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%\it(5 Serving I Editoi Chris Dixon Adam Snyder Nikki LaRocque rii _ i_ _ . o n t i Diepname oonnenieia, i Silver lini AIDS clou The silver lining jjH^irs of the cloud just got ^HUJI a little brighter. \ According to ah article in Sunday's edition of The State, the number of newly IUrUm diagnosed cases of P AIDS dropped for Kesec the first time in 16 TTlOTiey years in 19%. solutefo i And ifs not as if y the rate dropped only in the big, educated cities or just with one race or gender. New AIDS cases dropped i r i r l ?j l 1 io percent ior wnne gay or Disexuai meii, 8 percent for Latinos and 3 percent for African Americans. Sexual orientation aside, the decline for whites was 13 percent, and the rate for all Hispanics fell 5 percent, while there was no increase for African Americans. Even regionally, newly diagnosed AIDS cases dropped from 12 percent in the West to a low 1 percent in the South. S.C. boast; gun reject It's sad but HK7TI3 true?South Carolina gets Qun slammed a lot. From its pol itics to its protocol, BT|TTr South Carolina hasn't always got- S.C. hi ten the best repu- som tation. First, ~ . there's the confed- fectlVB (Z, erate flag issue, avei and then, there's politicians like Strom Thurmond Our education system is a joke, under par and underfunded compared to the rest of the nation and our illiteracy rate is high. The Ku Klux Klan store in Laurens also certainly didn't help boost our image. Sometimes, it seems South Carolina just can't win. But, then South Carolina citizens ? and the rest of the country ? get a shock, like the one The State dished out yesterday in the Sunday edition. South Carolina is in the top of the nation for a very good cause. The state ranks fourth in rejecting gun applications. According to the story, South Carolina's "rejection rate of handgun sales is almost 60 percent higher than the national average, Student Media Russell Hou? Chris Dixon Susan 1 Editor in Chief photo j Adam Snyder Donnie Managing Editor Grnphia Nikki LaRocque Stephanie S Viewpoints Editor Asst. Viewpc Rosalind Harvey Kristen Ri News Editor Cara F .... Asst. New Sara Ladenheim News Editor, Design Tori O Asst. Phot Marcus Amaker Amy Shannon Brian Features Editors On-line Ac him Hunt Julie I Bryan Johnston Chris Sports Editors Casey I Ben Pillow Jessan Copy Desk Chief Creatlve ' The Gamecock is the student cock are those of the newspaper of The University of South and not those of T Carolina and is published Monday. South Carolina. ' Wednesday and Friday during the tall and spring semesters and five times '"? p08 ot. during the summer with the excep- tions and Communn tion of university holidays and exam lisher of The Game l* *'8- The Departme Opinions expressed in The Game- dia is its parent org MTTim'HimiiMB. The Gamecock will try to print The Gamecock new all letters received. Letters should be House room 333. 200-250 words and must include full The Gamecock name, professional title or year and to edit all letter for major if a student. Letters must be bel or space limital personally delivered by the author to not be withheld for i amccock I fSC Since 1908 rial Board , Editor in Chief , Managing Editor 5, Viewpoints Editor \ssistant Viewpoints Editor ing in id found The doctors, nurses and caregivers of jt\ or AIDS patients, along with researchers and scientists, should ______ take the time to smile and breathe. h nnrt Finally, aftar 16 irin ana years of increase, Still ab- there has been a necessary decline, a break in this terrible trend. But don't take too long with self congratulations.lt is time to role back the sleeves, dish out more money and push the rates of new AIDS cases even further down. As students at a Southern university, we need to be especially carefiil, considering our regional percentage dropped only 1 percent. Children are the future of this country, but we, the so-called Generation X, are the present. The immediate future of the U.S. cannot be stunted by the AIDS epidemic. We must find a cure. > high ion rate 7TQT3HH according to a justice Departcontrol ment study." Because of the 1994 Brady Act, 21 HJHTT7TTW| states require P AmhI background [ as finally Aecksbefowa { . r gun is bought, \emingef- and out of those Tld Clbove states, South Carboy, olina has the fourth highest rejection rate. The report also said that 68 percent of the rejected sales were because many of the potential buyers were convicted of a crime or were indicted or had been charged with a felony. Others had restraining orders or men tal disabilities. It's really scary to think that in the past, before the Brady Act, anyone could have purchased a gun, and happily gone on their way. In particular, consider people with restraining orders against them purchasing a gun. A bullet doesn't have to stay 200 yards away from it's intended victim. 2,467 people were rejected from buying guns. Of the 53,153 people who did, we can only hope they are responsible citizens who passed the application process with flying colors. i 1 9 USC Columbia, SC 29208 Meyers Ellen Parsons Editor Interim Director Baker of Student Media > Editor Lee Phipps 3onnenfeld Advertising Manager wits Editor Sherry F. Holmes chard son Classified Ad Manager 'ellatt Carolyn Griffin s Editors Business Manager 'Kara jim Green o Editor Creative Director Msh Michelle Dames Editor Creative Services jaker Graduate Assistant Culp Erik Coffins )ecker Faculty Advisor Hager Services ||[ilVM7iTl^!TmT?| The Gamecock Editor (803) 777-3914 seditors or author News (803) 777-7726 he University of ETC. (803) 777-3913 SL2S ?0inlS <803> 777 7726 cock- Sports (803) 777-7182 nt of Student Metallization. Online (803) 777-391.3 [tqBH student M8dla rsroom in Russell Advertising (803)777-1184 Classifieds (803) 777-1184 reserves the right style, possible li- Fax (803)777-6482 tions. Names will iny circumstance. Office (803) 777-3888 VIEWP fi 7"?~t "It wasn and Troy Hambrick, 1 USC shou Columnist Road trips can offer a lot more than parties and great football games. While visiting Georgia last weekend didn't offer me much in the line of great football or even parties, coming on Saturday and all, it did offer me the chance to compare our school to others in the region. For the most part, they are very similar. The people act primarily the same. They are just as nice. Even the dorms are about the same. Aside from being in different states, Georgia and USC remind me a lot of each other. Yet, with a closer look I couldn't help but notice one major difference ?the landscaping. (That tells you how interesting the game was.) At Georgia, it seems almost like having a healthy living environment is a priority. And, unlike USC, it is not focused in one area, like the Horseshoe, but rather, is widespread throughout the campus. Country mi Columnist | i It has become evident to me late- ( ly that my taste in music is not exactly up to date with the majority of college students. ' Whenever I drive around my ] home town of Irmo or down in Columbia with the windows rolled down, ' I get strange, disgusted looks (or laugh- ( ter) from all of the hip people that in- I habit these parts. It seems that al- I most no one around here appreciates < country music. I really don't understand this. It ] was only a couple of years ago that i country music was the cool thing to < listen to. With the rise of Garth Brooks, ( all the teeny-boppers were driving ^ around in their dad's cars listening to Kicks 96 and WCOS, and now all of ^ a sudden, it's Dave Matthews and Ala- . nis Morrissette. What's the deal with Dave Matthews, incidentally? Who 1 told that man he could sing? It was probably the same guy who told Pamela t Lee that she could act. 1 PINTS f[ \ y WI' ' J w 1't because of anything we saw < after the embarrassment of last [JSC sophomore running back, Id follow No one can argue that well-man icured grounds look better than weed laden flower beds and a world of con crete. But, what may be less eviden is umv suuii a green eiivirunmen comes from school pride and spirit If you have ever walked througl the Horseshoe you know what Fm talk ing about. It's that Spring Fever/nat ural high that makes you proud yoi chose South Carolina instead of Har vard. (Ha.) So, if a "green" campus is such i good thing, then why do we lack one' After all, not everyone can live or the Horseshoe. USC's dedication t< meeting SEC standards for facilities and campus life has the university building at every corner. This has al come at the expense of the quality o care needed for our campus's grounds At Carolina, weeds run rampani in the new beds around the Bull Streel Garage. Decades old oaks die on the Horseshoe as if poisoned by the uni versity landscapers themselves. (Hey I would consider it after one day 01 isic good j There are several reasons why ] think people don't like country, but ] will address the main one. It all has to do with image. When people think of country music, the first thing they think of is a redneck farmer leaning on his John Deere, chewing on a piece of hay, listening to some guy sing about his dog sr beer or ex-wife. This is simply not the case, but most people think lis;ening to country automatically makes ;hem a redneck. I'm not a redneck. Far from it, but [ enjoy country music because it's more ;rue to life than any other form of music I've heard. Country music is anathjma to those who desperately wish ;o blend in with the crowd and not appear to be a hick. Tm not trying to concert everyone to country music. Lis;en to whatever it is you like. But, too nany people put country music down. The music is easy to listen to and he lyrics talk about real life situations setter than any other form. The real ife situations I refer to are love and ove lost, brotherhood, family and hav ) mm mrectow| Backpack Thteves level 2 internet Porft 6*<sks LEVEL 3 j 8utf>s v Flashers I LEVEL 4 I ? ? ?n film. It was because we're an SEC t week, we took it as a matter of pride. on the slamming victory over East Car 7 UGA land t "USC's dedication to mee t facilities and campus life 1 ing at every corner. Thi 1 expense of the quality o campus's g: i blowing those leaves anywhere but in- e: ? to the pile I was trying to make.) oi Here, it seems that the concern is ^ j on growth, at the price of the land- n ? scaping, whether new or old. The board w that deals with these issues has demon| strated it has no concept of what a well- ti cared for campus looks like. When they ti landscape a part of campus like the T area between the Russell House and F l i_i_ _ n.n oi x i * i me jDuii oireei uarage one aay, ana ^ t the next allow a swarm of weeds to ; take it over, they are defeating the pur- ti . pose of doing it at all. n , I know the university enjoys wast- pi f ing money, but can't they find a less tl stuff, not for [ ( ' "All of a sudden, an Alanis on in which she sang abc sexual acts in a movie th< hear Shania Twain or Min such things? Of ing a good time. If that's redneck, then th I guess we're all rednecks. ni I was in Myrtle Beach the other a* day with my Grandparents at an out, door picnic. The music was being sup- co plied by the Shark, a rock station. All as of a sudden, an Alanis Morrissette song D< came on in which she sang (if you call D it singing) about committing certain jo sexual acts in a movie theater, rather in graphically I might add. I was em- a* barrassed for my Grandparents to hear such trash. Fortunately, I don't W think they were paying attention. Can 11 you remember when you were a kid CI watching a movie with your parents wi and a love scene would come on? Re- m member how embarrassed you felt? tr Well, that was how I felt when I heard in p V\ fZi\ j "Ss f\ I R 'pill J J M ill ?Wi TM? <?Am?cociXearn, olina Saturday Iscaping ting SEC standards for las the university builds has all come at the f care needed for our rounds." icpensive way to do it? Waste money a making food cheaper at the Russell [ouse or lowering parking fees, but ot on landscaping intended to be a eed garden. Better yet, use the money to aclally take care of what is planted. Ferlize the darn things, weed the beds, hey need to reconsider their approach, or all the new buildings, parking lots, ad walkways, only landscaping comined with proper maintenance will e this university together and take it into the campus we can be roud of. Georgia has accomplished lis task and so can we. rednecks Morrissette song came ?ut committing certain ^ater...Would you ever dy Mcready sing about course not." tat song. Would you ever hear Shaia Twain or Mindy Mcready sing >out such things? Of course not. I will admit there have been some untry songs that are a bit silly, such i" I'm Going Through the Big T)' and on't Mean Dallas," and "If Bubba Can ance, I Can,Too." But the vast marity of country songs tell a meangful story, and most of the singers e articulate enough to be understood. My favorite country singer is Clay alker. His songs are great, but what ike most about Clay is his humility, ay, who has muscular dystrophy, allys takes time for the fans. The huihty Walker shows is typical of couny artists, and that is rare in rock or any other form of entertainment.