Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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T The South Carcllr.a library (Jani pus iwilwV __ M on day Volume LXX, No. 8 University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C. Sept. 15, 1980 Meat Comri $2.5 i By Leroy Williarr St?f* Wrtt?r The USC School of Medicii a $2.5 million increase in stat questioned by the state C Higher Education. The commission is reviewi proposed $10.5 million 198 determine if there is a need f< said O.M. Higgins Jr., assc administration at the medica The Veterans Administrat medical school $30 million in over seven years, Higgii government aeencv's mi decrease each year while th< increased. Student fees are budget, he said. T1IE $:jo MILLION VA gr* with ' \ million to Dav for th - r the olu VA hospital on the S\ and $12 million to partial] salaries for the seven-year fu Higgins said once the r finished, the school can use facilities, paying only for maintenance. The VA grant, in its s scheduled to expire Oct. 31,1 million of the medical scho budget this year. The 1981-J for only $1 million from th school is asking the state $85,000 offei us< By susan nana Staff Writer A lawyer representing the owners of "the Pit" parking lot says USC "is not being serious in its negotiations" to buy the property. USC law Professor William J. Quirk, representing the Rembert family, said the land is worth $600,000, more than seven times the $85,000 offered by the university. Quirk said the property is worth $600,000 because USL bought Booker T. Cars continue to park in Students are paying $15 ichoo riiccinn n kAAN/V/AVTAA Trillion in is million to n said. le's request for Higgins s e funds is being commission Commission on "Most of it (I federal moil ing the school's the plan sine 1-82 budget to that was the or the increase, >ciate dean for HIGGINS 1 school. to the com ion granted the commission 1974 to be used the budget a ns said. The forthpi.poic 3ney was to The comm 3 state's money body. It has i included in the The medi< faculty m< equivalent o *nt was divided only part ti: ie renovation of teers. Hieeir - - - ? T OO jmter Highway Any unive ly pay faculty budget musl inding period. Office. Froi enovations are resident's 1 i the hospital's The board s utilities and Higher Edu< to the stat< ixth year and Finally, th 1981, covered $3 budget, ol's $10 million The me< 82 budget calls students in : ie VA, and the of 133. The s of provide $2.5 class of 22 st r called 'unaca C contir Washington High School, which stands on an adjacent lot, for $1 million in 1974. THE FIT is one-third the size of the school lot. so its 1974 value was about $300,000, Quirk said. Real estate prices have doubled since 1974, making the Pit's 1980 value $600,000, he said. Timothy Quinn, a Columbia lawyer representing USC in the case, called the $85,000 offer "reasonable." After the Rembert family "the Pit" despite a legal I a month for the spots. (Phc I budi C uestions credse lake up for that loss, Higgins aid he wasn't sure why the decided to freeze the budget, the state funds) is to replace the ey," Higgins said. "That was :e 1974, and the CHE has known plan since 1974." SAID he presented the budget imission last week. He said members promised to review iiu i cjaji i uy iKuvciiiuci , in lime lature's January session. lission is primarily an advisory io appropriating authority. :al school employs 140 to 150 embers, paying them the f 125 full-time staff. Most work me. There are also 125 volun>s said. rsity department submitting a l first present it to the Finance m there it goes through the Office to the board of trustees, ubmits it to the Commission on :ation. The commission sends it * Budget and Control Board, e Legislature considers the iical school first admitted 1977 and now has an enrollment chools plans to graduate its first udents this spring. eptable' lues nec rejected (JSC's offer, it authorized the Furman r uimer uo. 10 lease me lot's 200 spaces for $15 a month each. Quirk said USC has "successfully kept the family from getting economic benefits for a year and a half." He said this effort cost the family about $36,000. Although the family will not sue to recover these uaiiiages, me *^t>,uuu Will have to be considered in any purchase agreement, he said. iatt/e over the parking lot. >to by Mark Corey) getitis r r- ^ p:t- ^^~^y=Llit.' jBB^y :^:::T!?^^^^Bjj^H^^^^^<r:':';:;:;ff: Rick Ackerman, junior microscope. The Comrr budget for the 1981-82 [otiatinc IN 1913 George Rembert donated the land to the city of Columbia on the condition that it be used only as a park. In 1927 the city decided to build a baseball park on the property. The owner of an adjoining lot took action against the city saying a ballpark wasm'fthe type of park to which Rembert's will had referred. Quirk said the case, Miller v. the city of Columbia, reached the S C. Supreme Court, and the court ruled in Miller's favor. QUIRK SAID the city breached the court's ruling USC 'is not be negotiations to bi attorn in the late 1930s. Pickens Street was built through the park. Later, Blossom Street also cut through the park. "After World War II they put a youth center in the park, then a parking lot and a swimming pool," Quirk said. "Then they built a naval armory on part of the land." Because of the location of the two streets and the buildings, a small part of the land was cut off from the rest. This small piece of land is ioaay cauea "ine ni." In 1973 the Kembert family realized the city had violated the provisions of George Kembert's will concerning the property, Quirk said. The family took 9 \ USC medical student, ex . ?: j r-i - r I a stun uu niyrivr cuuumioi year. (Photo by Kim Newm, I for 'th< action against the city ol Columbia that year. In June 1979 a judge ruled that the conditions of the will had been violated, and the property was returned to the Rembert family. Quirk said USC began using the land for parking after it bought the Booker T. Washington High School in 1974. On August 28, 1980, a month after the family rejected USC's Durchase offer, the university filed condemnation papers in the Richland County Circuit Court. Quirk said USC's >ing serious in its jy the property. - William J. Quirk, ey for landowners action was designed "to harass and intimidate us "I THINK we will be able to win the condemnation proceedings because all they are wanting to do is change the title from private hands to public hands," Quirk said. IJSC's attorney Quinn said immediate possession of the properly win prooaoiy tx' decided at a hearing before Oct. 7. But Quirk said he doesn't expect the hearing tc take place before late December. Quirk said if the property were condemned, the familv would appeal the decision The case then woulc probably drag out foi several years. amines a slide under the i is reviewing the school's an) > Pit' f ''The order would probably be stayed until the I final appeal," he said. "I would see us having control of the lot through the whole appeal." About 80 students are leasing spaces in the lot from the Furman Fulmer Co. Safety lights were erected in the parking lot Friday on the order of the Hernbert family. f 111 1 N Today r~\ 4? v a u - - it - -Qf I | use ? Klf films: "Nanook of the North, ' a documentary following an Eskimo's battle to survive the arctic, wilderness, at 8 p.m. "Mar? of Aran," a story of the daily lives of an Irish family on the Aran Islands, at 9:30. Sign-up for the tva^aii (VI riCMUVIll I organization will be on the Russell House Patio 1 from8a.mto4p.in. ; Weather i Today: Chance of showers. Highs near 90 ' and tows in $0s. f Tuesday: Becoming fair I with highs in the 90s.