Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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STATE BRIEFS I/lore employees to >e on job at DMV COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — More leople will be on the job at the iepartment of Motor Vehicles as Republican leaders push for hanges aimed at shortening ines. Legislators approved new 1MV fees that will raise $16 nillion. While $13 million of that vill be put into a long-term :omputer project intended to nake operations more efficient, ibout $3 million will be used to lire 108 temporary workers and !9 full-time workers, Department if Public Safety spokesman Sid Jaulden said. That news came Thursday as - _,t. Gov. Bob Peeler, one of seven Republican candidates for governor, traveled the state to lush DMV changes and lashed lut at Democratic Gov. Jim Bodges. Hodges pledged to clean ap DMV operations, but it hasn’t happened, Peeler said Easley man acquitted of reckless homicide I PICKENS, S.C.(AP)-An Easley man has been acquitted of /eckless homicide in a Mother’s Day 2000 accident that killed an Easley woman. t Christopher Nathan Dillard, who was 17 at the time of the accident, was found not guilty of killing 45-year-old Martha Clardy Rampey. Rampey had just visited her parents’ home near Liberty when her car collided with Dillard’s car. State Highway Patrol investigators had said high speed was a factor in the accident. v . . IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED BOYFRIEND CHARGED: Police have charged Rodney Owens, 24, with manslaughter in connection with the death of his pregnant girlfriend, Scireca Y. Young, 24, who was run over by a car. COLUMBIA FORGERY: Authorities say Tabitha Renae Simmons, 20, has been charged with one count of forgery for presenting a bogus court order when trying to get criminal charges dropped from her record in order to get a job at Wachovia’s call center. CHARLESTON ELECTIONS: Charleston Councilwoman Anne Frances Bleecker and nine others have sued to delay this fall’s city council elections, awaiting approval of new council districts by the U.S. Justice Department. NATION BRIEFS Newspapers want Earnhardt autopsy FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (AP)— Two newspapers want a court to declare unconstitutional a new Florida law that makes it illegal to review, copy or distribute autopsy photographs without a judge’s permission. The Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel filed a motion Wednesday in Florida Circuit Court arguing that the law is unjustified, too broad and fails to accomplish its stated purpose. The law was adopted in March after the death of racing legend Dale Earnhardt during this year’s Daytona 500. Pilot in Aaliyah crash had criminal record MIAMI (AP)—The pilot of the ill-fated Cessna carrying pop phenom Aaliyah had a recent criminal record, including a crack-cocaine violation that hjid him in court less than two weeks before the plane went down in the Bahamas, authorities said. Luis Antonio Morales Blanes’ record came to light Wednesday as investigators continued scouring the wreckage in search of clues to what may have caused the crash. Excess weight is being considered as a possible factor. NBC Nightly News, citing unidentified sources, reported the plane was over its maximum takeoff weight by 700-1,500 pounds. When asked, Randy Butler, lead investigator from the Bahamas Civil Aviation Department, said, “We’re not willing to speculate at this time.” Butler also said the two companies that owned and operated the plane did not have a permit to operate in the Bahamas. In the U.S., where the company was cleared for charter flights, Morales was not authorized to fly the plane. Morales, 30, was in court 12 days before the crash, receiving three years of probation for a series of allegations, including the drug charge stemming from a July 7 traffic stop, Broward County prosecutors said. Investigators were working to determine why Morales was at the controls. He did not have federal authorization to fly the twin-engine Cessna and had not been listed as the pilot for the plane by Blackhawk International Airways, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED PRISONER WELCOMES DEATH: As his lawyers tried to spare his life, George Rivas, the prisoner who led a gang of escaped convicts, asked for the death penalty Wednesday, telling jurors he didn’t want to live like an animal in prison any longer. RETURN TO SENDER: The American Medical Association is spending $1 million on an education campaign, funded mostly by drug companies, to tell doctors not to accept big gifts from drug companies. GAS PRICE WOES: A report from The American Petroleum Institute shows U.S. gasoline supplies are shrinking, a possible harbinger ofhigher prices atthe pump in the coming months. WORLD BRIEFS Refugees remain off Australian island CHRISTMAS ISLAND, AUSTRALIA (AP) - Caught in diplomatic cross fire from three nations and international aid agencies, hundreds of asylum seekers on Thursday sweated out a fourth day on the deck of a Norwegian cargo ship off a remote tropical Australian island. Their fate remained uncertain Thursday as elite Australian troops stood watch, ordered to stop the refugees from jumping over board or the ship from docking. Australian Prime Minister John Howard told U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that he wouldn’t allow the vessel to drop off the estimated 460 people aboard, whom he maintained had flouted immigration rules. Israeli troops leave Palestinian town BEIT JALLA, WEST BANK (AP) Israeli troops withdrew early Thursday from the Palestinian town of Beit Jalla after a two-day incursion, the longest in 11 months of fighting. Also Thursday, a 60-year-old Israeli man was killed in a restau rant in a Palestinian village as he waited for his food to be served. The man, who was friendly with the restaurant owner, was shot in the head by a masked man, wit nesses said. The Israeli pullback from Beit Jalla was the result of intense Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy over the telephone, with help from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and European Union officials. IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED SPAIN CRASH: A turbo-prop air liner crash-landed on a highway near an airport in the southern Spanish city of Malaga on Wednesday, killing three passen gers and the captain, and injuring 25 others on board. f ' Man charged after Sprint explosion YOUNGSVILLE, N.C. (AP) - The man whose hand was in jured when a small bomb blew up at a Sprint regional office was charged Wednesday with possessing an unregistered ex plosive device. Christopher Scott McMillan, 37, of Durham, was charged at WakeMed hospital, where he was taken Tuesday for treat ment after the device blew up at his office. Doctors removed shrapnel from his hand. “It became obvious to us that there was probable cause that he was responsible for the pos session of the explosives,” said James Mercer, ATF agent in charge. “I cannot talk about motive.” McMillan was taken into cus tody when he was released from the hospital. He was arraigned in federal court and a bond hear ing was scheduled for Friday. Federal Bureau of Alcohol,. Tobacco and Firearms investi gators searched McMillan’s home Tuesday night after a sec ond device was found near his work space at the Sprint offices where he was a computer sup port employee. McMillan was carrying a small item near a third-floor break room at Sprint when it detonated at 7:40 a.m., investi gators said. About six people were in the area. Most of the telecommunications company’s 600 workers had not yet arrived. The device appeared to be copper tubing, said Franklin County Sheriff Robert Redmond. A second device was found in the same area a few hours later by State Bureau of Investigation bomb squad. It was described to Redmond as being about the size of a fountain pen. The bomb squad brought the item to the lawn of the building and detonated it. Redmond said investigators would have to an alyze the remains before saying for certain whether it was an ex plosive. Results may be avail able as soon as Wednesday, he said. “Even the bomb experts are saying ‘device.’ They’re not say ing bomb,” he said. “We’ll have to wait for lab results. The in vestigation is just beginning. We’ve got what was perceived to be a threat out of the way.” South Quad Dorm security examined CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 thentic. Also, because of the nature of the apartment-style residence hall, guests aren’t required to sign in. According to Bourke, the sus pects “could have been resi dents or followed a resident into the building.” Though there’s an under ground passage between South and East Quad, it’s unknown what access the men could have had to this passage. Harris said because the door to the apartment was locked, the perpetrators most likely used a key to get in. “They had to steal it from behind the front desk,” Harris speculated, “because that is where all keys are locked.” South Quad and all other res idence halls are staffed by Sizemore Security International Inc. The night of the incident, a Sizemore security guard was working the desk - RAs and desk assistants started staffing the front desk from 8 a.m.-lO p.m. the next day. Officer Jamison, a Sizemore security guard who works at South Quad, said that guards couldn’t be everywhere at once. But, she said, guards are “more protective of freshmen.” www.dailygamecock.com r ' Serve up your story to Venus and Serena Williams and you could score a $10,000 grant through the DOUBLEMINT8 Aces for Campus Excellence (A.C.E.) program. DOUBLEMINT Gum and tennis titans Venus and Serena Williams have teamed up to recognize students and student organizations that add a distinctive flavor to their campus or community. ! Think you or someone you know is distinctive enough to be an A.C.E. to Venus and Serena? Then bring your best game to www.doublemint.com to find out more about the DOUBLEMINT® A.C.E. grant program.