University of South Carolina Libraries
Carolina News _'___ I compiled by ick Rathbun April 22 • Disorderly conduct. Coliseum parking lot. While on routine patrol, the re sponding officers noticed a fight at the incident location. The officers and the constable were able ^ o separate the sub jects and break up "the physical alter "cation. The first vic ■'Tim said the alter ' cation began when two of the subjects began urinating. " When the first vic tim tried to con- - front the subjects, he was struck in the face by one of the subjects, but he didn’t want to press charges at the time. Three of the five victims said the subjects showed their genitals to them and made rude comments. Two of the victims said ■they wanted to press charges at a later elate. Victim impact statements were served on two of the victims. The fifth "victim was the owner of the car that was urinated on. The third subject was in volved in a physical altercation and was released to his parents. The first responder 'was notified, responded and treated the injuries sustained by the subjects dur ing the fight. An investigator was also on the scene. The investigation contin ues. No party wished to press charges. The agency decided to disperse the group, maintain the public peace and not pros ecute for disorderly conduct. • Resisting arrest, Mure to stop for blue lights, reckless driving. Rosewood and Assembly streets. The officers observed gnfae suspect disregard a traffic signal on Rosewood Drive (westbound) and As sembly Street. The officers initiated a traffic stop on Bluff Road (southbound) and George Rogers Boulevard. The sus pect jumped out of the vehicle, said something about the USC Police De partment and got back into his vehicle. The suspect was told why he was be ing stopped. The sus pect then said he didn’t have time for this and left at a high rate of speed while the officers told the suspect to stop. The officers then began to follow the suspect, but lost sight of the vehicle and began to search the streets off of Bluff Road. The of ficers found the suspect vehicle parked at 1009 Bluff Industrial Blvd. The offi cers set up a perimeter to wait on a track ing unit. The suspect was tracked and seen by Ryder truck rental employees at 945 Idlewood Rd. While searching the area, one of the officers observed the suspect and told him to slop, but the sus pect began to run. The suspect was tak en into custody and taken to the Rich land County Department of Corrections. The suspect vehicle was towed to the city garage. A court date was set. • Minor in possession of beer, altered driver’s license. Pickens and Blossom streets. While on routine patrol, the re sponding officers observed two subjects with large bulges under their clothing. The officers went to stop the subjects ,and the subjects tried to run away. The subjects finally stopped, and the of ficers found the bulges to be alcoholic beer. The subjects were arrested for mi nor in possession of beer and a search incident to arrest revealed that the first subject had an identification card that was altered. The subjects were taken to the USCPD and a court date was set. Publishers plan to replace textbooks with digital books by Todd Pack College Press Exchange Student complaints about not getting enough money for used textbooks are as much a part of college life as sleeping through 8 o’clock classes or cramming for finals. But used textbooks could soon be come the stuff of history classes. That’s because publishers are working on replacing real textbooks with “digital books” — computer files that students would use and then, when done, delete. Some University of Central Flori da students could be using them within a year. Digital books, sometimes called e books, already exist but are not widely used. Still, “electronic books will become much more popular in the next few years,” predicts Karen Smith, director of UCF’s Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning. Smith is negotiating with several pub lishers to develop a pilot project that would put digital books in UCF students’ hands by next spring. Digital texts probably won’t cost as much as bulky hardcovers because publishers won’t have to factor in print ing and shipping costs. Students would simply download the material from the Internet. And because the books are digital — meaning they exist only as bits of com puter data — publishers can revise the text each semester, if they choose. They could also add sounds and video — features that would be impossible to include in a real textbook. But best of all — front the publish er’s perspective, at least — digital books are disposable, and the files can be en crypted to prevent copying. Students could save a digital book for reference or delete it, but they couldn’t let friends make a copy because the software would prevent it. Right now, only a few titles are avail able electronically, and most professors and students still prefer real books to computer files. But publishers say digi tal texts might be commonplace within five years. “You have a generation of high school students moving into college that are much more Web savvy” than even to day’s college students, said David Ser bun, technology director for Houghton Mifflin Co.’s college division. These Web-wise kids already watch movie trailers on their computers and listen to songs downloaded from the Internet. They’ve got satellite dishes, DVD players and Sega Dreamcasts. Reading words on a computer screen is normal to them, Serbun said. Digital texts are only the latest chal lenge to the college bookstore. At the start of last year’s fall semester, a gag gle of dot-coms started advertising on MTV, promising deep discounts on text books and even guaranteed buyback prices. Some of the dot-coms are associat ed with bigger companies that operate college stores. Textbooks.com is owned by Barnes & Noble Inc., which runs the UCF’s bookstore. Ecampus.com is a spinoff of Wallace’s College Book Co., which operates CB&S Books, near UCF’s campus. Booksellers downplay digital books’ threat. While it’s true that publishers could sell digital texts directly to students, by passing the bookstores, that would be im practical, said Doug Alexander, vice pres ident for strategic planning at ecampus.com, based in Lexington, Ky. “When you go into a bookstore, you don’t see books from just one publish er,” said Alexander, whose company plans to offer e-texts in the fall. The online bookstores will let students buy books from different publishers at one site, he said. Brick-and-mortar bookstores, mean while, are betting that digital books won’t catch on big. “I don’t think it’ll ever be just e books. You’re going to have consumers who want to hold the product in their hands,” said Jennifer Russell, UCF’s book store manager. “Whatever happens isn’t going to happen tomorrow.” Still, industry experts predict that digital books will someday account for a good chunk of the $5.6 billion-a-year college textbook business.' At the moment, digital books cost almost as much as ordinary texts. For ex ample, “Introduction to Economic Growth,” an economics textbook pub lished by W.W. Norton, was $23.40 this semester from WiZeUp.com in the form of a 12-megabyte computer file. Web site examines national policy College Press Exchange Chicago - Students wanting to have a say about national public policy and to oiganize like minds from across the coun try into grassroots movements can get started by visiting GenerationNet.oig, a prize-winning Web site launched Mon day and led by a Yale University business school student. Users can post issues they want oth ers to contemplate, or anonymously cast votes for topics already listed on the site. GenerationNet’s staff will monitor issues getting the most responses and, on an an nual basis, call registered members to de termine which one to three issues the or ganization will develop aggressive national campaigns to support. GenerationNet workers will give young people step-by-step instructions on how to do everything from rounding up volunteers to planning rallies sure to get media attention, said Executive Di rector Peter Schurman, who’s getting a master’s business degree in nonprofit man agement from Yale. The site has been funded initially by three grants. It also won the $10,000 Social Entrepreneurship Prize from the Yale Entrepreneurship Society last month. Il-.MCTII UtSUM fcrmsrm ■ 1 ' ■' . " — I BOOKSTORE 801 Main St. • Comer of Greene & Main Columbia, SC 29202 799-7406 & 799-7188 Fax (803) 799-5521 • www.scbookstore.com 629-B Main St. • Between Big Birds & Stuffy’s Columbia, SC 29202 252-8686 ftemw fm Textbookt for §mmm mi Fall ®met White §sktelImb&fst! Mon-Fri-- 8:30-6 Sat, April 29-9-5 Sun, April 30-12-5 *>*- I S C Bookstore ★ Greene St. __ Devine St. ★ Carolina’s c/5 _>» ^ .o c75 £ • c I I • ■' 1 i r;V: m. .'J£\-t*y .•-.<;^--;v ■ .ft*v 1 ■ -^rff., rr. 1. ~A A * j,.ft. f- .....fti Jm$ j y^vSWlrW TTlr JKgafew « Register for Free Textbooks ! for Fall 2000 ! i Name:__ Address:_ i