Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Inside This Issue: JjVL lie 14, 2000 ffl@£(5mtxock ~S . / *; . _ with highs in the the 90s Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 ■. 1 " 11 ..11111 . . vol. 93, No. 90 University of South Carolina www.ga.mecock.sc.edu Parking lot conversion begins by John Huiett News Editor Parking lots that have long given stu dents close access to the Russell House, Thomas Cooper Library and Longstreet Theater are being cleared out to make room for “green spaces" as part of USC’s Master Plan. Behind orange barricades and signs proclaiming the lots closed permanent ly, work crews began breaking up asphalt on Monday, clearing the lots on either side of the fountain in front of Thomas Cooper Library. The main idea behind the “green spaces,” or empty grassy lawns, is to con solidate the university into more of an interconnected campus, USC media re lations spokesman Jason Snyder said. “We are an urban campus, and what ever we can do to give a campus feel, we are going to do,” Snyder said. He said that the open lawns could be used as recreational areas for students, for sports such as Frisbee throwing, and will add to the overall comfort level of everyone at USC. It’s the first step toward the school’s ultimate goal of perimeter parking, with students parking in areas outside the con solidated campus and being shuttled to class by bus. Students can still park in locations in and around the university, Snyder said, including the areas behind the Carolina Coliseum, at Pendleton and Pickens streets, and behind the Strom Thurmond Wellness Center. However, it’s the Bull Street park ing garage that is intended to accommo date students who feel inconvenienced by the sudden lack of spaces near the Rus sell House and library. According to Sny der, the garage has long been “under-uti lized,” with its purpose being to provide additional parking for students “all along.” Another benefit of the grassy areas would be added safety, Snyder said, a uni versity concern stemming from a num ber of student robbenes and attacks on the Horseshoe in recent years. Ideally, the open, lighted lawns would provide areas where students would feel safe. But, some could say that walking a farther dis tance from a dark parking garage late at night to the library, dorms or Russell House would create more safety risks than the advent of “green spaces” would solve. Snyder dismisses this criticism, say ing safety should be a constant student concern in every situation. “You need to have safety on your mind whether you are walking 100 feet or 10 feet,” Snyder said, adding that the Bull Street garage, while farther away, will be well-lit and patrolled by police on a regular basis. He also dismisses criticism that the absence of metered spaces will compound parking problems for students, saying parking gripes are nothing new to USC. “Despite the complaints, the Uni PARKINQ SEE PAGE 2 Ann Marie Miani The Gamecock Workers began clearing out concrete on Monday in the Russell House, Thomas Cooper Library and Longstreet Theatre parking lots. Students who used these lots are encouraged to use the Bull Street parking garage. The conversion of the lots into “green spaces” is part of the USC Master Plan. Hodges addresses national humcane conference by John Huiett News Editor Washington, D.C. - Gov. Jim Hodges addressed the Weather Channel Forum on Hurricane Preparedness and Response in Washington, D.C., on June 6, speaking on some hard lessons learned from Hurricane Floyd. Speaking at the Willard Hotel, Hodges addressed a national gathering of fore casters, emergency preparedness officials and elected leaders on Floyd-related top ics, such as flaws revealed in informing the public in the case of a hurricane and advances in forecasting afforded by the storm. “Clearly, Hurricane Floyd was a wake-up call for all of us...” Hodges said, admitting that South Carolina’s pre paredness suffered due to the lack of con sideration of the state’s growth since the last major stonn, Hurricane Hugo in 1989. “We have taken major steps to im prove communication with people be fore, during and after hurricanes ap proach,” Hodges said. One major step, he said, was having the S.C. Emergency Preparedness Divi sion compile a publication featuring evac uation routes, shelter locations and phone numbers for hurricane information. The publication began distribution on June 11, included in state newspapers to reach nearly 500,000 Midlands and Lowcountry residents. Hodges also said the S.C. Department of Transportation will begin using portable message signs and automated AM radio broadcasts, “to communicate with peo ple on the road.” Hodges also took the opportunity to find a bright spot in the Hurricane Floyd ordeal, thanking the storm for forcing the state to make needed advances in hurri cane preparedness. He listed the advances as “an ex plosion in the availability of weather information and forecast technology ... hurricane forecasts on the Wfeather Chan nel... on local affiliates... and on the Internet,” saying the advances were need ed “to keep pace with both the rapid pop ulation growth along our coasts and the significant teclmological advances in me terology." However, he warned that some S.C. residents, especially those along the coast, could use the advances “to make their own weather forecasts,” a potentially dangerous practice because each hurri cane has its own unique pattern. “Every coastal resident should be pre pared for the unexpected,” Hodges said. He concluded by telling the meteo rologists and emergency preparedness of ficials in the crowd that they had his re spect but not his envy. “Last year you oversaw the largest peacetime evacuation in history,” Hodges said, speaking of the congestion-plagued Hurricane Floyd evacuation. “It wasn’t easy.” The governor’s remarks are slated to be rebroadcast on the Weather Channel throughout the hurricane season. Investigation rejects King conspiracies by Michael J. Sniffen Associated Press Washington (AP) - Rejecting a se ries of conspiracy allegations, an 18 month Justice Department investiga tion found no credible evidence that anyone but James Earl Ray killed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. It recommended no further investigation. The new investigation rejected al legations that arose in recent years from fomier Memphis bar owner Loyd Jow ers, former FBI agent Donald Wilson and earlier from Ray himself that a mys terious Raoul or others, including fed eral agents, police or black ministers, participated in a plot to kill King in 1968. The investigation was headed by • one of the department’s leading civil rights prosecutors, Barry Kowalski. The report was released Monday. Like four earlier investigations, the new Justice inquiry “found no reliable evidence that Dr. King-was killed by conspirators who framed James Earl Ray.”' “Nor have any of the conspiracy theories advanced in the last 30 years, including the Jowers and the Wilson al legations, survived critical examina tion,” the 138-page report concluded. Kowalski said, “We are convinced of our conclusions beyond a reasonable doubt.” Although Ray pleaded guilty in 1969 to killing King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison, he claimed three days later — and until his death in prison in 1998 — that a mysterious figure named Raoul, later Raul, had framed him. The new report said, “-We found nothing to disturb the 1969 judicial de termination that James Earl Ray mur dered Dr. King or to confirm that Raoul or anyone else implicated by Jowers or suggested by the Wilson papers partic ipated in the assassination.” The weight of the evidence “es tablishes that Raoul is merely the cre ation of James Earl Ray,” the report said. Prodded in part by the King fami ly’s own embrace of some of these the KlNQ see page 2