Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

■ H^i ■ ! < didays are here again S.C. marching band performs in Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade by Gina DeMillo The Carolina Reporter New YORK—Silver Bluff High School students ignited New York’s fashion dis trict at 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day with the sounds of thundering drums, bel lowing tubas and clashing cymbals. The Silver Spirit marching band of Aiken, aided only by a few hours rest and the dim light of street lamps, prac ticed the songs it would soon perform in front of millions for a few onlookers. After rehearsal, the 158-member band grabbed a buffet breakfast and a quick nap at the All Star Cafe, a bustling celebrity-theme restaurant, then returned to the streets at 7 a.m. to line up again — this time for the real thing. “There’s nothing more awesome than stepping out onto a field and seeing eveiy one stand and cheer,” said Brandie Quick, a 17-year-old clarinet player. But instead of a football field with an audience of a couple thousand, the Silver Spirit Band stepped out toward Times Square with an audience of about 2 million — more than half the popu lation of South Carolina. Yet as the band members stood wait ing for the parade to begin, their biggest concerns had little to do with the size of the crowd, the three-mile route they would march, or even the piercing, cold rain that drenched their uniforms. “I’m ready to be on TV,” said Jessi ca Nealious, 16, who plays the cymbals. Students and adults alike found them selves swept up in the excitement, shout ing Happy Thanksgiving wishes to each celebrity that passed and snapping photos of “Mini Me,” the pint-size vil lain from “Austin Powers,” and teen singer Christina Aguilera. Even New York City police officers joked with the South Carolinians about the cold weather. Following close behind the Honey Nut Cheerios bee and tailed by a giant, plastic, hissing crocodile on the Animal Planet float, the Silver Spirit Band marched forward, playing ‘Time” by hometown favorite Hootie and the Blow fish, “Louie, Louie” and some holiday tunes. “This is the easy part,” said Diane Cleveland, president of the Silver Bluff Band Boosters. The hard part, she said, was raising the more than $ 140,000 needed to min imize the costs of the trip. It took more than a few bake sales, special pro jects and sponsors, she said. And for sev eral band members, this might have been the only time they’ll see New York. “A lot of these kids have financial hardships,” said Chuck Deen, band di rector for the past nine years. “The mon ey the community raised helped reduce the cost and provide scholarships.” For that reason, the band decided to make the most of the week it spent in the city. ' With 53 chaperones and 99 family members tagging along, the group had a lot of freedom to split up and explore, Cleveland said. “We’ve been to FAO Schwarz, the World Trade Center, to see the Rock ettes,” Quick said. “We even saw two ladies get into a big fight over a cab.” “It’s the full New York experience,” said Bethany Fuller, a member of the col or guard. O I IN A UtIVIILLU IMt CAKULIINA KLrOK I tK The Silver Bluff High School Marching Band of Aiken performed for more than 2 million people at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They played “Time” by Hootie and the Blowfish as they entered Times Square. Russell House University Union will be sponsoring a COLLEGE BOWL Campus Tournament January 19-20, 2000 “The Varsity Sport of the Mind” Applications available at the Russell House Information Center Registration Deadline: Wednesday, December 8 For more information, contact Jennifer Barrineau 777-8182 Merchants report better-than-average sales for hohday BY JUDSON DRENNAN The Carolina Reporter FLORENCE — Heavy rain didn’t stop shoppers front hitting Florence’s malls and department stores Friday, the first day of the holiday season and tra ditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year. In fact, S.C. Merchants Association President Jim Hatchell said, the rain might have helped stores sell more. “Rain helps,” he said. “People can’t go work in the yard, so they go to the mall. Any inclement weather, unless it is extreme, tends to help sales.” Debbie Rankin, a sales clerk at Belk department store in Florence, said peo ple were waiting outside in the rain when the store opened at 6 a.m. Friday. “The crowds, they have been com ing in,” Rankin said. “It’s been steady all day.” Ashley Stevenson of Halts-ville was among those waiting. She said she wanted to get her shop ping out of the way early this year be cause she caused herself a lot of grief by waiting until the last minute to buy her gifts last year. i ms year, 1 jusi warn 10 oe (tone with it,” she said as she led her 2-year old son Danny through the crowds of holiday shoppers. “I don’t mean to sound like I don’t like Christmas. I do. But I don’t want to have to fight the crowds a week be fore Christmas like I did last year,” she said. Kim Clark, who was shopping for his children at Toys R Us, also said the foul weather didn’t stop him from getting his holiday shopping done. “We try to do most of our Christ mas shopping today to get it over with,” Clark said. “It is good because you have the time off.” He had begun shopping at 8:30 a.m. and said he didn’t plan to go home un til 8:30 p.m. Clark was shopping for Nintendo Gameboy accessories, one of this year’s i big items because of several Pokemon But Pokemon wasn’t the only pop ular item for shoppers. Merchants said they sold many elec tronics, from computers to global-po sitioned locators, cell phones and DVD players. Hatchell said after-Thanksgiving Day sales saw the biggest increase in seven years. “It was better than we expected,” he said. “We were expecting to beat the na tional figures of about a 6 percent in crease over last year. But we expect that we did over 10 percent better than last year.” Hatchell said high consumer confi dence and a strong economy contributed to this year’s high sales, which will trans late into millions of dollars more in sales tax for the state. “All the indicators we look at go ing into Christmas — employment, in terest rates, new housing starts—have been good,” he said. “So people are go ing to spend more.” But while this year’s sales were strong, the day after Thanksgiving’s tra ditional slot as the busiest shopping day of the year has been in decline in recent years. The day has fallen from having the fifth highest volume in sales in 1996 to seventh in 1997 and eighth in 1998, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. They report the busiest shopping day of the year to have shifted to tip Saturday before Christmas. Briefs ■ S.C. jobless rate up, commission reports The S.C. Employment Commission re ported this week that the state’s unemploy ment rate rose in October, a trend largely attributed to the seasonal slowdown in the state’s tourism industry. The figures released by the commission show that the state’s jobless rate rose from 4.2 percent in September to 4.4 percent in October. The nation’s unemployment rate in Oc tober remained steady at 4.1 percent. Beaufort County had the lowest rate at 2.1 percent, while Orangeburg County had the highest at 16.8 percent. Lexington County’s jobless rate rose from 2 percent to 2.2 percent, and Richland County’s unemployment rate rose from 2.6 percent to 2.7 percent. ■ Residents appeal new set of flood maps A new set of flood maps for the Conga ree River received a backlash in a hearing before the Richland County Council on Tuesday night. Several Midlands residents, environ mentalists and other representatives took turns asking Council members to appeal the maps, which recently were redrawn by the Federal Emergency Management Agency not to include a large area of Richland County farmland in a no-construction zone. Council held the meeting to get public input before a Dec. 13 deadline for appeals. “Are we going to spend public money, and that’s what federal flood insurance is, public money, without knowing the facts?” said Freddie Vang, deputy director of water and land resources at the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. The flood maps are used to calculate federal insurance rates for counties and also set rates for private citizens’ insurance. The land covered by the maps repre sents a 4,600-acre development by Bur roughs & Chapin, a Myrtle Beach land de veloping company. ■ Charleston named ‘most mannerly city* Charleston, the port city of picturesque streets, antebellum homes and Southern charm, has kept its crown as the nation’s most mannerly city. Its southern neighbor, Savannah, was runner-up on the Top 10 list released Wednesday by etiquette expert Marjabelle Young Stewart. Charleston has topped the list six times, including last year, and has been on the list each of the 24 years it has been released. Savannah wasn’t on the list last year. Mayor Joe Riley said the city was hon ored to make the top of the list again. Stewart bases her list on about 10,000 letters and faxes, many of which come from executives and others who have taken her etiquette courses in the United States and abroad. Her 19th etiquette book, “Common Sense Etiquette,” came out this week. I-1 Wnt 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 Judson Drennan 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/home.html v