Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Abuse Legislators who sent editor to jail abused justice system "Anybody who is afraid to speak the truth and stand fc justice, just doesn't deserve to be free." James Fitts Edito The Voic A man was "put in jail in South Carolina this summer for ex pressing his opinion. Does that bother you? It should scare the hell out of you. Jim Fitts, editor of The Voice, a Kingstree newspaper, wrot an editorial saying two legislators had stolen something from th citizens of Williamsburg County. State Rep. B. J. Gordon and the late Sen. Frank McGill ha< Fitts arrested, and Fitts spent two nights in jail. Later, he was indicted by a grand jury who decided there wa enough evidence for a trial. But Fitts never got his day in court The lawmakers said they were vindicated by the indictment am asked that the charges be dropped. How they arrived at that conclusion we'll probably neve know. A grand jury decides there is enough evidence to have trial, not if there is enough to convict. It doesn't make sense Either the two lawmakers do not understand the criminal justic system, or they had other reasons for dropping the charges. Perhaps the fact they would have lost in court was prominen among their reasons. First, there was definitely no criminal libel, because both o the legislators were alive at the time it was published, and Fitts' article caused no breach of the peace. The state of Soutl Carolina was not hurt by Fitts's editorial. The two legislator may have been injured by the article but that was for a judge t< aeciae in a civil case. Second, while Fitts made strong statements about th legislators, they are public figures and public figures have t< prove there was actual premeditated malice on the writer's part In other words, Fitts would have had to sit down before h wrote the article and thought, "I know they aren't thieves, bu I'm going to call them thieves because I hate them and want t< hurt them." That wasn't the case. Fitts was writing a column on electioi day, trying to encourage debate. And if Fitts had been able to take his case to court, he ma; have been able to win on the best defense possible in a libel sui ? the truth. The State newspaper printed a series of articles detailing hov Gordon used funds from a mental health center of which he wa director for personal use. If the allegations, which are now beinj investigated by the state, turn out to be true, then Fitts may wel have printed the truth. And he may have gotten off scot-free But ho one seems to be making too much of a fuss about thi fact that these two legislators used the criminal justice system fo their personal vindication. As the People's Court likes to tell us if you have a problem with someone, don't take the law int< your own hands, "you take them to court." Civil court. To use the criminal justice system against someone for per sonal vindication is an abuse of that system. Charges should no nave oeen orougnt against Mtts out against uoraon ana mcuiii *IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE* The Gamecock Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Editor in Chief Datebook Editor STEPHEN GUILFOYLE JENNY SHARPE Managing Editor Graphics Editor SON HA MICHAEL SHARP Copy Desk Chief Comics Editor WAYNE YANG TRACY MIXSON News Editor Adviser HAL MILLARD PAT MCNEELY Assistant News Editor Graduate Assistant STEVE PRADARELLI TT ^ w , MARY PEARSON Director of Student Medid ED BONZA Features Editor Advertising Manager SUSAN NESBITT MARGARET MICHELS Assistant Features Editor Production CHUCK DEAN LAURA DAY Photography Editors RAY BURGOS BRIAN SAULS Assistant Advertising Manager TEDDY LEPP BARBARA BROWN Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum, 250 to 300 words long. Guest editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for style or possible libel. The Gamecock will not withhold names under any circumstance. jl. >r L f i a 3 e 3 e t 3 Gamecocks n< ^ Time to talk football, I guess, t It does start Saturday. And with football comes the hot chicken, the V cold beer and a rocking stadium. And now, for the s first time in a while, USC has its best chance of equalling or exceeding its 1984 schedule. That's right, you heard me right. USC can equal 1 or exceed its 10-2 record. I'm sure many of the football pundits out there are saying, "What a e fool, what a stupid jerk." r But I know the people out there who don't care one bit about football are probably saying, "What ' a fool, what a stupid jerk." 3 Can't win, but anyway. . . I ISP needs inst twn thinffs Thev need a team that can play as professionally as last year's, which J they already have in most of the positions, if not all s of them. But they also need a team that can play i with the emotion that the 1984 team did. Emotion and professionalism. Some people say ? - you can't have both. Wrong. The Bears had both I in 1985. The Giants had both in '86. The Redskins had both last year, and all those teams won the Super Bowl. Or, to consider college football. Miami had both 1 last year. Penn State had some excitement the year r before. The list goes on. v I remember the '84 season. It was a damn good c Benson's reje< Oh, sad day! Robby Benson rejected me! He just took my life inside his cinematic hands, squeezed and yelled, "Cut!" Benson decided I wasn't fit enough to be in his Hollywood class, and I'm suffering. I'm pained. I'm lost. Thanks, Robby! I'm talking about the interviews this past Friday for his film-making class. Once I got there, I scanned the other interviewees, and to be truthful, they looked really star-struck, young ? virtually inexperienced. I smirked, "What on God's earth do I have to worry about?" I reclined ? waiting for the man of the academic school year (my future) to arrive. n^Li i ~ x* i : ii.. ivouoy came anu gave a unci pep lain., uasicauy telling everyone not to take it personally if they didn't get in. I wanted to say, "Robby! Be real! ~ Look at these people! Robby, they have portfolios, ?i glossies that don't look a damn bit like them. Resumes, Robby!" I wanted to ready Robby for the tears of rejection, but I didn't. I remained silent and reclined. Several fellow interviewees tried talking to me, asking what I thought Robby was looking for I ^ perked up and said, "me," sort of chuckling. After that, I silenced and hoped they could see that I was exercising discipline, preparing myself for the interview and to be the backbone his class was obviously going to need. I walked in (dramatically) where Robby was conLetters to the i mm i i r *1X? 1 Guilfoyle v> Guilfoyle angers demmng ai Southern. L Southerner jrsss you want ti To the editor: would be m I am not an avid reader of The "Get-rid-of Gamecock because of its liberal pride ourse! slant, but I do occasionally look are Southeri through it from time to time to read university. I the sports and comics. titude is om My comments concern the our state, editorials of Stephen Guilfoyle. I have never read such petty, immature You don'i and bigoted editorials as the ones our universi Guilfoyle writes over and over again. university's I can recall the most bigoted editorial like our dis The. Cp-pilot. eed to play vv Guilfoyle itar to be a freshman. Whenever Mike Hold was ;ent into the game, we all knew something was gong to happen. The '84 team, though, was a team really built on motion. Last year's team members were much jetter athletes who played professionally. But the 84 team has USC's record for the most wins. Which then do you think is more important? The players have to enjoy the game. And they lave to keep the crowd in it throughout. I emember one time when mv buddv Dannv Smith vas flailing his arms into the air trying to get the :rowd into the game. But he did it by himself. And ction just liki ducting his interviews, giving him a firm handshake. All the time, I was humming the tune to Ode To Billy Joe. Toward the end of the song, I even sang a few lines (while he stared at my face, probably thinking of how it would look on the big screen) "... a year's gone by since we heard the news about Billy Joe, brother married Becky Thompson ? they bought a store in Tupelo. . ." He nodded with obvious pleasure, so I slipped right into my rendition of "Looking Through The Eyes Of Love" ? the theme from Ice Castles. When I finished, tears welled up in Robby's eyes, and I knew trom that point 1 had touched him and made a friend. Honestly, I felt like hugging him, but I had sense enough to realize that I was dealing with editor[ 'rote in the spring con- fessors. I feel sure that 1 Southerners for being cent insulting exhibitio: .ook, pal, nobody asked day issue of The Gam e down here ? that was overlooked by Rol . I feel confident that if because he knows how d go back to Jersey, we from the North act" ai ore than happy to start a is a bigger person tha -Guilfoyle" fund. We don't mean that in a Ives on the fact that we though. I have read yoi tiers and take pride in our more than two years r -iowever, your cynical at- never seen anything pos e that pollutes the air of them. The only good having you here is the c knowing that one day y t like us; you don't like to that great state of n ity; you don't like our New Jersey, president, and you don't languished visiting pro- Public administra ith emotion the crowd didn't really perk up much more than it already was. In '84, the whole squad did that as it took the field ? the defense patting the offense on the back, jumping up and down as they took the field. And later, the offense would rush onto the field in the same way. They were having fun. The bruising "50" defense was like that some last year. But it has to be the whole team. The special teams should be almost trembling with excitement realizing they are where so many long to be and didn't make it ? on the field of a college football team. I'm not criticizing. This team can play with all the professionalism of last year's and forget about emotional play. But I know what I want to see as a fan. I want to see players having fun, trying to make me have fun. If they keep us in the game when the going is good, it's almost certain we'll keep them in the game when the going is bad. I leave when we're ahead by 20. But never when we're down by 3, or 7 or even 21. I'm a foul weather fan in the fair weather, and a fair weather fan in foul weather. But that's the kind the Gamecocks need. I'll stick around as long as I'm needed. : Hollywood show buisness her? and how easily rumors got started. Close to the end of my interview, I turned the tables on Robby, asking him a few questions. I tried my damndest to get some good dirt on some major stars so that I could sell a story to People magazine (for a lot of money) like that Columbian did with Donna "USC" Rice. I elbowed Robby and grinned, "Come on, what is Jodie Foster like? Have you ever seen her naked? What is Paul Newman's biggest fault?" I assured Robby he could trust me and that I would never tell anyone,so. . . The interview ended. I shook my new best friend's hand, and he told me to "take it easy" and to "stay out of trouble." I stopped at the door, turned and said, "Now, Robby, you know me better than that, don't you?" He laughed and dropped his head, shaking it lightly. I laughed also, then left. Hours later, I returned to check out the list posted to see who got into Robby's class with me. When I read it, I wasn't listed! Robby didn't choose me! I fell to my knees, crying wails of unfairness. Was it jealously? A mistake? Did someone mark my name off the list? Did he reject me for my best interest ? not wanting to hold me back or anything? I had my first taste of show business, and it was sour as hell. n?n the?Mon- SMllg aTOUnd, ecock will be # ? ,by Benson just wondering you people o O nd because he in you are. I To the editor: literal sense, I was sitting around my room the ur column for other day wondering why so many low and have columns written in The Gamecock iitive in any of begin with "I was sitting around the thing about office the other day wondering what :onsolation of to write for my column. . . ." ou will return nedical waste, Paul Graham English senior Michael Ardis Tim Sheehy ition graduate Media arts junior