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SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at '■ Should the United States try to www.dailygamecock.com or force out Saddam Hussein? send letters to the editor to www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Results published on Fridays. ' IN OUR OPINION Bulldog-free student seats USC’s student section has long been a source of pride for Carolina students as well as a noisy atmosphere for opposing teams. While students don’t mind standing for the duration of the game, or simply being in a packed crowd, certain adjustments need to be made. Security caught 27 students trying to enter the stadium using false IDs, but no one was there to stop countless Georgia fans from making it to the student section from other sections. Students expect rowdy fans to fill those seats, but not fans of the opposing teams. Some USC students were denied tickets to the game because student seats were sold out. If security is going make sure unwanted guests don’t get into the stadium, it should also make sure that those already permitted inside aren’t wandering where they shouldn’t. It’s good to see security is playing a vital role outside the stadium, but what about inside? Students typically can’t wander anywhere they choose, so why is it that anyone can wander into the designated student section? Packing fans into the stadium is not an issue. But because there were USC students who did not receive tickets to the game, it was disheartening to see that several Georgia fans were able to occupy seats that some USC students were denied. Students expect rowdy fans to fill those seats, but not fans of the opposing teams. Gamecock Quotables “You throw a chicken leg in that parking lot out there and expect ants not to run to it, you’re sadly mistaken.” ERNIE ELLIS DIRECTOR OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND SAFETY, ON SECURITY AT THE ROOST “A lot of Georgia fans were talking a lot of junk, but I didn’t see any more fights, although I felt like fighting.” TONY GOODING A SECOND YEAR SPORT AND ENTERTAINMENT MANAGEMENT STUDENT, ON STUDENT BEHAVIOR AT THE GEORGIA FOOTBALL GAME “I don’t think there’s any doubt the football teamjs shaky. If this football team ever needed support from the fans, it’s now.” LOU HOLTZ use HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, ON THE LOSS TO GEORGIA “They don’t have Mom and Dad cooking for them anymore; they have more freedom to eat what they want.... And beer — beer is just empty calories.” MICHELLE MURPHY PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROGRAMS, ON AVOIDING THE FRESHMAN 15 GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In an article on Wednesday about upcoming USC School of Music events, the opening for the Center for Southern African American Music was listed incorrectly. The opening will be held Oct. 25. The Gullah Singers will not be performing. The Gamecock regrets the errors. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor in Chief Mary Hartney News Editor Adam Beam Asst. News Editor Emma Ritch Viewpoints Editor Chris Foy Asst. Viewpoints Editc Erin O'Neal The Mix Editors Justin Bajan, Charles Tomlinson Sports Editor Kyle Almond Asst. Sports Editor Matt Rothenberg Photo Editor Candi Hauglum Head Designer Katie Smith Page Designers Samantha Hall, Julia Knetzer, Shawn Rourk David Stagg Copy Desk Chief Jill Martin Copy Editors Jennie Duggan, Tricia Ridgway, Holly Tothen Karen Vaught Online Editor Bessam Khadraoui Community Affairs Kiran Shah CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com News Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Newsroom: 777-7726 Editor's Office: 777-3914 r STUDENT MEDIA Faculty Adviser Erik Collins Director of Student Media Ellen Parsons Creative Director Susan King Business Manager Carolyn Griffin Advertising Manager Sarah Scarborough Classified Manager Sherry F. Holmes e, Creative Services Derek Goode, Earl Jones, Kimberly Myles, Melanie Roberts Advertising Staff 5W Adam Bourgoin, Justin Chappell, Amanda Ingram, Bianca Knowles, Denise Levereaux, Jacqueline Rice. Stacey Todd TO PUCE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia. S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 The Gamecock is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper's parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from the’ Department of Student Media. SAa. -najRUME CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Who will save your soul? ROB SEAL GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Jesus needs a better way of communicating. Jesus sent me a postcard the other day. I guess it wasn’t really a postcard, because it looked more like one of those subscrip tion cards you tear out of a mag azine. The return address defi nitely read Jesus, though. On closer inspection, it was Jesus — in all caps — and video project of America — in very small letters, a video featuring the New York City Fire Department accompanied this lit tle letter. I also received notification of the impending apocalypse in the mail. It’s a nice flier, complete with a fold-out picture of a drag on, a bear chewing on bones, a lion with wings, a three-headed tiger (also with wings) and a pissed-off-looking buffalo. On the front of the flier, there is anoth er drawing of a dragon. He is flanked on either side by pictures of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. The title of the flier is “The Time of the Beast.” The back of this flier is the best part, though. It shows a drawing of the earth, shrouded in black clouds. Nuke-looking missiles are flying through the stratosphere toward the United States. The rest of the world seemed to be doing OK, but the continent we live on has several measle-looking red marks. I guess those are the bombs that already landed. The slogan at the bottom of the picture reads, “Is the end of the world near... or here?” That rhymes. I work at a bookstore. I was walking out the door to go on my lunch break one day, when a man walked up to me in the parking lot and handed me a flier. It was much smaller than the “Time of the Beast” flier, and it didn’t even include a video. It did have magic words on the cover, though. The title of this flier, as near as I can tell, is “Absolutely Free.” That’s what was printed on the top, any way. There are no pictures of a nine-homed dragon, intimidat ing Arabs, nukes or three-head ed flying tigers on this flier. I work with an elderly gentle man named Bob at the bookstore. He’s lived in three different con tinents, served in the military, earned two degrees, worked at more trades than I can count and been a devout Christian all his life. He is possibly one of the nicest people I know. He has belonged to seven de nominations of the Christian faith during the course of his life. When I asked him why, he told me that the only constant he’s found in all the different church es is that his relationship with God is a private one. Bob took his break the same time I did that day, and he did not like the guy in the parking lot. “Jesus loves you, brother,” said the guy, extending the “Absolutely Free” flier. “I know,” said Bob. He didn’t take the flier. I had never seen Bob be so short with anyone before. The guy circled once, and came in for an other pass. Bob wasn’t having it. “Look, guy, I know what you’re trying to do. I assure you, my soul is safe.” The guy looked angry. I think he was used to being ignored or accosted, but not politely told that somebody else’s soul is no body else’s business. Way to go, Bob. Seal is a fourth-year print journalism student. IN YOUR OPINION . Parking lot security is severely lacking While rushing to the plane tarium last week, I decided to risk my parking space behind Columbia Hall with hope that I might punctually arrive at my destination. So, I walk across the parking lot and approach a seemingly unaltered car; but, to my dismay, someone has stolen my CD player and anni hilated my dashboard. Instinctively, I was enraged that my car was exploited and my possessions stolen, but after further deliberation, I noticed that an adjacent car suffered more severe damages. Upon fil ing a police report, I noticed a small card stating that the dam ages were initially noticed two hours earlier. Suddenly, my temperament shifted from outrage to disbelief that USC’s security is so lack adaisical in its attempts to ser vice the students. Later on, I re alized that multiple break-ins occurred in the same parking lot earlier that day, proving that we have insufficient parking surveillance. My primary concern is that, if the break-ins of five cars, in the same lot, were reported within 24 hours of each other, why didn’t the police recognize this trend and station a permanent patrol car in the area? It’s common knowledge that parking is scarce and inconveniences are to be ex pected, but not to this extreme. There is no excuse for parking se curity’s negligence. How many more incidents must occur be fore the hackneyed system is rec tified? SHAUNDRA CUNNINGHAM SECOND-YEAR BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION STUDENT Professor memorial was appreciated I want to thank The Gamecock for its coverage of Mr. Talmage Fauntleroy’s memorial service. It meant a lot to us to have the chance to sing and talk about him and share our grief together. When we got there, all of us still expected him to walk through the door and say what a great party it was. He meant so much to all of us, and we miss him. I was among three of his last stage-directing stu dents, and I am honored that I had the chance to. come to Carolina to study with him. We had good times and bad. He got angry with us if we did not live up to our full potential. Those of us in opera spent any where from four to 25 hours a week with him between classes and rehearsals — perhaps a lit tle bit more time than most peo ple are used to spending with a' professor! He invited us to his apart ment; he invested in us. He went to the Salsa Cabana with us once. Within opera, he found ways of celebrating his race and culture, and I am inspired to do the same. I learned so much from him. Mainly, I learned that I still have a lot to learn. DIANA DIAZ GRADUATE OPERA THEATRE STUDENT Columnist’s opinion on U.S. is skewed Edrin, you are misled, and I feel it’s my duty as a fellow stu dent and a fellow American to enlighten you. I will attempt to do this in a more coherent man ner than you displayed by avoid ing nonsensical analogies. Let’s start with criticizing the president for not knowing you personally. Don’t feel too bad; he doesn’t know me either, and I worked for his administration this summer for free. We are in a war, and our homeland is vulnerable to future attacks.So, if it takes detaining men of Middle Eastern descent who were publicly making verbal threats against our country while making light of 9/11, then detain them for questioning. The president didn’t just flip through his book of world lead ers, find a picture of Saddam, and say, "Hey this guy looks good.” Saddam has continually broken promises by throwing U.N. weapons inspectors out and is a clear threat to this country, his neighbors and his own people. So, in the future, when you refer to him as “Ole Saddam,” you might want to take these matters into consideration. On the issue of lack of support, we have more than enough sup port to get the job done. The pres ident has exhausted many av enues of diplomacy in front of the U.N., and if it doesn’t want to in tervene, then step aside and let us take care of this problem. Finally, on the issue of life, lib erty and justice for all, we won’t have these freedoms unless we oust dangerous leaders, such as Saddam, and take necessary mea sures to stamp out terrorism around the world. BLAKE CARL FOURTH-YEAR HISTORY STUDENT Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecocKviewpoints@hotmail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more information. Maybe ‘equal’ isn’t the word TERRANCE BEEKS GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Political offices in S.C. are lacking in diversity. I recall my grandmother con stantly saying, “Terrance, you can be anything that you want to be.” I believed every word of it when I was younger. I thought I could both become and do anything I wanted. The only stipulation was that I had to “put my mind to it.” The bitter truth is I can neither become nor do anything I want. There are restrictions on how far I can reach in this great game we call life. I learned as a child that ev eryone is equal, but not everyone will treat everyone else as an equal. I recall explaining to a friend that South Carolina has never elected an African-American to serve as a statewide elected offi cial — someone who must be elected by the entire state — out side of the Reconstruction Era. He was shocked and disappointed. At the time, I did not think it was that alarming. I did not fully real ize the significance. South Carolina has never had a black statewide official, though one-third of its population is African-American. According to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the number of . black elected officials nationally grew by 104 positions between January 1999 and January 2000. New York, Colorado, Georgia and North Carolina all have black statewide elected officials. Virginia elected Douglas Wilder, the lone African-American gov ernor in U.S. history. Edward R. Brooke of Massachusetts and Carol Mosely-Braun of Illinois were the only black senators elected since Reconstruction. African-Americans have sought South Carolina statewide posi tions in the past. Rep. James Clyburn (D) ran twice for statewide office. He now repre sents South Carolina’s sixth con gressional district. Former state Sen. Theo Mitchell won the Democratic nomination for gov ernor in 1990. He was defeated. I Some African-American lead ers think black politicians run into a “glass ceiling” in South Carolina politics. Many African Americans think representing South Carolina’s 6th Congressional (majority black) District is the highest office an African-American can hope to achieve, while white politicians, have endless opportunities to at tain high offices. White voters are less likely to support black candidates than they are white candidates. While the standards white voters use for deciding whether to vote for a black candidate are not certain, some think blacks ar e perceived as being too liberal and need to ap peal to broader constituencies in order to attract white votes. Black candidates must receive 20 per cent to 30 percent of the white vote to win a statewide election. South Carolina voters have the chance to make history this November. Steve Benjamin is a Democrat running for attorney general. Rick Wade, also a Democrat, is running for secre tary of state. We can prove to the nation that racism is not a factor in South Carolina elections. I do not endorse South Carolina citizens’ voting for some one simply because of their race. I think it is wrong, however, to choose not to vote for certain can didate simply because of their race even when one’s political be liefs most closely match theirs. We want to show all children that they can be anything they want to be. Beeks is a fourth-year political science student.