shook a poppy growing region in Turkey on Sunday, toppling scores of build ings and killing at least 45 peo ple. At least 150 people were in jured in the magnitude-6 quake. The government said no one else was believed trapped in the rubble and that it didn’t expect the death toll to climb much beyond 45. The epicenter was Sultandagi, a small town 125 miles south of the capital, Ankara, and affected areas up to 200 miles away. About 150 buildings collapsed in the area, which is fringed by the Sultan mountains and dotted with plains that are carpeted by red poppies in summer. The government-controlled poppy industry produces mor phine derivatives for use in painkillers. Interested in joining THE GAMECOCK staff? CCome to our interest meeting today at 7:30p.m. in RH333. For more information, e-mail gamecockeditor@hotmail.com. , ---: Former Enron chair cancels testimony before Congress BY PETE YOST THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -FormerEnron chairman Kenneth Lay pulled out of this week’s scheduled congres sional testimony on Sunday as members of Congress suggested he and other company executives en gaged in widespread criminality. Enron’s chairman "cannot be expected to participate in a pro ceeding in which conclusions have been reached before Mr. Lay has been given an opportunity to be heard," his attorney, Earl Silbert, said in letters to the Senate and House panels that were to hear from him.' The Senate Commerce Committee canceled its hearing after Lay pulled out, while the House Financial Services Committee planned to proceed. Lay’s decision came the day af ter a review of F.nrnn’s activities by University of Texas law school dean William Powers concluded that the company’s management concealed financial information from the public. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-DL, said on NBC’s "Today” that "Ken Lay obviously had to know that this was a giant pyramid scheme — a giant shell game." Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La„ asked whether "maybe somebody ought to go to the pokey for this." Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called Enron "almost a culture of corporate corruption" and said the Powers report is "a pretty devas tating indictment of things that went on inside the corporation. The report would suggest that as CEO, Mr. Lay certainly was aware of much of this.” "We’re going to meet with the committee mem bers and have a dis cussion about what we do next," Dorgan said Sunday night. Dorgan dis missed Silbert’s suggestion that the Lay hearing would be "prosecutorial" in tone, saying that the comments by members of Congress simply reflect assessments "by Enron’s own accounting firm re garding potentially illegal acts." "It was clear to us that he was looking for any little excuse to wiggle off the hook,", said Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which had planned to invite Lay to testify later this month. "As the old saving goes. 'you can run, but you can’t hide'" and if Lay refuses to testify, "he’ll be subpoenaed like everyone else." In his letters to Sen. Ernest Hollings of South Carolina and Republican Rep. Michael Oxley of Ohio, Silbert said "Mr. Lay firmly rejected any allegations that he en gaged in wrongful or criminal con duct." Hollings chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, Oxley the House Financial Services Committee. The Powers review of Enron also stated that a key document was missing from a partnership deal. Lay says he was unaware of the transaction and former Enron chief executive officer Jeff Skilling says he was unaware of the terms. "We have not located any Enron Deal Approval Sheet, ‘DASH,’ an internal document summarizing the transaction and showing required approvals," stat ed the report. The report noted the same type of situation in another transaction as well, and the report raised the possibility that no ap proval sheet was ever prepared. Tauzin said Skilling backed away from signing his name to off the-books partnership deals. "What does that say about his knowledge of whether these deals were honest or corrupt? We found out that one of the good guys ... went to Skilling and brought him all these deals to get his signature on it," Tauzin said. "He refused to sign it." Citing a company rife with con flicts of interest, Tauzin said that in one deal, a man and his girl friend at Enron actually negotiat ed with each other. "Thev were reallv sweethearts. ended up getting married," Tauzin said. "When they signed the deals, .they signed as married partners, one against the other.” Dorgan said the question of criminality is "a judgment for the U.S. Justice Department" to make, but he added that "$1 billion in profit was booked here that didn’t exist. That’s trouble." On CNN’s "Late Edition," Reps. Jim Greenwood and Henry Waxman argued over the political dimensions to the Enron contro versy. Waxman, ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, said hundreds of thou sands of dollars in Enron dona tions to Republicans and Democrats over the years had re sulted in weakened regulatory oversight of the company. "Those who stopped the police" from looking at Enron "bear some responsibility as well," Waxman said. -1 WILLIAM AND MARION LANGFAN CONSTITUTIONAL ORATORICAL PRIZE When: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 Where: Final six speakers only Gressette Room, Harper College, 7:00 PM Earlier in the day (12 noon) we will reduce the number of competitors to six by listening to preliminary speeches at the Carolina Plaza, Room 712. Rules: Deliver a speech without a manuscript and without notes. Topic: The topic will be on a contemporary constitutional issue and will be announced on the web page (see below) 7 days before the contest. Speeches with be 8 minutes long and will be evaluated by professors and alumni. Open to all USC full-time students, undergraduate and graduate (including law). Prizes: First place $1000 Second place $500 Third place $350 Fourth place $250 REGISTER: You must be a full-time student at U. South Carolina and must send your name, SS#, major, and on-campus phone and e-mail address TO: Berube (berube@sc.edu) before February 6, 2002 (12:00AM = midnight). http ://www. cla. sc. edu/thsp/faculty/berube/debate/langfan .htm This contest is hosted by Carolina Debate and funded by the Moore School of Business through a gift from William and Marion Langfan. EPSEON SIGMA ALPHA \ Service Sorority1 WHEN: TUESDAY-THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5-7 TIME: 7:00 PM WHERE: SOUTH QUAD LOUN6E DRESS: BUSINESS-DRESSY Visit our Website and <4pply Online at: www.geocities.com/sweetcarolinagirls _ <1£‘