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TOieCE Serving ^ Edito Adam Snyder, I Nikki LaRocqu Stephanie Sonnenfeld, - jvnaiui o meet and We want to make a bet, even though gambling Stl is illegal in South ~ Carolina. G0V6I How many people will show up to Student Membei Government's go meet "Meet Your Sena- . .1 tor" event? not the I Friends, fel- aro low fraternity and snrnritv members and maybe one or a two significant others. ^ Actual constituents who wonf fn lrnATir fknir oarift+AM O*A TTCUm W/ XVllUW bll^u OCUabUiO cue likely not to show. We take that back. There may be a few who are bribed by the thought of free pizza and ice cream. If senators and other members of SG really want the stu* S.C. buys slice of p: These days, the environment has become dis- The em posable. The destruc tion of everything KjTJJTJj from rain forests to a grove of trees $21 milh down the street pr6S6rV? rtttyutXf iswelh organisms that mi call that particular habitat home. We, as a society, have been conditioned to think the world and its goods are ours for the taking, the land is ours to farm, the woods are ours to build with and the animals are ours to wear, eat and tame. It's a much too common belief that will take centuries upon centuries to undo, some thing South Carolina is already doing. This week, South Carolina purchased 32,000 acres of Blue Ridge property in the upstate, near North Carolina. The purpose? Simply to preserve the land from land developers. It was a pricey purchase, $21 million, but the state got a deal on it. Duke Energy, who origi nally owned the land, sold it for less than half of its original value, $54 million. ^1 ( Student Media Russell Hous Adam Snyder Susan Interim Editor in Chief Photo Nikki LaRocque Donnii Viewpoints Editor Graphu ^Rosalind Harvey Stephanie News Editor Asst Viewp Sara Ladenheim Kristin R News Editor, Design Cara ] Marcus Amaker ^st ^eU Amy Shannon Nathan Features Editors Asst. Spo Achlm Hunt Tori ( Bryan Johnston Asst. Pht Sports Editors Briar Ben Pillow On line Copy Desk Chief . ? Chria Dixon Chris Copy Editor Casey Jessan Creative ?1 ? The Gamecock is the student cock are those of tt newspaper of Die University of South and not those of' Carolina and is published Monday, South Carolina. Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and five times he Board of during the summer with the excep- hons and Commun tion of university holidays and exam lisher of The Gam periods. The Departm Opinions expressed in The Game- dia is its parent 01 The Gamecock will try to print The Gamecock ne all letters received. Letters should be House room 333. 200-250 words and must include full The Gamecocl name, professional title or year and to edit all letter fo major if a student. Letters must be bel or space limits personally delivered by the author to not be withheld for 1 5amecock use Since 1908 trial Board nterim Editor in Chief te, Viewpoints Editor Assistant Viewpoints Editor NION need to I oreet dent body to know who they are, they Ident should not play God and make mment ug come to them. They should go to their constituents. "S need to During camstudents, paigning season, i j how many candiway dates sit back and Und. wait for voters to visit them? None. SG members are not rovaltv for the general public to visit. They are our political servants. SG members who want their constituents to know them need to visit resident hall meetings, other student organizations and University 101 classes. They don't need to surround themselves with free food and idly wait for the public small iradise 1 ,. . According to The State, this rironment land is virtually . untouched by any development. The Jocassee Gorge is located on the ion used to property, which 1 this land Worth the rare plants and oney animals. Lakes and trails also dot the landscape. Additionally, the area will still be open to hikers, sightseers and hunters. Some may call the purchase a rash deal, citing the lack of profit potential of the purchase. But those naysayers are wrong. The profit South Carolina will reap from this purchase will i 1 il- _ Art 1 _ !? _ iar out nunmer me q>zi minion price tag of the land. This purchase has helped save a little piece of something so rapidly exiting our landscape and our mindscape. Gov. Beasley compared the land to the biblical Garden of Eden, unlike any of its kind in the United States. Thanks to some smart shoppers, we'll be able to see our own Garden of Eden, sans the evil. a . ?/? . PAlumkla Cf* OOOAQ Meyer* Ellen Parson* Editor Interim Director 3 Baker of Student Media s Editor Lee Phlpp* Sonnenfeld Advertising Manager oints Editor Sherry F. Holmes ichardson Classified Ad Manager Pellatt Carolyn Griffin is Editors Business Manager i Brown Jim Green rts Editor Creative Director yHara Michele Dame* )to Editor Creative Services ( Bjsj, Graduate Assistant r Editor Erik Collin* Baker Faculty Advisor 1 Ctdp iTTT,*7iW?TTT3T?TCl Decker 1 Hager ^ QwTHK;ock Services Editor (803) 777-3914 le editors or author News (803) 777-7726 Hie University of ETC. (803) 777-3913 iSLSpub VieWP?intS (803> 777"7726 ecock Sports (803) 777-7182 ent of Student Meganization. Online (803) 777-3913 JIB Student Media wsroom in Russell Advertising (803) 777-1184 Classifieds (803) 777-1184 { reserves the right r style, possible li- Fax (803) 777-6482 itions. Names will any circumstance. Office (803) 777-3888 SIGNE PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia USA m 1 -a "Students have the Health Educa B-grade j | Columnist 111 tell you what, I've never seer anything like it. I didn't know what 1 was getting myself into when I signed up and said I would play. Softball, that is. Playing softball It's a way of life for some people ? the) don't care about the 125,000-point drop of the Dow Jones or the planned assassination attempt of the Deputy-Mayor of Iceland's Tutorial on How to Pronounce Its Capital's Name Committee (its capital is Reykjavik). HI tell you what, this furious and impassioned spirit some people have is quite evident in intramural softball. BT Ai 11 ry i tjl _ League ouiiuaji. ^oeu. its compeuuon and savvy is about as abundant as Jamaican Pipe Dreams in Bogota. Yes, it's that competitive. And I'll tell you what again, I've seen some competitive games before. Heck, I've been a part of some competitive games before. I mean, I've played John Madden Football on Sega, and believe me, the computer isn't that easy to beat! Also, I played baseball for my high school. We had some close games before, especially in the 1996 State Championship run, which we won, getting really fat, phat rings, with our name on them and stuff (yes, I'm bragging). Students c To the Editor, Regarding Fred Leach's column, it's sad to see such a strong sense of homophobia here on our campus. Leach "legitimizes" his views, but believes Ellen Degeneres shouldn't have the right to do the same. He "is tired of being bombarded by messages attempting to legitimizes that lifestyle." "Ellen" is the only show on television in which the main character is gay. I really do not believe that's reason enough to call it Hnmhnrrlmprit Instead, Leach would like to see more shows like "Touched By An Angel." Sorry to break this to you, but not everyone in America is Christian, either. Can I say that I am "bombarded" by shows correcting my morals? I also must say that ABC should not be praised for their hypocrisy. A parental warning is placed before "Ellen" because of a simple kiss. The show "Dharma and Greg" makes numerous references to sex and they are often shown lip-locked, yet, no warning. Is it perfectly all right for our children to see a man and woman in bed together? Maybe there are worse things we should worry about our children seeing on television. So what if Mr. Leach doesn't want to wear a proud to be straight shirt. Does this mean we shouldn't have the freedom to express who we are or what we believe? If he is so proud to be an American, shouldn't he also be proud of the freedom of speech this poor country was built on? I think gays may find the need to "legitimize" their lifestyles because of people like Fred Leach. Maybe gay activists are "militant" because of the discrimination they receive and not vice versa. Maybe Leach should take his own advice and follow the Golden Rule. J Stacey Kobe DAILY NEWS ?mi\ unique ability to be able to tal face the same dilemmas ; itor Elise Vaughn, on the Heal ioitbau no But nothing was able to prepare me for the fire that is B-League soft- i I ball. Don't let the name fool you?yeah, i L sure, they call it B-League to hinder 1 the utter and absolute violent and ma[ licious, not to mention hellish, compe tition that waits before a daring soul. ' That was my mistake. I didn't both- < r er to watch video tapes of past games i , (available at that place) or interview 1 those still in the hospitals after last 1 year's games, learning how to walk 1 again, and for a few, how to use toe-nail , clippers again. j I just signed up to play with the 1 [ club that represents my church, a mot- 1 i ley crew brought together by their Catholic faith, held under the leader- ] [ ship of, well... we'll just call him < "Father," the priest at our church. He i leads this bunch of tough-nosed, noholds-barred, pain-is-only-in-the-mind, j , Rosary-praying renegades into battle ] every time. , When we get on that field, it's hell 1 i to pay baby! And Fll tell you what once i more, we've dished out some hell! j ; Anyway, this is a tough league. Let 1 me explain to you some ground rules. Three girls have to be on the field at all ( times. This is a distinct advantage for ' us, because we Catholics bred some fe- ' male softball players, 111 tell you what. ^ It has something to do with the genetic code, I think. I 1-dn uapuic 9UUK Sophomore I Media Arts s i Try another perspective | To the Editor, In the Monday, Oct. 27 column "Gays needn't legitimize lifestyle," Fred ^ Leach complains that gays and lesbians are unnecessarily and distastefully fore- ( ing their sexuality upon everyone else j in an attempt to legitimize their sexu- , al preference. ^ He complains about Ellen De- s generes' sitcom, which deals directly with issues of what it is like to be a les- , bian in America today. Perhaps we e should substitute "Melrose Place" in- j to his argument using his exact words. ? "I am not going to criticize" the I show's Amanda's "need to legitimize ? her" heterosexual "preference. It is no 1 concern to me who she wishes to en- ( gage in sexual relations with, but < frankly, I don't want to hear about it. .. If you want to go kissing a member of the" opposite "sex, fine, but why do it for everyone in TV land... I am tired i of being bombarded by messages attempting to legitimize" a heterosexu- r al lilestyle. I repeat, all of the above quotes are i the words of Mr. Leach, only he was at- ( tacking homosexuals in this way. To i his credit, Leach feels that even men and women kissing in public "is some- j thing that should be saved for the pri- j vacy of home." What he conveniently i overlooks with his heterosexual eyes is ( the fact that the public is bombarded i every day with heterosexual "propa- a ganda." 1 Homosexuals, like Degeneres and J many of the gay protesters aired on television, are only trying to even out the t terrain a bit. If 5 to 10 percent of the 1 MI a E-Z ACCESS DlGirai f NAMf: [lane C. Doe 3/ tow&i 3 Bethlehem ftke m MoRWE--$97,ot8 ' inoc. .fatepa>ment'7^ KIPS. None, under^j/na f I mm. SffiftCo. fregretspair m pop m CEcountii GMfulRgZ/ ik to other students who eal and walk the same walk." th and Wellness Program's ] t for weal But anyway, I was saying this be- < cause we have some of the best fe- 1 male players on our team. If not for the < these girls, we wouldn't be anything. r Another rule is that a player from 1 /our team has to pitch while your team 1 is up to bat. However, males only get 1 two pitches and females three. This j is tough because you only have a cer- ^ tain amount of pitches to deal with, " t 30 you have to rely on your guts to be ready for and swing at anything. j There is also no stealing or slid- ? ing, which makes it harder to ad- ( ranee runners and to be safe in the closer plays and such. t But HI tell you what, we haven't \ let these petty inconveniences get in ( aur way. We've played through it all , and then some. I remember my first game a cou- ^ pie of weeks ago. I was fielding a ground ball and it took a wicked hop and 3macked me in the mouth. I got my booth knocked loose and had blood spew- * ine everywhere (actually, not reallv. I just wanted to use the word spew). And I the game hadn't even started yet! < But, I played through it baby. And , Dnce the smoke cleared and the bod- i ies were counted, we stood victorious, suppressing the rally by the opposing 1 force in the late innings. 1 And in the second game, through ( the mud-wrought field and too- small d on homo >eople in the United States are homo- p lexual, then Leach shouldn't be upset t intil the percentage of gay/lesbian kiss- a is on TV exceeds this. Obviously, ho- 0 nosexual representation on televi- t lion does not meet this percentage at his time. If Mr. Leach's line of reasoning is ollowed through, it would seem that ^ t's indeed heterosexuals who are the ( >nes who feel a need to legitimize their f ifestyle by forcing heterosexuality on t >thers. I personally do not agree with y he reasoning and am only trying to jr ihow how absurd Leach's claims are. 0 Gays and lesbians should be just c is free to express their sexuality as het- j. ;rosexuals. It's not that they are try- ^ ng to "legitimize" their "lifestyle," they ire merely expressing fundamental )arts of their personalities, which is something that heterosexuals take t or granted everyday. " p Christina. Owens t Senior * Psychology \pologies to SG, friends ro the Editor, t The Georgetown wrestling story * n the Monday, Nov. 3 issue of The jamecocK was not tne way i intenaea ? t to be and I do not stand behind it. | The wrestling organizations were t nentioned without permission and the j nternship has not been applied for. Fm lot doing any ring announcing. I sincerely apologize to all promotions used n the story for their names being used | vithout permission. Georgetown 1 Wrestling Association was not spon- t sored by Student Government. t There will be no Wrestlefests in ;he future. In fact, the Georgetown 1 Wrestling Association is dead. These 'JUSmmg} ' Married f| Phils., Pa. I ',ii/uic/k 11 erfility shoes I 11 mderw/re.) I 11 I 1 * ' r?n thp samp ramnns peer counselors i, weary tleats (for me at least), we slaughtered, ;hen butchered, then massacred the jther team, in that respective order, rhe game was highlighted with spectacular defensive plays by our third msewoman, left fielder (who was also female) and our first baseman, which nof Vionnona fn Ko ma T^o-nlr unu fkanlr UJV \AJ IA/ XXIV/. X XXCXXXXV J VJ U-, LllCXiXXV ^ou, please, really, no applause, please, hank you. The third game consisted of a combination of the first two. We had to withstand a late-inning rally, ending with )ur fabulous third basewoman diving, vith ball in hand, to tag the runner for he final out, but still holding a firm-14 o 6 lead, despite "Father" being on the lisabled list with a torn rotator cuff and ill of our favorite's bat cracking, never ;o be used again. I'll tell you what, it vas (sob, sob) really tough (sniff). But like I said, this is B-League softball. Ask anybody, man, this ;ame is ruthless. Don't believe me? Yeah, well I dare fou to come out and play. No, I double lare you! And then you can feel the vrath and horrible horribles that is softball. B-League softball. Coed, BLeague softball. Intramural, Coed, B^eague softball. Intramural, Coed, BL,eague softball with a bunch of Catholics. Hell to pay, baby, hell to pay. sexuality ?eople showed friendship and support o me, and I thank all of them. The irticle makes it out to be a glorification f only me and GWA, which is somehing I can't support. I want to publicly apologize to Gene Villis, Pat Daly, Andy Daly, Jamie Irewer, Emily Williamson, Bo Moran, jlenn Fosnacht and Dwayne McLemore r?t? mrnrrr+Kinrr fV? qf konrvnnarl on/] fn* \jx cvcijuuiig uiub cuiu iwx he article. The event was hyped up, ?ut the last-minute problems, like not >eing able to get a real ring, the amount if people failing to show up and Earl Shelley's parents ending the show even >efore it started let everyone down, rhere were some things out of my conrol, and I deeply apologize for that. If things would have gone well the ape would have been shown to many >eople in wrestling. I will try to help he people who had their dreams set on his to the best of my abilities. I want also to state that it wasn't all because of what I did." The people vho are mentioned above, as well as Jl __ 1 *1 1 1 11 T A 1 A liners, coniriDuiea as wen. l wanted to hank everyone for helping me do this, mt it never made the story. I'm not a person to glorify myself, and this is what the story sounds ike. I had a vision for it to show thanks o everyone who was a part of it, to give ight to people who wanted to wrestle n the big time, to help spark interest n each of the participants and to show hat we can get something accomplished, f we work together. lamie Sanderson hinior Fournalism