Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ATTACKS BRIEFS Report: Siegfried to head state security COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Jim Hodges is expected to name a for mer Ft. Jackson commander to oversee state security, according to a television report. WIS-TV reported Tuesday that former Maj. Gen. Steve Siegfried could be named,to the new position, which would act as a liaison between the National Guard and U.S. mili tary operations. The office would fill a role similar to the new national Office of Homeland Security. Siegfried left the fort in 1994 to become the Army’s inspector gen eral. He later headed a panel in vestigating sexual harassment in the military. Siegfried is a 34-year Army veteran who rose through the ranks to become commander of Ft. Jackson. Hodges’ spokeswoman Cortney Owings would not confirm the re port. She said an announcement was expected Wednesday. Bush urges support for economic package WASHINGTON - President Bush is urging support for the $100 bil lion economic stimulus package assembled by House Republicans but recognizes he will have to com promise with Democrats on a final plan, a White House spokesman said Tuesday. “The president is confident that, in the end, this will become a bipartisan product,” press secre tary Ari Fleischer told reporters. “He calls on Democrats to be open-minded about this as well.” Fleischer’s comments came af ter Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said the plan approved last Friday by the House Ways • and Means Committee, which is heavy on business tax cuts op posed by Democrats, was partly “show business.” Treasury officials said O’Neill’s statement was not in tended to signal administration opposition to the House plan, even though its cost far exceeds the $60 billion to $75 billion the president requested. Fleischer said Bush wants Democrats and Republicans to vote for the plan when it reaches the House floor Thursday. Congresswoman criticized for letter WASHINGTON - A Georgia congresswoman is facing criti cism for sending a letter to a Saudi prince apologizing for New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s refusal to accept the prince’s $10 million check for terrorism victims. Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney thanked Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and said she was disappointed by Giuliani, who returned the check last week upon learning the prince had suggested U.S. policies toward the Mideast were partly to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks. Alwaleed also said the United States should “adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause.” I think he should have rec ognized your right to speak and make observations about a part of the world which you know so well,” McKinney said in the four-page letter, dated Oct. 12. McKinney also wrote that she was concerned about reports of “a pattern of excessive, and of ten indiscriminate, use of lethal force” by Israeli security forces against unarmed Palestinians. Jewish groups and some of McKinney’s colleagues harshly criticized her statements. Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., called the letter disgraceful. IT HAPPENED NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED MILITARY HAS ONLY SATELLITE IMAGES: The U S. military is paying for the exclusive rights to commercial satellite imagery of Afghanistan even though its own satellites are thought to take far better pictures. House supports public school use of ‘God Bless America’ Schools urged to display phrase to show support for nation ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - The House on Tuesday gave its blessing to "God Bless America,” urging public schools to display the expression as a show of support for the na tion. The nonbinding House reso lution, passed 404-0, responds to several cases around the coun try where people have objected to displaying the words at schools, saying that religion and patriotism should not be inter mixed. The measure’s sponsor, fresh man Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., recalled standing on the steps of the evacuated Capitol building on the evening of Sept. 11, joining other lawmakers in singing "God Bless America.” "To threaten a public school for showing the same type of pa triotism that we all showed on the Capitol steps is the opposite of what this country is all about,” he said. Brown mentioned a dispute in Rocklin, Calif., northeast of Sacramento, where the northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of the parent of a stu dent, asked an elementary school to substitute the American flag for a sign saying "God Bless America.” In a statement, the ACLU said the child felt upset and excluded by the religious tenor of the message. The Rocklin school district re fused the request, citing a California Supreme Court deci sion that found the phrase to be a traditional, patriotic phrase that didn’t violate constitutional separations of church and state. The national ACLU did not comment on the House vote, but the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for , Separation of Church and State, said he was disappointed that House leaders would devote time "to a resolution like this when our country faces critical issues of national security such ' as airline safety and bioterror- J ism.” The Senate has yet to act on the resolution. “To threaten a public school for showing the same type of patriotism that we all showed on the Capitol steps is the opposite of what this country is all about.” REP. HENRY BROWN R - S.C. USC anthrax USC students have no cause for alarm CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 so, there’s something new. What’s next?” she said. “It seems like there’s a domino effect going on.” Anthrax, a strain of the small pox virus, has infected several peo ple in locations around the coun try. It can infect people through inhalation or skin contact. So far, most instances of anthrax in the United States have been from skin contact, but a tabloid reporter in Boca Raton, Fla., died from in halation anthrax. Jenkins thinks USC students don’t have any cause for alarm yet. “There’s nothing we can do at this point, anyway,” she said. “We don’t have access to the vaccine.” According to Dr. Lisa Waddell, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s deputy commissioner for health services, the smallpox vaccine was removed from the market in the 1980s because the disease had been eradicated. The vaccine can now be released only by the recommendation of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “There have been no recom mendations either nationally or from the state for measures that would include the distribution of these vaccines,” Waddell said. “Plans for responding to a bioter rorism event are well under way at many levels of government, in cluding the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.” News media organizations, in cluding NBC and ABC, have been targets in particular. “Anthrax seems a more im mediate and personal threat than things like bomb threats and air terrorism,” said Greg Hart, a USC graduate who works at CNN in Atlanta. “It would be arrogant just to dismiss the dan ger of it.” Howard Nankin, an employee of the USC School of Medicine, re ported receiving an envelope with a white, powdery substance on Monday, Sept. 15. Police re sponded to the report, and the substance was sent to the FBI for testing. Nankin wouldn’t com ment further. USC’s postal service has made no change in its daily operation. According to employee Jon Harter, USC postal workers haven’t seen any suspicious packages. “If we did see something,” he said, “we’d call USC police immediately.” Hart said, “We’ve definitely had heightened security at work, with more guards and checkpoints. ... We can’t have any visitors at all, and I can’t get anywhere without my security pass.” Nancy Margaret Jones, a third-year public relations ma jor, had planned to visit Hart at CNN with some friends this weekend. “We wanted to see what his job was like,” Jones said. “It made the danger seem more real when I found out we weren’t al lowed to go.” > Some anthrax threats have turned out to be practical jokes. At a news conference, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft called these “grotesque trans gressions of the public trust.” He said, “The threat of bioterrorism is no joking matter.” Jenkins suggested that stu dents keep up with issues sur rounding anthrax by checking the health center Web site, http://www.sa.sc.edu/tshc/biote rrorism.htm. Additional anthrax information is available at DHEC’s Web site, www.scd hec.net/news, or the CDC’s Web S site, www.cdc.gov. v “I think anything’s possible, but I don’t directly feel a threat,” 1 Monacci said. “But maybe I should. I hope I’m not in a kind of safe haven in college. Maybe I should be more cautious. ” j , r Mary Hartney contributed to this article. ' Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com. < * II is health care a / good fit (j for you? 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