Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Fake I.D.? New drinking age rules deserve students' respect One of the most important things about the university experience is the sudden freedom that is thrust unon a freshman student. That freedoin means a lot of things. No curfew. No constant harping about studies from various authority figures. No restrictions on where you can go and who you can go there with. And there are also very few restrictions on what you can put in your body. Conveniently, certain other bodies, those being the state government and the police, have put restrictions on that. Now that House Bill 3028 has been signed into law, Columbia's taverns and watering holes should rest a little easier, while USC's student population should sit up and pay attention. The purpose of the bill was to make an all out assault on underage drinkers, and the prime targets are those carrying fake I.D.s. Obviously, the local drinking establishments are fed up with having their liquor licenses threatened every time they open for business during the school year, so they were some of the first to rally around the new, improved minimum drinking age. New and improved because where the bar was the only party that lost out when a fake 21-year-old was discovered drinking on the premises, now it goes both ways. Yes, the bar's license is still threatened, but the person carrying the fake no longer gets off easy. A $68 dollar loss, which was the first offense fine for an ABC violation, was easy enough to take. A little time talking with an ABC officer and a little money lost were the only threats to the underage drinker before Monday. Now that the bill has been passed, an arrest for any violation of the minimum drinking age laws will instead require that you hand over your driver's license for 90 days for the first offense and six months for further violations. Any violation during a probationary period results in another probationary period being tacked right on ; the end of the first one. That could result in losing freedom, cheap transportation, and ; even a job, not to mention worse problems if the offender decides ; to take a ride without a license. ; The bars are tryingxo protect their businesses, and the ABC is ; just doing its job. v It's the job of Underage students to be very careful, or just be ' patient. "FLASH ? ANOTHER GREAT PlSCOVERYf CI sSZo XZirrsO ( y A I The Gamecock Scott Pruden Robyn Thompson Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor, Copy Desk Chief Ron Baker Dennis Shealy News Editor Carolina Life Editor Fred Gonzalez Nick Leoncavallo Sports Editor Photo Editor Kristin Francis Erik Collins Graduate Assistant Faculty Adviser ; Ed Bonza Laura S. Day Director of Student Media Production Manager Ray Burgos Renee Gibson Assistant Production Manager Advertising Manager Kyle Berry Carolyn Griffin Assistant Advertising Manager Business Manager Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should 11 be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, pro fessional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if ; a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any - circumstance. v^f? W i\< UT" Bo IflK )wsm n Contest reveal Annette and Frankie had no idea it would go this far. When they starred in the movie/tow to mujj a wiia miani I'm sure tney didn't realize that the sexist title would still be in the process of being defined almost thirty years later. I recently took the obligatory Sunday afternoon trip to the beach. A few friends and I packed up the car and headed to the Isle of Palms in Charleston. After we paid too much to park too far from the actual surf, we hiked to the beach and staked out a miniscule square of i sand. It happened to be near an establishment I where I learned one of my least favorite sum- i mer activities was about to take place. It was the weekly bikini contest. I was hoping to avoid 1 the male chauvanistic exercise in female degra- j dation, but unfortunately, I was in the the com- ( pany of two of the pigs. After broiling our bo- i dies for an hour or two, they insisted on ] attending. ] Several young women competed. Most were < pretty, a few were attractive in a fleshy sort of Frowning is b< One of the things that most impressed me when I first arrived on campus was the people ? they were friendly. They smiled at you even when they didn't know you. They'd say, "Hi." Being new not only to USC, but to the entire state of South Carolina, this was comforting. nivjac anuica niuiiii a ivjl iu inc. Now, however, I notice very few people smiling at the people they pass. They delib- ! erately turn their heads, look down or look far, , far away, rather than give a simple smile. I don't know why this trend has suddenly become so rampant ? maybe people are tired of c the hot weather and think they're too hot and t bothered to smile . . .maybe their days are so r hectic that they forget or don't want to take the time to smile . . .maybe some giant spaceship came down and rendered half the population a smileless . . .do you think? v Smiles are an important factor in everybody's s life. They have an effect like no other human ^ gesture or movement. And they are beneficial to s both the person who gives them and the person r who sees them. A smiler benefits in two ways from smiling. First, smiling triggers the brain into a happy i mode ? the world seems less doomed and hos- i tile, and the good aspects of life flood the mind, r He also gets the satisfaction that he has trig- t Success takes Snip snip! Do you know what that sound just was? Was it the sound of the official cutting of the parental umbilical cord, leaving you floating alone and disillusioned in the neverending dark void of a major state university? Or was it the scissors of life severing the ties -u - - - - j j ? iu uiu prooiems, nigii swiuui luiuanucs ana uramatics, pointless cruising on Saturday nights and the endless squeeze of peer pressure? Then again, was it the cutting of the ribbon i to open for you a whole new set of horizons, in 1 which you'll learn, love, hurt and grow like you never thought possible? t Well, the answer to all of the above questions is. . . yes and no. t And that's one of the first lessons to learn i about the university experience: all things are frighteningly ambiguous. But that realization will come soon enough. \ College is first and foremost a place to learn, t to the dismay of many. And this startling reva- t lation has hit some right square in that tender t and vulnerable area we call grades. And I'm not talking from high up on the hill of Dean's List i honor student my-life-is-not-complete-without- j studying folks. To most, my college transcript j would look like a roller coaster of academic I successes and . . . well, not such successes. 1 Sure grades count. But so does learning. I ( feel like I've learned a lot, and I know lots of grademeisters who don't know jack. They have t a transcript full of very satisfying neat, pointy 'A's, but ask them what they learned in bogus s Is who's in coi ^Louann mazure t If way, but it was apparent from the beginning he ;hat dark-eyed Debbie would emerge the yt winner. Sc She had great hair, a beautiful face and a m 30dy of which even the other contestants were or jealous. She strutted before the audience like a ;hampion show dog. Admidst cans 01 i>kin to at win!" and declarations of admiration for various w 3arts of her anatomy, she displayed amazing 01 3oise for someone wearing the cloth equivalent cc Df a cluster of fig leaves. I have put aside all female cattiness to do jus- Sc itter exercise, 1 ^ ? KELLY C. THOMAS 11 ;ered the same response in the other person ? cl he one who he has smiled at. fr The smilee benefits from the good feelings li! aused by the smile of the smiler and also gets fe he feeling that he's socially OK and looks nor- fr nal and personable to other people. There are no strings attached to smiling. No cl ibligation is involved. Usually, if one is careful ei md doesn't smile at the local hoodlum, a smile vill elicit a response in kind. The smilee will ee the smile, feel good, and smile in return. y( lien, both the smiler and the smilee-turned- h< miler will go on their way, happier, calmer, w nore assured and in a better mood. Y( ai All-in-all, most people suffer from some feel- in ngs of inadequacy, low self-esteem and social insureness. These factors cause anxiety and can esult in bad moods and tempermental outburs- e' s . . .and loneliness. U1 a little bit of < f SCOTT PRUDEN ? S( re subject 101 and they couldn't recall to save :heir lives. tc The trick is to emphasize the learning and get s( he grades at the same time. e. This is arrnmnlishp/1 hv u/hat noronte lib-a 1/; "??UI JJCUVslllO 11IVW IU g, erm "responsibility." Corporate efficiency ex- n >erts will call it "good time management." d< I like to call it "getting in the groove." Getting in the groove is the state of perpetual if >rogress, in which each accomplishment, b< hrough its own momentum, pulls you through te o the next accomplishment, and the next and n he next. It includes every aspect of life, from academes to the wildest monster throwdown party \[ (-our young life has ever seen. The secret is to g, ust keep everything moderated and in balance. i( -ose your balance and you go tumbling off the a lorizontal beam of life like a drunk Nadia Domaniche There are two major problems with this a heory, though. h Problem one is that it takes an immense tl imount of personal dicipline to achieve that h '?i r? ?VWci i w / I TftfcUKJfi fAeDA ^SNte^, itrol ce to this unbridled display of unadulterated edonism. After observing my first and hopeilly last female flesh contest, I have to hand it ) Debbie, who walked away with almost $200 nd a chance to compete for a cruise. I always loked down on women who purposefully exxrbated the sexism situation. Now I have seen le light. We should take note of women like Debbie, men are willing to be manipulated by their JIIIIUIICS, UU 11. YVUUltll lldVC UCC1I UUlllg 11 1UI ^ars. Need I even mention my own heroine, ;arlet O'Hara? I never considered myself a feinist because men made it too easy to not be le. Face it, guys. You set yourself up. For those women who thought they were >ove using a wink and a smile to get their ay, it's not giving in to men. It's turning armd and proving once again that women are in mtrol. We just let the men think that they are. Way to go, Debbie. I'm sure Annette and ;arlet would approve. A * /?0 A r.Ai '' t>ut so what Your smile could change all (or at least part) f that. If each person took time to smile at at ast one other person every day, everyone is ire to get smiled at sooner or later, and everyrie will feel better about themselves. I'm not lying I have the clue to world peace or anyling, but smiling surely can't hurt matters, can ? My mom always told me it took fewer muses and less energy to smile than it did to own. Doesn't it seem worth it to put out the ttle effort to smile if, in return, you'll get good clings as well as eliciting those good feelings om others? It takes so little to give so much. tSo it's a liche . . .it must bear some truth, to be used lough to be a cliche.) Now, I'm not a smile fanatic. I won't look at du when you've just broken up with your Dney and ask you to smile. I won't watch you rithing in painful agony and shout "Smile!" in 3ur face. But I do think an average person on i average day can put a little more happiness ito someone's life by smiling at them. A smile is the gift anyone can give and /eryone is happy to receive. AND, no one is pset if you return it. everything ind of momentum in the first place. That's the ardest part. You have to believe in your ability to get ungs done, regardless of others saying "you're rocrastinating," or "you're not prepared." To )me preparation means long hours of intense ramming for weeks before a final. For others, means a cursory glance over notes and readig to make sure the material is fresh. It's all dative to the person. Problem number two is a little more difficult > overcome. Like most great faiths and philo)phies that involve ideas such as eternal grace, verlasting life and nirvana, getting in to the IUUVC IS SUUlCllLlllg 111 Wlll^ll yCHCLllUll IS irely reached until you're dead. But hey, that oesn't mean you can't try. My point (since you're no doubt wondering I actually have one) is that all things should 5 taken in moderation, my friends. Some will :11 you that such advice only apply to vices ke controlled substances and the opposite sex. I say it applies to life. Get or do too much of one thing and your fe becomes controlled by that thing. That's not ood. Balance the studying and the parties (for ), there will be parties), and the male friends nd the female friends. And hey, if you happen to get a bit off kilter, ike a bit of advice. Go home, let Mom do your lundry and cook supper, and forget the fact lat you're willingly spending thousands of dolirs to subject yourself to this.