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I I s .. University of South Carolina MONDAY APRII 7 900^ Vol.96,No.77 www.dailygamecock.com IVIWIML/rXI, rArivIL I , 4.UUJ Since 1908 —-—---=—=^—=-—. .— SG ELECTIONS DreilingwinsSG presidency BY MICHAEL LArUKUIA THE GAMECOCK Katie Dreiling defeated third-year criminal justice student Tyler Odom in a runoff election Friday to become 2003-2004 Student Government president. The third-year political-science student won 823 votes to Odom’s 640. Elections Commissioner Brooke Vickery an nounced the results Friday to a handful of sup porters on the third floor of the Russell House. “It hasn’t hit me yet,” Dreiling said. “It’s been a long week, and I’ve worked really hard.” ^ Odom congratulated Dreiling on her win. “I’m glad it’s over. It’s been a lot of fun,” Odom said. “I’ll just find another way to serve ♦ DREILING, SEE PAGE 2 Voting center poses instant runoff method BY ROB SEAL TIIK (IAMBIKICK ^ The Center for Voting and Democracy is ur gin voting reform on college campuses nation wide to eliminate separate runoff elections. The center is a national nonprofit organiza tion specializing in alternative voting methods, said John Russell, the center’s program associ ate. The group proposes a system called instant runoff voting. In this system, voters put their first and second choices for office on the ballot instead of voting only for their first choice, Russell said. If no candidate receives a majori ♦ VOTING, SEE PAGE 2 PHOTO BY CANDI HAUGLUM/THE GAMECOCK Third-year political-science student Katie Dreiling speaks with current SG president Ankit Patel on the third floor of the Russell House after her victory in Friday’s runoff election for 2003-04 Student Government president. Dreiling defeated third-year criminal-justice student Tyler Odom by 183 votes. Kaplan sponsors course giveaway BY JULIA KNETZER TIIK CAMKCOCK Kaplan is giving free test-prep courses to 30 students nation wide. Kaplan Test Prep is taking en tries for its inaugural “Course-a Day Giveaway,” in which stu dents can enter to win free grad uate-test-prep courses, including LSAT, GRE, MCAT, DAT, OAT, TOEFL and English-language courses. Entering the contest is free. Karen Blass, Kaplan spokeswoman, said the GRE course regularly costs $999; the GMAT $1,249; the LSAT $1,099; and the MCAT $1,349. Kaplan also offers cheaper on line courses, as well as stand alone books and CD-ROMS, Blass said. Entries will be taken until May 31. Kaplan will give away PACE THE MUSIC PHOTO BY JUSTINE BULLER/THE GAMECOCK Steve McMurry, lead singer and guitarist for Acoustic Syndicate, performs at the 3 Rivers Music Festival on Saturday. To read more about the festival, see page 5. SURFYOURSELF Students can register for the course giveaway at www.kaptest.com/gfveaway. courses in separate random drawings from June 16 to July 15. Kaplan is doing the giveaway to “encourage students to think about test prep and do whatever they can to better their chances” of getting good scores on the tests and getting into graduate school, Blass said. ♦ KAPLAN, SEE PAGE 2 U.S. Marines seize Saddam’s palace, circle Iraq capital BY CALVIN WOODWARD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A U.S. military plane landed Sunday at Baghdad’s interna tional airport while American forces completed their encir clement of the capital, rapidly chipping away at vestiges of Saddam Hussein’s power. The intense fighting took a growing toll on combatants and civilians, however. Russian diplomats and a con voy of America’s Kurdish com rades in arms were among un intended victims caught in crossfire and friendly fire. A C-130 cargo plane landed at the airport late Sunday, demonstrating that the allies were now ready to put the re cently captured tarmac to their own use. Southeast of Baghdad, Marines seized one of Saddam’s palaces, poked through remnants of a Republican Guard headquar ters and searched a suspected terrorist training camp, find ing the shell of a passenger jet believed to be used for hijack ing practice. U.S. forces consolidated po sitions encircling Baghdad and declared they controlled all highways in and out of the city. On another vital front, British troops thrust deep into Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, with a sense they are fi nally shaking loose the Saddam Hussein loyalists who have hung on for more than two weeks. But in northern Iraq, U.S. aircraft mistakenly bombed a convoy of allied Kurdish fight ers operating with U.S. special forces in a battle at a cross roads south of Irbil. At least 17 Kurdish fighters died, said Hoshyar Zebari, a senior member of the govern ing Kurdistan Democratic Party. He said that among the 45 wounded was a brother of the party’s leader. A convoy of Russian diplo mats, including the ambas ♦ IRAQ, SEE PAGE 2 > Former secretary of civil-rights leaders to speak BY ALLYSON BIRD THE GAMECOCK The ninth annual Benjamin E. Mays lecture will feature Dora E. McDonald, secretary to Mays and civil-rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Andrew Young, at Amoco Hall of the Swearingen Engineering Center on Wed nesday at 7 p.m. The lecture, “Journey of a Secretary: From. Benjamin E. Mays to Martin Luther King Jr.,” will primarily fo cus on McDonald’s work with King. “The message he taught back in the '60s is so relevant today,” McDonald said. McDonald began her profes sional life after meeting Mays, for mer Morehouse College president and mentor to King, at South Carolina State College, where she was a student. After working for Mays, she worked for King and then for Young until he went to the United Nations. She finished her career at IBM as a marketing secretary. McDonald, who was King’s sec retary when he was assassinated in 1968, stays active in her church and community and works at the King Center, where she an swers the mail of Coretta Scott King, the late Martin Luther King Jr.’s wife. “My life is changed because of the work of Martin Luther King, of course, and I got a foundation for my work ethic by working for Benjamin E. Mays. My life has not changed; my life has just evolved due to my work with these men,” ♦ LECTURE, SEE PAGE 3 The message he taught back in the ’60s is so relevant today.” DORA E. MCDONALD ON HER WORK WITH MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. Index Comics and Crossword 7 Classifieds__10 Horoscopes_ _ 7 Letters to the Editor _ 4 Online Poll 4 Police Report 2 Weather TODAY TOMORROW High 75 High 68 Low 60 Low 52 In This Issue ♦ NEWS Check out state, nation and world briefs Page 3 ♦ VIEWPOINTS Shawn Rourk suggests several alternatives to five everyday curse words. Page 4 ♦ THE MIX The 3 Rivers Festival, Toast, and the Columbia International Festival steal the weekend. Page 5 ♦ SPORTS The Gamecocks lose two out of three games to Louisiana State over the weekend. Page 8