The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 09, 2001, Page 4, Image 4
STATE
i BRIEFS
Forest fires force
home evacuations
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.
(AP) — A forest fire that has
burned about 1,000 acres here
and forced the evacuation of
eight homes could take a
week to contain, officials say.
The fire in tjie Wampee
community west of North
Myrtle Beach burned
Thursday toward the Conway
Bypass between state
Highway 90 and the beach,
Forestry Commission
spokesman Ken Cabe said.
Cabe said no one had been
injured and no homes had been
damaged. Two unoccupied
buildings were burned.
In response to the fires,
Gov. Hodges issued an
emergency executive order
that will allow the National
Guard to use aircraft to fight
the fires.
“On a scale of one to 10, this
is a nine,” said Henry Bell, a
ranger with the commission.
“This fire is going to be bad.
We’re not going to control it
anytime soon.”
Bell said this could be the
worst fire in Horry County this
season. The combination of
wind and recent dry weather
made the fire hard to fight. In
less than an hour, fhe fire had
consumed 100 acres of trees.
Firefighting efforts were
, complicated by the Carolina
Bays in the area, Cabe said.
While the vegetation in the
bays was dry and burning, the
boggy nature of the bays made
it difficult to use bulldozers.
IT HAPPENED
NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
POWDER NOT ANTHRAX: The
white powder found in a mail
"bin in the post office in
Taylors has tested negative
, for anthrax, postal
spokesman Harry Spratlin
. says.
TRUCK DRIVER SENTENCED: A
Manning, S.C., truck driver
who drove the wrong way on I
95 and triggered a string of
crashes that killed three people
fast fall was sentenced to 10
: years in prison on Wednesday.
I
NATION
BRIEFS
Senate increases
intelligence funds
WASHINGTON (AP) —
The Senate unanimously
approved a bill Thursday that
would beef up the intelligence
services to strengthen
America’s ability to combat
terrorism.
“Our legislation authorizes
activities that will rebuild the
foundation of our intelligence
community so that we can
meet the terrorism
challenge,” said Sen. Bob
Graham, D-Fla., chairman of
the Senate Intelligence
Committee.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R
Ala., the committee’s top
Republican, said, “The war
we fight today is an
intelligence-driven one to a
degree that we have never
seen before.”
“Wherever terrorists and
their supporters can be found,
that is the battlefield,” Shelby
said. “Never before have we
demanded or have we needed
so much from our intelligence
services.”
unexpioaea oomos
force evacuation
at Michigan college
HOUGHTON, MICH. (AP)
—Two unexploded bombs
were found on the campus of
Michigan Technological
University, and the school is
offering a $2,000 reward for
information.
Campus police discovered
■ the bombs at about 3:30 a.m.
Monday during what was
supposed to have been a
routine campus search near
the U. J. Noblet Forestry
Building and the U.S. Forest
Service Engineering
Laboratory. Work at the labs
includes genetic engineering
research for the forest
products industry.
A state police bomb squad
defused and removed the
bombs. No injuries were
reported.
The bombs consisted of
three 5-gallon buckets filled
with an unknown liquid
wired to two ignition devices.
“These were real devices,”
school spokesman Dean
Woodbeck said. “We think
that whoever did this... was
specifically targeting
something dealing with the
forestry building and the
forest building.”
Alabama man ends
Greek segregation
TUSCALOOSA, ALA.
(AP)—A black man has
joined an all-white fraternity
at the University of Alabama,
becoming the first man to
break the color barrier in a
Greek-letter group on the
campus.
University spokeswoman
Janet Griffith said
Wednesday the man, who
didn’t want his name made
public, joined an undisclosed
fraternity this fall after rush.
The lack of blacks in the
university’s traditionally
white fraternities and
sororities was an issue earlier
this year after a black woman
failed to gain a membership
invitation from any white
sorority.
The woman, Melody
Twilley, said she suspected
she was rejected because of
her race.
IT HAPPENED
NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
COURT TO DECIDE ON DRUGS
TESTING: The Supreme Court
agreed Thursday to decide
whether leaders of
untroubled schools should
have the same authority to
test students for drugs as do
schools with serious
narcotics problems.
WITH VOTERS AWARE,
BALLOTS IMPROVE: Voters in
this week’s mayoral election
improved their technique
when using punch-card
ballots, cutting by half the
rate of uncounted votes from
last year’s disputed
presidential vote.
BAD NEWS IN JOB RATES: The
nation’s unemployment rate
soared from 4.9 percent in
September to 5.4 percent in
October, and companies
eliminated 415,000 jobs, the
biggest one-month drop in 21
years.
Bush says U.S. will persevere
BY SONYA ROSS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — President Bush
assured an uneasy nation
Thursday night that the United
States will prevail against terror
ists and said Americans should
not “give in to exaggerated fears
or passing rumors.’”
In a prime-time address, he told
Americans to turn their fears into
action: Volunteer in hospitals,
schools, homeless shelters and at
military facilities or train for emer
gency service work and join a new
civil defense force he hopes to build.
“We have entered a new era.
This new era requires new re
sponsibilities — both for the gov
ernment and our people,” the pres
ident said.
Nearly two months after the at
tacks in New York and Washington,
Bush conceded that his administra
tion doesn’t know who unleashed
anthrax in the U.S. mail. Nor did he
offer hope that U.S. troops would
soon find Osama bin Laden.
But he confidently predicted
victory abroad — “We will perse
vere in this struggle, no matter
how long it takes to prevail” —
and lauded Americans for their ac
tions so far.
“We are a different country
than we were on September 10th:
sadder and less innocent; stronger
and more united; and in the face
of ongoing threats, determined
and courageous,” the president
told a crowd of 5,000, most of
whom were police, postal workers,
firefighters and other uniformed
public servants.
WORLD
BRIEFS
Prince Charles gets
slapped with flower
RIGA, LATVIA (AP)—A
16-year-old girl slapped
Prince Charles’ face with a
red carnation Thursday as he
stopped during a tour of
downtown Riga to talk with a
group of children.
“Pm against the Afghan
war,” the teenager said in
Russian to reporters as police
took her away.
The girl, who gave only her
first name, Alina, was still in
police custody late Thursday
afternoon. Police
spokeswoman Krists Leiskalns
wouldn’t say whether she
would be charged.
After the incident, the heir
to the British throne flinched
and looked startled, but then
continued on, chatting with
some of the several hundred
people who turned out to see
him.
IT HAPPENED
NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
MAHINOG, PHILIPPINES
(AP) — Tropical storm
Lingling battered the
Philippines for a second day
Thursday, leaving at least 108
people dead, sinking a cargo
ship and virtually shutting
down several provinces.
U.S. general defends
timeline of attacks
BY MATT KELLEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The top
U.S. commander of the war in
Afghanistan defended the mili
tary’s effort on Thursday, saying,
“We like the progress we have had
up to this point.
“It is only those who believe this
should be done in two weeks’ time
... who are disappointed in this,”
said Gen. Tommy Franks, who
heads the U.S. Central Command.
In his first appearance at a
Pentagon news briefing, the Army
general was asked about criticism
that the monthlong bombing cam
paign has been “too timid.”
“Absolutely not,” Franks said.
“We are on our time line.... I
find our progress up to this point
satisfactory,” he added.
Both Franks and Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
said the effort to topple the al
Qaida terrorist network and its
Taliban protectors will continue
unabated.
“This will take as long as it
takes,” Franks said, calling it a 24
hour-a-day effort. He wouldn’t rule
out the use of U.S. or allied ground
forces in the battle.
“As we stand where we are
now, we want to keep all the op
tions open,” the military com
mander said.
Without offering specific num
bers, Franks said he believes that
Taliban military forces have been
torn “asunder.” Later, he said
those forces have had difficulty
communicating and planning, but
offered no other assessment of
their combat power.
Franks said terrorist leader
Osama bin Laden isn’t a focus of
the military campaign.
“We have not said Osama bin
Laden is a target of this effort,” he
said, saying the main focus is on the
entire al-Qaida terrorist network.
On Wednesday, Rumsfeld said
U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan
have killed scores of Taliban and
al-Qaida fighters. The terrorist
network and its Taliban allies still
have between 40,000 and 50,000
troops in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld
said in a television interview.
Twice a day, he said, reports
cross his desk detailing Taliban
battlefield dead, from a half-dozen
to 20 at a time.
The commandant of the Marine
Corps, Gen. James Jones, said
Thursday the USS Peleliu, a large
deck amphibious assault ship in
the Arabian Sea, had been “pulled
off station” temporarily to per
form a sensitive mission. He
wouldn’t provide details but said
the new mission was unrelated to
the war in Afghanistan. An aide
said the Peleliu would remain in
the same general area to do its
new mission.
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