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TChe (Bamecock University Wednesday, Feb. 14 ■ Possession with intent to distribute, distribution near a school and trespassing after notice, Reporting officer N. Beza aAd M. Moore responded to the incident location after being called for a complaint about illegal drug use. When officers arrived, they knocked and entered the residence, where they saw a large blunt in plain view. After further searching the room, they found about 60 grams of marijuana in various baggies. Two non-USC students, Raymore Wilson and Archie Shane, were arrested for the above charges. The residents of the room, Caitlin Powers and Meaghan Dewey, were reported to Student Discipline. Tuesday, Feb. 13 ■ Assisting other agency (Columbia Police Department), Buiger King, 1200 College St. Carlos Sumpter, a USC student, pushed the 911 call box and told USCPD dispatch that the Buiger King was being robbed. Reporting officer N. Beza and M. Moore arrived minutes later. When officers arrived, they stopped Karl Gilland, 19, and detained him as he exited the resturaunt. Then they went around back and found Martin Goodsoti, 19, in a car waiting for Gilland. Columbia Police arrived later and took control of the scene. ■ Accidental damage, corner of Greene and Bull streets. USC student Andrew Coakly said that while he traveled west on Greene Street in his wheelchair, he was behind Robert Hoffman’s car when it started to back up. The car hit Coakly, but he wasn’t hurt, and the wheelchair had no damage. EMS and Columbia Police responded to the scene. Reporting officer: R. Whitlock. ■ Accidental damage, Russell House loading dock. USC Building Modification employees said that while knocking down a 10-foot brick wall near the Callcott building, they mistakely knocked down an additional 10 feet of the wall. Estimated damage is $5,000. Reporting officer: E. Periera. City Wednesday, Feb. 14 ■ Drunkenness, 2511 Laurel St. Annette Smith, 37, flagged down reporting officer S. Wicker by jumping in front of his patrol car. She said she wished to get some clothes out of the incident location. When the officer started to talk to her, he discovered she was very drunk. The officer went to the residence and asked whether she could get her clothes and leave. The occupants agreed, and Smith was let in the house. She became veiy loud after entering the house. She was later arrested and transported to Richland County Detention Center after ignoring several demands to calm down. ■ Armed robbery, 2400 Gervais St. Dennell Anderson said that while he was walking home, a dark-colored car pulled up behind him and a man got out. The man then said, “pull it out,” and he pulled a gun out and pointed it at Anderson. When the robber got tired of Anderson saying he had no money, he demanded Anderson give him his shoes, jewelry and some clothing. Reporting officer: T. Smalls. Monday, Feb. 12 ■ Incorrigible chid, 4054 W^bb Court. Rudell Green, 65, said the juvenile has been out of control for the last four years. Reporting officer T. Smalls. Nuclear plant completes repairs, prepares to reopen by Eugene Rodillo The Gamecock After being forced to postpone the re opening of the V. C. Summer nuclear plant, officials said the plant will be ready for business as usual within the next month. Since October, the plant has been closed so repairs could be completed on a pipe that carries water from the core. Ken Clark, a Nuclear Regulatory Com mittee spokesman, explained that the plant was fixed, but it remains inactive. “They have not restarted, but they have completed their repairs to the pipe, to the weld in the pipe,” Clark said. Though there was a break in the pipe, Clark said inspections have been done that led them to believe that no other pipes could have a break. “They have checked all of the other pipes, similar pipes, on what we call the cold leg and the hot leg — the hot leg being the hot water coming out of the reactor and the cold leg being the colder water coming back in. And they are confident that they don’t have any sim ilar problems at this point in time in those areas,” Clark said. Brian Duncan, a V. C. Summer spokesman, confirmed what Clark said about the reopening of the plant. Duncan also mentioned that the plant would be reopened by March 1. “We completed the weld repair and began loading fuel last weekend, and that’s complete. And so we’re just into normal start-up mode now,” Duncan said. Plans to reopen the plant by January were put on hold because of uncompleted repairs to the pipe. Another contributing factor to the delay came from workers who wanted it to be “perfect.” “Wfe still had not completed the weld, the repair weld. We kept finding indications that it wasn’t, you know, perfect, and we wanted it to be perfect,” Duncan said. Plenty of time was spent fixing and re-fixing parts of the pipe to ensure the pipe wouldn’t spring another leak. Dun can said a choice was made to work on the repairs as long as it took before the plant would be up and running smoothly. “It was a decision to take as much time as it was needed to get it done correctly, so that there’s no flaw whatsoever, no question of its integrity,” Duncan said. For those worried about any radiation escaping from the faulty pipe, Duncan said there was no chance of that happening. Also, the radiation and water monitors didn’t show any type of alarm, indicating it was an extremely small leak. “The way this leak occurred is in the containment building, which is a big, steel-reinforced, concrete dome that is several feet thick. This was inside that building, so there was no way it could get out anywhere,” Duncan said. During an exit meeting held at the plant on Wednesday, it was said that the two-and-a-half inch .crack was fixed and that it would be opened by March. Bill Crowley, a NRC inspector, confirmed that the leak had been repaired and that the plant would be ready for its reopening. Crowley said he couldn’t promise this wouldn’t happen again, but he felt that a good enough job was done on this repair to prevent another leak. Basically, the plant is waiting for the NRC to say it’s ready to go, even though tliis isn’t needed for the plant to be turned on. This stamp of approval came at the meeting held at the V. C. Summer plant. “We don’t really need that [approval] from them to restart, but we told them that we wouldn’t restart until we got their blessing,” Duncan said. The city desk can be reached at gamecockcitydesk@hotnail.com ELECTION APATHY, ELECTION CRITICISM Low voter turnout worries SG in this year’s elections by Christoph Schulz The Gamecock Low tumour in previous elections is a concern for Student Government leaders for this year’s vote, which will take place Feb. 21 and 22. For the second year in a row, the voting will be held electronically. Students wanting to vote, must log on to VIP. Online voting increased the number of votes from about 1,800 in 1999, when there was no online vote, to about 2,500 in this past year’s election, according to Elections Commissioner Angie Alpert. After an increase of 39 percent, Alpert said she hopes for a slight increase to 2,600 votes this year, which would translate to a turnout of about 11 percent among undergraduates and graduate students. Alpert said there is a huge gap between students who are informed about SG elections and those who aren’t. In or der to raise awareness among students, she said it’s important to increase pub licity, though money for that is very lim ited. “I just wish that students would take interest and know that these candidates are out to help them,” Alpert said. Donald Brock, a candidate for president, said he thinks the right STUDENT GOVERNMENT Elections measures to increase student participation have already been taken by moving voting online. The next steps would be to reform the campaign and allow the candidates to speak to students personally. “How can we be representatives if they don’t know who we are and we don’t know who they are?” Brock asked. Corey Ford, another candidate running for president, said if he were elected, he would try to increase turnout in the elections by showing students that SG is concerned about them and is working for them. “I want to be able to show them what we’ve done as an organization so they know that we are not just sitting back here and arguing amongst ourselves,” Ford said. “We are reforming. We are getting results, and that is the most important thing.” SG Institutional Affairs Director Adam Bourne, who is running for vice president, also lamented the low turnout. Bourne, who has said he would reject his stipend and open the vice pres ident’s office to student organizations, said the apathy sprung “from a perception that we almost create inadvertently in SG.” “I just want to create a perception that we are an open enterprise and we exist for all of the students,” Bourne said Daniel Dolamic, 23, a third-year student in the College of Liberal Arts, said he plans on voting. For him, a the ory he learned in class can be applied to the low turnout. “First, there are students who just don’t care anymore because they think everything will stay the same after the elections,” Dolamic said “And then there are those students who are satisfied with the way tilings are and just want them to stay the same.” Saye McCrorey, 23, a fourth-year student in the College of Liberal Arts, moved off campus this year. He said that is one reason he isn’t going to vote anymore. “I just don’t pay that much attention as before,” McCrorey said. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.cofn SG candidate blasts election commission for unfair practices by Valerie Matchette The Gamecock Presidential candidate Donald Brock vented his frustrations Thursday night about the problems he said he’s experienced throughout his campaign. At a meeting of the Student Government Elections Commission, Brock told commission members that he didn’t feel he was getting a fair chance in the election. Brock was given an election infraction at the beginning of the meeting for improperly placed signs in the BA building. “As an underdog, which I am, running against Corey, I have no chance,” Brock said. “It’s not looking very fair right now.” Brock pointed out that he’s the only presidential candidate who has gotten any infractions so far. Also, he was frustrated that many of his campaign posters and flyers have been tom down, seemingly by campaign workers of other SG candidates, he said. “I don’t think an ordinary, average student would have a reason to rip down a poster,” Brock said. “I can’t keep posters up without someone tearing them down.” Brock said the deck seems to be stacked against him because he has never been involved in SG before this election, so he’s not part of what he called the “SG clique.” “From an outsider’s perspective, this is not looking good.” Brock said. The commission said there was nothing they could do about the alleged unfair practices taking place during this election, adding that Brock is being treated the same as any other candidate. In response to Brock’s questions about the strictness of the election codes, specifically the one banning “person-to person” campaigning, the committee said the codes are in place to protect students and prevent them from being interrupted on the way to class. “Wfe are here for classes, primarily,” said Elections Commissioner Angie Alpert. She said laws against person-to person campaigning are good for the en vironment because they prevent flyers littering campus. Alpert defended the rest of the codes as well, saying candidates should follow them out of respect for the university and its students. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Gangs from page 1 “The gangs see South Carolina as prime territory and easily accessible with the interstates running through it,” Mahoney told The State. This rationale makes sense, given the fact that Columbia doesn’t have the glitz of Los Angeles or the edginess and high-density population of New York. These factors led these cities to chum out gangs that have made names for themselves in history books. Criminal gangs date to the early 19th century, according to the “West Side Story” Web site (http://alphabase.com). They formed because of poor economic circumstances, which led to increasing job competition. Eventually, crime and violence became alternatives for making a living. The Bloods and Crips, two of the nation’s largest gangs, were created in the early 1970s in Los Angeles. Raymond Washington began a gang in 1969 called the Baby Avenues, after his mentor’s established gang, the Avenues. The Baby Avenues also called themselves the Avenue Cribs, and Crips is a derivative of that name, according to www.streetgangs.com. Not long after its formation, the Crips began to take over the L. A. area around Freemont High School, dividing into the Eastside Crips, the Westside Crips and the Compton Crips. A dispute arose between the original gang members and some offshoot gangs that had been threat ened or attacked by them. Crip outcasts banded together and formed the Bloods in 1972, adopting red as their color in opposition to the blue that branded their enemies. Though there are hundreds of different gang names and membership stipulations across the country, many are copycat clubs of the Bloods and Crips that accept members of varying ethnic backgrounds. The city desk can be reached at gamecockcltydesk@hotmail.com Dutch Fork proposes voluntary drug tests by Valerie Matchette The Gamecock Administrators at Dutch Fork High School proposed to the school board a new program to test on a voluntary basis student athletes for illegal drug use. Under the program, which was tentatively reviewed by the Lexington Richland District 5 School Board Tuesday night, parents would sign their children up for drug testing. AJ1 students who agree to the tests would receive a star on their sports uniform, regardless of whether the drug test came out positive. If they failed the first time, students would be sent to counseling and allowed to continue to play sports. “If a student athlete is using drugs, a program is set up to give them counseling,” said Bill Kimrey, DFHS athletics director, who with school principal Ron Cowden proposed the program to the school board. Only after the third failed test would student athletes be removed from the team roster, at which point they would also be sent into a drug rehabilitation program. Kimrey said the biggest advantage of the new system is that it would give athletes a reason not to use drugs. “One of the main positives in this is the ability to deal with peer pressure,” Kimrey said. He said athletes could have “an easy out” by telling their friends they are being screened tor drugs. Kimrey also said the reason volunteer drug testing is better than required drug testing is because parents would have some say in the matter. “Mandatory drug testing takes communication with parents out of the picture,” Kimrey said. “I want parents to be involved in this.” He said punishments resulting from positive drug tests can be too. harsh. “I don’t want to give them the death penalty the first time they test positive,” Kimrey said. The university desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com SG Executive Debate Monday in RH 304 5 p.m. A no-holds-barred independent debate brought to you by . -■•«■ M^stsmsemBsUk:«.±.> >^uSmbM ' ' , • . • I All of the pressing questions you want asked. No B.S. answers accepted.