Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

j Viewpoint ! 2 ^ Wednesday, August 5, 198/i)] $) GAMECOCKwwiimi wMwiiw?iwiim' linn wii "inn Hiding Public has risht to know ? w information in USC files Does the University of South Carolina really have something to hide? It appears so. USC has dodged Freedom of Information requests left and right. The Associated Press, The Greenville News, The Charlotte Observer and the South Carolina Coalition for the Liberation of South Africa are just some of the groups who have filed FOI requests in the past few months. USC's attitude towards all of the requests has been noncompliant ? if not belligerent. Three of these organizations have had to take their cases to court to try to receive their information. The information found in the following case may show why USC is unwilling to cooperate: The coalition's FOI request, like the others, was turned down. Its request asked for the Educational Founda tion s and trie Carolina Kesearcn ana ueveiopment Foundation's listings of investments in American companies operating in South Africa. However, the coalition found the records were available to the public in the South Carolina Secretary of State's office. A year ago, USC officials said the Educational Foundation had holdings only in companies that followed the Sullivan Principles, created to help South African blacks working for American companies. But public records revealed that at the time, the foundation had stock in two companies that were then non-Sullivan signatories: Parker Hannihn and Union Camp. This past October, an Educational Foundation official also listed about $500,000 as the figure of its total investment in South Africa. But public records revealed that in December, the foundation had more than $3.5 million invested in these companies. Those investments certainly grew quickly. Do the rest of the FOI requests that (JSC has turned down and is fighting in court involve secrets such as this? If so, then USC has good reason to hide requested information. If not, then the university should release such information. It can't hurt. Either way, a lot of shaping up has to be done at r^arnlina Gold? Environmental study needec before Fairfield mine opens Amazing how some people will undermine a healty en vironment for money, isn't it? The Ridgeway Mining Company is planning to build < gold mine in Fairfield County. No, studies have not beer done to examine the effects it could have on the environ ment. No, studies have not been done to examine possi ble health effects. And no, this decision to do n< research was not announced publicly ? as is required b' law. The permits were simply granted by the Soutl i Carolina Land Resources Commission. Gold Camouflage, a group comprised of residents o Fairfield and Richland counties, has filed an appeal, an< with good reason. As shown in West Virginia, mines traditionally hav adverse effects on land and health. But the state Depart ment of Health and Environmental Control and th United States Army Corps of Engineers still did not fe< it necessary to research the area. Why? A few weeks ago, cyanide was found in the monitoi ing well of the Haile Gold Mine in Lancaster. Cyanid would be used in the Fairfield mine in a process similis tUot i 1 rn/1 in Vin T or>^arf nr m i no V at 1?117 ^ o n ^ Vi f: iv iuai uciwu in tnc i^autadiV/i iiiiiiw. 1 vi l/iiauu 111 Corps of Engineers still see nothing wrong with erectin an unresearched mine. Terrifying. Ridgeway officials say they have set aside money t build new wells to replace any that become coi taminated. Encouraging to know that the company ac mits its process might poison these wells, isn't it? Fu thermore, the new wells would apparently be dug froi the same water table as those that would be coi taminated. l his is not helpiul. Simply because a new business enters the state doesn mean it is faultless. The potential mining area must I: | researched to access possible health and environment j damages. If research shows the risk is too great, the mir shouldn't be built. If it shows there is no risk, dig awa; But this state and the health of one of its countie residents are too great to risk by building a mine that h: not been researched. 3 : I j I Write us a letter I.et us know what's on your mind. Letters must Names will no be typed, double-spaced and no longer than 300 will not be accei ; : words. Guest editorials must be no longer than 500 editorials per moi M words. We reserve the I 1 Include the following information for verifica- for legal ramificat m - tion: name, address and home and work telephone We also reserve I |':j numbers. Indicate whether you are a USC student, and editorials on U staff member or community member in letters and Write to: Viev 1 editorials. If you are a student, include your school Drawer A, Russ< year and major. Carolina, Columt i A We have so r Before leaving for his Spartanburg home for the summer, fellow Gamecock fellow Stephen Guilfoyle accused me of being a closet conservative. I gave that accusation some thought over the summer, and I guess my conservative skeleton in the closet finally came out. Yep. President Ronald Reagan is a great leader. We've accomplished so many firsts under his impeccable leadership, I don't know where to begin to thank him. After all, the United States has: gone from being the top creditor nation in the world to the top debtor nation, more than doubled its national debt, suffered a decline in real income, experienced the greatest number of farm foreclosures since the Great Depression of the 1930s, made more cuts in the federal student aid program for higher education than ever before, sold military weapons to an "antiAmerican" country, then lied about it, sent hundreds of millions of dollars over and under the table to the Contras in Nicaragua, ignored its own Congress and the World Court, both of which declared the undeclared nt:? wai in i^naiagua nilgai, 3or\g:-rikfs /all. it t a wave ? f?"nt>ei^ anfc most mo^f tuh* willimo ? TO SfcANT //? US TU? //A^ Ki<snr \L //#A OF //W \ 75^)^' <5?/jr?/|S JV^S S lce/flL>Wj w/Lt SJfr ?fiP^ I Letters to the i 1 # companies Caption upsets so^hhc^ 3 Lexingtonian y Kraft wa tl To the Editor: Africa C The front page caption of two following f little girls playing in the lake was "JOBS, ? ^ cute, but for your general infor- ing Down mation, that part of the lake and, Apartheic as far as I know, most of Lake Support ] e Murray, is proudly a part of Lex- in South L- ington County ? not Richland q County. It has always been my pride as In bet a Lexingtonian to say to anyone following who tells me that they ve never Mangosu been to Lexington: "Why leader of r- haven't you ever been to Lake tion: "W [e Murray?" as an op ir Donna Younginer applause Management junior ty) for d call for d 8 Photo caption ZZ'm o not accurate sou*1"/ j_ force , change To the Editor: gathering r~ One ohotoeraoh on the first thpv nevi m page of the July 22 Gamecock bargainii has a misleading caption. It ed by r shows "Alexander Gray, director which in of Carolina Peace Resource cy on bl; Center" and "Janice Kraft, )e president of Students for al America at USC," and goes on to say that the "coalition Editor's ie pickets ... to press two USC a clarifu support foundations to stop in- which si , vesting in companies doing and Ci s business in South Africa." Center In tact, there is no ' coalition Carohr between the two groups, and only Liberati the first is against investment in which t \Thej t be withheld, and pseudonyms \ [>ted. A limit of two letters or I Editor in Chit ith by the same writer exists. Patrick JeCM i igm iu cuu icuci* anu cuuuiicii* ^ IT *11# ions, grammar, taste and clarity. INCWS r^CllIor ihe right to stop printing letters Mury PeUKSOt outdated topics. Viewpoint Kd vpoint Editor, The Gamecock, iSnfhorino CH ell House, University of South JUiinertne vu )ia, S.C. 29208. tiuch to thank 1 I I killed a 15-month-old baby girl and other innocent civilians during a 1986 bombing raid on Libya, allowed 238 of its servicemen to senselessly die during a confused, failed 1983 peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, openly violated the unratified SALT II nuclear arms treaty, rejected every nuclear arms freeze or reduction proposal from the Soviet Union, offering nothing better in return, continued below-ground nuclear testing while the Soviet Union voluntarily stopped its testing, built up a nuclear weapons arsenal that could destroy all life on this planet 10 times over, produced or will produce enough nuclear /Ar~fciU?T A S KOT^ IN TH FOuKi AR? IM L ^_OjRA_[ l^C:>' v~~" : - "^sa^ 1, r ^ < rez ? . <8j - ' >z?~ ... . / ^ M. " ^6**^ ?****#&***? editor i doing business in university support foui ica. divest. Students for y \ir-*? r\f thp u;r?rH "rr\ali. r>r\t n ?i/>?i hnr nf thla . oubly misleading, sincc s leaflets distributed by j* J s printed by the Free J^JH fL fllfjj oalition and had the # words in boldface: HfCrRirit rir *Jot Divestment Will Br- pfi i Apartheid" and "End i. Work for Justice. To the Editor: Enlightened Investment Until now, I have Africa." myself from temptatii The Gamecock's editorial opinions. I d ween, it features the respect for their co statement by Chief right to freedom of sj thu Buthelezi, black The paper's edit< the 5.4 million Zulu na- however, does not s< hen 1 oppose divestment that Students for Amc tion ... I receive mass same right. Just as a (in the black communi- coalition has the oing so . . . Those who peacefully picket, so ivestment do so in direct conservative group ha ?n to black sentiment in to peacefully 'rica. demonstrate. ;htened investment in As for The Gam Africa strengthens the cusations of disrupti s working for not seek to impede . . . blacks are now Carolina Coalitioi ; a bargaining power Liberation of Soui er had before, and their freedom of speech, ig power will be enhanc- SFA member, in apid economic growth, prevented them frc creases white dependen- their statement, thei acks." apologize. Our goal Peter Nyikos to expose the horrem G mathematics professor rights violations and terrorist tactics empl note: The Gamecock ran African National Co cation in the July 29 issue ated that Alexander Gray I did allow myself trolina Peace Resource into a brief argumen are part of the South ander Gray, a \a Coalition for the spokesman, and, as ion of South Africa, pens in heated debat oickets to persuade the call" was uttered. I ai Gamecock if Features Editor Graphic Andy Bechtel Robb L Sports Editor Comics ? Richard Breen Tracy A litor Photography Kditor Adviser bert Nick Leoncavallo Bill Ro? I / Reagan for ! waste, between weapons and power plants, to poison this planet for thousands of years into the future, allowed the number of hungry and/or homeless in this country to swell to at least 20 million, prosecuted young men for avoiding theA> draft registration system ? a program^/ ^ Reagan promised to get rid of before he was elected in 1980, all but destroyed the national Civil Rights Commission at a time when racism is rearing its ugly head again, ignored a potential Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome epidemic, then created a conservative-packed presidential report panel which includes a man who called homosexuality a "sin," and last but not least, will leave its future generations saddled with a national debt of more than $2 trillion ? and with no solutions for getting rid of it. Yes, now there's a seven-year track record no one can equal. Just imagine what other ~ wonderful accomplishments we can achievcV ^ before Reagan steps down in 1989! Maybe, one of these days, we'll elect a president who will give us a track record we can really be proud of. Sigh. Could be worse, I suppose. George Bush could be in charge. FRLS.WAV -w vf ^ ^ \^. V> ? ? ^ if I ' ^ * # ./ Ife&i\ K Oi^ | 1 ? I idations to ding my exclamation, but I re\merica is mind Gamecock editor in chief coalition. Patrick Jean of his April 27 col- v* umn, where he referred to Presi4 dent Reagan as a "bad guy" and nOf the administration as a "nightmare." See John 8:7 in the past wee|<'s editorial also failed to mention that the coalition was actively trying to disrupt restrained our counter-demonstration. One on to rebut member of the divestment coalileft-wing tion picked up and attempted to id so out of steal an envelope of political nstitutional materials which clearly belonged seech. to me. When 1 caught him, he jrial staff, refused to let go of the envelope :em to feel and proceeded to remove the :rica has the papers inside. He indicated that divestment he wanted to know where SFA right to was getting its materials. To his too does a dismay, it was not from the CIA. tve me rigni i confess. When I attempted to counter- retrieve my property, I in- \ advertently broke into the coali- K ecock's ac- tion's marching path. Sorry'bout ^ on, we did that. the South Janice Kraft i for the Management/marketing senior th Africa's President, Students for If I or any America at USC any way, >m making Editor's note: Based on objective n I humbly reports from a Gamecock was simply reporter and photographer who dous human covered the July 17 picket Janice I murderous Kraft speaks of, it was determinoved bv the ed that Student* fnr Atnorim ni ? ngress. USC did disrupt the South Carolina Coalition for the to be drawn Liberation of South Africa's t with Alex- picket. The Gamecock stands by coalition its July 29 editorial, which stated often hap- that all political groups have the e, a "name- right to disagree ? but not to inm nnt tvrforo ? \nitl* ?>? 111 mv% mvivii '"Vv' w rr? r# 1/flC UfH/triVf. T s Editor Director of Student Media arte #/// Clements Editor Production Hxson Chuck Norris A Son Ha \ers Advertising Manager Margaret Michels 4