The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 15, 2000, Page 6, Image 6
TOc (Bamccock
Terminal
might be
built on
Savannah
River site
i
by Bruce Smith
Associated Press
HARDEEVILLE, S.C.— State law
makers drove a dusty road along a Sa
vannah River spoils area Thursday to
get a firsthand look at a 6,000-acre
site that some envision as a massive
steamship terminal — a terminal that
might be operated jointly by both
South Carolina and Geoigia.
“What we have here is a dream,”
said state Rep. Clemente Pinckney,
D-Ridgeland, as he spoke to his col
leagues gathered on the edge of the
Intracoastal Waterway. “Some peo
ple think it’s a fantasy. We think it is
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Jasper County officials have been
working for years to get the South
Carolina State Ports Authority to
build a steamship terminal on a 9
mile stretch of land between the
bridge and the Intracoastal Waterway.
The property currently is owned by
the state of Georgia.
Plans to build a $ 1.2 billion Glob
al Gateway terminal on Daniel Island
in Charleston have met with public
opposition, while opponents of plans
to deepen the Savannah River ship
ping channel to the Georgia Ports
Authority terminal farther upstream
are suing in federal court.
Turning the spoils area into a ter
minal is “a worthwhile project for
the state and a worthwhile project
for Jasper County,” Pickney said. He
said it’s also possible the project could
be developed jointly by the states,
operating like the joint New York
New Jersey ports authority.
An ad-hoc committee of
Charleston lawmakers chaired by
state Sen. Ernie Passailaigue has been
studying the Daniel Island issue. Nine
lawmakers, most of them committee
members, took the tour escorted by
Jasper County officials.
“Certainly we’re impressed with
the site. It’s a magnificent site,” said
state Sen. Arthur Ravenel, R-Mount
Pleasant, who said there was “plen
ty of land; plenty of deep water.”
Opponents of the Savannah Riv
er dredging say deepening the chan
nel for 22 miles would increase the
amount of salt water upstream, threat
ening the 26,000-acre Savannah Na
tional Wildlife Refuge on the South
Carolina side of the river.
Supporters of a terminal on the
South Carolina side note that it is on
ly five miles from the open ocean
and would require less dredging.
“If I were a senator representing
this district, it would be a great idea,”
state Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston,
said.
But he added South Carolina does
not have the $2 billion to build the
terminal in an undeveloped area. He
said if built, large steamships would
eventually all go to the new termi
nal, costing Charleston port jobs.
“Why would we spend $2 billion
in new money when all we have to
do is expand in Charleston?” he
asked.
“We’re going to take a harder
look at all the sites” reviewed in the
draft environmental impact statement
for the Daniel Island project, said Joe
Bryant, director of terminal devel
opment with the South Carolina State
Ports Authority.
“The system is working. This is
part of the process,” he said, adding
it might make sense to work with
Georgia if South Carolina were to
develop a terminal so close to Sa
vannah.
“We’ve been competitors for so
long, it’s probably inconceivable to
some people that we could work to
gether,” he said.
State to investigate prison sex claims
Associated Press
The state’s top law enforcement
officer says his office will investigate spe
cific allegations of sexual misconduct
in South Carolina prisons, but will not
go looking for cases.
State Law Enforcement Division
Chief Robert Stewart said Wednesday his
office has a duty to find misconduct and
corruption on the part of public officials.
“But we also have a duty not to taint
or ruin the careers of honest public of
ficials,” he said. “In other words, we
do not conduct fishing expeditions.”
Attorney General Charlie Condon
agreed, and asked the SLED chief Thurs
day to approve having the state grand ju
ry investigate the prison system because
it could involve “public corruption.”
The grand jury could compel testi
mony, issue indictments, or suggest
policy changes, spokesman Robb McBur
ney said.
Stewart has made no decision on
whether to use the state grand jury, but
will make a preliminary inquiry into the
matter, SLED spokesman Hugh Munn
said.
The latest action comes after a re
quest from a Greenville senator who is
leading a legislative inquiry into sex be
tween prison workers and inmates.
Sen. David Thomas said he wrote
Stewart a letter asking for the investiga
tions into what he said was widespread
misconduct.
Several cases of sex between inmates
and guards have been reported this year,
with the most recent being last month.
Convicted child-killer Susan Smith told
a Corrections Department investigator
that she and guard Lt. Houston Cagle had
sex four times at Women’s Correction
al Institution in Columbia. Cagle, a 13
year veteran of the department, was fired.
Cagle has been charged with two
I
counts of having sex with an inmate for
his relationships with Smith and anoth
er inmate, Samantha Medlin.
Corrections Director William
“Doug” Catoe blamed turnover and
inexperienced guards for other recent
cases.
A maintenance supervisor at the
women’s prison was fired after he was
accused of having sex with inmates. Catoe,
in a letter to Gov. Jim Hodges, detailed
his department’s investigation into three
cases at other prisons where inmates had
sex while incarcerated — two of them
with prison workers. The third involved
male and female inmates.
Four other cases of sexual miscon
duct are under investigation, and 10 cas
es of sexual misconduct have been in
vestigated since 1999.
The Corrections Department will
cooperate with an expanded SLED in
vestigation or a state grand jury, officials
said. Stewart is to meet with department
leaders Friday to determine what other
allegations to pursue.
The governor’s office said this week
that SLED will investigate all miscon
duct cases at the Corrections Depart
ment, including cases involving contra
band.
Clinton to visit Brunei, Vietnam
after presidential election
by Anne Gearan
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Clin
ton will visit Vietnam as one of his fi
nal foreign tours as president, but will
make the politically sensitive trip on
ly after the November elections.
The White House announced
Thursday that Clinton would tack the
Vietnam trip to the end of a scheduled
visit to Brunei. Clinton is to attend
the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Co
operation forum in Bandar Seri Be
gawan, Brunei, on Nov. 15 and 16 and
then go to Vietnam.
“He will address the range of is
sues we hope to advance with the peo
ple and government of Vietnam fol
lowing the normalization of our ties
with their country,” a White House
statement said.
Two of Clinton’s predecessors vis
ited Vietnam, according to the State
Department. President Johnson visit
ed U.S. troops at Cam Ranh Bay in
October 1966 and December 1967.
President Nixon met with South Viet
namese President Nguyen Van
Thieu in Saigon in July 1969.
Clinton discussed the possibility
of a trip last week during a brief meet
ing with Vietnamese President Tran
Due Long. Both leaders were in New
York to attend the U.N. Millennium
Summit.
Clinton has long said he would like
to visit Vietnam, site of the war that
helped define his generation. Viet
nam’s political isolation and Clinton’s
personal baggage complicated and de
layed that dream.
The Vietnam War cost the lives of
58,000 Americans and approximate
ly 3 million Vietnamese.
Clinton was in college and grad
uate school during the war years and
did not serve in Vietnam. Some of his
critics still call him a draft-dodger.
Clinton’s choice of A1 Gore, a
Vietnam War veteran, as his running
mate in 1992 was seen then as one at
tempt to overcome a potential polit
ical deficit.
Making the trip after the election
would lessen the chance that contro
versy about Clinton’s visit could hog
news coverage when Gore, now the
Democratic presidential candidate,
might need it most.
As president, Clinton has pursued
a cautious rapprochement with
Vietnam. He lifted the trade embar
go against the communist government
in 1994, and the next year restored
diplomatic relations.
Clinton reopened the U.S. Em
bassy in Hanoi in 1996 and in 1998 is
sued his first waiver of a law that bars
trade relations with communist na
tions that deny citizens the right to
emigrate.
Earlier this year, Clinton dis
patched Defense Secretary William
Cohen to Vietnam as the first U.S. sec
retary of defense to visit since the war
ended in April 1975.
Cohen’s trip was intended to re
inforce the Pentagon’s commitment
to finding, recovering and returning
to their families the remains of 2,000
U.S. servicemen still unaccounted for
from the war.
It was also aimed at conveying the
Clinton administration’s interest in
ties between American and Vietnamese
armed forces.
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Leadership Excellence Starts Here
Buses
from page 1
baum and her staff have done a good job
of managing the inspections of these af
fected buses,” Hodges said.
Thomas Built said a possible electri
cal flaw in the breaking systems might
result in temporary reductions of
breaking capacity in one of the vehicle’s
four wheels.
However, drivers of the state’s buses have
not noticed any breaking problems since
the vehicles went into service a year ago.
Another concern was the lack of avail
ability for these specialty buses to chil
dren with disabilities, said Don Tudor, di
rector of the education department’s
Office of Transportation.
“We’re very fortunate that these in
spections didn’t reveal any problems,”
Tudor said. “We simply don’t have any
substitute vehicles available in our fleet."
According to the Federal Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, South Car
olina is the only state in the nation with
a 100 percent compliance rate on school
bus recalls.
He said South Carolina is also the on
ly state whose buses are owned and main
tained by the state and not individual
school districts, claiming the state’s bus
es are
one of the nation’s safest with only one
passenger fatality reported in the last 20
years.
The city/state desk can be reached at
gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com.
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