Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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August 30, 2000 *MJ «flK -V < v\. f s •. r ' s ' S ' f <y ' ' $ £ , SMJ ’S.'.v' 's* '•.%••'' /. . , % V •• , , s \ Xs www.gamecock.sc.edu UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH Carolina Columbia, s.c. Student home after freak accident by Dietrich Epperson The Gamecock Chemistry can be a very danger ous field. Just ask Chris Dyke, a 28 ear-old chemistry graduate student at USC. Dyke was involved in a freak accident Aug. 17, while doing routine laboratory prep work. As a result of the accident, Dyke literally caught on fire and ended up in the hospital for a week. The acci dent also caused thousands of dollars in damage to the brand new Graduate Research Center. Fortunately, Dyke is back at home and doing well. The accident occurred a little af ter 10 a.m. in Room 436 ol the Grad uate Research Center on Devine Street. The room is Dr. Tom Bryson's lab oratory. According to Bryson, Dyke tripped wliilc "drying a solvent." The student's stumble exposed the solvent, called tetrahydrofuran (THF) to air and pos sibly water. When THF meets air or Pwaler, it can combust, Bryson said. Dyke said he wasn't sure how the fire started. He is sure that once the lire started, he fumbled and broke the four-liter bottle of highly llammable THF. The burning THF got all over him and the surrounding area of the laboratory. Dyke was alone in the lab at the time of the accident. His clothing and skin burned for some time before col leagues in an adjacent lab rushed to liis aid and took him to the infirmary. He was then taken to the burn center at Doctor's Hospital in Augusta. Dyke said lie stayed there for a full week mid received multiple skin grafts lor third-degree burns on his legs. He returned home August 24 and is now £ in good condition. He plans on teach ing a class this semester. According to another chemistry grad student present in the building at the time, sprinklers went off on all four floors of the research center. The building was evacuated for about two hours. By the lime the Columbia Fire Department arrived at the scene, the lire had been contained and extin guished by the building's internal sprin kler system. The State newspaper cited an es timate of $12,000 in damage to the facility. Dr. Scott Goode, a col league of Bryson, provided more de StuDENTsee page 4 Parking lot to be half decals, half meters, SG says BY OKUCK. VbKUAKIS The Gamecock Results from Student Government’s online poll on what should be done with the gravel parking lot behind the Bull Street garage are in, and SG Pres. Jotaka Eaddy is sending in her rec ommendation to parking services to day. The end result of the poll, and a committee meeting among student leaders and administrators, is dividing the 90 spaces into two different lots. One half of the lot will consist of parking meters, and the other will be open to all students with decals. In the SG poll, 172 people voted lor de cals, and 142 voted for metered lots. The result was a compromise. unuer me compromise pian, siu dents wlio choose to park in the decal lot will only have to pay $20 a se mester for a regular decal, instead of $20 a month for a special decal, as was originally suggested in the pros and cons section of SG’s Web site. Eaddy said there was no reason to believe Parking Director Derrick Hug gins wouldn’t accept SG’s recom mendation. Director of Student Life Jerry Brewer, who does not have to pay for a decal, was in fyvor of charging stu dents $ 165 a semester to park in the gravel lot. This is the exact same price as parking in a lighted garage with video cameras. "I’d chaige the same for the lot as I would the Bull Street garage," Brew er saia. uon i underestimate now much people will pay for convenience. 1 say charge a fair market value, or don’t charge at all." However, Eaddy didn’t feel it was fair to charge students $ 165 a semes ter to park in the gravel lot or $20 a month as was indicated in the poll. "It’s not fair to charge students $80 a semester, until it’s the same quality as the garage next door," she said. "Once the lot is up to the same stan dards, then it’s fair to charge the same amount." Student Government Vice Presi dent Corey Ford agreed that the qual ity of the new parking lot wasn’t high enough to charge the amount that was originally sought. "I think it’s a comparable park ing 10110 rwies, ana mai s wny i ininK it should be $20," Ford said. One of the reasons Brewer want ed to charge students more for the lot is that all revenue generated from the decals and the meters will go into a special fund to make improvements on the lot, such as paving it and pro viding the area with lighting. "We need to be clear. If we want to raise money to improve parking, we need to charge a fair market val ue," Brewer said. "It’s extremely ex pensive to develop parking lots." The compromise on meters and decals was made for a number of reasons. The committee was concerned that if the entire lot was reserved for decals, resident students would park their cars and never move them. une oi me iears me committee naa about making the entire lot filled with meters is that it would be open to the general public and faculty, not just students. Eaddy said that by making half the lot open to students with decals, they at least have a fighting chance to find a parking spot without having to run back to feed the meter and not lose out to faculty. All students with decals can still park in the lot while the Department of Parking Services prepares to make the necessary adjustments. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmallxom. Increase in apartment fires prompts safety summit by John Huiett and Jennifer Autrey The Gamecock Spurred by more than 10 major and 100 minor apartment fires that swept Midlands complexes this past summer, the Columbia Fire Department vowed to adopt stringent new fire safety codes during a summit on Monday to assess recurring fire causes and discuss solutions. Fire safety experts, including local and out-of town fire officials, architects, building code enforcers and insurance company representatives, comprised the panel that met for the summit in Eau Claire. Representatives of the Greater Columbia Apart ment Association were also present. The fact that many Columbia apartment build ings are in dire need of construction and design updates has been the major cause of many fires, said Columbia Public Fire Education Officer Robert Am ick. “The problem is on the rise because so many buildings in this area are aging and have old wiring,” Amick said. Amick also stressed the need for USC students seeking off-campus housing to be extremely care ful in choosing where to live. Although University dormitories provide ample lire safety for students, some apartments near USC have multiple fire haz ards such as electrical shorts in the wiring and old, defunct heating systems that have never been re moved, he said. “We uige students lobe a little more selective,” Amick said. “We want them to know that all properties are not the same, as far as lire safety.” But Amick said that doesn’t discount the role of the tenant. “As in any residential structure, carelessness' and lack of lire safety and prevention have been a source of the problem,” Amick said. This assessment is based on Columbia Fire De partment studies conducted over the past 10 years, indicating that incidents of apartment tires have risen sharply in the Midlands area. This rise is mostly due to the aging apartments, which have a heightened risk of electrical problems and might not be wired according to salety codes, ionic apart ments also have aluminum wiring installed, which heightens the risk of electrical malfunction. Fire SEE PAGE 2 Amy Goulding The Gamecock The Tamanlnd at Stonerldge apartments Is one of many apartment complex fires that have attracted attention from local fire officials. Childrens group short staffed ■Child abuse advocacy group seeks volunteers by Jennifer Carter The Gamecock The Richland County Court Ap pointed Special Advocates, an ad vocacy group that helps abused and neglected children, is currently recruiting quality volunteers. CASA handles between 600 and 620 cases of abuse and neglect at any given tiirie. “We handle everything from emotional and educational neglect to physical and sexual abuse to aban donment,” said Kelly Davis, direc tor of CASA. CASA currently has 275 vol unteers to handle these cases, but they need about 100 more. About 70 percent of their volunteers work full time, but they also have a large pool of student volunteers, mostly from USC, many of them la<v students.. “Volunteering is a great oppor tunity, especially for students who are not sure what they want to do because they learn about so many different systems,” said Caroline Dennis, volunteer coordinator for CASA. “It is the best way to get an overview of the medical field, Department of Mental Health, the school system, drug and alcohol treatment programs, the criminal justice system and the legal system.” Volunteers are appointed by a judge to a case of abuse or neglect and represent the child in court. The volunteer goes into the home, meets with the child, parents and the foster family, if the child has been placed in foster care. They also talk to the casework er from the Department of Social Services. The volunteer then makes an independent assessment ol what has happened, submits a written re port to the judge and goes to court on the child’s behalf, to spare the child further trauma of appearing in court. ^Volunteer see page 4 IN FRIDAY’S ISSUE: BSU GETS NEW LOOK I “ ' ~ m _ fc^g ._ a • •'• ■■::•-• ' • ••■■ -• ••»■■ Carla Wynn The Gamecock The Baptist Student Union has moved to a new location, and will be building a new a facility. SG Senate convenes this afternoon by Amanda Silva The Gamecock Student Government Senate con venes today with guest speaker USC graduate BJ Mackey, the all-time lead ing scorer in USC basketball history. Mackey, now working with the USC Athletics Department, will speak at the SG Senate meeting to promote ticket distribution to the games. In addition to Mackey’s discussion, the meeting will address the year ahead, review such processes as parliamentary procedure and how to write a bill or resolution. According to Vice President Corey Ford, there have been new appoint ments made to some SG positions, while other positions remain open. The role of SG advisor has become a collaborative position shared by SG Coordinator Angela Dusenbury, Di rector of Student Life Jerry Brewer and Vice President of Student Affairs Den nis Pruitt. The three are sharing the respon sibilities of former SG Adviser Woody Carrplhcrs, who retired at the end of last year. Angie Alpert has assumed the po sition of election commissioner, hav ing been appointed last March by SG President Jotaka Eaddy. There are currently four openings in the Senate, as four of last year's sen ators are not expected to return, Ford said. Ford said the Senate would also con sider Eaddy’s appointments to some University committees, including her nominees for the Disability Affairs, Registration and Traffic Court Appel late committees. New legislation, which will be in troduced at the meeting, concerns amendments to the finance code. Although this week’s meeting is primarily concerned with the basic re view of SG procedure, it will get the year offlo a quick start. Ford said. “I expect next week’s Senate meet ing to be jam packed,” he said. The university desk am he reached at gamecockudesk@hotmall.com. Weather Inside Datebook. Online Poll Today 84 70 Thursday 92 172 Check out who’s playing at the clubs this weekend in Spotlight! * Page* 9 Wednesday •SG Senate, 4 p.m. RH Theater •PALM Campus Min istry, 5:30 p.m. PALM center • SAGE, 8 p.m., RH Theater Thursday • NAACP, 6 p.m., RH 205 • Muslim Students As sociation, 7 p.m., RH 305 • SALA, 7:30 p.m., RH 4 305 Did SG make the right decision with the gravel parking lot? "*■■4$-' Vole al www.gaaiecock.sc.cdii. Results will be published each Friday.