Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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_ _Carolina News__ Speaker discusses Internet's affects on pornography by Charles Prashaw Senior Writer The first lecture of the spring Women’s Studies Research-Series was held 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Gambrell Hall. The subject of the lecture was how the Internet changes pornography by dehumanizing women. The speaker at the event was Dr. Ina Roy, from the USC Department of Phi losophy, who did two years of research and wrote various papers on the subject of Internet pornography. Dr. Roy is a Stanford trained medical doctor and philosopher who teaches a class in lib eral feminism philosophy at USC. Roy began the lecture with a dis cussion on the long-standir^: debate about getting rid of pornography and if that is or isn’t censorship. She shared the harmful effects of pornography — how it objectifies women, reinforces violence and por trays women economically as prosti tutes. One of main points of the lecture was that Internet porn is even more harmful than regular pornography, ih that you lose connection with the woman to get to the pictures. In a sense, the women on porno graphic Internet sites are not real to the viewer, and that might carry over to re al women whom one has a relationship with, Roy said. She said the women on the Internet are like a toy dog; it might do the same things as a real dog, but one knows that it isn’t real. To prove this, Roy talked vastly about how we really perceive things in art and literature. “In abstract art, as in other art, the artist's intention matters in what we see,” Roy said. For example, knowing exactly why the Mona Lisa is smiling might change one’s perception of how the painting looks. In this way, Roy argued that peo ple are more involved with the painting and its meaning. Another example she used to argue her point was the novels of Me Austin. By not telling what the characters re ally look like, the reader is more in volved because they make their own im ages for what some of the characters look like. “With the Internet, there is a con stant reminder that it is not really real, because the images are surrounded by ads,” she said. Such an argument is really in the form of the medium and how involved a person can be in the medium, Roy said The Womens Studies lecture series continues March 2 in Gambrell 152. The subject of that lecture is “Students Creating New Knowledge” and will be given by a panel of graduate students. Also on Feb. 24-25, the 13th annu al Women studies Conference will be held at USC. For more information, stop by Flinn Hall 201. Note Takers from page A1 occurred. Note takers place the notes in a folder in Leconte room 106 where the student picks up the notes. There is little direct contact between the note taker and the student, according to Smith. However, they do know each otherls names. “By being a reader or note taker, you can provide a wonderful service for some one to further their education. It’s ad mirable,” Smith said. History professor Constance Schulz said she agrees. “If a student with a genuine disabili ty needs help taking notes, I think it’s a great idea and most certainly fair,” Schulz said. The Office of Disability Services on ly allows a student with a documented disability to enter the program. They are required by law to provide “reasonable accommodation” to such students, al though the university offered this pro gram before the law came into effect. Stu dents must also attend the class in order to receive notes for it. Students with temporary disabilities, such as a broken hand, may also receive help from the office. “We do our best to provide services to students with temporary disabilities. If we have the resources, we’re more than happy to help,” Smith said. “The bottom line is students need notes, and we need note takers.” Due to confidentiality laws, the Of fice of Disability Services couldn’t dis close the names of note takers, readers or students who use the service. 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For Additional Information, Call 544-4862. >- ^v Cold snap good for some crops by Jennifer Holland Associated Press The nip in the air is just peachy for some South Carolina farmers. “The cold weather is good news,” Dale Linvill, an agricultural meteorolo gist at Clemson University said Wednes day. “It’s exactly what we needed.” Forecasters had predicted that La Ni na, a periodic cooling of a laige area of the tropical Pacific Ocean, would bring a warm, dry winter to the South with an increased chance for snow and ice storms. Peach and apple farmers were wor ried the predicted warm winter would stall production. Without the cold weather, they said, the fruit trees wouldn’t realize they’ve gone through their dormant stage and wouldn’t blossom on schedule in the spring. “This is ideal,” said Lewis F. Holmes HI., who has 1,300 acres of peach trees from Johnston to Aiken. “We’re really tickled about everything — rainfall and snowfall— the last two weeks.” The National Weather Service pre dicted temperatures would hover in the 30s across the Upstate and climb into the 40s across the Lowcountry Friday, with a chance for rain, sleet or snow Saturday. Cold weather for the trees is like say ing “fill the gas tank up and we’re ready to go,” said Greg Henderson, a Clemson Extension Service agent in Edgefield Coun ty The Chilly dr needs to stick around for a couple more months for the trees to be most productive, but no later than March. The last two years, frosts crippled South Carolina’s peach crop — the sec ond laigest in the nation, trailing only Cd ifomia. While peach growers are glad for the cold, some farmers are nervous. Temper atures that dipped into the teens overnight this week have hurt some farmers grow ing winter vegetables, but the blanket of snow kept most plants safe from the deep freeze, said Powell Smith, a Clemson Ex tension Service agent in Richland and Lex ington counties. Strawberries, covered safely by thick mulch, were “snuggling under the snow,” Smith said. Grain crops also were in good shape. . “Most of the exposed stuff is going to be beyond salvageable,” said Smith, who estimated about 25 percent of the 800 acres of winter collards were damage this week in Richland and Lexington coun ties. The cold weather also is killing off some insects that could have overrun crops this summer, Linvill said. “We had a gen eration that didn’t know it was winter.” But that doesn’t mean the pest have been exterminated, said Jay Chapin, an entomologist at the Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville. “Insects are capable of recovering be cause they have tremendous reproductive systems,” he said. The combination of snow and rain the past few days, along with the possibility of more snow expected across the state this weekend, will do little to ease drought conditions, said Hope Mizzell, the state’s drought program coordinator. “We have not had a complete re covery by no means,” Mizzell said. “It’s been an extensive period of dry con ditions.” Columbia still has about 27-inch rain fall deficit since the drought started in May 1998, and Aiken is about 20 inches short, Mizzell said. Accused Internet killer pleads guilty to manslaughter Staff Reports Associated Press Lenior, N.C. — With the approval of the victim’s family, a man accused of strangling a Maryland woman he met in an Internet chat room pleaded guilty Thurs day to voluntary manslaughter after prosecutors dropped a murder chaige. Robert Glass, 48, also pleaded guilty to six counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor under the plea agreement with prosecutors. Caldwell County Superior Court Judge Claude Sit ton sentenced him to a minimum four years, nine months in prison — 36 to 53 months in prison for manslaugh ter and 21 to 26 months on first of the other six other charges. Sentences for the other five counts were sus pended. Glass, who had been scheduled to stand trial March 6, initially was chaiged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Sharon Lopatka, 35, of Hampstead, Md., in October 1996. Her body was found in Glass’ yard. Prosecutors said Glass and Lopatka met in a sex-ori ented Internet chat room, trading messages under the names “slowhand” and “nancy.” Authorities believed the messages between them described how Glass planned to sexually torture and kill Lopatka, a search warrant af fidavit said. Lopatka told relatives she was going to visit friends in Georgia but left a note saying she was “not returning and asked her husband not to go after the one who did this to her,” according to the affidavit. Glass picked up Lopatka at a Charlotte train station Oct. 13. She died three days later, authorities said. Her body was found more than a week after that in a shallow grave 25 feet from Glass’ mobile home in the Collettsville community, after Lopatka’s husband reported her miss ing. At Thursday’s hearing, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Jennings said Glass told prosecutors that Lopat ka died accidentally while they were having sex on Oct. 15,1996. He said Lopatka had looped a nylon cord around her neck in preparation for engaging in sex with him, and they pulled on the cord while they had intercourse. Jennings said Glass told officials the next thing he knew, she was dead. ‘“I don’t know how much I pulled on the rope. I shouldn’t have pulled on the rope,”’ Jennings quoted Glass as saying to prosecutors. ‘“I never wanted to kill her, but she ended up dead.’” Lopatka’s husband Victor said at Thursday’s hearing that her family didn’t believe Glass’ version of what hap pened but decided to go along with the plea agreement. “We just want to end it,” he said. Other relatives read a statement declaring that Glass took advantage of Lopatka. “Robert Glass did not care,” the statement said. “He took advantage of her situation. He could have walked away. He debased not only her but her body after she was dead.” The sexual exploitation charges were filed after au thorities found pornography on Glass’ computer depicting children engaged in sex. Glass previously pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possessing pornography depicting minors having sex and was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison. Under the plea agreement, Glass will be credited with the three years he already has spent in jail when he begins serving his state sentence, but must serve his full 27-month federal sentence. Coliseum from page A1 would have to pay $457,000 a year for utilities for the Coliseum. Hubbard said the building is worth keeping despite the cost. “It’s a beautiful buidling,” he said. “It’s just a little more than 30 years old. It’s architecturally significant. “It’s a valuable asset,” Hubbard said, saying the building is worth $40 mil lion, though it cost the University $6 million to $7 million to build “You could certainly make a case that would make the business plan work” if the Coliseum remains open, Hubbard said Hubbard and university spokesman Russ McKinney also said there had been no decision made on the issue. “There’s been no decision at all con ceming the future of the Coliseum once the arena is up and running,” McKin ney said. He said the Coliseum could be renovated, used as is or demolished. McKinney also said USC President John Palms hasn’t yet suggested what should be done with the building. “He’s not made a recommendation, and there’s been no decision on it,” he said. However, Palms has said sentiment seemed to be leaning toward keeping the Coliseum. “Wfe don’t have comprehensive con clusions yet,” the Associated Press re ported. “But the consensus is we should find an alternative use.” Though Assistant Athletics Direc tor Kerry Tharp said he wasn’t sure the Athletics Department had enough in formation to form an opinion at this time, Director Mike McGee told the trustees at their December meeting that he didn’t favor demolishing the build ing. “We’re not for tearing it down,” McGee said. “But we have to present the financial options.” Jerry Brewer, director of student life at the university, said keeping the Coliseum could benefit students, though student organizations don’t usually use the venue. “It’s really not a venue that we use a lot,” he said. Organizations could use a facility with about 2,000 to 3,000 seats, he said. “We’ll react to whatever the uni versity decides,” he said. Brewer also said tearing the Coli seum down could help with perimeter parking. “The more land you have, it cer tainly benefits,” he said. According to McKinney, the new building will cost $53 million, though he said the university, specifically the athletics department, will only pay $30 million of the total. The Associated Press contributed to this report Weather from page A1 “This is a precautionary measure to have motorists off the roadways at least one hour prior to the accumulation of ice or snow on the roadways,” the news re lease said However, the plan isn’t going to be inforced by any agency. It is “strictly a voluntary effort,” to adhere to the stag gered release plan. The City of Columbia also released several emergency phone numbers and urged motorists to stay off the roads. Mo torists that have an urgent need to trav el are urged to use common sense. Columbia police can be reached to give roadside assistance in emergencies during the storm. To report an accident or to report a person who needs assistance due to disability or any other special need the Columbia Police can be contacted by calling 401-8856 or 401-8857. Find the Best Price on New and Pre-Owned Hondas www.rickhendrickhonda.com HONDA 791-5660 1650 Airport Boulevard • West Columbia, SC 29171 in im --n rtfrantmettfo Fitness Center • Computer • Fax and Modem Station Linked to Campus Study Hall • Library • Lounge Area Catering to Students Currently leasing for the Fall Semester y ... ■ • Throwing your money away on rent or dorm fees? Well Don’t 1983 Establish yourself Specializing in the sales of: investing in Condos & Townhomes your future, in the USC and Downtown Areas Properties available in: 799-0859 Park Circle * Plaza Centre Senate Plaza * The Edisto i5i6 Richland street Place on the Greene E-mail: landmarkraJloKicsouth.com singlc fami|y homcs als0 avaj|ablc ^ ~ - Souper Bowl from page A1 Nationally, the Souper Bowl of Car ing raised $2.5 million in 1999. The Souper Bowl of Caring has its roots in the Columbia Community. In 1990 the Senior High Youth Fellowship of Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia started the Souper Bowl of Caring. In the first year, 22 churches participated. Since 1990, the partnership of churches help ing this event has grown to 11,300. Souper Bowl of Caring went national in 1993 and now has more than 40 denominations par ticipating. The drive is not only held on cam puses but in churches as well. Participat ing churches encourage their members to donate a dollar or a canned good as they leave services on Super Bowl Sunday. Souper Bowl of Caring is becoming a large charity event. Syndicated columnist “Dear Abbey” is scheduled to run a col umn on its behalf, and the NFL will help by giving the effort publicity at a press conference in Atlanta during Super Bowl week. As a Souper Bowl of Caring founder Reverend Brad Smith said, “the Souper Bowl of Caring offers people in church es across the country a simple but signif icant way to join together in caring and unity. We believe this idea is a gift froffl God, and we encourage everyone to jmn the team.” For more information on the Souper Bowl of Caring, check out www.souper bowl.oig or call 799-0212. Propecia 1 (finasteride) { Ask your doctor about this pill from Merck. M For more information, call i 1-888-MERCK-74. I © www.propecia.com « 9