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'(Che Gamecock Special to The Gamecock Jeanna Raney, who would have been a senior, will take the semester off from school while she fulfills her duty as Miss South Carolina and prepares for the Miss America pageant. THERE SHE IS: ‘Suddenly; there I was in the spotlight ’ USC student heading to Miss America pageant by Ginny Thornton The Gamecock While most USC students are heading back to Columbia for the fall semester, one , USC student will be going to Atlantic City, N.J., to compete in the Miss America pageant. Junior Jeanna Raney, an Inman native, was crowned Miss South Carolina 2001 on July 14 at Spartanburg Memorial Au ditorium. She will represent South Car olina in the Miss America pageant on Sept. 22. Two other USC students were among the top five finalists at the Miss South Car olina pageant. Miss Greater Irmo, Tiffanie Wallace, third runner-up, won a $1,600 scholarship. Miss North Myrtle Beach Courtney Stangry, fourth runner-up, won a $1,400 scholarship. Raney, formerly Miss Greater Greer, immediately began her job as Miss South Carolina. On the morning after she was crowned, she found herself holding a press conference and speaking to a church group. “Suddenly, there I was in the spotlight,” she said. This could be overwhelming for many, but not for Raney, who’s quick to say the pageant circuit is hard work. “I treat it like a full-time job because it is. I’ve been preparing for this my whole life,” she said. Raney was the first Miss South Car olina to take part in a weeklong, statewide tour after her crowning. She awoke daily at 5 a.m. to meet and greet fellow South Carolinians. Raney doesn’t seem to mind her rigorous schedule, but she’s not an av erage college student. Raney has dreamed of being Miss South Carolina since she was a small child. “Every year, my parents took me to the pageant because it was in Spartanburg, near our home. They always told me I could win it one day if I wanted to.” Raney’s father, Sam, helps her drill for interviews every night for an hour or more, quizzing her on current events. A financial planner, her father also has influenced her decision to major in business. She wants to work in finance, particularly by helping women to become financially independent. Her love of photography led to her minor in media arts. An unfortunate influence on Raney’s decision to compete in the Miss South Car olina pageant was the suicide of her moth er two years ago. Before that tragedy, Raney was unsure whether she wanted to com pete in the Miss America circuit, known for its emphasis on community service. “Soon after she died, I realized I be lieved strongly enough in the cause of pre venting suicide to pursue it as my platform. I wanted to teach other people about the warning signs of suicide and how to pre vent it.” Raney is both passionate and knowl edgeable about suicide prevention. She be lieves South Carolina needs a law requir ing that the mentally ill receive adequate health insurance coverage. “We’re one of the few states that has n’t passed this already,” she said. Raney is a partner with the Jason Foun dation of Nashville, Tenn., a suicide pre vention program, and with the S.C. De partment of Mental Health. When she speaks to groups, she in cludes various statistics about suicide, its warning signs and the story of her personal experience, as well as the chance to sign a suicide prevention pledge. Raney has begun full-time preparation for the Miss America pageant. She leaves her house at 6 a.m. each morning to work out with a personal trainer. She then spends the morning at the Miss South Carolina office in Greenville. “We made a list of all the new clothes I need,” she said. “Re hearsal outfits, South Carolina T-shirts, five Miss S.C. SEE PAGE A13 Police still searching for missing student by Greg Hambrick The Gamecock The two-month search for a missing USC student is now focused on the car he was driving when last seen. Shelton Sanders, a 25-year-old student in the College of Hospital ity, Retailing and Sport Manage ment and an employee in the School of Medicine, has been missing since June 19. Police say the car Sanders was driving, a 1988 Oldsmobile Regency with license plate 214-LZM, is the best chance they have to find Sanders. Sanders was last seen heading from Columbia to his Rembert home in Sumter County. He commuted every day from Sumter to Colum bia on U.S. 76-378. “It is our suspicion that he may not have left Columbia,” said Chief Deputy Anthony Dennis of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. On June 19, Sanders spent the evening making plans for a bache lor party. After calling his father at about 9 p.m. to say he was on his way home, Sanders went to the Embassy Suites and the Wellesley Inn in Co lumbia to help friends plan the par ty. He was last seen leaving at 9:51 p.m. Officers have said the disap pearance is suspicious. “We feel like there’s someone that has knowledge of his where abouts, if foul play is involved,” Sumter County Sheriff Tommy Mims said. Police have confirmed that Sanders’ cell phone and credit cards haven’t been used since his disap pearance. Both Sumter and Richland coun ties took quick action to find Sanders. Fliers were posted across campus in hopes of obtaining new informa tion, and family and friends offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to his return. The reward was announced in early July by the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office after meeting with the Richland County Sheriff’s Of fice and State Law Enforcement Di vision officials. After several unsuccessful leads, authorities hoped the reward would lead to a break in the case, but the search continues. Since Sanders’ disappearance, authorities have conducted aerial and ground searches of Sumter and Richland counties. Dennis said his office continues to update the Sanders family on the investigation. Sanders’ father, Judge William Sanders, is a long-serving magistrate in the Sumter area. “Every day is like a year to us,” Rembert Mayor Gary Metts told The (Sumter) Item in July. “Every hour that goes by make this that much harder.” Sanders has worked as an MIS systems analyst in the department Shelton Sanders of neuropsychiatry and behavioral sci ence in the School of Medicine for a year and a half. He is an un dergraduate pursu ing a degree in Ad mini strative Information Man agement, and he is expected to gradu ate this December. “He was excited about gradua tion,” said Ansley Roberts, a USC administrator and Sanders’ co-work er. “He had already told us what kind of cake he wanted for his going away party. None of this makes any sense,” she said. The news desk can be reached at gamecockudesk© hotmail.com If you have information, please call: SHERIFFS DEPT: (803) 436-2038 or (803) 499-3989 CRIME STOPPERS: 773-1100 Bush appoints Thurmond Jr. as highest attorney in S.C. by Shawn Miller The Gamecock Strom Thurmond Jr. will become the youngest U.S. attorney in the United States and South Carolina’s top federal prosecutor when he is confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in the coming weeks. Thurmond Jr., 28, was nomi nated for the post, which oversees federal prosecutions in South Car olina, by President Bush in early August at the request of the elder Thurmond. Thurmond Jr., who graduated from USC’s School of Law in 1998, is an assistant state prosecutor in Aiken County with less than 3 years experience practicing law. Thurmond Jr. “didn’t set the (jlassroom on fire with his brilliance, but he didn’t turn the lights out ei ther,” said Eldon Wedlock, one of his former law professors. After law school, Thurmond Jr. worked for former U.S. attorney Pe te Strom, assisting in more than 15 trials before taking the Aiken post. The position of U.S. attorney for South Carolina opened when J. Rene Josey, 40, appointed by for mer President Clinton, resigned on Feb. 24 after a five-year career notable for numerous high-profile prosecutions. “I assumed that if I didn’t re sign, sooner or later I’d be asked to resign” because of the new Re publican administration, Josey said. U.S. attorneys serve four-year terms and earn $118,400 per year. William Cromwell, U.S. attorney for Arkansas, said his office deals i with everything from prosecuting bank robbers to lawsuits for new federal highways. “Each office is really an indi vidual unit and would have differ ent needs. (Thurmond Jr.) might want to try a lot of cases, or he might just want to be an administrator.” Since Sen. Thurmond request ed that his son be nominated to the post, a traditional courtesy granted by the president, and since he is the secondrranking Republican mem ber on the committee that will con firm Thurmond Jr., many have cried foul at what appears to be blatant nepotism. Bill Moore, a political scien tist at the College of Charleston, ' said, “It’s obvious that a 28-year old two years out of law school 'Thurmond Jr. seepageai2 Ann Marie Miani/The Gamecock Colleagues, friends, his family and former and current students joined Henry Price at his last copy editing class. He was presented with a cake and edited it with a tube of red icing. Price took over as interim dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications on Thursday. Journalism college names interim dean “It’s an interesting situation to be an interim. ... [But] if you don’t move ahead, you fall backward.” Henry Price Interim dean, College of Journalism and Mass Communications by Mackenzie Clements The Gamecock The College of Journalism and Mass Communications has named a new dean — at least temporari ly Henry Price, a longtime pro fessor at the college, took over as interim dean on Thursday after the retirement of Ron Farrar, who served as interim dean for the past two years. Price joined USC’s faculty in 1969. Since then, he has taught copy editing and public opinion and pro paganda courses. He has also served a chairman of faculty senate, chairman of the college’s print sequence and asso ciate dean for academics and un dergraduate studies. race s appointment is tor one year or until the college selects a permanent dean. Since Dean Judy VanSlyke Turk left the position two years ago, the university has been con ducting a national search for a re placement. Three finalists for the job were named in September, two of whom withdrew their names from con sideration by the end of the year. The university was unable to en tice the remaining candidate, Will Norton from Nebraska, to take the position. The appointment of another in terim dean came to be a necessity when Norton withdrew, Price said. Though accepting the position of interim dean won’t allow him to serve on the faculty search com mittee for the new dean, Price re mains confident “that we’ll get our selves a new dean this time around.” Price said he thinks the next person for the job should be some one “who has ideas” and who brings an understanding “of the philosophy that underlies journal ism education (and) what a jour nalist’s job is in the greater scheme of things.” Price also said the new dean should be deeply committed to get ting new facilities for the college, which is located in the basement of the Coliseum. For years, the col lege has played wait-and-see with the administration over their even tual move to a renovated Petigru College. But until the new dean is on board, Price plans to move forward. “It’s an interesting situation to be an interim.” he said, “because there are a lot of people who say, ‘Well, let’s just sit here on neutral until we do get a new dean on board and let him make the decisions.’... [But] if you don’t move ahead, you fall backward.” Price taught his final copy edit ing class Aug. 8. Several dozen friends, colleagues and former stu dents showed up about 10 minutes into the class to throw an im promptu celebration, which in cluded a cake in need of editing, for the end of Price’s teaching ca reer. More than 2,000 students have taken his notoriously difficult edit- ( ing classes since 1969. Price esti- ' mates that he has graded more than 500,000 copy editing labs during his career at USC. “Dr. Price has been a mainstay of the journalism school, and every- I one knows it,” said Chris Winston, business editor at the Spartan burg Herald-Journal and a 1996 graduate from the College. “Whenever you interview at a newspaper in the Southeast, they all want to know how you did in Dr. Price’s class. I’m always more than happy to brag on my B+,” Winston said. The news desk can be reached at gamecockudesk@hotmail.com