Vol. 93, No. 28 Fl^dctV October 15, 1999
. ^ _ nw C fin in uni! u <mcc 1808 ^
S.C. court kills video gambling
by Clayton Kale
Associate News Editor
The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled against
the Nov. 2 referendum Thursday, but also ruled
that video poker will be banned starting July 1,
2000.
s The court agreed with Joytime, a video gam
ing company with video poker machines in sev
eral South Carolina counties, that delegating the
vote on the video poker issue to the general pub
lic is unconstitutional.
According to the court’s opinion, “the Con
stitution does not contain a specific provision re
serving to the people to legislate, [and] in our opin
ion [the video poker issue] requires the legislature,
not the people, to enact the general law.”
South Carolina is a representative democracy,
as noted in Article ID, Section 1 of the S.C. Con
stitution, not a direct democracy. If South Car
olina were a direct democracy, a referendum on
proposed laws would be legal.
Allen Mashbume, operations manager for
Leisure Tune Inc., a video poker distributor, said
he wasn’t surprised by the court’s decision to block
the referendum.
“It’s not unexpected that they [the Supreme
Court] blocked the referendum,” he said
Alan Middleton, public relations director for
Collins’ Entertainment, agreed
“We are disappointed the people didn’t get to
vote on the issue,” he said “We believe we had the
votes to win the referendum.”
The court upheld the first part of the law (Act
No. 125 199 S.C. Acts) that said the games will be
illegal beginning July 1.
“Part I is a free standing enactment of the Gen
eral Assembly... and is upheld,” according to the
opinion.
It is possible, but unlikely, that the Legislature
will change the law next year. Supporters of the
industry said legislators would be wary of such a
hot issue, especially during an election year.
“Do you think that the Legislature really wants
to go back and visit such a continuous issue in an
election year?” said Rep. Tim Wilkes, a video gam
bling supporter.
Michael Gunn, a lawyer and lobbyist for video
gambling casino operators, said the video game op
erators would seek to reopen the debate in Janu
ary. He said video gambling operators hope to bring
a nonbinding referendum to voters by March or ..
April.
Gov. Jim Hodges said he believes the issue
won’t reach the legislative floor.
“The votes are not there,” he said.
Mihbume declined further comment on the
court’s decision to ban video poker.
“I’ll pass on [further comment],” he said. “I
haven’t had an opportunity to review the decision
[to ban video poker].”
A spokesperson from Joytime couldn’t be
reached for comment. The Associated Press con
tributed to this article.
Urban
League
pulls out
of summit
by Brandon Larrabee
Staff Writer
The Columbia Urban League Inc. is
withdrawing from the National Black Fam
ily Summit, an event it has co-spon
sored with USC for 13 years, in. response
to controversy surrounding the Confed
erate battle flag.
The event, scheduled to take place in
Myrtle Beach in March 2000, features
presentations on health, social and edu
cational issues as they affect the black fam
ily, according to university spokesman Ja
son Snyder. He said the target audiences
ere social service workers, human ser
vice workers, religious leaders and com
munity leaders.
The dispute arose over the location
of the summit. The league wanted to move
the conference outside of South Caroli
na because the Confederate flag contin
ues to fly above the Statehouse.
Snyder said it was sad that the Ur
ban League was pulling out of the sum
mit.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said “It’s been
a very strong 13-year relationship.”
Snyder said the university planned on
going forward with the conference. “Wfe’re
going to continue with the summit, and
we’re going to continue it in South Car
<*1ina this year,” he said
According to league President and
chief executive officer J. T. McLawhom
Jr., the league withdrew because of con
cerns within the league, among its con
stituency and within the National Black
Family Summit Advisory Board
He said that the Urban League’s mis
sion was to promote equal opportunity
for African Americans, and that mission
might be compromised if the league went
forward with the summit in South Car
r\1inQ
“The Urban League’s ability to be ef
fective depends on our credibility,”
McLawhom said.
Every member of the advisory board,
which represents seven states as well as
f uth Carolina, said they couldn’t attend
the summit if it were held at Myrtle Beach.
But Snyder said the university couldn’t
move the summit outside the state be
cause it’s a state agency and therefore can’t
participate in a boycott or protest.
“The reason we could not move the
conference is we are a state agency,” Sny
der said. “Wfe don’t get ourselves involved
in protests and boycotts.”
McLawhom said the university didn’t
mention their status as a state agency when
talks about moving the conference began
in July.
| Pumpkins are important, decorative centerpieces for homes on Halloween
Sean Rayford photo editor
A mother watches as her child frolics through the pumpkin patch last weekend at the Trenholm Road United Methodist Church. The church
is selling pumpkins for the Halloween season.
AAAS & Greek Life
Two sororities back out of Step-Off '99
by Amanda Silva
Staff Writer
Two days before Step-Off ‘99, traditionally white
sororities Delta Delta Delta and Delta Zeta retracted
their commitments to perform a step routine at the his
torically African-American competition.
Their invitation was publicized as a bold break from
tradition, as this is the first time the show has invited
traditionally white sororities
Delta Zeta and Tri-Delta were invited to perform
as an exhibition during the intermission show of the
contest.
Shana Swain, A A AS community chairwoman, said
that originally, Lambda Chi Alpha was supposed to
teach Delta Zeta a step routine that Delta Zeta would
then teac to Tri-Delta.
However, Swain said Tri-Delta’s supposed failure
to leant the steps in time caused its performers to drop
out. According to Swain, Delta Zeta in turn dropped
out as well, not wanting to perform alone.
However, Delta Zeta President Melody Miles said
the sorority had a schedule conflict with the show.
“We have a semi formal on Friday night,” Miles
said.
Representatives from the two sororities said the
reasons for their cancellation was because of “short no
tice” and scheduling problems, in addition to prepara
tions being made for Homecoming.
However, Swain said there was plenty of notice
given.
“They have known for a month,” Swain said.
With the two sororities dropping out, AAAS has
been left without a routine for the show’s intermission.
Felicia Richbuig, president of AAAS, said that the
two traditionally white sororities were invited to par
ticipate this year because “we just wanted to diversify
the show and open it up more to the entire Carolina
community.”
The idea for diversification was controversial in
AAAS meetings.
Swain said some members wanted to respect tra
dition, and maintain what had been done in the past, by
only allowing the traditionally African-American fra
ternities and sororities to perform.
Others, like Swain, viewed the integration as a “glo
rification of the community.” One Tri-Delta member,
who wished to remain anonymous, said the comped
tion is a great idea and that she was disappointed her
sorority had to drop out because of “short notice.”
Despite Tri-Delta and Delta Zeta’s sudden with
drawal, Step-Off ‘99 is going on as scheduled and will
showcase eight historically black sororities and frater
nities.
The purpose of the step competition is to highlight
and educate individuals on the origins of stepping, which
traces it roots to African tribal dances.
Proceeds from the show will benefit the Jackson
Rivers scholarship fund for the first time. The schol
arship was originally established to recognize outstanding
black males in the Carolina community.
However, this year, eligibility for the scholarship
will be extended to all minority students, regardless of
gender. The scholarship will be awarded to minority
individuals based on need and academic credentials.
A portion of last year’s proceeds benefited the Boys
and Girls Club of Columbia, a group for which
AAAS regularly does volunteer work.
Treasurer
might be
impeached
by Sara Ladenheim
Editor in Chief
Formal articles of impeachment have
been filed with the senate clerk against
_ student body
treasurer Eliza
beth Anne Ford
ham.
These
three articles in
clude “I. Viola
tion of the oath of
office, II. Viola
tion of the stu
dent government
financial codes,
Fordham
and 111. [Violation of the SG] constitu
tion.” Within each article are several claus
es that specify the alleged violations Ford
ham is being charged with. “Failure to
keep a minimum of 10 office hours per
week” and “general lack of initiative in
the financial process to aid her con
stituents” are two of the five clauses
listed by the finance committee justify
ing Article I.
Fordham, in response to these alle
gations, cited her right to academic in
tegrity in justifying her participation with
in the office. As a political science senior
working to finish the required courses
to graduate in May, Fordham feels help
less in the situation. “I am trying to grad
uate and complete my cognate require
ment while working as student body
treasurer and at another job,” she said.
The allegations that have led to these
charges stem back to Fordham’s partici
pation in the weekly senate finance com
mittee meetings. Fordham is unable to at
tend the meeting because of a class that’s
only offered at the same time,
“At the beginning of the school year,
I approached Sally [Ballentine, finance
committee chair] and asked if it would be
possible to reschedule the meeting to an
other time. She said no, it wouldn’t be
possible, so I just thought we would be
able to work on things outside of the meet
ing,” Fordham said. “I didn’t know about
any of this until last Friday, just before I
was to leave for fall break.”
Fordham, Ballentine and Director
of Enrollment Management Services Char
Davis sat down Oct. 8 to discuss the issue
for the first time.
“During that meeting, Sally told me
that the finance committee was thinking
about bringing up charges,” Fordham said
“However, we discussed the possibility
of a compromise that would have basi
cally meant that I would have had to get
rid of the class, provided my professor
could work with me. She [Ballentine] said
she would speak with the other members
of the finance committee and they would
decide whether or not they would com
promise on this issue.”
Prinr tn thp npvt mppfincr WpHtipc
day, Fordham told The Gamecock that
there was a possibility her professor would
be willing to work with her to change her
schedule and free time for her to attend
the finance committee meetings from this
point on.
“After I presented this new informa
tion regarding my ability to have some
flexibility for the remainder of the se
mester, Sally [Ballentine] told me that the
compromise had been rejected and that
she was there to formally ask for my
resignation. I said no, I would not resign,”
Fordham said.
At the senate meeting later that
evening, formal chaiges were filed with
senate clerk and journalism senior Claire
Thomas. Thomas was unavailable for com
ment at press time.
“Impeachment is basically labeling
Charges see page 2
Weather
Today
75
52
Saturday
75
r 54
Inside
■ bports pre
views the
soccer
tournament
Page 8
Datebook
Today
• AAAS Step-Off, 8
p.m., Carolina Colise
um.
>
Saturday
• USC at Arkansas, 7
p.m.
• Round Table Gaming
Society, noon to 11:45
p.m., RH.
Online Poll ■ «§ - :
1 Do you agree with the
I S.C. Supreme Court
^decision?
i
i
__— Go to www.gamecock.sc.edu to ,
vote in this week’s poll.