The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 11, 2000, Image 1
_ Vol. 94, No. 20 Wednesday October 11, 2000 _
ina Community since 1Q08
Bombing victim’s father speaks
Sean Rayford The Gamecock
Bud Welch spoke to students about
the death penalty Monday night
by Maggie Stewart
The Gamecock
“I just want everyone to know who my kid
is,” said Emmett “Bud” E. Welch while hold
ing up a picture of his 19-year-old daughter, Julie
Marie Welch, who was killed in theApril 15,
1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
Welch spoke Monday in the Lumpkin Audi
torium of the Darla Moore School of Business
to discuss his feelings towards the death penalty.
He was the featured speaker for the second
annual Joseph Cardinal Bernadin Lectureship,
and he discussed forgiveness and the death penal
ty in his presentation, “From Rage to Reconcil
iation.”
In his speech, he discussed his opposing view
of the death penalty and his personal journey to
forgiveness before an audience of about 60 peo
ple.
Welch has been giving speeches like these for
three and a half years, across the country, ap
pearing on numerous television and magazine
news programs including Time, Newsweek, USA
Today, Parade Magazine, Dateline , Today and
Good Morning America.
He discussed the aid the Catholic church gave
him in helping to alleviate the pain associated
with his daughter’s death.
Welch has continued to be an active mem
ber in the Catholic church and community since
Julie was killed.
The presentation included not only Welch’s
story of his daughter and how he came to terms
with her death, but also the foigiveness he has
for the family of Timothy McVeigh.
At the beginning of his speech, he reflected
on his daughther’s life
She was aspiring to be a foreign language
teacher.
The Wednesday after her death, she and her
father were supposed to meet for lunch at a restau
rant across the street from the bomb site at 11:30
a.m.
Unfortunately, her life was cut short before
the meeting ever took place.
For several months after her death, her fa
ther would still go to that restaurant every Wfednes
day at 11:30 to and “meet” her for lunch.
He also faithfully went to the bomb site every
day after her death until January 1996.
He then realized his mind was still negative
ly trapped on that fateful day.
The pain he and his family were experienc
ing was strong, but he realized only he could help
it end.
At the time of her death, he felt an immense
amount of rage towards McVeigh family.
He wanted to kill McVeigh himself once he
saw him on television, and he strongly support
ed the death penalty. It was then that he realized
through temporary insanity , he was no better
than McVeigh.
He decided to make a change.
He asked himself several questions. “Do we
need the trials to begin now? Do we need the
convictions; do we need the executions; what do
we need for Bud Welch to gain some assemblage
in his life?”
He struggled with that question for weeks
until he finally came up with the answer that ex
ecuting McVeigh would be an act of rage and
revenge.
In his mind, he felt that an act of rage and re
venge was exactly the reason why Julie and
167 others were dead.
He said it was McVeigh’s rage against the fed
eral government that had led him to commit that
act of violence.
He then decided forgiveness was the an
swer he was looking for, which lead to the be
ginning of his path to recovery and the end to his
torment.
It was at that time he decided that he would
be against the death penalty, and he wanted to
meet with McVeigh’s father, Bill McVeigh.
“I knew that someday I had to go tell that
man that I cared how he felt, and I did not blame
he or his family for what their son had done.”
A meeting was arranged for Saturday, Sept.
5 and the two met at Bill McVeigh’s house. While
there, Welch also met Bill’s daughter, Jennifer,
who was the same age as Julie when she died.
During their conversation Welch kept look
ing at a photo of Timothy on the wall, and the
two fathers looked at each other. According to
Victim see page 2
Sixth Man Club
gets approval
by Brandon Larrabee
_The Gamecock
The Athletics Department has ap
proved Student Government’s “Sixth
Man Club” proposal, which will cre
ate a specially designated student sec
tion at four of USC’s 2000-2001 home
basketball games..
The proposal involves turning 942
of the Coliseum’s seats - half of section
T and all of sections U and V - into an
organized student section, according to
SG Pres. Jotaka Eaddy. No other stu
dent seating will be affected by the plan.
“I’m happy for the students. I’m
happy for the athletic teams” whom the
fans will support, Eaddy said.
“I think it’s a positive move for the
university,” she added.
Associate Athletics Director for
Ticketing Chris Massaro said the ath
letics department was excited about the
new section.
“We feel that anything we can do
to help generate student excitement in
our events is an idea well worth try
ing,” Massaro said.
The seats are not new student seats,
but will be set apart as a special section
that students can request when they get
their tickets to the game, according to
Eaddy. Students willbe able to ask for
either general seating or seating in the
Sixth Man Club.
“We’ve never had organized stu
dent seating and that’s what makes it
different,” Eaddy said.
“It’s kind of like focusing in ... on
a concentrated area,” she added.
She said SG was working on getting
shuttles for the approved games and was
trying to get t-shirts and pom-poms for
those sitting in the special section. Ad
ditionally, cheerleaders would focus on
that section of the stadium, Eaddy said.
The proposal will only be in ef
fect for four of USC’s 2000-2001 games:
when the Gamecocks play Auburn Jan.
20, Mississippi Feb. 17, Arkansas
Feb. 20 and Tennessee Feb. 27.
SG had wanted a Clemson game to
be included in the list, but the athlet
The Sixth Man
proposal will only be
in effect for four of
USC’s 2000-2001
games:
❖ Auburn Jan. 20
❖ Mississippi Feb. 17
❖ Arkansas Feb. 20
❖ Tennessee Feb. 27.
ics aeparimeni warned 10 promote in
terest in conference games and were
concerned about the fact that the game
SG wanted fell in the first semester. The
time of the game was also a concern,
according to Massaro.
“The thought was that weeknight
games might be a good time to do this
promotion,” Massaro said.
The Clemson game is slated for Sat
urday, Dec. 9.
Eaddy said she understood Massaro’s
concern.
“It would’ve been nice to start off
with a Clemson game, but I can un
derstand ... where he’s coming from,”
Eaddy said.
Eaddy called the absence of a Clem
son game “a small price to pay” for get
ting the idea off the ground.
“If that’s something we have to take,
we just have to take it,” Eaddy said.
It s not known whether the plan
will still be in effect when USC opens
the new Vista arena, scheduled to be
completed in 2002. Eaddy said the plan
was only a pilot program in its cur
rent form.
The plan was part of Eaddy’s “Con
tract with Carolina,” the platform she
ran on in last year’s SG presidential
election.
The university desk can be reached at
gamecockudesk@hotmaU.com.
BS2=Z22ESS*_-i —2-Tg» I —
Amy Goulding The Gamecock
Former USC student Carrie England Is on a national tour raising money for Children’s Miracle Network.
Kissmobile arrives in Columbia
by Brandon Larrabee
The Gamecock
The way Carrie England tells it, she wasn’t
really looking to drive a huge candy-shaped ve
hicle across the United States when she gradu
ated from USC.
“When 1 graduated, 1 was just looking for a
fun opportunity,” England said.
That’s when she heard about the Hershey’s
Kissmobile from fellow USC alumnus Ryan Lind
say.
“We both heard about it through the
grapevine,” England said, referring to herself and
fellow “chocolate ambassador” Khara Lentel,
from Lincoln Nebraska.
Not surprisingly, the vehicle gets noticed, ac
cording to Lentel.
“We get a lot of attention,” Lentel said.
England, who graduated in May, and Lentel
drove the Kissmobile onto Greene Street Mon
day. The 25.5-foot-long, 11.5-foot-high truck,
shaped like three of the famous chocolates, was
parked in front of the Russell House from 12 to
1 p.m.
England said the vehicle was there to raise
donations for Children’s Miracle Network, as
well as raise awareness of Dance Marathon, which
England was involved in while she attended USC.
The kissmobile was invited to the university
by Dance Marathon, England said.
Dance Marathon felt lucky to have the Kiss
mobile come to USC to promote the event, ac
cording to Kristen Cullen, who’s in charge of
public relations for the event.
She said two USC students - both of whom
had been involved in Dance Marathon - had been
Kisses SEE PAGE 4 I
I
Today
73
45
Thursday
74
43
Spotlight
interviews
The Ladies
Man
Page 8
“Beer is proof that God
loves us and wants us to be
happy.”
— Benjamin Franklin
Wednesday
• Carnegie Hall Jazz Con
cert at the Koger Center
• Student Senate 5 p.m.
• Carolinian Creed Week
• SG Cabinet 7 p.m.
• National Boss Day
Thursday
• Spanish Harlem 7 p.m
RH Ballroom
•80’s Rock Music in a
Video Age, RH Theater 8
p.m.
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