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News Traffic from page 1 conference, pounding the podium as he spoke. Charleston city officials esti mated that only 60 percent to 70 per cent of residents evacuated before the storm hit, in part because of residents’ frustration with how long it was taking just to leave Charleston. Some who de cided to wait a little while, waited too long. Isle of Palms residents who de cided to leave late Wednesday before the storm hit were turned around at the Coop er River Bridge. Traffic was stopped at 7:30 p.m. going both ways. Other coastal towns had a better time evacuating residents. According to Hilton Head’s Assistant Town Manager Charles 0. Hoelle Jr., Hilton Head achieved a 95 percent evacuation rate. “Only 5 percent to 10 percent stayed in Hilton Head,” he said. “Wfe’re running our emeigency operations from here in Beaufort, and as soon as the gale force winds come in, we’re pulling the rest of our guys out of there.” Hoelle said traffic from Hilton Head was bad, but not nearly as bad as what occured in Charleston. Many Hilton Head residents began leaving during the vol untary evacuation and still had to pay the $1 toll to use the Cross Island Express way. The fee wasn’t lifted until the evac uation became mandatory. More than half a million people evac uated the S.C. coastline, according to Emeigency Preparedness officials. After the main traffic burden eased Many motorists were on the road to Columbia for as long as 13 hours. On an overpays, outside of Orangebuig, evac uees stopped and began tailgating, cheer ing on those who decided to continue. Some travelers decided not to wait until law enforcement officers reversed 1-26 eastbound, and crossed the median on their own. Congestion was aggravat ed because evacuations were taking place in Florida and Georgia, too, particular ly at the intersection of 1-26 and 1-95. At a service station off 1-95 in Goose Creek, one Georgia woman from Savannah said she had been on the road for 10 hours and feared that the Columbia hotel at which she had made reservations would give away her room. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said. “These idiots were supposed to reverse 1-26, but they still haven’t got that done, from what they say on the ra dio, and it’s already 9:30 [p.m.],” she said. The inability of highway officials to reverse 1-26 in a quick manner even had some residents questioning who they’ll vote for in the next election. “I always vote Democrat, but I won’t do it again. Not for this governor. Not for his incompetence in getting us out of here,” Charleston resident Eric Ruther ford said. According to Riley, before Hurricane Hugo hit in 1989, state officials consid ered reversing 1-26, and when Hurricane Dennis came by, city officials reviewed the importance of reversing the lanes if a large storm came again. Riley said he’ll focus on making sure state officials do everything possible to create a better evacuation plan than what took place Tuesday and Wednesday. “The citizens who went through this need to know that it won’t happen again,” Riley said. in the early morning hours Wednesday, Hodges made another 40-mile stretch of 1-26 to Columbia available for eastbound traffic. “My instructions to the higway patrol are, ‘Keep traffic moving,’” Hodges said. “There is no excuse for any delay in this evacuation.” However, Hodges said late Wednes day, “We worked aggressively to address that problem. It wasn’t done fast enough, and I’m disappointed in that.” Johnathon Barber, a James Island res ident, said he evacuated at noon Tuesday, only to return to his home seven hours later after traveling 15 miles. “It’s ridiculous,” he said. “The gov ernor knew he was going to have to evac uate us, and he should have prepared for it. I was fortunate that the brunt of the storm passed us by, because I was forced to stay here because of how bad the roads were.” Many motorists were stranded as they fled the coast Wednesday. Everyone needs some extra free time. Maintain a long distance romance, call home for money, or plan a road trip. The extra free time you get from Sprint is all yours. Spend it however you want. 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All rights reserved. _I --i Shooting from page 1 “I don’t know that we’ll ever know the answer to the question of why it hap pened,” Garrity said. “It may just be an enigma for a long time.” The shootings happened during a ser vice for teen-agers at the laige, red brick church on the southwest side of the city. More than 150 people were in the building. Witnesses said the teens were in the sanctuary when the gunman, wearing a black jacket, jeans and a white T-shirt, ar rived. “He hits the door real hard to make his presence known, and he just imme diately started firing,” said Dan Hughes, the church’s college minister. When the gunfire was over, Hughes said, the gunman “sat in the back pew and put a gun [to his head] and shot himself and fell over.” Authorities, fearing that Ashbrook might have wired himself with explosives, sent in a robot to search his body, but found nothing. Three adults and three teen-agers died inside the church. A 14-year-oldgirl died early today. Linda McConn, who has lived in Ash brook’s neighborhood since 1961 and wa: a high school classmate of his sister, viewer Ashbrook as a harmless eccentric. “I always saw him driving around ir his father’s old Chevy,” Ms. McConn said “We always just kind of thought he wa: kind of useless.” The nation’s latest shooting rampage also prompted Clinton administration of ficials to renew calls for tighter curbs or handguns. Gov. George W. Bush cut short a pres idential campaign trip in Michigan to re turn to Texas and “add some comfort." “It’s hard to explain how somebod) would have enough hatred in their heafl to walk into a church where people are seeking God’s guidance and shoot them," he said with tears in his eyes. Propecia | (finasteride) 1 Ask your doctor about this pill f from Merck. For more information, call | 1-888-MERCK-74. i 5 www.propecia.com V7e have a great selection of designer frames. 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