The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 13, 2000, Image 1
Vol. 94, No. 32 Monday November 13, 2000_
_ Serving na Community since 1Q08
WWW.GAMECOCK.SC.EDU UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA ' COLUMBIA. S.C.
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Blood battle with Clemson begins
by Charles Prashaw
The Gamecock
The week before the annual Caroli
na/Clemson football game is traditional
ly known as Spirit Week at USC, a week
of annual events that celebrate USC and
the long-standing football rivalry.
^ For this Spirit Week, three big events
™ire taking place: the annual Carolina/Clem
son blood drive, the grand opening of the
Gamecock-themed Bi-Lo on Devine Street
and the annualTiger Bum.
USC has won the annual blood drive
for the last two years, with around 2,000
pints of blood donated by students, pro
fessors and community members each
of those years.
The event, which is sponsored by the
Red Cross and the Fraternity and Sorori
ty Councils, pits Greek Life from the two
schools against each other in a contest to
see who can get’members of their com
munities to donate the most blood.
The blood drive will take place all this
week at the Russell House Ballroom and
in a Red Cross bloodmobile outside the
Darla Moore School of Business between
11 a.m. and 7 p.m.
To get more students to give blood
this year, Greek organizers are giving
Gamecock T-shirts to donors. The shirt
says “I bleed garnet” on the front.
According to Director of Greek
Life Gena Runnion, there will also be free
food, and some professors are giving ex
tra credit for donating blood.
“It’s a great cause. It’s something that
is a very healthy competition for both
schools,” Runnion said “We can’t all play
football, but we can all support the effort
and support the cause.”
Runnion also gave advice to those
wishing to donate this week.
They should remember to eat food
high in iron, like oatmeal, cream of wheat,
grits and leafy green vegetables, accord
ing to Runnion.
“If someone doesn’t have a high
enough iron count, they can’t donate,”
she said.
The grand opening of the Gamecock
themed Bi-Lo on Devine Street will take
place Wednesday between 5-7 p.m. The
managers of the Bi-Lo plan to hold a cel
ebration in the parking lot with free food
discounted prices, “Cocky,” cheerleaders
and fireworks.
According to Russell House Director
Carmela Car, the grand opening of the
store just happens to take place during
Spirit Week.
The Tiger Bum, the last event of Spir
it Week, takes place at the South Caroli
na Fairgrounds at 6 p.m. Thursday. The
Tiger Bum is the annual pep rally and bon
fire before the Carolina/Clemson football
game.
Admission is free to both the Tiger
Bum and the grand opening of the Bi-Lo.
The university desk can be reached at
gamecockudesk@hotmalLcom.
Three in a row?
USC has beat Clemson in the Carolina
Clemson blood drive for the past two years,
and will try for a third victory this year. The
totals in the previous two years:
1999 USC 2,018
Clemson 1,904
1998 USC 1,657
Clemson 1,433
BUILDING A BETTER USC
-- ■ ■ -----------1
t rav ■■ : , T ! Gmh C! S
Work continues on the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center, which Is scheduled to be completed by January 2003. The
Fitness and Wellness Center is Just one of many construction projects being undertaken by the university over the next five years.
Trustees’ goals include
campus beauty, safety
This is the final installment in a series by The Game
cock examining the goals the USC board of trustees re
cently agreed to try to achieve by 2005.
by Brandon Larrabee
The Gamecock
tin •< • r f . 1 or tlm Cimm Tl_ir»._IVIE-11
tv line uic main tutus ui uic uuum
of trustees’ goals for 2005 rests on im
proving tlie quality of students, teach
ers and the university as a whole,
there are also other areas the goals tar
get.
One of these is the campus’s ap
^ pearance, with the board setting goals
to improve the learning environment
and safety around campus.
Even before the goals, USC had
planned several construction projects.
The university is pumping hundreds of
millions of dollars into such projects
(IIUIIIIUIIU 1 1UI09 UIIU T »vu
ness Center, Uie new Greek Village, the
Vista Arena, a new Law School and a
new facility for the school of public
health.
However, one of the most imme
diate and far-reacliing projects being un
dertaken is a “streetscraping” project
that will lead to changes along many
of USC’s streets, including Sumter, Blos
som, Green, Bull and Pendleton.
“That’s [the streescaping project is]
very comprehensive,” said Charles Jef
fcoat, director of facilities management
at the university.
The plan involves adding lighting
and trees to streets affected by the
project, narrowing several of the streets,
removing some university parking and
moving sidewalks further off the roads.
The university will also add a left turn
off of Blossom Street onto Bull Street.
While the university is planning on
removing parking on some of tlie streets
encompassed by the plan, Jeffcoat said
that won’t always be the case.
“In most cases, the parking’s re
maining along the street,” he said.
Some of the parking could also be
moved.
On Sumter, a gated median will be
added in addition to the otlier streetscap
ing elements, Jeffcoat said. The side
walk will be moved further away from
the curve, and a grassy area will take its
place.
Another major change affects Greene
Street. The university is no longer con
sidering opening Greene Street during
some hours when it is currently closed,
Jeffcoat said.
“Our plan is to continue that sched
ule,” he said.
Instead, the gates that block traffic
when the street is closed might be moved
outward.
“We may move those further west
and place them on the comer of Sumter
and Greene,” Jeffcoat said.
The streetscaping plan also calls for
the narrowing of Greene Street and the
removal of the parking spaces on that
road between Sumter and Bull streets.
The spaces between Bull and Pickens
“more than likely will stay,” but those
is
SLED picks up
$990,000 grant
■ Money will help
improve communi
cations network
by Kristin von
Karowsky
The Gamecock
The US. Department of Justice award
ed the South Carolina Law Enforcement
Division a $990,000 federal grant, US.
Sen. Fritz Hollings announced Oct. 25.
The funding, which is part of the Jus
tice Department’s National Criminal His
tory Improvement Program (NCHIP), will
be used to improve and upgrade SLED’s
communications network. Tire Justice De
partment’s program seeks to improve pub
lic safety by making criminal record in
formation complete, accurate and
immediately accessible to law enforce
ment.
The NCHIP receives its funding
through the Crime Identification Tech
nology Act (CITA). According to the De
partment of Justice website, CITA pro
vides assistance to states to upgrade or
establish identification technologies and
criminal justice information systems. CI
TA expands on the National Criminal His
tory Improvement Program administered
by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and pro
vides assistance “for virtually every” tech
nology-based, criminal justice identifi
cation, information and communications
need.
SLED chief spokesman Hugh Munn
said with the new funding, smaller courts,
such as magistrates and city judges, will
now be able to get depositions to SLED
faster with the new technology.
“A problem we were having here was
that smaller summary courts had to mail
the information to us before,” Munn said.
“Tliere was no automated system from
the summary courts. Now, it will be eas
ier for smaller courts to send us the in
formation electronically. 1 want to stress
the timelines. This will really move tilings
along for us, in terms of electronic switch
ing equipment and improved software.”
Munn also said criminal histories in
cluded in the data base will include “all
criminal histories,” and not strictly vio
lent criminal histories.
When asked if the new communica
tions system might help deter crime, Munn
couldn’t say for sure.
“I really don’t know, but it will sure
help in detecting and investigating crimes
in a more timely manner,” Munn said.
According to the Justice Department’s
website, a public law passed on Oct. 9,
--SLED SEE PAGE 3
Big Brothers, Sisters
hold extravaganza
by Eugene Rodillo
The Gamecock
Children and volunteers met this past
Friday for the fifth annual Big Brothers/
Big Sisters of Greater Columbia Midnight
Extravaganza held at USC’s Blatt P.E Cen
ter.
From 11:00 p.m. Friday to 8:00 a.m.
Saturday, children and volunteers partic
ipated in various activities such as bas
ketball and arts and crafts, giving the chil
dren a chance to interact with possible
mentors.
Barron Damon, spokesman for Big
Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Colum
bia, said the gathering was a way for the
children to have a night out, estimating
more than 250 people participated in the
event this year.
According to Damon, the program
began only for boys who were on a wait
ing list to meet possible mentors. After
the females found they didn’t have a sim
ilar opportunity, it was decided to com
bine the program for both boys and girls.
This year, the program was full of ac
tivities to keep children busy.
“Everytliing is done simultaneously,”
Damon said. “They’ll be moving die whole
time, from station to station. We even have
a book station out there in case there are
some of them who just want to read, be
cause some of llie kids are a little intro
verted.”
Along with these activities, diere was
a karaoke machine and a motivational
speaker named Eric David.
“He (encouraged) the kids to stay
off the streets and stay off drugs,” Damon
said.
The volunteers played a big part in
this event, with many being students from
USC and other colleges. Damon said diere
Bio Brothers seepages
Weather Inside Quote of the Day Datebook
Today
65
50
Tuesday
59
33
1 Spotlight looks
at the movie
“Men of
Honor’’
Page 7
“Democracy is the worst
form of government- except
for all those other ones.”
— Winston Churchill
Monday
‘Spirit Week begins
• Carolina/Clcmson Blood
iMlgg^PI Drive, RH Ballroom
‘Sigma Chi Derby Days
Tuesday
•Spirit Week continues
•Carolina/CIemson Blood
Drive, RH Ballroom
•Sigma Chi Derby Days
•Hunger Banquet, 6 p.m.,
Capstone Campus rm