Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Tlic (Bamecocfe Crops from page 3 Sumter, and the only tea plantation in America,” Jemian said. “There is inter est from various firms in promoting the cultivation of herbal crops such as St. Joint's Wort.” St. John’s Wort is commonly known for lessening the effects of anxiety and depression. Clentson’s agricultural researchers are looking at medical plains that some day might take the place of tobacco as a high-income crop, SUI officials said. Ac cording to information obtained from the SUI Web site, declining tobacco sales throughout the country are resulting in potentially severe economic setbacks for the state’s tobacco fanners. Jerman said researchers at Clent son tire looking at Pawpaw, a low shrub by tree grown in Mississippi, as an al ternative to tobacco because the plant has potential uses as a natural insecticide and can possibly treat cancer. Individuals from USC’s School of Pharmacy are attending the conference to look at the regulatory aspects of these products. Jerman said one of the major concents pharmacists have is that peo ple do not take into consideration that herbal over-the-counter drugs could have negative effects when mixed with pre scription drugs. Other interests included at the con ference are plant physiology, agronomy, horticulture ethnobotany and anthro pology. SUI is a joint effort by the MUSC, USC, and Clemson University research facilities, which work to increase envi ronmental literacy among students. SUI is interested in hearing from stu dents, faculty, staff and members of the community with an interest in the Ini tiative. For more information contact 777-7760 or visit http://www.sc.edu/sus tainableu. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com. Residents share views at City Talk by Jennifer Autrey The Gamecock ** Columbia residents were given an opportunity to provide input on various community concerns such as afford able housing, city revitalization and eco nomic development last Wednesday at City Talk, an annual citywide forum held this year at Columbia College. The Citizens Advisory Committee for Community Development and the Columbia Council of Neighborhoods held the forum where residents from the Eau Claire neighborhood, where the meeting took place, voiced opinions sur rounding various issues, but kept com ing back to issues concerning pedestrian safety. The focus of the forum was differ ent from previous years when citizens have been concerned with a wide array of problems, including crime and neigh borhood beautification, Lirola said. The CAC consists of 20 members who are appointed on an annual basis. The CAC’s primary purpose is to plan, implement, and assess the city of Co lumbia’s Community Development Block Grant. The CAC holds at least one neigh borhood meeting and two public hear ings to obeun citizens’ views on housing and community development needs. Lirola said most residents of Co lumbia ask that students be "good neigh bors." She said students should try to be as respectful as possible, which in cludes maintaining yards and homes and keeping any noise from parties at a rea sonable level. "Next year, there will be openings on the CAC," Lirola said. "Tliis includes off-campus students." According to Lirola, student in volvement is important to the CAC and to the city of Columbia because "the uni versity is the heart of the city." For more information about the CAC or CityTalk, call 733-8315. The city/state desk can be reached at gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com. Alumnus now best-selling author by Brandon Larrabee The Gamecock It took more than 200 rejections and several years, but USC graduate Janies W. Huston is now a nationally best-sell ing author. The author, lawyer, and former Ma rine spoke to a nearly-full Gambrell Au ditorium Friday. He was awarded the College of Liberal Arts' Distinguished Alumni Award Saturday. Huston, who attended USC from 1971-1975, is the author of the Balance of Power, Price of Power, and Flash i Point. After spending two years research ing and writing the novel, Huston said, he began to think about an agent. He wrote to about 10 or 15 at first, he said, and waited. Then, the rejection no tices started to come in. "I think I wrote to 100 or so liter ary agents and got 100 or so rejection letters," he said. Which didn't bode well for Huston's half-written sequel. "'You may be interested in the se quel to the book you rejected six months ago,"' Huston imagined himself telling * the agents. _ Huston decided to stop on the un promising sequel and write a tliird book, tliis one examining the issue of whether the United States could declare war on one person. While researching the issue in the Constitution, Huston found an often overlooked aspect of the Constitution's Article 1, Section 8, which gives Con gress the powerjo declare war. Though Huston knew about letters of marque - which basically give a mer chant ship the power to attack ships of a hostile nation - from previous reading, few others did, even among his fellow lawyers. "I could not find-one lawyer who knew about letters of marque and, reprisal," Huston said. Huston did some research and found that no Supreme Court decisions or amendments had annulled the clause. "What would prevent Congress from doing that today?" Huston said. Then, the question that would be come the basis of Balance of Power. What if Congress did so to fight a pri vate war that the President disagreed with? Huston wrote the new book and sent the manuscript out to 20 or 21 agents, including the agents for John Grisham and Stephen King. Huston eventually got rejections from all but one agent: his first choice, the agent who had left an executive pub lishing job to be John Grisham's agent after the legal suspense author's first agent died. Huston waited. Eventually, he got a rejection letter. But it was addressed to someone else. He cilled the literary agent again to complain. He needed his own rejection letter for his files, he said. "I can't have the system broken up by not having my rejection letter here," he said. Huston was told the novel had not been rejected and the letter he had re ceived was a mistake. The agent later accepted the book. Huston's book went on to get pub-' lished, gamer rave reviews and hit the best-seller list. The publication of his fourth published novel is slated for May. Huston does give some credit for his success to the liberal arts degree he got at USC, he said. "I am grateful for the truly fine Lib eral Arts education I got here," Huston told the audience at the awards presen tation Saturday. Huston told The Gamecock he en joyed his stay at USC. Though he was in the Naval ROTC at the height of the Vietnam War protests, he said he didn't feel that anyone was protesting against him. "I didn’t feel hostility toward me," he said. There was one thing he might change about his stay at USC, though. "I wish they'd had air conditioning in my dorms," Huston said. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmaiLcom. *r '^^HaifiSfiMAl \“Buyone visit' \“Buy one visit,\ • get second \ • get second ; | visit FREE" : \ visit FREE" : ! exp. Oct. 13 __J i_exp_Oct.]3_> Only 3 miles from campus With package, receive 20% off lotion! " Attention Sophomores & Juniors: Interested in Public Policy and the Environment? The Udall Scholarship offers up to $5,000 to students interested in pursuing a career in environmental public policy, health care, or tribal public policy. Applicants must be sophomores or juniors, have a "B" SPA, and be in the upper 4,h of their class. Interested? Plan to attend! Udall Scholarship Workshop Wednesday, September 27 at 4 p.m. Gressette Room, 3rd Floor Harper College, Horseshoe For more information, call the Fellowships Office at 777-0958. Find the Best Price on New * and Pre-Owned Hondas www.rickhendrickhonda.com HONDA 791-5660 1650 Airport Boulevard • West Columbia, SC 29171 '1 04- V> .ygmst beyond your wildest dreams, between the peak of your courage, and the pit of your fears... awaits r ourney where past and future collide. The Journey, an evening of music and storytelling featuring Eric Saperston with special guest Edwin McCain. - Get turned on. Thursday, September 28th • Roger Center • 8 pm Advance Tickets: Student - $5 • General Public - $10 Day of Show Tickets: Student - $7 • General Public - $12 Tickets available NOW at all Capital Ticket outlets. Individuals needing special accommodations please call 777-7130.