University of South Carolina Libraries
Veterans Day bridges generation gap by Jessica Barfield The Carolina Reporter Since the early days of war, heroes have been created and stories have been told. Every year, these heroes are recognized on Veterans Day. Columbia honors veterans each year with one of the largest Veterans Day parades in the nation. At these parades, people can meet the heroes themselves and listen to the stories they have to tell. Raymond Lown and his wife, Vir ginia, have been going to Veterans Day parades since 1945. As they watched the annual pa rade make its way down Main Street on Nov. 11, their love and respect for those who have served in the military was evident. If they weren’t applaud ing parade marchers, the couple waved small American flags they’d brought with them. When military units marched by, Raymond sometimes stood at attention to salute them. Raymond, 77, served two and-a-half years in the Navy in both Eu rope and the Pacific. Virginia and Raymond were high school sweethearts and married on Christ mas Eve while Raymond was home on a three-day pass. Their situation wasn’t ideal, but they made it through and have been married for 56 years. “It was rough, but we accepted it back then,” Raymond said. Both are active in the American Le gion, and honoring the nation’s veter ans is important to them because many of their family members have been in the service. Raymond’s family received a procla mation from the governor because he and three of his brothers served simultane ously in the Navy. “My mother was honored for a four star family,” he said. “That’s one star for each son who served, and we all came back in one piece.” Virginia's father served in Wbrld War I and died shortly after she was bom. She went to France over the summer to visit areas where her father had been stationed “We got to walk on the ground that I he walked, and they had a monument set up,” Virginia said. “I never really knew him, so it was quite an experience for us to go.” The Lowns weren’t alone in hon oring the nation’s veterans. Les Edwards, 37, took the day off to bring his 2-year old daughter to the parade. Because his father served in World War II, Veterans Day is always an im portant day for his family. With every military vehicle or marching band that passed, he bent down to explain to his daughter, Jennifer, what was going on in a way that she might understand. “Look, Jennifer,” he said. “Those are people that had to go away to fight. Don’t they look good with those blue coats on? They look nice.” One of the many veterans riding by looked at Edwards and said, “Thanks for coming out.” Edwards smiled back at him and said, “No, thank you.” “I’m just here to honor the veter ans,” Edwards said. “We wouldn’t be here without them.” Sitting near Gervais Street to watch the parade was Felicia Osby, 38, a vet eran of the Army. The Atlanta native was stationed in Washington, Indiana and Ko rea and continues to stress an apprecia tion for the military since she left the ser vice almost 20 years ago. Osby, head of the preschool de partment at Hicks Child Care Center, brought her 15 students to the parade. “We’re trying to teach them about veterans and all they’ve done for us,” she said. “Some of them have mothers, fa thers or family members in the military. We’ve been talking about it a lot, and I thought it was important for us to bring them down here to see who we’ve been talking about.” Wesley Bales, 43, used the parade to make a political statement. Bales, a divorce attorney and regis tered pharmacist, sat near the comer of Washington and Main streets for the pa rade’s entirety and held a sign that read, “This vet says: Hang tough, only 436 days I ofKlintontogo!” Bales said many veterans were salut ing him and giving him the thumbs up because he spelled Clinton with a “K,” which he said was the Communist way of writing the president’s name. Bales, who served in the Army for more than four years, said his sign and presence were an attempt to speak for the members of the military who couldn’t do so themselves. “I think that a lot of people in the military can’t express themselves because they’re under orders not to say anything” he said. “They’ll get court-martialed.” Bales said he thinks that 75 percent of the military hate Clinton. As yet an other veteran left his place in the parade to come and shake his hand, Bales said, “Clinton’s misusing our military. They’re underfunded, and he’s demoralized them. Bill Clinton looks at the military as sort of a social experiment. “I question his patriotism. I’m just here expressing my First Amendment rights.” Jacquelyn Poston The Carolina Reporter Veterans in Columbia’s Veterans Day parade Nov. 11 dressed in World War II military uniforms to ride - in an Army jeep. Some soldiers dressed in modem uniforms, while others chose to wear uniforms from the era in which they served. WLTX looks to create new image BY NOELLE ORR The Carolina Reporter A Columbia TV station is hoping to create a better image by renovating its old look. WLTX-Channel 19, a CBS affil iate, has recently completed a makeover of its news program in an attempt to present a better image of the station. “What brought it about is all of us at the station taking a good look at who we are and what we do and how it looks and what works and what doesn’t and deciding that we wanted to be better,” news director Larry Au dassaid l ne maKeover began last year witn improvements to WLTX’s systems and procedures shortly after mass media gi ant Gannett Corp. took over the station. “For several months, we’ve been looking at the way we do journalism, the way we do broadcast journal ism,” Audas said. Improving the inside of the news coverage was the initial stage of mak ing a better News 19. Audas said a bet terlooking News 19 was the second piece of the puzzle. “The second part is what you see now in terms of the set, graphics, a new logo and we have new music and a new announcer,” Audas said. News 19 has also added a news cast from 5 to 7 a.m. Its format lets viewers find the news they want dur ing any 15-minute newscast, Audas said. In addition, weather personality Darci Strickland is studying to be a me teorologist. Strickland will be only the second meteorologist at News 19. Along with Strickland, many peo ple on the air and behind the scenes are working to make the news program better, Audas said. unicro ■ Gas prices up The average price per gallon of self-serve regular gasoline is up 21 cents, to $1.14. That compares with an average 93 cents per gallon for Thanksgiving 1998, the motor club said Thursday. ■Che Carolina Reporter Publisher Ronald Farrar Reporters Allison Aiken Jessica Barfield Gina DeMillo Kristin Freestate Ann Kennedy Israel Kloss Kate Maxwell Todd Money Noelle Orr Jacquelyn Poston Jeff Stensland Adrienne Thompson Managing Editors juason urennan Jeff Romig Editors Shana Bowman David Cloninger Rebecca Cronican Ashley Mathias Ryan Mosier Cara Pellatt Faculty Advisers Scott Farrand Keith Kenney Pat McNeely Henry Price Jennifer Wood The Carolina Reporter senior semester students pro vide The Gamecock with week ly Metro & State coverage. For Metro & State news tips, please call (803) 777-3307 or (803) 777-3281. To fax tips, please call (803) 777-3248. Letters to the editor regarding Metro & State coverage should be directed to The Gamecock, RH 333, or gcked@sc.edu. The Carolina Reporter Online can be found on the World Wide Web at www.jour.sc.edu/reporter/h6me.html "My Part-time Job at UPS is Really Working Out." “UPS is paying me almost $10,000 a year to get in the best shape of my life. See, I work part time loading and unloading a packages, about three to five hours a day. After sitting in class all day, it feels good to get some exercise. It’s like doing a couple of hours in a gym- except you get paid to work out. That’s not the only advantage of working at UPS. There are other benefits-like choosing your own work schedule and getting paid holidays and vacations. No other company understands students like UPS. And no other company offers more. They make it easy to work your way through school. If the whole student body worked at UPS, everybody would be in better shape-physically and financially.” I WORKING FOR STUDENTS WHO WORK FOR US. Interested applicants should contact United Parcel Service @ 822-6294. An equal opportunity employer, m/f/h/v 7 oz. Assorted varieties Skintimate or - With Your BONUSCARP* 10 ct. - 12 ct. BIC Plus Pisposabl Razors H ea. With Your BONUSCARP* - Sign up for a BONUSCARU* I These 1 ‘IP I BONUSCARD*Specials Are Good November 19th « §ave an Averaae 0f I Thru 3»th At Our Columbia Stores. Everytime YOU Shop I teg I Our Prices Are So Low That We Reserve The Right To Restrict Quantities Of Merchsndise. No Sales To Dealers. BI-LOJnc1gJ9991_