University of South Carolina Libraries
Library Richland County's new facility an impressive addition to Columbia There's just one word to describe it; impressive. Richland County's new central library at Assembly and Hampton streets opened Sunday amid grand hoopla including speakers, chamber music and a children's parade. Richland County taxpayers should be proud of themselves for their support of a $27 million expansion of the library system, including $11.6 million for a new central library. It is a positive sign to see the voters realize that the old central library on Sumter Street was completely outdated and needed to be replaced. In fact, when the Sumter Street library opened in 1952, the county realized it was too small. Forty-one years later, it's better late than never. And their investment has resulted in a beautiful, charming, functional library. The four-level library features a light-filled atrium with 24 palm and ficus trees, an art gallery, a 300-seat auditorium, a library gift shop featuring works of local artisans, a tearoom and many other amenities adding flair and class. But taxpayers need not fret over some features that seem a little bit too extravagant in these tight budget times. Private donors gave $600,000 to the library to add items such as the auditorium's maple paneling with cherry trim and marble-topped conference tables. Private donations also paid for a Kurzweil reader, which scans books for the blind and "speaks" the text electronically. The children's library has a craft area, story-time room with a puppet stage and a 46-foot mural based on Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are." About the only negative in the entire facility is the current lack of parking. A 180-space parking deck will be constructed in two phases with 100 spaces built in the first phase, but, until then, patrons must park on the street. The new building is a welcomed addition to downtown Columbia and one more step in the revitalization of the city center. Hopefully, the rejuvenated library will lure more suburbanites to visit the city. Kudos to the Richland County voters. Their slight sacrifice has added a Significant element to the Community: an attractive but practical modern public library to complement USC's Thomas Cooper. The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be 200-250 words maximum. Full name and professional title or year and major, if a student, must be included along with an address and phone number. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for style, possible libel or space limitations. The Gamecock will not withhold names under any circumstances. Candidates should think about the future of USC Whether you've noticed it or not, this year has been one of the dirtiest student government campaigns in a long time. Here at The Gamecock, we hear rumors day after day of f4 ( *1 muddy campaigning, possible 118111 / JBMB election codes violations and the I If* Ik* 9 underlying notion of partisan politics making its way into a I non-partisan student govern- PATRICK ment. Now correct me if I'm V I L L E G A S wrong, but this isn't ClintonBush revisited. It s only student wfse their power is limited, government! <j0 ^at js j0 do? We all know student govern- They first need to throw out ment can rclrange the structure all of the corny and ideological or heal all the problems at this promises candidates make to set university, and it would be irre- elected. I don't think it's realissponsible tor us students to for candidates to promise think this way. Funny thing is, I something like free student don t think some ot the candi- parking or beer parties at the dates realize this. Russell House. This university operates at a Then lhe next crew that snail s pace, and the only tiling moves into the student governSGA officers can really do is ment otfice neeUs t0 ,hink on pound small dents into a big h0w we can resolve some major pioblem, hoping that next year complexities hurting this camsoineone will pick up the ham- pUS so some rea] progress can mei and continue torward. It be made. These problems this continues, it may be possi- include race relations, parking, ble to notice some change with- tuition increases and campus in live years or so. safety But this is where logic goes By doing this, these leaders to pot. Instead ot thinking of the wjjj jay down a foundation for futuie student Success ahead, next group of leaders to most candidates are only think- build upon. Then they can posing about their one-year-blip as sjbiy t>uild a staircase of ideas, an SGA executive or senator. SQ eacb administration can By thinking in this manner, climb untU we get somewhere, candidates start churning out gul for ^ t0 work, student impossible platforms in order to candidates have to stop playing get elected, and, once they get dirty, partisan politics and learn elected, they unfortunately real- bow lQ behave themselves, it's ize they can t accomplish much, obvious these candidates will Granted. SGA can have an probably not accomplish much impact when distinbttting money jf they have to resort to such to different organizations or pettiness Plicae c?ir*h ac thp PYam. vnu.^vo JUVH uo UIV 1VVVIIV VAIUll pie of buying new equipment Pa,;ick for the P.E. center, but other- chief of The Gamecock ' ? < ? REAP "THAT KEEPS ON GET1 MP EtPl THE V?RW RICK ABLE To A1TEN "A I \ ME \ WOI P S\M Good records a must to fight hate crimes To the editor: I was surprised to read on the front page of Wednesday's Gamecock that USC "doesn't maintain files or statistics on racerelated incidents or crimes." This hardly sends a positive message to a person who has been a victim of a hate crime. President Palms recently called for an evaluation of race relations in each department of the university. If USC is truly serious about combatting all forms of discrimination, be it racist, sexist or homophobic, then accurate records should and must be kept of hate crimes on this campus. You can't fight a dragon with a peashooter and expect to do much damage. Likewise, we need statistir'c In occpcc hnu/ hid ihp nrnhlpin is here so that we, the students, administration and staff, can figure out effective strategies to combat the different forms of prejudice and hate crimes that doubtless occur more often than we realize here at use. Amanda Johnson Library and information science Plasma for money a dangerous practice To the editor: On the front page of The Gamecock published Feb. 5, there appeared an article entitled, "Plasma donations yield benefits, cash." According to the article, students can earn $20 per donation of plasma at Preferred Blood Resources Inc. Abiding by federal law, PBI allows a qualified individual to sell their plasma twice in a seven-day period as long as the visits are at least 48 hours apart. Because penny-pinching students will be attracted to the financial incentives of frequent visits to PBI, they should also be aware of the risks to which they are exposing themselves. A derivative of blood plasma is a substance called immunoglobulin molecules. Much NEWSROOM *(M 777-7726 P.O. BOX 85131 Editor in Chief Associate Editors Viewpoint Editor - Copy Desk Chief News Editors - Asst. News Editors Carolina! Editor Asst. Carolina! Editor Sports Editors Asst. Sports Editor Photo Editor Asst. Photo Editor Graphics Editor Asst. Graphics Editor Cartoonist ? ? Copy Editors h Student Media Coordinator Production Manager Asst. Production Manager Advertising Manager Faculty Adviser Graduate Assistant Darkroom Technicians if College 'in& more Nsive, onlh pp51 i will be ^r" p it. / ?, TWAT I A/^S COLLEGE ;up be Just v>? ke... |A^r >w w HnAli of our immune defense against invading organisms is predicated upon the tremendous diversity of immunoglobulin molecules. The total immunoglobulin content of the adult human body is about 75 g, of which 2.2 g is synthesized each day. Donating more frequent ly than once a month, the individual weakens his/her immune system and thus becomes more susceptible to infectious diseases. The money gained by selling one's plasma too frequently would not outweigh the cost of a hospital visit. Although students should not be discouraged from fulfilling an important need of society by selling their plasma, caution should be exercised. James Bauernschmidt MIBS student Columnist should get his facts straight To the editor: I have read many anti-gun articles in my life, but J.T. Wagenheim's article has to be the -most ignorant. I respect Wagenheim's right to dislike guns, but I don't agree with any of his Feb. 10 article, "Limiting bullets snouta oe Key 10 gun control. Society has continuously looked for something to blame when somebody does something wrong. It's either, "Well, his mother treated him bad when he was little," or, in this case, "No, officer, the bullet killed him. I didn't!" When are we going to start blaming the murderer and not the material thing he or she used? Banning bullets does, whether you agree with me or not, Mr. Wagenheim, take the right away from the law-abiding citizens to protect their homes and family. Banning bullets or rationing them as you suggested will do nothing more than drive up the price of a box of bullets and hinder the lawabiding citizens ability to buy a box, while the outlaws on the street take un reloading Hmm Mr. Wagenheim do you know what tSai? UNIVERSITY OF SOU Patrick Villegas Lee Clontz, J.T. Wagenheim Gordon Man tier < Brian Garland lark Dunn, Mplissn Tennen ....Lea Clayton, Rochelle Killingbeck ' Jennifer Fuller 1 Melinda Waldrop Nancy Salomonsky, Tim Thorsen ( Rob Rodusky Stephanie Newlin Kelly Johnson ] Gregory Perez ] Chris Muldrow Paul Jon ( Chris Davis, Thorn Harman Jim McKellar ...Laura Day Jim Green ' Renee Gibson , Erik Collins ( Brian McGuire Erin Galloway, Rika Hashimoto ? . A r?AfCRNI1M. reloading is? All your idea would do is create a black market for bullets. As for Virginia's law that puts a limit on the number of guns you can buy in a month. South Carolina has the same law. Not just anyone can walk into a store and walk out with a 20-gauge shotgun. You have to be 18 years old to purchase a shotgun or rifle and 21 years old to buy a handgun. After purchasing, your background is checked by SLED. This is not the best system, I admit. The group you hate so much, the NRA. wants an instant automated-in-thc-gun-store check. This way, a person cannot walk out with a new gun before being checked out, but the Democrats in Congress wouldn't think of supporting the NRA. Well, Mr. Wagenheim, how dare you try to compare South Carolina with your home state of New Jersey? In New Jersey, all guns are banned, and somehow it has a very high crime rdte ? much higher than in South Carolina and Virginia. But J.T., how can that be? You seem to know so much about guns, tell me. J.T., seriously man, you write well, but you don't know what vou're talkinc about. Brad Pittman Business freshman To the editor: Recently, The Gamecock published an article by Mr. Wagenheim that disturbed me a great deal on two points. The first was the fact that this man is so ignorant about the subject he addressed, and the second was The Gamecock wasted its space with c ?ir?h o ftrACO iV? i c ronrofontot irvn rxf ouvii a iiiictivpivo^iiuiuv/ii vn the truth. Since I do not have enough space to clash ideologically with Mr. Wagenheim, I wish to address a few points in the article that caught my attention as absurd. His statement about rationing ammo to hunters, "If they're a bad shot... get another hobby," again showed his ignorance. A sportsman fires many rounds to hone his Icorfe mm -m TH CAROLINA COL The Gamecock is the student n< 5outh Carolina and is published thr Wednesdays and Fridays during the weekly during both summer sessio I'ersity holidays and examination pe Opinions expressed in The Garr or author and not those of the Unive The Board of Student Publicatio: publisher of The Gamecock. The Stu parent organization of The Gamecoc Change of address forms, subs zorrespondence should be sent to T The University of South Carolina, Q Subscription rates are $46 a ye Columbia, SC. The Gamecock is a ri of the University of South Carolina j dent activity fees. I f OH, HI PoM'r N WoftRM/THAT WOUUf U MEVER jf HAPPEN HERE. skills, so that he may take animals cleanly. It is at his discretion as to how many practice rounds to fire before entering the field. To dictate to him how mafiv ronnrlc hp ran have in order to lower the crime rate is ridiculous. Mr. Wagenheim also made a statement concerning the NRA's view of the media, which he says is snivelling. The truth is that the media often has no idea of what is going on concerning Firearms and often refers to such mighty weapons as the' "automatic revolver" or the "exploding bullet." The NRA would like to see the media try to present some objective journalism instead of the yellow variety often surrounding the firearm issue. Hie writer also stated "half the bullets are probably made in Japan anyway ...." On the contrary, Mr. Wagenheim, three major ammo manufacturers ? Winchester, Federal and Remington ? reside in the United Slates and employ thousands of American workers. The truth is people do, in fact, kill other people, regardless of the means. To blame bullets for violence is like blaming gasoline for bad traffic accidents. There are many unfortunate events that could be avoided if people held weapons in the respect they require, but ignorance and fear prevent people from learning about firearms in a positive way. And to outlaw guns and ammunition for people who do respect them would leave them in the hands of criminals, who don't. There is one more point that 1 would like to address concerning Mr. Wagenheim's article on gun control. He makes the comment that New Jersey has very strict gun laws. I have no doubt it does, but, last time I checked, New Jersey wasn't all that great either, however, if New Jersey should turn out to he the "Tlarden Stare' nf Frten " then please contact me, and I will be happy to buy you a ticket back there. Ken Philbeck History junior ADVERTISING I 777-4249 UMBIA, SC 29206 ewspaper of the University of ee times a week on Mondays, > fall and snrini? semesters and r o - ?~ ns, with tiie exception of uniriods. \ecock are those of the editors rsity of South Carolina, ns and Communications is the dent Media Department is the k. criptions, requests and other he Gamecock, P.O. Box 85131, jlumbia, SC 29208. ar. First class postage paid at egistered student organization and is partially funded by stu