Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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__ETCETERA Vandals damage historic bridge in Greenville by piece, and county and state officials are trying to figure out a way to stop that and preserve the structure. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is known for its unusual goth ic arch. “This is a unique piece of South Car olina history, and if it isn’t watched, it’s going to be gone,” said Buster An drews, ranger at the nearby Camp Old Indian run by the Boy Scouts. County Councilman Joe Dill said some people chip small pieces of rocks for souvenirs. Dill and state Sen. Verne Smith, D-Greer, said they were working to draft a plan to protect the bridge. “This bridge is much too valuable to Greenville and the state, and we cannot allow vandals to destroy it,” Smith said. King day might be declared S.C. holiday Associated Press House Republican leaders might be ready to make Martin Luther King Day a regular state hol iday this year. The House Judiciary Committee will take up the issue Feb. 2. Majority Leader Rick Quinn of Columbia said Tuesday the Republican caucus was divided. But he said he would support making the day a regular state holiday, as long as the total number of state holidays does not increase beyond the cur rent 12. State employees have one floating holiday they can take on Martin Luther King Day or any oth er day. The day is listed as a legal holiday, along with three tied to the Confederacy, although state offices don’t close on any of those days. Gov. Jim Hodges in his State of the State speech Wednesday said it was time for South Carolina to recognize King with an official state holiday. Earlier at a briefing with reporters, Hodges said he preferred that an extra holiday be added rather than substitute the King holiday for Election Day or another day off. He also would like the King holiday to stand alone instead of being tied to a Confederate holi day. But he said that wouldn’t be an impediment to his signing a bill. House Minority Leader Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg said she sees “an emerging consen sus” to adopt the holiday. The Senate approved a bill last year to make Martin Luther King Day a regular state holiday. Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Columbia, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he expects his committee to approve the bill this year. Meanwhile, the College of Charleston has can celed classes for Martin Luther King Day next year. President Alex Sanders said he didn’t have au thority to give employees the day off, but he said the workers could use their optional state holiday. In Greenville, County Councilman Dana Sullivan introduced a resolution to bar the coun ty from awarding holidays based on race, religion or sex. The county shouldn’t honor King because coun ty employees already get 10 paid holidays and none is in observance of famous Americans such as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, Sullivan said. Councilwoman Lottie Gibson introduced a proposal in November to authorize a county hol iday to honor King. Game Show Network capitalizes on success' of ABC's 'Millionaire' by David Bauder Associated Press Los Angeles - Clenching his fist in celebration, Game Show Network President Michael Fleming looks at the numbers on a piece of paper with a sense of wonder. They’re television ratings from the night before, but have nothing to do with his network. Rather, they indicate another stun ningly large audience for ABC’s quiz craze, “Who Wants to Be a Million aire.” For Fleming, that’s the next best thing. You would think now would be a great time to be running a cable net work devoted to game shows, and you’d be right. The previously little-noticed Game Show Network is surfing the wave of interest in “Millionaire.” It is gaining in viewers, attention and, most importantly at this stage, in cable systems that offer its service. “It does, in some way, justify what we’ve always known — that this is a __ £.1 __ .£_!_»» vciy puwcuui^tiuc ui pi said Jake Tauber, a former “Match Game” writer who is head of pro gramming at GSN. In December, the GSN was added to cable systems in 1.8 million homes, nearly double the best month ever in its five-year history. ROUGHLY ONE-QUARTER of the nation’s television homes have access to the network. It has always had to struggle to be noticed by the people who decide which networks are picked up by ca ble systems, Fleming said. They tend to be middle-age white males, a group that traditionally has little interest in game shows. “Now they are calling us instead of us calling them,” Tauber said. Viewers of the GSN get a steady diet of classic quizzes and a handful of originals, like “Inquizition,” a chal lenging test of knowledge with an im patient mystery man as host, and “3’s a Crowd,” a remake of a relation ship show with host Alan Thicke. The classics, including “Match Game,” “Family Feud” and “The Newlywed Game,” are like a look in to a time capsule with excruciating haircuts, clothing styles and social mores. The late Match Game host Gene Rayburn’s leer is definitely the prod uct of a different era. Producers of many of these chest nuts hung on to the tapes, in some cas es storing them in their homes, cor rectly anticipating a lucrative new market. The not-so-prescient left some un fortunate historical gaps: all but about 100 of the old “Hollywood Squares” episodes with Peter Marshall were thrown away and forever lost. For the future, the GSN is count ing heavily on an interactive televi sion world where people will be able to play along with their games at home. Only a small fraction of viewers now have the digital equipment nec essary to do this, but the network is catering to them. ‘Inquizition” allows contestants at home to compete with players on the show and win cash prizes. THE NETWORK IS EVEN going back to the tapes of old game shows to con coct ways viewers can play along. It expects the new games the net work develops to all have some in teractive element. “It will set us apart from every one on the television landscape and set us apart from any other service,” Tauber said. In one sense, “Millionaire” has made Tauber’s day much busier. More Hollywood producers are working on developing game shows now, so the GSN has more to choose from for the future. Of course, they also have more competition for the best games. Fleming and Tauber, like most peo ple in television, have their own theories about why “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” became a big suc cess. It’s easy for people to play along as they watch, particularly because many of the questions are so easy, Tauber said. And the focus on one player en ables viewers to either root for or against the contestant. The GSN executives are most heartened that many young people are watching, because it introduces the genre to another generation. SINCE SEPTEMBER, the average number of people watching the GSN at any given time has crept up from 200,000 to 260,000. That’s nowhere near the 28.8 mil lion viewers that “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” got in its first five air ings of the year. Still, it beats the al ternative. “We were a little concerned that it might go the other way,” Fleming admitted. He’s still a little worried, actual ly “All of a sudden, we’re looking at a prime-time television schedule that has a game show on a major net work every night of the week,” he >aid. “That’s some pretty stiff compe tition for us. It could still have a back lash.” For now, it’s all fun and games. Associated Press Greenville - With the help of vandals, the Poinsett Bridge, one of Greenville County’s most historic sites, is tumbling down, rock by rock. The 180-year-old bridge is in an iso lated area in the northern part of the coun ty off old State Highway 25 and is open only to foot traffic. It was the first highway link between Greenville County and Transylvania County, N.C., and was used by North Carolina and South Carolina farmers to bring hogs, cattle and wild turkeys to mar ket It was named in honor of Charleston native Joel R. Poinsett. Vandals and revelers who come to the area to party, however, are removing the rocks piece TEXTBOOKS ONLINE. SAVE UP TO 40%. FREE SHIPPING! FOR $10 OFF** ENTER CODE #650169 AT PURCHASE CHECKOUT • Free shipping for s limited time on orders over $35. •* $10 offer expires February 15,2000. © 2000 BIGWORDS, Inc.