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_ Vol. 94, No. 15 Friday September 29, 2000_ Sean Rayford The Gamecock Many towns like Beaufort turned Into ghost towns as Hurricane Floyd approached the east coast of the United States. This past year, more than 2.6 million people were evacuated from the Southern coast In the largest peacetime evacuation In U.S. history. Future lessons • from past mistakes ■ Hurricane ~ evacuations will be easier in future, state says by Kristen Von Karowsky The Gamecock This month last year, Hurricam Floyd sparked the largest peacetimi evacuation in history. South Caroli na motorists faced unprecedented traffic jams on 1-26 as miles of vehi cles stood still, attempting to flee Charleston for inland areas before the monster storm struck. Some frustrated and angry resi dents reported the one-and-a-half to two-hour journey from Charleston to Columbia took more than 12 hours on 1-26 because the lanes were not reversed early enough. . Gov. Hodges received harsh crit s icism for the evacuation proce dures this past September. Because they’re again in the throes of hurricane season, South Carolina residents might see what lessons were learned from Hurricane Floyd and what steps the governor and other city officials have taken to prevent such ill planning if South Carolina is threatened by another storm. Hurricane Floyd was a wake-up call. South Carolina was simply not prepared to deal with evacuations of Floyd’s magnitude. After Floyd, Gov. Hodges ap pointed a bipartisan commission to examine South Carolina’s hurricane evacuation plan and recommend im provements. The commission made several recommendations for im proving South Carolina’s emeigency preparedness plan. This summer, Hodges said on The Weather Channel’s Forum that “the plan now includes provisions for ear ly lane reversal of 1-26 out of Charleston and partial reversals as needed for U.S. 501 out of Myrtle Beach and U.S. 278 out of Hilton Head.” Hodges said all four lanes of 1-26 would be utilized to speed future evacuations, and three out of four lanes of U.S. 501 and U.S 278 would be reversed as well. Traffic cameras will be used on South Carolina’s interstates to mon itor the flow of traffic during evac uations. Maps of the evacuation route are available at the Department of Transportation or the South Caroli na Emergency Preparedness Divi sion. Hodges has also appointed South Carolina’s first “traffic czar,’’ anoth er improvement inspired by Hurri cane Floyd. Capt. Hany Stubblefield, an 18-year veteran of the South Car olina Highway Patrol, was named to the post in October 1999. Hodges said that the traffic czar’s primary duty “is to plan and oversee large scale evacuations on our roads.” “Traffic management planning is now my full-time responsibility,” Stubblefield said. He said he’s received “invaluable input” from fellow officers within the Highway Patrol, state and local emergency management, planning officials, coworkers at the Depart ment of Public Safety and engi neers at the Department of Trans portation. “Together we have looked at Floyd seepage Sean Rayford The Gamecock Residents have their IDs checked as they return to Folly Beach, S.C. after Hurricane Floyd. t /^i /m 1 r ■ 1 Senate de parking r by Amanda Silva The Gamecock A revision of a resolution first proposed two weeks ago concerning the issue of parking and student safe ty was defeated Wednesday by an 18 11 maigin in student senate. The resolution, sponsored by * Sens. Brian Hunter and Brian Phillips, is an attempt to solve some of the parking and safety problem at USC by giving on-campus students prior ity in obtaining garage spaces near their dorms. The first draft of the resolution concerned only garages on Bull and Blossom streets, but the second ver sion included all USC garages. The resolution has turned into a contro versy over the safety provisions for on-campus students versus those for off-campus students. “Wfe are not discriminating against off-campus students, we are just try ing to give first priority to students who live on campus,” Phillips said. The revised resolution called for parking spaces in all USC parking garages to be assigned according to the proximity of the residence hall an on-campus student lives in. “If you live on campus, you should get to park near where you live,” said Hunter. The resolution brought several members of Senate to the floor, speaking both in favor of the mea sure and against it. Some members thought the changes made by Hunter and Phillips still posed a threat to off campus students. “It continues to discriminate against off-campus students, which ifeats * esolution is not something this body wishes to entertain or condone,” Sen. Hydrick Harden said. Sen. Adam Musgrave said in formation he received from the Reg istrar’s Office showed there are cur rently more than 22,000 students enrolled at USC, only 6,000 of whom live on campus. The resolution, if passed, would cut out more than half of the student population, he said. “This is a huge commuter school. I think this blatantly goes against off campus students,” Musgrave said. Sen. Jeb Bush said students who needed to park closer to their resi dence halls could use the free lot on the lower level of Bull Street garage. According to Bush, the lot is never full, regardless of the time of night. Sen. Jessica Lentini, who sup ported the bill, countered Bush’s comments by saying students who do make use of the free lot must have their cars out by 6 a.m. or they will get a $15 ticket. According to Lentini, the lot is often full at night, and the current lottery system of assigning spaces to students is the real hindrance to safe ty “The lottery system discriminates against safety,” Lentini said. Sen. Fletcher also spoke against the resolution’s passage, but stressed that safety and parking are two dif ferent issues. “Safety need not be considered when assigning spaces,” Fletcher said. Despite an amendment which proposal the lottery give first prior Senate seepage: - Michael Ronqulllo The Gamecock Student Government Vice President Corey Ford, standing, addresses student senate about campus parking Issues. u£>u reaay ior weamer dangers ■ Committee prepares campus for next Floyd by Charles Prashaw The Gamecock ® Several days before Hurricane Floyd even threatened the South Car olina coast this past year, a group of USC administrators and personnel were already meeting to discuss how, when and what to do about the situation. The group, called the Emergency Management Committee, has several members including Housing Director Gene Luna, Vice President for Student Affairs Dennis Pruitt, USC Spokes men Jason Snyder, Student Life Di rector Jerry Brewer and several mem bers of maintenance and the Police Department. The committee, which only meets when it needs to, makes suggestions to the president’s office concerning the possibility of canceling classes. But Snyder, who handles notifmg the media during extreme storm sit uations, said President John Palms makes the final call when classes are canceled. Most of the time in hurricanes or other extreme weather, Palms follows the advice of the governor’s office be cause the university is a state agency, according to Snyder. One of the policies the committee user SEE PAGE 2 .■■■■■....—..... Weather HH Inside •■■■■■■■II Quote of the Day Datebook Friday i 72 51 Saturday i 74 ' 54 Flaming Lips to perform in Athens Page 7 Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising up every time we fall. Ralph Waldo Emerson Friday S | Volleyball vs. Kentucky ^ Saturday • Football at Alabama, 2 p.m. • Rosh Hashanah ‘We try to make the uni versity as prepared as possible when an emer gency happens.’ Gene Luna USC Housing Director Chits the road See Sports for COMPLETE STORY. Page 10 — ;i hk I y S M> 78ft Sean Rayford The Gamecock