Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL. 94, No, 41 Fnciciy December 8, 2000_ m 0 ^ Serving the Ca rolina Community since 1Q08 Officials investigate Five Points shooting by John Bailby The Gamecock Columbia police are investigating the late night shooting of a 30-year-old Columbia man near Five Points. The shooting occurred Monday on the 900 block of Heidt Street, and is believed to be the result of an attempted robbery. Police reports give this account: At about 10:30 p.m., Ray mond Jenkins Jr., of 19 Landmark Drive, was ailing in his vehicle, a green Chevy Tahoe, when he was approached by a black male. The sus pect produced a handgun and fired at least two rounds, which struck Jenkins in the upper body. Jenkins managed to drive a distance away from the incident location, where he met a friend. He was then driven to the hospital. Jenkins died as a result of the injuries received from the shoot ing at 1:55 a.m. The site of the incident was a little more ^ than a mile from campus, and only half a mile from Five Points. Nobody is in custody for the shooting, a Co lumbia Police Department spokesman said Thurs day. The spokesman added that it’s unlikely the Jenkins shooting is related to two armed rob beries that happened in Five Points this past weekend. “We are checking it all out, but there’s no link at this time,” the spokesman said. In a poll conducted by Money magazine in 1997, Columbia was ranked 166th on the list of 207 safest cities in America. FBI crime statis tics provided the source of statistical informa tion for the poll, and Moigan Quitno, a statis tical research firm, analyzed the data. Other sections of the poll had Columbia ranked 43rd in the nation for murders, averag ing 18 per year. As of 1997, Columbia averaged 71.2 rapes per year, and 456.7 robberies per t year. Also, the city had 273 police officers per 100,000 citizens. Columbia police are continuing their in vestigation into the incident and ask anyone with information to contact the department’s infor mation division at 733-8385. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com. Top: Christmas decorations adorn i the State House grounds in ■1 preparation for the annual lighting of the Christmas tree. Left: A local (television cameraman prepares to film the festivities. Photos by Sean Rayford The Gamecock Complaints arise about Hamilton College ■ Professors say the building has gone years without sufficient maintenance or upkeep by Charles Prashaw The Gamecock When Hamilton College was last se riously renovated, it was 1962 and John F. Kennedy was president. Ine nation’s space program was in its early stages. Thirty-eight years later, according to professors, teaching assistants and stu dents in the anthropology department, which makes its home in the college, the building has fallen into disrepair and is infested with termites. Last semester, building inspectors said in an official report to USC that it isn’t feasible to renovate Hamilton College, lo cated at Pendleton and Pickens streets. USC spokesman Jason Snyder said he l couldn ’t comment on the state of the build ing or any future plans to renovate Hamil ton College. He referred questions to whether Hamilton was infested with termites to Gary Manning in USC Facility Services. As of press time, Manning was unavail able for comment. Although it wasn’t officially confirmed by Facility Services whether the building was infested with termites, many profes sors, teaching assistants and students have claimed it is. Anthropology professor John Adams, who teaches in Hamilton, said the build ing has visible termite damage. In some areas of the building, plaster can be seen coming off of the walls, Adams said. Adams, who has taught at USC for 25 years, also said the building has been in its current state for a long time. Over the years, lie said, administrators have promised renovations for Hamilton, but nothing ma jor has been done. “We would routinely take adminis trators on tours of the building to show them how bad the building would dete riorate,” he said. Other problems with the building in clude lead pipes and leaking pipes. Re cently, the second floor bathroom across from room 201 was shut down because the pipes in the bathroom were leaking into a computer lab on the first floor. A sign above a water fountain in the building reads “do not use” because the pipes for the fountain are lead. Leland Ferguson, former anthropol ogy department chairman, said that he pointed out the poor state of the build ing in annual reports when he was de partment chairman. He said maintenance was deferred be cause it was expected that the college would be renovated in the near future. “I think all the deferred maintenance ... has finally caught up to us,” he said. Ferguson also said the building has major problems with the roof leaking and mold. He said a faculty member once had to switch rooms because rain was leaking into her room and maintenance was un able to fix the problem. Along with professors that are dis appointed with the state of Hamilton Col lege, some students liave complained about it as well. “It’s really run-down, and the air con ditioning never works,” sophomore Leslie Phillips said. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmall.com. M—1IM II I Travis Lynn The Gamecock Professors say Hamilton College at Pendleton and Pickens Streets has fallen Into disrepair. Sigma Chi denies link to assault ■ USCPD says altercation in front of South Tower part of initiation by Brandon Larrabee The Gamecock USC police are investigating an al leged assault and battery incident in volving two pledges and one brother df the university’s chapter of Sigma Chi, - as the fraternity’s president denied any link between the incident and his or ganization. The alleged incident, which police say took place at 9:30 p.m. Monday at the front patio area of South Tow er, involved pledges Josh Rhodes and Casey Barnes and brother William All man, according to USCPD reports. “Complainant and other witnesses observed [Allman] and [Rhodes] and [Barnes] in a physical altercation,” according to the report. “Due to statements provided by [Rhodes] and [Barnes], it was deter mined victim and subjects were involved in fraternity initiation,” the report reads. Rhodes and Barnes are listed as sub jects on the report. Allman is listed as the victim. According to the report, Allman had no injuries and refused any kind of treatment. The report also said Rhodes and Barnes were referred to student disci pline. Sigma Chi President Michael Beig er said the incident wasn’t related to his fraternity in any way. “This had absolutely, positively nothing to do with hazing or fraterni ty initiation,” Beiger said. Beiger characterized the event as “a simple prank” that got out of hand. “The fraternity does not condone that whatsoever,” Berger said. “It was just a simple joke that went too far.” Beiger said he has repeatedly told investigators looking into the incident that it had nothing to do with the fra ternity. Beiger said he has met with Barnes, Investigation see page 2 Photo of former USC cheerleader causes stir at Dutch Fork by Charles Prashaw The Gamecock When staff members of Dutch Fork High School’s newspaper, The Renais sance, ran a photograph of the cover of a Playboy magazine in tlieir newspaper, they thought it would be a good way to J get students to read the paper. The photo was of Dutch Fork graduate and former USC student Lau ren Hill, who started at Carolina in 1997 and was a junior varsity cheerleader be fore eventually leaving school to enter the modeling business. What the Dutch Fork.student staff didn’t realize is that running that photo would lead to a controversy that would land them on Hie front page of the Metro section of The State newspaper, as well as in The Charlotte Observer. The controversy, which editors of the newspaper said has been blown out of proportion, started when the staff de cided to do a piece on what graduates of 9-year-old Dutch Fork High School were up to. The staff tracked down four grad uates of the school, including USC’s backup quarteiback Erik Kimrey; Aber crombie and Fitch model Matt Duffie; Charissa Seaman, who dances on the Britney Spears tour; and Hill. After tracking down Hill, the staff learned she was on the cover of the Oc tober issue of Playboy. When they asked Hill whether she had any photos they could use, site told staff members to use the cover photo. Wliile Hill didn’t pose nude in the magazine, some of the edi tors at the high school paper thought ap pearing on the cover was-newsworthy enough. Special to The Gamecock Former USC student Lauren Hill, above, was featured on the cov er of October's issue of Playboy magazine. The Dutch Fork High School student newspaper ran Into controversy when they used the photo In a recent Issue of their newspaper. “Our number one reason for run ning tlie article is that a Dutch Fork grad uate on the cover of a world-famous mag azine is news,” said co-editor in chief Joely Tommie. “You can’t see anything. What we showed wasn’t inappropriate.” Tommie said the Dec. 1 article on the front page of the Metro section of The Stale didn’t help to end the con troversy. “The article they wrote didn’t real ly say what we ran, and it made it seem like the parents were right,” she said. In the next issue of The Renaissance, Tommie wrote a column to defend her paper’s decision to run the photo. Playboy see page 2 1 UUAY 63 44 Friday 53 43 Inside How well do the Gamecocks match up with Ohio State? | Page 9 u Quote of the Day “Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from two, it’s research.” —Wilson Mizner lIpNLiNE Poll m Will the Greek Village be finished anytime soon? Vote at www.ckiilygamecock.com. Results will be available online.