The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 05, 2001, Image 1
_vol. 94, no. 62 Monday march 5,2001_
»
Officials sav city’s crime rate down
Lott
Austin
by Eugene Rodillo
The Gamecock
Though several recent occurences of violent
crime in downtown Columbia have made the area
appear crime-ridden, local law enforcement officials
say crime rates have actually gone down.
Columbia Chief of Police Charles Austin said
the facts show that crime has gone down in the
city, regardless of what anyone says.
“Our year-end statistics reflect a 13 percent
reduction in overall crime, and so far this year,
we have recorded a 7 percent reduction on top
of that,” Austin said.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott agreed,
adding that area crime statistics are improving.
“Overall, crime is going down. The numbers
in all areas are going down, so crime is coming
down,” Lott said.
Austin hypothesized that students might feel
crime has gone up because of a recent upswing
of criminal activities near campus.
Over winter break, USC student Daniel Duke
was the victim of what police believe to be a hit
and-run accident. The Buiger King near the USC
Horseshoe was robbed and a stabbing occurred at
the Elbow Room in February. A slew of armed
robberies, carjackings and other assaults have also
been reported near Five Points.
“When there are high-profile incidents,
especially when there may be a series of high
profile incidents, then for that particular moment.
it does give the impression that there is a surge
or a major increase in crime,” Austin said.
Lott agreed with Austin. Each said they thought
people perceive crime as they see and hear of it.
Lott said he thought the media also played a
big part in public perception of crime.
“They are focusing just on the crimes that
they’re hearing about, maybe on campus. Most
news media focus on blood-and-guts stories, so
when you have a crime that they publicize a lot,
and people get the perception that that’s going
on all the time, when that’s really isolated cases,”
Lott said.
Nevertheless, Austin said he understood why
Crime see page 2
SIGNING OFF: DJs at campus station forced to give up shows
1^—1i ■ 111 i I Ml P iiHII—1
Kenley Young/Special to The Gamecock
Jill Coleman (left) and Camille Watkins broadcast their show, “Auditory Stimulation,” at the studio of WUSC-FM. As current
students, Coleman and Walklns don't have to give up their time slot at the campus radio station.
WUSC-FM alumni D Js lose time slots
■ Newly enforced policy
forces alumni to give up
working at campus station
by Christoph Schulz
The Gamecock
The enforcement of a rediscovered USC
Student Media policy has caused three alumni disc
jockeys to lose their slots at WUSC-FM, the campus
radio station. In accordance with the policy, all
students, faculty and staff will get a chance for a
radio slot as a DJ before alumni get the chance
to be a DJ.
According to station manager Taylor Marshall
Green, the policy was discovered by Graduate
Advisor Holly Harper and enforced by Director
of Student Media Ellen Parsons.
Though WUSC has lost three popular shows
with the enforcement of the policy, Marshall
Green isn’t worried about the future quality of the
programming at WUSC.
“We still have over 80 DJs. We are not falling
down,” Marshall-Green said. “We have 12
shows a day, seven days a week. That means under
5 percent of our shows were lost.”
However, Marshall-Green said he’s sad about
the loss of experience and some of the intangible
qualities the alumni brought to the radio station.
“They were always showing up for shows,
pulling a lol of effort and commitment in their
shows,” Marshall-Green said. He said alumni always
attend the station’s meetings, never miss shows,
bring a lot of ideas into the station and usually have
a lot of contacts with bands, labels and promoters.
The alumni also brought some financial backing
to WUSC, Marshall-Green said.
WUSC is a chartered, non-commercial radio
station — it isn’t allowed to take money for
advertising but can only accept it for mentioning
and thanking a sponsor. Marshall-Green said this
money might be lost with the loss of the alumni
DJs.
“Businesses want to have a long-lasting
relationship with the station,” he said.
Mark Lyvers, an alumni DJ who lost his popular
folk-music show “Red Bank Bar & Grill,” said
he has hosted on-and-off since 1978 and continually
since May 1997.
“My only complaint is about the timing,”
Lyvers said. “I have already collected underwriting
worth $900.”
Lyvers said he had no hard feelings toward the
station. He said he will continue to help WUSC,
starting March 10-17 when he will do his show
over spring break. He also said he hopes to host
his show again during the summer sessions.
Bill Cunningham lost his Wednesday morning
free-formal show, “The Rhythm System,” after
working at WUSC for one year.
Cunningham brought experience of working
for a commercial radio station based in Augusta,
Ga. He said, though he liked hosting his own show,
he wouldn’t return to commercial work.
“College radio is a lot more about the music,”
he said. “You can play music you don’t normally
hear on radio.”
WUSC also lost a nationally syndicated show,
Making Contact, with the layoff of DJ Rob McQue.
McQue said a non-commercial radio station should
not only educate through music, but also work as
an alternative. He isn’t angry with WUSC, but put
the blame of the exclusion of alumni DJs mainly
on the administration.
“They were taking it too far to the letter of
the law,” McQue said. “If you want some kind of
diversity, you need some show hosted by alumni.”
All three alumni DJs said they agreed with
students getting a slot first, but that alumni should
get a chance as well to help out in the station with
their experience.
The university desk can be reached at
gam ecockudesk@hotmail.com
Drop Date Extension
» «
Committee
to consider
proposal
■ Faculty senate
won't take up
plan until April
at the earliest
by Brandon Larrabee
The Gamecock
Student Government’s proposal to
extend the drop date won’t reach faculty
senate until at least April, tfie chairman
of the committee said.
Gary Reeves, who chairs the
Committee on Standards and Petitions,
said his committee hadn’t yet begun
considering the proposal, which would
extend the period that students can drop
a class without getting a “W.” The proposal
would move the date from five days after
the beginning of the semester to 10.
But Reeves said he planned to try to
get the proposal to the full senate by its
April meeting.
“That’s my intention,” he said.
Reeves said his committee would meet
within the next couple of weeks to decide
what it will recommend for the faculty
senate to do with the proposal.
According to SG Academic Affairs
Director Heather Homick, 5,123 students
have signed a petition in support of the
proposal. She compared that to the number
of students — about 1,700 — who
voted in SG elections this year.
“1 think that that really says something
about our effort and the support of the
students,” she said
The average drop date at several AAU
peer institutions is 14.6 days after the
beginning of the semester, Homick said
She said moving the drop date back is
necessary because some students don’t
have class until after the current drop date
has passed.
“Those students don’t even gel a
chance to meet their professors or gel
syllabi or anything in that lime,” she said.
Without that information, Homick said
students can’t decide whether they need
to drop a course.
Homick said the reactions she’s gotten
from faculty were positive.
“They like the idea of giving students
more lime in addition to keeping the add
date (where it is),” she said.
Homick said moving the add date had
been a snag in previous drop-date proposals
SG had suggested. The current proposal,
Homick said keeps the add date and the
100-percent refund date — the date by
Drop Date sa page 2
Football players
involved in fight,
eyewitnesses say
■ Alleged altercation
occurred at Jungle
Jim's in Five Points
by Charles Pr^shaw
The Gamecock
Members of the USC football team
were reportedly involved in an altercation
early Friday morning in Five Points.
According to eyewitness reports, the
fight broke out about 3 am. Friday at Jungle
Jim’s when a football player bought a drink
for the girlfriend of a patron.
Later, more football players and
patrons joined in the argument.
Witnesses claim the police were called
and questioned several people at the scene,
including members of the football team
and other patrons.
Though two separate witnesses
contacted by The Gamecock gave details
of the incident, there was no official report
filed in the public record at the Columbia
Police Department. A more complete
search of this past week’s incident reports
couldn’t be done because the records
department was closed this weekend.
No punches were thrown in the
altercation, according to a witness, familiar
with the team, who asked not to be
identified. The witness said he saw
linebacker Willie Offord restraining
quarterback Phil Petty, who was yelling
at several people in the bar.
The incident was also the subject of
a posting on the “Gamecock Central” Wfeb
site. The posting, made by user
“downtowncock,” said “members and
former members of the USC football team
were involved in an altercation with
members of a fraternity.”
The posting claims the scuffle between
the “frat brothers and USC football
team lasted nearly 5-6 minutes.”
About 20 minutes later, the posting
said, police arrived and started to question
witnesses and people involved in the fight.
The posting claimed one of the
members involved in the altercation was
“definitely in the back of a squad car.”
Assistant Athletics Director Kerry
Tharp, who handles public relations for
the Athletics Department, said he “didn’t
hear anything like that.”
The university desk can be reached at
gamecockudeskighotmaiLcom
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