Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MEDITORIALS Down on SCPIR G It is about time someone questions the actions of the South Carolina Public Interest and Research Group (SCPIRG) ; congratulations to the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) for this step. Although we don't agree with all of YAF's actions, we applaud this move. YAF's charge of "involuntary taxation"' in SCPIRG's efforts to solicit $3 per year from students Is valia. Why should students have to pay $3 regardless whether or not they want to support an organization? Especially an organization that barely has its feet off the ground and one whose longevity can be questioned? Students should reconsider what they are signing when petitioners come knocking at their dormitory doors. They should not sign petitions to get rid of SCPIRG's pushy money seekers. Instead, they need to discover what SC PI RG is and not be railroaded by brainwashed petitioners. Seek the facts. It's your money you are signing away. Find out if you want your money used to further the aims and aspirations of a few before you sign your name. Is SCPIRG worthwhile and will it work? Student money will not make the organization a success, but its leaders and members. Instead of involuntary taxation SCPIRG should seek financial aid from its members and sup porters. This would also save them the trouble of writing thousands of $3 checks to refund those forced to donate. SCPIRG in its free time should also inform its petition bearers of the location of the organization's office. Exams got to go Near the end of each semester, we see students killing themselves for exams. Everything the student does centers around his grade. Too often, professors approach classes with the same attitude. It seems that the University has lost the original concept of education. It is so important to memorize facts, quotations and theories? Are we here to expose ourselves to the thoughts of others just so we can say "I read that book." Theoretically, we are here to develop a system of thinking. The thoughts of others are important for what they stimulate in us. Facts are necessary only as background material. We are all familiar with the professor who says," 'I don't mind being questioned.'' But he never gives students the chance to do it. If we are to grasp the true significance of education, we must question everything that is put before us. The battle over exams rages. The question is what is the University's policy? Do professors really have the freedom to decide how they will conduct their classes? The answer varies from class to class and professor to professor. Many support the idea of exams because it is traditional; that's the way it always has been done. But the amount of knowledge a student is expected to accumulate for the exam increases every semester. Many of our concepts have changed in relation to today's world. It is time we started measuring students' progress more effectively and fairly. Today's student is under more pressure than he has ever been. Many students relate their use of drugs, both am phetamines and mariluana, to exams. One is to come up, the other to come down. Exams aren't fair. For the good of the student and the advancement of education, they must go. E ditorial board All unsigned editorials that appear in this column were written by members of the Gamecock. The members of the board are: Glenda Miller, Sharon Givens, Doug Williams John. T. Gash, Char:les Fellen baum .and -Rusty. Robinson Today revisited The si BY JOHN T. GASH Associate Editor Sickle-cell anemia, a disease which affects mostly blacks, is incurable. There appears to be indications that the sickle-cell problem may take a turn for the worse: increasing medical evidence reveals that oral con traceptives may cause people with a sickle-cell "trait" to experience a crisis. A "trait" is a condition occuring when the person has inherited the disease from only one parent with sickle-cell. A person who has the trait usually doesn't suffer as would a person who actually has the disease, which he received from both parents who had the trait or disease. In the February issue of "Ramparts" the editors explain the new developments: "Three physicians recently reported cases in which patients with sickle-cell disease or the sickle-cell trait developed blood clots after taking oral con traceptives. In a 1967 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association," Drs. Roy Haynes and James Dunn discuss two patients with sickle-cell disease who developed blood clots in their lungs after the use of oral con traceptives. In the April 1971 issue The watermark The den BY BOB CRAFT Feature Editor There once was a former British naval intelligence man named Ian Fleming who wrote a book entitled Casino Royale. In this book was a character by the name of James Bond, a "medium grade civil servant," who was to become a motion picture phenenomenon in the mid sixties. Bond was to create a rash of spinoffs and spoofs and finally, he would end up spoofing himself, not a very dignified end. If one looks at the books and compare them to the cinema. Bond, one would find many discrepancies. Such as the cinema Bond being some sort of superman with a barrel full of gadgets. The literary Bond, however, is someone who has a very keen and healthy sense of fear and pain; a man who is sent out to battle the enemies of Great Britain with only a Beretta or Walther PPK and his own wits. Then two men, Harry Saltzman and Albert "Cubby" Broccoli came along with an unknown Scot tish actor and ex-chorus boy named Sean Connery in a film called "Dr. No" and a phenomenon was born. By 1966, the Bond craze was in full swing. There were Bond toys, terrible smelling 007 colognes and aft er shaves, Bond sweatshirts and you couldn't turn on the television wit hout running into a spy series. Then it began to pall. "Thun derball" wasn't as good as the first three and Connery, now a rich man, had continual arguments about.salary and walked out on the part after the fifth picture, "You Only Live Twice." There was another Bond picture, "On Her Majesty's Secret Ser vice" made with an Australian Lckle-cell I of "Connecticut Medicine," Dr. Jonathan Greenwald describes the case of a patient with the sickle cell trait who suffered a stroke after taking birth control pills." Since education of the black community about sickle-cell disease has been a primary goal of medical and government officials (in a 1968 survey, only 30 per cent of the black population knew what t he disease was), this development adds another reason to increase the efforts. The disease afflicts about 45,000 people nationwide. If someone does have the disease, the chances are 50 per cent that by the time he is eight, he will be dead and 80 per cent by 30. About 12 per cent of the black population has the trait. About 24,000 South Carolinians used the county family planning clinics from July, 1970, to June, 1971. In Richland County alone, 1,408 people used the clinic, said Ms. Karen Lynch, coordinator for the state Family Planning Program. Ms. Lynch said she didn't know the percentage break down of the figures into races. Even basing the race percentage at 50-50, the number of blacks with the trait using the county health clinics' facilities would be 1,200 on a statewide basis. This amount, though roughly figured, is still a iise of Jai Neither he nor the picture were heard from again. Connery, in the meantime, made a series of disatrous failures. Most of t hese turkeys escape description or memory, but two of them, "A Fine Madness" and "Shalako" stick in the mind with a fondness often given an abscessed tooth. So, with the promise of a million dollars, Connery was lured once again into the baby blue shoulder holster in Fleming's "Diamonds Are Forever." The book was a rather simple story about James Bond shutting down the "Spangled Mob," a rather repulsive group of American diamond smugglers led by Jack and Seriffimo Spang. The movie, however, bears very litnte resemblence to the book (doesn't it always work out that way?) Ernst Stavro Blofeld and a rejuvenated SPECTRE have replaced the Spangs. Blofeld wants the diamonds, but so he can construct a death ray that he can wield from space and control the world. The whole thing hinges on the fact that Blofeld has taken the place of a Las Vegas billionaire recluse named Willard Whyte (sound like anybody we know? Well, Yeah). Bond wins, of course, with the very able assistance of the U. S. Marines and Tiffany Case and the not so able assistance of Felix Leiter, CIA operative. (I can't understand it, Leiter was always such a competent person in the books). Jill St. John was extremely vulgar as Tiffany Case. Vulgar acting, vulgar speaking and wearing the most gawdawful and vulgar clothes you will absolutely ever hope to have forced upon you. While Ms. St . John really can't help the way she is, Connery's case is much sadder. )attle lot. One way to help stop those who are afflicted by the disease from suffering more is to administer a required test for sickle cell before doctors give the patients oral contraceptives, as "Ramparts" suggests. In this way, two things can be accomplished: first, the patient, if he does have the disease, can be relieved of undue suffering and, secondly, the patient who is ignorant about whether he has the disease may be informed. The state doesn't administer any type of sickle-cell anemia test before issuing oral contraceptives at the local county health boards, according to Frank Stelling, Bureau of Maternal and Child Care, health educator. Some doctors are studying the disease in Charleston, and, as a possible result of the investigation, the state may extend its role con cerning sickle cell. Hopefully, it will. It is unfortunate that the county health units don't administer the test before giving out the pill. However, since they don't, the unit s would be a good place to start Ihe administration of such tests since the state has control over them. nes Bond Bond of "From Russia With Love" and "Goldfinger." Bond has lost all contact with reality. He has become superman. His exploits this time out have become. unreal even for James Bond. Or even Derek Flint. If one wishes to encounter the real James Bond, read the books (not, please, Colonel Sun) or see a re-run of "Dr. No." However, it might be interesting to go take a peek at "Diamonds Are Forever." One could compare it with the earlier thrillers and have fond remembrances of days gone by. Days when we all rushed home on Tuesday evenings at 8 to see "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and wished we could meet a woman like Mrs. Peel. Ah, those were the days. Letters policy We print all letters we receive. The only thing we ask is that the writ er include his name, signature and address (this is in case of verification purposes). Please try to t ype the letter on a 65-space line. The letter should be double-spaced. We will withhold a name only If a valid reason is enclosed with the let ter. To write to the Gamecock: The Gamecock Letters to the editor Drawer "A" USC For those of you who are on campus, you can put the letter In t he "campus mail" slot at the post of fice. You don't even have to have ii smamrunt