Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Page 2 ? October 3, 1984 Dateline THE GAMECOCK j Supreme Court to tackle manv First Amendment issues 9 Associated Press WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court is beginning its new term by tackling some complex First Amendment issues, including an unusual case involving religious freedom and drivers' license photos. The court, which already has some other weighty religious issues on its agenda, said Monday it would decide whether states may force motorists to violate their religious beliefs by having their photographs on their drivers' licenses. The court will review a ruling that barred Nebraska from requiring a license photo tor a woman who believes the Bible forbids ah graven images." As it returned from its summer vacation, the court also decided to take a fresh look at these tree-expression issues:. Whether to reinstate an invalid Washington state kVw *' that said obscenity is anything that "incites lust." And, in the court's first look at gay rights in nearly two decades, whether public school teachers who espouse homosexuality may be fired. The justices said they will review a f ederal Appeals Court ruling that struck down Oklahoma's ban on homosexual advocaev in the classroom. In the drivers' license case, the court is injecting intsel! into a debate over when state regulatory powers take precedienee over individual religious beliefs. Nebraska is one of at least 47 states that require photographs on drivers' licenses. The law was challenged by Frances Quaring, who runs a thousand-acre farm with her husband near Gibbon, Neb. Quaring interprets literally the Second Commandment's injunction against the making of "any graven image or any likeness." The Xth 1) S ("irriiit Court rulino in her favnr Inu March, said Quaring banishes all photographs from her house and does not have a television set. State officials said photographs were vital for police officers when they stop motorists for accurate identification. In other actions Monday, the court: left intact a Dade County, Fla., program that sets aside some county-run construction projects for businesses managed by blacks. The program had been attacked as a form ol unlaw ful "reverse discrimination" against whiles. Barred U.S. businesses from answering questionnaire^ used by Arab nations to carry out their trade boycott of Israel. 1 he justices left intact a federal Urn that bans u... . v. ,i.. ,w i .wi u.. ?u., uumiiv:>>v> II Villi ul.tliumiil, vniilii ci:mviu w\ IIIV . \ i cl i' >. whether ihe\ have dealings with Israel. Truck driver's widow sues Amtrak, Seaboard railways Associated Press The wife of a truck driver killed when his uasoline tanker truck collided with an Amtrak passenger train July II in McBee has sued Amtrak and Seaboard Systems lor $20 million, her attorney said Monda\. Rod Jernigan, a Morence lawyer representing Sylvia Coker, said a lawsuit alleging wrongful death and a second suit for pain and suffering were filed Friday in Columbia federal court. Both suits name as defendants Amtrak and Seaboard, which operates an East Coast railway system, he said. Each suit seeks $10 milliort, Jernigan said. John Coker, 39, of Coward died when his truck, loaded with 9,019 gallons of leaded gasoline, and Amtrak's northbound Silver Star collided and exploded. The train engineer, Earl Pate, 60, of Hamlet, N.C., also was killed and more than a dozen people suffered minor injuries. Jernigan said it probably will be a year before the suit comes to trial. Amtrak has sued the company that owned the tanker truck, Rainwater Transportation Co. of Florence. The suit claims Coker acted negligently by pulling the tanker truck into the path of Amtrak's Tampa-to-Miami train. Amtrak's suit does not specify damages, but according to Amtrak attorney Julius McKay, damage to Amtrak's equipment exceeded $400,000. i tl? / \ ml'ra/'l 77 it.n uturiont > mnr?rarr? tiitmi mi i newspaper of the I'niyersity of South Carolina and is uuhlished three times mmm a week on Mondays. Wednesdays and I wBkw 4Pfc | Fridays during the fall and spring VfW semesters and \\eekly on Wednesdays I during both summer sessions, with the a * exception of university holidays and ex- I jjr | 1 \f/L amination periods. Mtm /\ Opinions expressed in the (iAMK- | COCK are those of the editors and not lit''? I those of the University of South Cam- I i%00 C8 H The Hoard of Student Publications I __ and Communications is the publisher of | nvjk jij the (JAMKCOCK. The Student Media \J ^L* l)?n>rim?ni is the Darent organization I of the(IAM ECOCk. " Change of address forms. Bubscriplion requests and other correspondence IK . should be sent to the GAMECOCK, Drawer A. University of South Caro* IB H HI gjjffi JH^Pwr. M ^ lina. Columbia. 8.C. 29Z08. j Subscription rates are S15.00 for (1) QCSQ T T 1 , year. $8.00 oer fall or spring semester OvO fl3rCl6n SI and $3.00 for both summer sessions. Third class postage paid at Columbia. 1 (in rlV6 I OintS llGXt -i-li1?JiSr.ltt'of School Kids Record South Carolina and receives funding 0 r/TI from student activity fees. | \0\JJ / / / l~UOU( iferBT" fBSR^ I ft ' j_Jp HBUfflfWfci 1 n^WMW| Photo by Jennifer Woolen The natter's wheel Michael Rutkosky finishes a pot at the Autumnfest stoneware display/sale at the Robert Mills House Saturday. Secession case reac J^ress cent white, while Wi Alter almost a year-and-a-half of is 65 percent black, heated debate, an election with marked Yesterday, I lorei ballots and a call tor a black boycott of Ziegler, representir white merchants, the controversy over proponents, asked attempts by the predominantly white overturn the part ol tobacco community"of Hemingway to who can participate i i- _ __ ... .1 i_ i 1 11 S c C C U C I I O 111 111 O S I I y - O I a C K auuw till i tjinii'i t VVilliamsburg County reached the S.C. ticipate in a new eU Supreme Court yesterday. He contended tha Last July, a majority of the residents tion was not secret, of Hemingway and surrounding tional and in effect Johnson Township agreed to annexa- "How can you sa tion of the area into neighboring lake place and the Florence County. But the vote failed to from that election win the necessary two-thirds majority he asked. and later it was discovered that numbers on the ballots corresponded BUT ANNEXA to numbers on election rolls. arguea secessionist! The Williamsburg County Election to appeal when they Commission later deadlocked on circuit court in Wi whether to throw out the election within five days of results and in an August decision, the county election boa S.C. Election Commission ruled a new Attorney Char election should be held, but that the neither the State El revote be limited to the approximately nor the state Su 2,100 voters who cast ballots in July. jurisdiction in theai tion racp THE ANNEXATION area is 54 per- can be appealed to Ui .s \ 1 meat, ? S.C. Death Row inmate fails in appeal attempt Associated Press South Carolina Death Row inmate Joseph Carl Shaw failed Monday in an attempt to have the U.S. Supreme Court overturn his murder conviction in the 1977 slayings of two teenagers in Columbia. The justices rejected arguments that Shaw's guilty plea never Oinuld have been accented because he was mentallv im pared at the time. The high court ruling upheld an earlier decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond. The 29-year-old former military policeman is in line to be the first South Carolina prisoner executed in the state's electric chair since 1962. The state currently has 34 prisoners under death sentence in the state, according to prison officials. Richland County Solicitor Jim Anders said Monday the U.S. Supreme Court ruling should end the long list of legal appeal avenues available to Shaw. "He is out of appeals," said Anders. "This was what we were waiting on." Anders, who prosecuted the case, predicted Shaw's execution date could be set for December or January. But the state attorney general's office said it was hard to predict when an execution might be scheduled. Mark Dillard, spokesman for the attorney general, said Shaw's attorneys would have the option of asking the high court for reconsideration of the case. And if the federal panel refuses, the South Carolina supreme Court would still have to review the decision before sending the high court's decision to the state Department of Corrections. Shaw's attorneys in Columbia and Atlanta could not be reached for comment. "The only time frame set by law starts once it is sent to the state Department of Corrections," said Dillard. "State law requires it to be carried out on the fourth Friday after the department is notified." Shaw, who was a 22-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Jackson at the time of the crime, was convicted of the Oct. 29, 1977 murders of Tommy Taylor, 17, and Carlotta Hartness, 14. Both youths were shot to death. Shaw and co-defendant Terry Roach pleaded guilty to murdering Tavlor then ranine and murderine Hartness. Anders said Terry Roach is about six months behind Shaw in the appeals process. He predicted an execution date for Roach in June or July 1985. hes Supreme Court liiamsburg Couniy Under questioning from Justice David Harweli he conceded that the nee attorney L.N. election was probably not proper if all iu the annexation the ballots were numbered but added the high court to "I clo not know there was an actual inI the order limiting speetion to prove the ballots were that r in the revote and uav " d voters to par- /.iegler said that there was no resolution. tion of the situation when the it, because the elec- Williamsburg County Election Comit was not eonstitu- mission deadlocked 1-1 with one didn't take place. abstention and said state law calls for y an election didn't an appeal of a decision by a majority n use the poll list vote. He said the secessionists went to in another vote?" the state Election Commission and filed appeals to both the Supreme Court and circuit court after a decision was TION opponents mnde at th?? Hprfinn mmmi?ion > lost their chance Secessionists say that moving Hemr tailed to appeal to ingway into Florence County would lliamsburg County result in a larger tax base and better the decision by the schools. But opponents say that the ird. move is racially-motivated and had its les Barr argued roots in the closing of a ection Commission predominantly-black high school and preme Court has mereine it with a larof?lv/-whif*? crhr?r?l ppcal of ari annexa- The justices took the arguments i general elections under advisement, but gave no*indicathose bodies. tion when a ruling would be made. 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