Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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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.