Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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‘Che (5 am eco ck Seat belt campaign wasn’t constitutional, senators say by Valerie Matchette The Gamecock South Carolina’s “Click it or Ticket” campaign was criticized Tuesday for being unconstitutional by members of the state Senate Judiciary Committee. The program, which uses driver’s license checkpoints to enforce seat belt use, was enacted last year. Committee chairman Glenn McConnell, however, questioned the lawfulness of pulling over drivers and ticketing them just for not wearing a seat belt. To change this, he introduced a bill that would make seat belt violations a primary instead of a secondary basis for pulling drivers over, allowing police to pull people over just to check their seat belts. McConnell said the laws seem questionable enough to provoke doubt about their constitutionality. “I think it is a usurpation of power and an intolerable situation,” McConnell said Sen. Luke Rankin, D-Horry, agreed with McConnell in theory, but believed the campaign served a greater good and was necessary because the benefits of seat belts have been proven. He said he was “tom” on the issue. “I think we’ve got more of a duty to try to protect children and protect lives,” Rankin said. “I’ve got a problem with us ignoring reality and ignoring statistic after statistic saying seat belts save lives.” Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangebuig, also advocated the program. “It made everybody aware that you ‘Goals are nice, but you don’t run over the Constitution.’ Sen. Glenn McConnell Judiciary Committee chairman I have to have your seat belt on,” Hutto said. He said it’s legal to have a seat belt check at a driver’s license checkpoint. McConnell countered this point, however, saying state law doesn’t permit issuing a seat belt ticket without issuing a separate ticket for anodier offense. He said this would violate South Carolina’s invasion of privacy laws. Hu.tto questioned whether sobriety checkpoints would be unconstitutional for the same reason, but McConnell said that was a different issue because it deals with other people’s welfare on the roads. He said the legislature needs to pass laws to make the checkpoints legal. “Goals are nice, but you don’t run over the Constitution,” McConnell said. file committee also discussed a House bill that would make it a criminal offense for car dealers and mechanics to knowingly replace a deployed airbag with another device. Sen. Andre Bauer, R Lexington, motioned for the bill to be sent to a subcommittee to iron out details, questioning how this would affect his lower-income constituents. He said he was concerned the replacement of the airbags, which can cost as much as $ 1,000 each, would bring the price of repairing wrecked cars too high, aijd more cars would have to be written off as totaled by insurance companies. He asked who would be liable for those airbags if mechanics and car owners chose not to replace them for cost concerns. Though some senators dissented, saying the bill was “crystal clear,” it was sent to a subcommittee. A bill about regulations governing tire state’s minimum wage was given a favorable report to the full Senate. The bill would prohibit any “political subdivisions” of the minimum wage rate, such as divisions between high- and low income areas. It wouldn’t allow the state to set minimum wage any ltigher than the federal rate. Sen. Robert Ford, D Charleston, protested giving the legislation a favorable report, but Rankin disagreed. “This is a feel-good piece of legislature v # that no municipality would think about violating, I think.” Rankin said. Course Cuts from page A1 Charles Mack said. He criticized the governor and the legislature for allowing the shortfall to happen in the first place. “It all boils down to a matter of double-entry bookkeeping, and apparently, neither the governor’s office nor the legislature has learned how to do it,” Mack said. He said the turnout was good. “It’s a pretty good little demonstration.... I’m really impressed,” he said. “That shows the real concern, I think, the student body has.” Peyton Rowe, a graphic design professor, brought her son Daniel, whom she held while the group gathered on the south steps of the building. “Someone had to come... and protest for his future," Rowe said. Sunny Rae Ward, a second-year student with a double major in art liistory ' and marketing, said the art department’s planned cutting of certain classes would affect students' ability to graduate. “These budget cuts are pretty much going to keep us from taking classes needed for graduation,” she said. Kristen Hard, who helped organize the demonstration with Brown when she discovered that as many as 37 classes could be slashed in the art department alone, said she felt the students made a point with the protest. - “Do not cut the higher education budget,” Hard said early in the protest. Afterward, she said she was pleased with the demonstration. “I feel like the students were well represented by the people that were here,” she said. “It seems [state government] thinks all you need is a high school degree to survive in today’s world. That’s not true.” University Provost Jerry Odom discussed the budget cuts in an interview with The Associated Press. He said most of the classes getting cut were upper level and graduate classes. “I’m particularly interested in not having freshmen and sophomores getting hurt mid not getting off to a bad start,'On Odom told the AP. He also hinted that large-scale changes could be in store if the budget projections for other years don’t improve. “I would suspect, by the first of the year 2002, there may be some very ■ significant structural changes in this university,” he said. The uni versity desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com ‘ -COUPON Maurice’s B-B-Q | | Offer Good at Any ■ One coupon per customer. Maurice's 9 | I Rot good in conjunction Locations. I I uiith any other promotion. ) ^ not redeemable in cash. _ _coi rmu /1 ■ Offer expires 5/16/01. ' □ Because Spotlight isn’t the only section with a great photographer, we wanted to give a shout out to Aaron Hark, who’s run around taking News photos for us this semester. (OK, so he took some for Sports and Spotlight, too, but he’s ours.) Even though only a couple of us can give birth to children for you, we still bow down to you, Aaron. — News Editors and Designers £ >10.000 to their advisor up to six prizes will be awarded entry deadline: june 1,2001 applications at www.invent.org/collegiate the collegiate inventors competition FOR PEOPLE WHO KNOW HOW TO PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER. The Collegiate Inventors Competition is the leading program in the world honoring student inventors. Each year, the most outstanding student/advisor teams are recognized for their innovative work. A PROGRAM OF THE NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME (330) 849-6887 PRESENTING SPONSORS II J United States ■ CORNING GOOD&YEAR Patent and ( Di.coverlng Beyond Imagination TRADEMARK OFFICE invent ? www.jobs.hp.comwww.corning.comwww.goodyear.comwww.uspto.gov \ yvww.hpineducation.com J ’ ' I Two Thumbs Up Aw&rd e to faculty/staff nominated by students for their effort in « making a difference. 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