Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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iPress freedom Decision against foundation \victoryfor mass media, public 1 1 -> r ? wii June ij) >uii ^iiLUii vuui i j uugt v^aiui ^uiuiui niaui a important ruling for press freedom in South Carolina. The judge said that a USC organization, the Carolir iResearch and Development Foundation, is subjeet to the state ;Freedom of Information Act. The ruling may have ended a long battle between the found; tion and the media organizations who brought the suit, tf -Greenville News and The Associated Press. The foundation h; 10 days in which to request an appeal of the ruling after the o Ticial court order has been released. ; The news organizations filed the suit in 1987, claiming th; Isince the foundation had received more than $28 million i public money since 1984, then its records and meetings shoul be open to public scrutiny. I The AP requested documents pertaining to the foundation receipt or expenditure of public funds, receipt of royalties froi patents or copyrights obtained by USC since 1981, a list of pe sonnel of people who work for the foundation and are also pai by another government body, and Internal Revenue Service 9S tax reports since 1981. The organizations also argued that because the foundatic shares staff and faculty with USC this makes it a de facto publ body. Connor said she agreed with the news organizations. In ht ruling she wrote, "The Freedom of Information Act defines public body as an organization supported in whole, or in par by public funds and requires disclosure to the public of the a< ii\ities of such a body. The Carolina Research and Development Foundation ht placed itself in that category by accepting or expending publ money." The public money that the foundation accepted should remai in the public domain and not be hidden behind the foundation claim that it is a private, non-profit organization and therefoi not subject to public accountability. The News and the A. P. should be commended for their figl to open up these records. Despite what Board of Trustees Chai man Michael Mungo said at Thursday's board meeting, the: news organizations did have the public's interest at heart. The FOI act was not written for the press. It was written f( the average citizen. Citizens have a right to know how the foui dation is spending public money -their tax dollars. 1/ \ / v . / r1 *?. V r"> f? ^ LH IMA 2) EU(UK?V. WJELL/UJE'VE FIUAULY RESOLVED THIS . J^EMOOEAOy ERAP! YES. .. BUT U1HERE ARE ALL THE EHl LDEEM T I f\S? A 1 I <Z) wen The Gamecock Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region Society o f Professional Journalists, 1987-88 hditor in Chief MARY PEARSON t'op> Desk Chief TODD CHRISTENSEN Assistant Copy Desk Chief k ? -^T\l I'AMME EADES I \ ^ \ J News Editor II J J RON BAKER 7** Features Editor CAREN CAMPBELL Sports Editors 1)1 BRA JORDAN Assistant Production Manager D R. HAYNES RAY BURGOS Photography Editor Advertising Personnel EES ALVERSON Advertising Manager Gamecock Advisor MARGARET MICHELS ERIK COLLINS Campus Representee Director of Student Media TERENCE GREEN I D BONZA Account Executives Production Manager IERRENCE MANIGUAI I LAURA DAY LORRIE YON AS Letters Policy I /he Gamecock will |r> lo prim all letters received. I.illers should be, at a maximum. 2511 300 words long. I lie writer should include lull name, professional title if an employee with I S( or ( olumi resident, or vcar ami major if a student. An address and phone number are required with anv letters sent. C*u editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right lo edit letters for shle or possible libel. I (uumcock will not withhold names under anv circumstance. Mamie?vavvtv?*vay5Z>4>/ i if ln re " Public shoulc se At some point, one must wonder if there is a conspiracy among certain state and federal [1_ lawmakers to utterly destroy local governments and to endlessly deceive the public. The S. C. General Assembly was expected to decide this week on a bill which would give county gqyernme^ts the power to euact an additional 1 percent safes tax, which woifld lower property taxes and supplement county revenues. At press time Tuesday, nothing new had come of the battle as might be expected from such a progressive legislature as our own. The local option sales tax has been a controver sial issue for several years, and a battle is presently raging between the House and Senate on how mucf of the revenue generated by the tax should be usee to roll back property taxes. Essentially what is happening here is politica brinksmanship of the worst sort. While loca governments nationwide are drowning in the fun 7 ding cuts of the Reagan years, members of th< S. C. Senate are moving to put in place a tax whicl will cut property taxes, but make up for the los with a sales tax. This will never benefit loca governments in any appreciable way. The voters of South Carolina should know tha the government does not intend to create a new ta: which will generate less money. This is no zero-sun tame. The local option sales tax is not designe< solely to relieve the costs of property taxes, but als< to provide more tax dollars to pay for the function of local government. If the government were only seeking to brea Education fu _ Wanted:_ Visionary, psychic or fortune teller. Must have experience and be willing to Work foi peanuts, poor health package. Apply at State Legislature. Knowing the future is, by most accounts, im possible, but making reasonable predictions aboul the future isn't quite as difficult. And there seem; to be no one in more dire need of a quasi-reality break than the leaders of South Carolina. ? For example, The State recently carried a story about Gov. Carroll Campbell's interest in attracting a major airline hub to South Carolina. Abou $50 million would be used as incentive to attraa the airline. With an airline hub comes increased in m*m dustry and a stronger economy, Campbel mm? said. Time for a reality break, governor. The Commission on Higher Education continue; to stack the funding formula in favor of school; with high undergraduate enrollment. At the sam< time, the CHE has cut back programs at smalle two-year schools that offered advanced programs in effect, preventing the growth of the institution All this and more implemented by a commissioi of 19 people, only two of whom have any ex perience as a college or university staff member George Brightharp of Trenton and CHE chairmai William Whitener of Union. Time for a reality break, commissioner. USC President James Holderman has proposec increasing the size of the freshman class as a mean of gaining more funding from the state ? fundinj Letters to the Writer expresses 1 s 2 ,1 m commit te rage about China 0%%% l>ia . . u . lo the editor: ment tha 1 wish to express my outrage at the co'c' ^'oc weak and irresolute response by the George MR LIFE FC ^ 0^10 SO^ 1 be aware of s Ron Baker wMft PWm " m * ! _____________ 1 1 even in this deal, they would just leave the property taxes in place and not go through all of this trouble in the first place. 1 Furthermore, the rollback will actually only be effective for one year in the Senate version, - because local governments will be allowed to "roll i property taxes back up" after the first year the law s is in effect. This essentially means that there is no 1 guarantee that homeowners will benefit from the bill for more than one year, t The voters should also know that local govern* ments need increased revenues. Those conseri vatives like Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, i who incessantly complain that welfare recipients a are looking for a "free lunch," need to realize that s they themselves do not deserve a free ride from the people of South Carolina by not paying the taxes k necessary to keep garbage collected, fires exnding must be Christensen i desperately needed for faculty raises and equipment purchases. > While this move would increase funding at USC, s the distribution per student would be the same or ; smaller than the current distribution. USC's actual r gain would be thousands of students not afforded ; the level of attention they now receive. Yes, time for a reality break, USC. "? Thfl nmklam i c *-r?/~vr-o \\/ i A OC H t H C\ n A nVfTTTP ' 1 IIV, pi VJUHlll 13 II1UIV, YHUVjpi VMM n?v*?l "'V seems to realize. Gov. Campbell seems to think : that our economic future depends on more i business traffic. The CHE seems to think the key to effective education is regimenting under-funded undergraduate programs. And USC, desperate for 1 funding, is actually considering a massive inducs tion of students into an already overcrowded I institution. g f* oi l ol military aid to 1 %JL M (L\JJL should never have armed first place. Communists f time and time again that ernment to the atrocities lx t,ustecld by China s communist ^ few recent examp How can we maintain brutal crackdowns in 1 relations with a govern- Tbilisi, President Ge i murders its own people in should cut off all aid an< lC" the repressive Chinese G Bush has called for the cut If Americans want t ,./ / HZ tales tax issue tinguished, and streets patrolled by policemen. Another feature of the local option sales tax battle, one which cannot be ignored, is the proposal to exclude grocery purchases from the tax. In fact, this feature should be a part of the bill, and should apply to all sales taxes. Sajes taxes are regressive by nature. For example, states have tried to lessen this burden on the |poot* by exempting food and small clothing purchases. South Carolina should follow suit by not insisting that the lower socioeconomic classes pay a larger percentage of their income on food because of the money-gathering efforts of a local sales tax. Still, the most important fact about the local option sales tax is the plight of county governments and their need of funds. For county governments to perform their duties to the public in an acceptable fashion, they must have more money. The Reagan administration's cutbacks and the trend in state funding toward insufficiency leave localities with few options. Counties can pay more for services such as garbage collection and fire protection individually or live without them. Or they can raise property taxes, which are almost as generally despised by the citizenry as income taxes, or generate revenue in some other way (e.g., the local option sales tax). The State quoted Sen. John Land, D-Clarendon, Tuesday as having said, "We tried to get a sense of the Senate, and we found out we don't have any sense." This is probably more true than Land knows. top priority The real key to the future of our state is quality education. USC realizes this, but is powerless to act. The CHE realizes this, but doesn't seem to be willing to do what is necessary to improve our situation. And the state legislature, as evidenced by their lack of funding of higher education, doesn't appear to see our future at all. Short-term solutions such as higher business traffic may reap rewards in a short period of time. An additional investment of $50 million in higher education is a true investment in the future ? an investment in the technology of tomorrow and the leadership to apply it. Education receives much less attention in South Carolina than it actually deserves. Our universities are being forced to compete with less expensive, more highly-funded institutions in our region. The universities aren't to blame. They are unable to offer salaries competitive with other universities in the Southeast ? truly amazing, considering USC's proposed tuition increase will rank it the third most expensive university in the Southeast. Students, universities, commissioners and legislators alike need to realize that education is the real investment in the future of both the students J .L.:. TL- U.,t tko Unci IIICII MitlC. 1 lie CUSIS may ytcni uigii, ulu liiv cost of poor education is much higher. Fifty million dollars can finance one major airline hub or about 2,500 college-educated South Carolinians, one or two of whom might start their own airline. Which would you rather have? China. We cause of freedom, we should send aid them in the to the freedom-loving students in lave proven Beijing ?not to the dictators that opthey cannot press them. May the Goddess of Democracy les are the reign forever. Beijing and orge Bush j trade with overnment. Janice I.raft 0 serve the USC graduate