The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 14, 2001, Image 3
use
BRIEFS
WIS to hold telethon
until 11:30 Friday
WIS-TV will host a telethon
Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 11:30
p.m. in response to Gov. Jim
Hodges' announcement of a
“South Carolina Cares” fund to
raise money for the victims of
Tuesday's attacks.
The fund is coordinated
through the Governor's Office
and the American Red Cross. To
assist with the phone bank, call
Charlotte Foster at 540-1215.
To make a donation or for
more information, call 758-1020
in Columbia, or toll-free 1-866
468-9538.
Donations can be mailed to
South Carolina Cares, c/o
American Red Cross, P.O. Box
91, Columbia, SC 29202.
HIV/AIDS forum to
be held Tuesday
An open forum on HIV/AIDS
in the African-American
Community will be held on
Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 6 p.m. in the
Russell House Theater.
The Brothers of Nubian
Descent, the Association of
African-American Students, the
Minority Assistance Peer
Program and Carolina
Productions will sponsor the
event.
Note takers sought
to help disabled
The Office of Disability
Services needs students to help
with the note taking and reading
services provided to students
with physical, learning and
psychological disabilities.
The office hires students to
take notes for more than 300
courses each semester.
Note takers are paid
minimum wage for each hour of
class.
Interested students may visit
the Office of Disability Services
in LeConte 106 or call 777-6142.
STATE
BRIEFS
President, governor
urge remembrance
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Following
President Bush’s proclamation
that Friday is the National Day
of Prayer and Remembrance,
Gov. Hodges is urging all
citizens to “participate in
community worship and
memorial services or to take a
moment to reflect in silence on
Friday at noon in honor of the
victims of Tuesday's tragedy.”
Bush asks churches and other
places of worship to ring their
bells at noon. Employers are also
asked to give their employees
time off to attend services.Gov.
Hodges will attend the daylight
candlelight prayer vigil at 12:30
today in front of the Russell
House.
Hodges has also declared Sep
tember 14-16 to be South Carolina
Patriotism Weekend, asking all
citizens to proudly display the
American flag to “serve as a con
stant reminder of our unwavering
commitment to freedom.”
Body found six years
after reported missing
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A
Columbia mother of three who
was reported missing more than
six years ago was found Aug. 31
in a collapsed house, Richland
County Coroner Gary Watts
said.
Sherry Dennis, who was 28
when she disappeared, was
identified through dental
records.
She told her children she was
going to do an errand Feb. 28,
1995, and took Shayla, then 1, and
Shacobi, then 5, to a neighbor’s
house. Her third child, Derrick,
then 10, was staying with his
grandparents.
Watts said the death is
suspicious, but investigators
have no evidence that Sherry
Dennis was killed.
NATION
BRIEFS
Amtrak train crashes
in western Utah
WENDOVER, UTAH (AP) - An
Amtrak train crashed into a
freight train, derailed and
caught fire Thursday in the
western Utah desert, but the
passengers escaped without
serious injury, officials said.
Six were taken to hospitals for
treatment of broken bones and
smoke inhalation.
The train was the California
Zephyr heading from Chicago to
Emeryville, Calif., in the San
Francisco Bay area, said Amtrak
spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson
in Chicago.
Amtrak said 263 passengers
and 14 crew members were on
board. Two locomotives were
pulling 15 cars, including seven
passenger cars.
The accident occurred as
Amtrak was being used by
people wanting to travel across
the country while airline traffic
was suspended because of the
terrorist attacks in New York
and Washington.
Woman critically
wounded in shooting
COVINGTON, KY. (AP) - A
woman shot and critically
wounded another woman
outside an elementary school as
children and teachers watched,
police said.
The shooting happened
around 3 p.m. Wednesday as
classes were ending for the day
at Latonia Elementary School,
Covington Police Lt. Col. Jim
Liles said.
Marjorie M. McElfresh, 30,
was charged with attempted
murder. She was being held in
the Kenton County jail.
Police identified the wounded
woman as Linda Gegner, 26, of
Covington. She was shot in the
neck and remained in critical
condition Thursday.
High-school gunman
makes plea bargain
EL CAJON, CALIF. (AP) — An
18-year-old student accused of
wounding five people outside his
high school reached a plea
agreement that would put him in
prison at least 27 years, the
prosecutor’s office said Thursday.
Jason Hoffinan was expected to
plead guilty to an attempted
murder charge for the March 22
shootings at Granite Hills High
School, district attorney’s office
spokeswoman Denise Vedder said.
Hoffman was to appear before
Superior Court Judge Herbert
Exarhos later Thursday to enter
the plea and be sentenced.
Vedder said the charge would
carry a sentence of 27 years in
prison. She said he could receive
an additional sentence for a gun
charge but she had no details.
IT HAPPENED
NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
SUICIDE ATTEMPT IN
MARYLAND COURT: Minutes
after a jury in Maryland found
chemist Alan Bruce Chmurny,
57, guilty of trying to poison a
former co-worker, the man
apparently took a cyanide pill
and had to be taken from the
courtroom to a hospital,
authorities said. •
K MART GUILTY: The family of
Ryan Tait Eslinger, the 19-year
old paranoid schizophrenic who
killed himself five years ago with
a shotgun he bought at a K-mart,
won a lawsuit against the retail
store when a federal jury ruled
the retailer was negligent in
selling him the weapon.
WORLD
BRIEFS
NATO starts phase 2
of weapons roundup
SKOPJE, MACEDONIA (AP) -
Efforts to bring peace to
Macedonia are shifting back to
the country’s parliament after
NATO wrapped up the second
phase of its operation to collect
weapons surrendered by ethnic
Albanian rebels.
Formally announcing the
completion of phase two, Maj.
Gen. Gunnar Lange, commander
of NATO’s arms-gathering
mission, said Thursday he had
informed President Boris
Trajkovski that more than two
thirds of the weapons slated for -
collection had been handeck)ver
by ethnic Albanian rebels.
Under the deal, the rebels
hand their arms over to NATO
troops in three separate batches.
The completion of each phase is
expected to coincide with the
passage of new legislation to
upgrade ethnic Albanian rights,
a key pillar of the effort to end
the six-month conflict.
Israel attacks
villages in West Bank
JERICHO, WEST BANK (AP) -
Israeli tanks and bulldozers
shelled buildings and exchanged
fire with Palestinian gunmen in
the West Bank towns of Jenin
and Jericho early Thursday,
killing three Palestinians and
wounding at least 21 others.
The Israeli army said the latest
incursions into Palestinian
territory, which lasted several
hours, were intended to “root out
terror.” Palestinians accused the
government of Prime Minister
" Ariel Sharon of exploiting the
world’s preoccupation with terror
attacks in the United States to
escalate its military strikes.
Amid the tensions, Secretary
of State Colin Powell called
Sharon and Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat late Wednesday.
Arafat agreed to a Powell
request that he meet as soon as
possible with Israeli Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres.
Meanwhile, Peres said there was
tentative agreement on a
meeting for truce talks, but
details were not yet finalized.
The prospect of truce talks did
not calm the highly charged
atmosphere.
Sharon compared Arafat to
accused terrorist Osama bin
Laden, a leading suspect in the
attacks against the United States
this week.
“Everyone has his own bin
Laden. Arafat is our bin Laden,”
Israel radio quoted Sharon as
saying in his telephone
conversation with Powell.
* Palestinians, meanwhile, sail
Sharon’s comment was intendet
to give Israel an excuse to
escalate military action against
the Palestinians.
“The Israelis are using the
tragedy of the events in New
York and Washington, feeling
that the attention of the world is
elsewhere,” said Palestinian
Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat,
who lives in Jericho.
Iraqi news agency
says U.S. hit village
BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AP) - An
official Iraqi news agency
accused U.S. and British
warplanes of dropping bombs in
southern Iraq on Thursday - a
claim denied by the Pentagon.
The official Iraqi News
Agency said an attack on villages
in Wasit province, 115 miles
south of Baghdad, caused no
casualties, but “led to the
destruction of several houses
and the frightening of children
and citizens.”
At the Pentagon, spokesman
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said
the United States had not
attacked Iraq. British officials
did not immediately comment.
U.S. and British planes started
enforcing a “no-fly” zone in
southern and northern Iraq
following the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq
disputes the legitimacy of the
zones and regularly contests
allied patrols by firing missiles
and artillery guns.
IT HAPPENED:
NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
MEXICO CRASH: Sixteen
_ Seattle-area tourists on a
Caribbean cruise died during a
side trip to visit Mayan ruins
when their plane crashed in the
eastern Mexican state of
Yucatan. Three Mexican crew
members also died.
HACKER SENTENCED: A 17
year-old computer hacker who
jammed major Web sites, raising
questions about global Internet
security, was sentenced
Wednesday to eight months in a
detention center and fined $165.
Families
Some students still
waiting for news
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Greenville/Spartanburg Airport
this morning when the news came
in.
“I was horrified,” Emma Ritch
said. “I was in the Coliseum this
morning in my journalism class
es, and I heard that it was a do
mestic flight that was hijacked. I
knew my sister was flying to New
York that morning, so I just
broke down in class in tears until
I was able to get in touch with
her.”
Sarah Ritch’s flight was in the
air when news of the attacks
reached the plane at about 9 a.m.
The plane turned around and
landed back in Greenville.
“I was so relieved that she
hadn’t gone even an hour earlier,
then she would’ve been right in
the middle of all this,” Emma Rich
said.
While some are relieved that
loved ones are OK, other students
were still awaiting news Tuesday
night from friends and family who
may have been hurt in the at
tacks.
Capt. Jerry Brown, uncle of
third-year student Dee Brown,
works in the Pentagon. “I haven’t
talked to any of my other family
members,” Dee Brown said. “I’m
kind of nervous because I don’t
know what happened, but I
haven’t heard of any deaths at the
Pentagon yet.”
First-year student Becky
Sicard, whose father does inde
pendent security work for the
Pentagon and other businesses,
Weekend
Administrators try
to notify families
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
didn't know when or even
whether the weekend would be
rescheduled.
“At this time, we do not know
when Parent's Weekend will be
rescheduled. Notification will be
sent to all participants of Paren
t’s Weekend once a decision has
been made,” Carr said.
“We haven't had the opportu
said she plans to stay by the phone
and take a bus back to her home
town of Damascus, MD., if her
family needs her. She said her fa
ther was on his way to a meeting
about Pentagon security when she
heard about the collision.
“We were just really panicked,”
Sicard said. “He’s very involved
with big corporations, and we
didn’t know where he was. I was
really worried. We also just have
friends that work there. I left my
last class. They said that they
wanted to keep class in session,
but I can’t do that. I have to be
there for my family.”
Fourth-year student Tonya
Boris has a fiancee who goes to
culinary school in New York
City.
“I didn’t find out what hap
pened until around noon when I
was in the South Carolina book
store and I heard it on the radio,”
Boris said. “I flipped out and ran
to my professor’s office so I could
use the phone and try to get in
contact with him.”
Boris's fiancee tried to call
her at her New Jersey home, but
the call was disrupted. Her
mother got his number by using
a call-back feature on her tele
phone. After an almost five-hour
wait, Boris finally got through
to him.
“His school was about 15 blocks
from where it happened,” Boris
said. “They evacuated his school
after the first tower collapsed....
He said that a lot of people were
handling it very well, and he is re
maining as calm as possible. He
said that in other parts of the city
things were just running as nor
mal.”
nity to assess what we're going to
do,” she said.
Second-year student Emily
Keller said her parents are dis
appointed the events were can
celed. They will still come visit,
however, from their home in Co
lumbia, Md., and they just
changed plans for the weekend.
“I think that kind of messes up a
lot of people's plans,” Keller said
of the events' cancellations. “But
they're doing it out of respect for
the people who died. I think it's a
good thing.”
Attack
Authorities say
they have leads
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
ment said, with at least four hi
jackers trained at U.S. flight
schools. Saudi fugitive Osama
bin Laden remained a top sus
pect.
Attorney General John
Ashcroft said authorities had
“thousands and thousands” of
leads. He said they had deter
mined that 18 hijackers were on
the planes: groups of five on two
planes and groups of four on the
others.
In New York, the difficulties of
extracting bodies from the rub
ble meant that while 184 deaths
had been confirmed, city officials
prepared to watch the total soar.
The missing included nearly 400
city firefighters and police offi
cers. Another 2,300 people were
injured.
The lone bit of bright news
was the recovery of two firefight
ers who slipped into an under
ground pocket beneath the rub
ble while searching for survivors
on Thursday. The two radioed for
help and were rescued by fellow
firefighters several hours after
they fell.
At One Liberty Plaza, an office
building near the trade center
site, volunteers were evacuated
when the top 10 stories of the
complex appeared unsteady.
Workers fled, sprinting down the
street.
At a grief center set up for fam
ilies with missing relatives, Jea
nine Nardone arrived to look for
her brother. She had hung his
photo in a Brooklyn subway sta
tion, hoping someone would rec
ognize Mario Nardone — a 32
year-old Staten Islander, 6-foot-l,
180 pounds, bald with blue eyes,
who worked on the 83rd floor of
Two World Trade Center.
“He’s a strong person,” Nar
done said. “He would not give up
on us. And I’m not going to give
up on him.”
Many family members
stopped by the armory-turned
counseling center established by
the city. Looking south from
there, the seemingly endless
plume of acrid, white smoke
from the wreckage still
corkscrewed above the Manhat
tan skyline.
At Bellevue Hospital, a blue
wall erected around a construc
tion site was covered with pic
tures and descriptions of the
missing, and prayers for safe re
turns.
New Yorkers did take some
small steps toward normal life.
While everything south of 14th
Street remained closed, the
northern part of Manhattan be
came busier.
Office buildings reopened,
restaurants put out sidewalk ta
bles and hawkers handed out fly
ers. Traffic on the streets and sub
ways was up sharply compared
to Wednesday.
The government gave the go
ahead for commercial flights to
resume and some did, but sched
ules were expected to be in disar
ray, and heavy security was the
rifle.
Bond trading resumed, while
Wall Street officials said the stock
markets were expected to open
again on Monday. The shutdown
on the New York Stock Exchange
was already longer than the two
day closure at the end of World
War II; the next-longest lasted a
week, after the 1929 crash.
But the National Football
League called off the 15 games
scheduled for this weekend, and
all Division I-A college football
games also were postponed. Ma
jor-league baseball extended its
hiatus through the weekend.
In Washington, the Senate was
evacuated because of a bomb
scare, and officials disclosed that
Vice President Dick Cheney
moved to Camp David in what
his spokeswoman called “a pure
ly precautionary measure.”
“From a security standpoint,
this is not business-as-usual any
more,” said press secretary
Juleanna Glover.
New Yorkers also remained
edgy. On Staten Island, parents
pulled children off school buses
after a report that a car possibly
linked to the terrorists had dri
ven into the borough. At La
Guardia Airport, passengers
were briefly evacuated from the
just-reopened facility after a man
said something about a device in
a bag. Buildings around Manhat
tan were evacuated as authori
ties erred on the side of caution.
“Right now, a lot of people are
panicking,” Police Commission
er Bernard Kerik said. “And they
really have to be as cautious as
possible.”
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