Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Wednesday, November 1,2000 „ Page 3 'Ihe (Samecock Poll shows S.C. residents not as afraid of crime as before Eby Amanda Silva The Gamecock Results of a poll released recently by USC shows that South Carolinians are not as scared by crime as they were five years ago. The poll, conducted by USC’s Insti tute of Public Affairs and funded by the College of Criminal Justice, explored South Carolinian’s perceptions of crime, drug abuse and gun control. “This poll shows a very positive trend of South Carolinians feeling safer in their neighborhoods,” said Dr. William Rue fle, a USC professor of criminal justice. Although the number of South Car olinians scared by crime are still high, they have dropped over a five-year pe riod. In 1996, more than 80 percent of “93iose surveyed were more concerned about personal safety than they had been in 1991. The number dropped in 1997, with 75 percent concerned about their per sonal safety and continued to drop to 73 percent in 1998, to 67 percent in 1999 and to 65 percent this year. “The decline in fear reflects the na r— tional statistics, which show a decline in the number of crimes being committed, so there is some substance behind the growing confidence,” Ruefle said. Only 44.3 percent of those polled re ported an increase of crime in their neigh borhoods in the past five years. Although those polled said they be lieve crime has decreased, 83.1 percent said criminals are more violent today than five years ago. The poll also reflected trends con cerning personal property. Five years ago, 80 percent said they experienced a growing concern about the safety of their personal property. That figure has been on the decline, and this year stands at 65.6 percent of South Carolinians reporting concerns about personal property. Illegal drug abuse was also a focus of the poll. More than 80 percent of the re spondents said they were concerned or greatly concerned about illegal drug abuse. Almost 90 percent said they believe the drug problem is a greater concern now compared to five years ago. More than half said they do not be lieve drug problems exist in their com mutinies, despite their concern about an increase in illegal drug abuse. The last issue featured in the poll con cerned gun control. The results from those polled were mixed with 84.6 percent favoring a new law requiring a two-week waiting peri od before an individual could buy a gun, while 52 percent reported that they do not believe existing gun laws make purchasing guns easy for people. Respondents were also divided on the question of whether stricter gun laws would reduce violence. “The responses are a bit contradic tory,” said Ruefle. “If someone sup ported a tougher new law, you would think they would also think current laws are too easy. The respondents may not have been well informed on gun laws.” The poll has a plus or minus 3.5-point margin of error and involved more than 800 interviews with residents around the state. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com. Federal agencies give school $8 million in research grants by John Huiett The Gamecock Two federal agencies have award ed more than $8 million in grants to three University of South Carolina School of Public Health professors for studies in diabetes, obesity, ado lescent physical activity and violence against women. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention awarded Dr. Elizabeth May er-Davis $2.3 million for research on type-2 diabetes in children and $2 mil lion to Ann Coker to study possibili ties in treating perpetrators of violence against women. The National Institutes of Health has also allotted $4 million for a study of physical activity among adolescent girls. “I am very excited about it,” May er-Davis said. “It really positions us very well as far as diabetes and kids are concerned.” Mayer-Davis said the grant enables her to “work collaboratively” with oth er agencies in Ohio, Colorado and Cal ifornia, who also received federal grants, on identifying children with diabetes and determine how widespread the dis ease is. She said a statewide registry would also lie established, in part to learn causes of the disease. The Coker grant was among 10 the CDC awarded nationally to study sexual and!intimate-partner’s violence. Other recipients include Johns Hop kins University and the University%of Arizona. School of Public Health Dean Dr. Harris Pastides said the grants are evi dence the college is living up its quar ter-century old mission. “Since opening its doors 25 years ago, USC’s School of Public Health has focused its education and research on disease prevention,” Pastides said. “USC public-health faculty are working in ar eas to solve the public-health challenges the CDC has targeted for vigorous ef fort in the 21st century, including in creasing physical activity, reducing the toll of violence, protection of the en vironment and the elimination of health disparities.” The grants are in addition to the millions awarded to the School of Pub lic Health already this year. Since Ju ly 1, $4.3 million has been awarded, in cluding nearly $2 million to establish the S.C. Rural Health Research Center and $700,000 for environmental re search concerning the state’s coastline. USC President John Palms said the grants are necessary to keep the School of Public Health viable in the areas of disease research and prevention. “In the 20th century, public health advances eradicated diseases through immunizations and education and led to enormous improvements in the health and lives of Americans,” Palms said. “However, the 21st century brings new health challenges, and these grants put USC’s School of Public Health at the forefront of national efforts to solve them.” Palms added the grants adds pres tige to the university, also. “Having USC public-health re searchers selected to work on these sig nificant national studies is an indication that the university’s research reputa tion is growing and that our researchers are among the best in the nation.” The city/state desk can be reached at gamecockcitydesk@hotmaiLcom. SOPHOMORES! FORMULATE YOUR FUTURE If you’re a Math, Physics, Architecture, Computer Science, Nursing, Engineer ing or Meteorology major— e note. Your degree + Air Force a commission as an Air Force ^ --our formula for success. TSS' The Air Force ROTC Two Year Program is designed for those who did not take the first two years of ROTC. Take a close look at Air Force ROTC now. Don’t let technology pass vou bv. Be a part of it. Contact Captain Alexandria Watson Carolina Coliseum, Room 1018 -A03J77J450 Leadership Excellence Starts Here Economics Department Presidential Debate Mu Wednesday; Nov. 1 7:00 pm Darla Moore School of Business Room 750 Come See the Members of the USC Economics Department Debate the Merits of the Two Main Candidates' Economic Proposals I80in77jni^i v Does copyright have meaning in a digital world? Get the online music debate from the artists' perspective. ARTISTS AGAINST PIRACY www.ArtistsAgainstPiracy.com