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_____ _Yol. 94, No. 48 IieScicly January 31, 2001_ i Serving the Carolina Community since 1908 www.DAaYOAMEcocK.cojvj University of South Carolina Columbia, '*v HH IHlIlll Hodges gives Harry Potter to students by Valerie Matchette The Gamecock Gov. Jim Hodges met Monday with area students to discuss his new Middle School Reading Challenge, a program designed to encourage adolescent reading. % The plan would donate a set of books to every middle school in South Carolina. The popular Harry Potter series, written by J. K. Rowling, will be the first set of free books, and a new series of books will be introduced each semester. They will be provided by Scholastic Books and delivered free of chaige by UPS. Hodges met with six 7lh-graders and one 8th-grader from Irmo Middle School. They had each written an essay describing why they liked the Harry Potter books and why the books should be chosen for the roundtable discussion. Hodges cited the Harry Potter series as a great example of the kind of reading adolescents should be doing to ensure a lifelong love of books. He said the goal of his new program is to expose children to “good literature... that is fun to talk about.” “Far too many of South Carolina’s students lose interest in reading for pleasure by the time they enter middle school,” Hodges said. “I am pleased to kick off this challenge with the Harry Potter series because it is clear these books get students interested in reading.” Each semester, Hodges will hold a contest for middle school students to write about the selected books of the term. Seven winners will be chosen to have Tar too many of South Carolina’s students lose interest in reading for pleasure by the time they enter middle school.’ Gov. Jim Hodges lunch with the governor and win a free set of books. Some winners will be chosen randomly and some by an essay contest. Each school in the state is allowed four contest entries. Lindsey Riddick, one of the panel members, toid meeting the governor was “kind of nerve-wracking at first.” She said the Harry Potter books are her favorites. Fellow Irmo student Tina Shah agreed the Hany Potter books are fun to read and educational. Hodges also recommended the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien as good choices for young people. The city desk can be reached at gamecockcttydesk@hotman.com Valerie Matchette/The GamecocK Gov. Jim Hodges meets with middle school students to kick off his Middle School Reading Challenge, a program to encourage reading. South Carolina’s Biggest Rubber Band Ball Charlts Praihaw/The Gamecock Members or Kappa Delta and Alpha Chi Omega help construct South Carolina’s biggest rubber band ball. The rubber band ball, which students may add r, to this week In the Russell House, will eventually be exhibited In the new state children’s museum, EdVenture. At Its completion, the ball Is expected to weigh more than 2,600 pounds. Georgia resolves Confederate flag controversy by Charles Prashaw The Gamecock The Georgia Stale Senate passed a bill Tuesday to change the state flag from its current design, which prominently features a Confederate flag. The resolution passed the Senate by a 34-22 vote and will be sent to Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, whose signature will make it effective immediately. The new flag would replace what some say symbolizes Southern valor but others contend represents slavery. “Vife are one people forever woven together in a tapestry that is Georgia,” Barnes said to the Senate TUesday morning. “We are all one, or at least we should be, and it is our job, our duty and our great challenge to fight the voices of division and seek... reconciliation.” The Confederate flag, added to the Georgia flag in 1956, occupies two-thirds of the current flag. With the governor’s expected signature, the new flag reduces the Confederate emblem to one of five historic flags displayed FLAQ seepage* Georgia's new flag will move the Confederate emblem to Its bottom alongside other historical state flags. Special to the Gamecock USC to combat handicapped parking fraud by Valerie Matchette The Gamecock USC Parking Services plans to start cracking down on students who improperly use handicapped tags, according to Parking Services Director Derrick Huggins. As USC replaces parking lots with green space and parking spaces become harder to find, a growing number of able-bodied students are using friends’ or relatives’ handicapped parking lags so they can use handicapped spaces. In order to combat this problem and ensure the spaces are reserved for students and faculty members who really need them, Parking Services is now running checks on every handicapped parking pass they see, Huggins said. “If we notice a handicapped placard on a car, we’re going to start running those tags,” Huggins said. He said misusing parking privileges is unethical, and it “undermines the whole handicapped parking system.” A student who appears suspicious will be asked for his or her ID, and if it doesn’t match the name registered to the parking pass, the student will be referred to the discipline office, Huggins said. Scott Lewis of the Student Judiciary Center said violators of the parking system are breaking two laws of the Carolina Community: a general law and the law gainst fraud and lying. “It’s not really in line with the (Carolinian) Creed,” Lewis said. According to Lewis, students who have parked illegally Parking see pages Debaters aiming for national title by Christoph Schulz The Gamecock The USC debate team placed fourth over the weekend at a nationally competitive tournament in Annapolis, Md. The tournament, held at the U.S. Naval Academy, is the latest ir. a string of strong showings for the team. It finished third over winter break in a tournament at the University of Southern California. “It's only a matter of lime (before the team wins a national championship),” said David Berube, team coach and theater professor. The debate team has a long tradition at USC. The first USC debate teams can be tracked to the 1830s or 1840s, when two debate societies were living on the Horseshoe. “They would scream across the lawn at each other and set up debates,” Berube said. Records of USC competing against other colleges date to the 1920s. Eighty years later, Berube said, the debate program is still going strong. Debate see page a weather Coming Up Quote of the Day Online Poll Today 68 45 Tuesday 5* 37 \ Columbia’s newest golf course is built over cemetery. Friday i * “There was never a good war nor a bad peace.” — Benjamin Franklin Will you be able to afford a raise in tuition? Vote at www.dailygamecock.com. Results will be published Friday.