The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 04, 2002, Page 2, Image 2
STATE
More funds at hand
to fix S.C. roads
COLUMBIA (AP) - South
Carolina’s deteriorating roads
and bridges will get an unex
pected boost this year.
The state Department of
Transportation will receive
$569 ipillion in transportation
aid. Much of this money, which
comes from federal and state
funds, is supposed to be allo
cated based on factors such as
state population, vehicle miles
traveled and miles of road.
However, members of a con
gressional conference commit
tee earmarked hundreds of mil
lions of dollars from the $59.6
billion transportation bill for
pet projects in the members’
home states, an Associated
Press computer analysis shows.
South Carolina had expect
ed to receive about $510 million,
so state officials were pleased
about the increase, said Bob
Probst, DOT’S deputy director
and head of finance.
King lost at oeacn
found 36 years later
MYRTLE BEACH (AP) - The
stone might be greener than it
was 36 years ago, and it might
only fit her pinky, but Sandra
Hughes couldn’t be happier to
have her class ring back.
Hughes’ boyfriend lost the
ring on the beach during a va
cation in 1966. The two would
eventually marry and look for
the ring when they returned
to the Grand Strand on vaca
tion. Hughes’ husband died in
1997.
Gene Barnes found the ring
more than 20 years ago. He died
in 1994, but his wife, Marilyn,
recently decided to find the
ring’s owner.
With the help of a magnify
ing glass, Marilyn Barnes was
able to determine the ring came
from New Castle High School
in Virginia. The ring had no
name on it, but it was engraved
with the initials “S.G.H.”
She called the school, now
Craig County High School, and
they were able to find Hughes.
I
NATION
Bush budget targets
defense, tax cuts
WASHINGTON (AP) -
- President Bush is sending
Congress a $2.12 trillion spend
ing plan Monday that seeks to
recognize the "new realities" con
fronting the nation since Sept. 11.
It proposes the biggest jump in
defense spending in two decades
and a record increase in money
devoted to making Americans
more secure at home.
The budget tries to revive an
anti-recession stimulus pack
age that stalled late last year in
the Senate. It also seeks billions
of dollars more in future years
to make permanent the biggest
economic victory of Bush’s first
year in office, a sweeping,
across-the-board tax cut.
Congressional Democrats
are pledging a fight to restore
spending for their priorities
and to oppose tax breaks in
Bush’s stimulus package for
the wealthy and corporations.
Rumsfeld says Iran
is helping al-Qaida
WASHINGTON (AP) - Some
Taliban and al-Qaida members
who escaped Afghanistan have
"found refuge" in Iran, Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
said Sunday.
Rumsfeld and other Bush ad
ministration officials also
charged that Iran was creating
instability inside Afghanistan
by funneling arms to various
factions within the country.
Iran has helped in creating
the interim Afghan government
and raising money to rebuild its
war-shattered neighbor,
Secretary of State Colin Powell
said. But President Bush’s
grouping Iran with North Korea
and Iraq as part of an "axis of
evil" supporting terrorism was
justified, U.S. officials said.
Iranian officials have de
nounced Bush’s comments and
denied giving any help to the
Taliban or Osama bin Laden’s al
Qaida terrorist network. Iran’s
government had strongly op
posed the Taliban regime before
its eventual collapse last year.
WORLD
Mideast leaders
take moderate tone
JERUSALEM (AP) - Yasser
Arafat and Ariel Sharon each
took unusual steps Sunday: the
Palestinian leader pledged to
stamp out Palestinian "terrorist
groups," while the Israeli leader
announced he would continue
cease-fire talks he began last
week with senior Palestinians.
Arafat, in an editorial in The
New York Times, denounced
Palestinian militants who car
ry out bombings and shootings
against Israeli civilians.
"These groups do not repre
sent the Palestinian people or
their legitimate aspirations for
freedom," Arafat wrote. "They
are terrorist organizations,
and I am determined to put an
end to their activities."
Sharon, who met last
Wednesday with senior
Palestinian leaders for the first
time since coming to power
last year, said he would hold
more talks when he returns
from a meeting this week with
ProciHonf PncVi
Turkish earthquake
kills at least 45
SULTANDAGI, TURKEY (AP) - '
An earthquake shook a poppy
growing region in Turkey on
Sunday, toppling scores of build
ings and killing at least 45 peo
ple.
At least 150 people were in
jured in the magnitude-6
quake. The government said
no one else was believed
trapped in the rubble and that
it didn’t expect the death toll to
climb much beyond 45.
The epicenter was
Sultandagi, a small town 125
miles south of the capital,
Ankara, and affected areas up
to 200 miles away. About 150
buildings collapsed in the area,
which is fringed by the Sultan
mountains and dotted with
plains that are carpeted by red
poppies in summer.
The government-controlled
poppy industry produces mor
phine derivatives for use in
painkillers.
Interested in joining THE GAMECOCK staff?
CCome to our interest meeting today at 7:30p.m. in
RH333. For more information, e-mail
gamecockeditor@hotmail.com.
, ---:
Former Enron chair cancels
testimony before Congress
BY PETE YOST
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -FormerEnron
chairman Kenneth Lay pulled out
of this week’s scheduled congres
sional testimony on Sunday as
members of Congress suggested he
and other company executives en
gaged in widespread criminality.
Enron’s chairman "cannot be
expected to participate in a pro
ceeding in which conclusions
have been reached before Mr. Lay
has been given an opportunity to
be heard," his attorney, Earl
Silbert, said in letters to the
Senate and House panels that
were to hear from him.'
The Senate Commerce
Committee canceled its hearing
after Lay pulled out, while the
House Financial Services
Committee planned to proceed.
Lay’s decision came the day af
ter a review of F.nrnn’s activities
by University of Texas law school
dean William Powers concluded
that the company’s management
concealed financial information
from the public.
Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-DL, said
on NBC’s "Today” that "Ken Lay
obviously had to know that this
was a giant pyramid scheme — a
giant shell game."
Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La„ asked
whether "maybe somebody ought
to go to the pokey for this."
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.,
called Enron "almost a culture of
corporate corruption" and said the
Powers report is "a pretty devas
tating indictment of things that
went on inside the corporation.
The report would suggest that as
CEO, Mr. Lay certainly was aware
of much of this.”
"We’re going to meet with the
committee mem
bers and have a dis
cussion about what
we do next,"
Dorgan said
Sunday night.
Dorgan dis
missed Silbert’s
suggestion that the Lay
hearing would be
"prosecutorial" in tone, saying that
the comments by members of
Congress simply reflect assessments
"by Enron’s own accounting firm re
garding potentially illegal acts."
"It was clear to us that he was
looking for any little excuse to
wiggle off the hook,", said Ken
Johnson, a spokesman for the
House Energy and Commerce
Committee, which had planned to
invite Lay to testify later this
month. "As the old saving goes.
'you can run, but you can’t hide'"
and if Lay refuses to testify, "he’ll
be subpoenaed like everyone else."
In his letters to Sen. Ernest
Hollings of South Carolina and
Republican Rep. Michael Oxley of
Ohio, Silbert said "Mr. Lay firmly
rejected any allegations that he en
gaged in wrongful or criminal con
duct."
Hollings chairs the Senate
Commerce Committee, Oxley the
House Financial Services
Committee.
The Powers review of Enron
also stated that a key document
was missing from a partnership
deal. Lay says he was unaware of
the transaction and former Enron
chief executive officer Jeff Skilling
says he was unaware of the terms.
"We have not located any
Enron Deal Approval Sheet,
‘DASH,’ an internal document
summarizing the transaction and
showing required approvals," stat
ed the report. The report noted the
same type of situation in another
transaction as well, and the report
raised the possibility that no ap
proval sheet was ever prepared.
Tauzin said Skilling backed
away from signing his name to off
the-books partnership deals.
"What does that say about his
knowledge of whether these deals
were honest or corrupt? We found
out that one of the good guys ...
went to Skilling and brought him
all these deals to get his signature
on it," Tauzin said. "He refused to
sign it."
Citing a company rife with con
flicts of interest, Tauzin said that
in one deal, a man and his girl
friend at Enron actually negotiat
ed with each other.
"Thev were reallv sweethearts.
ended up getting married," Tauzin
said. "When they signed the deals,
.they signed as married partners,
one against the other.”
Dorgan said the question of
criminality is "a judgment for the
U.S. Justice Department" to make,
but he added that "$1 billion in
profit was booked here that didn’t
exist. That’s trouble."
On CNN’s "Late Edition," Reps.
Jim Greenwood and Henry
Waxman argued over the political
dimensions to the Enron contro
versy.
Waxman, ranking Democrat on
the House Government Reform
Committee, said hundreds of thou
sands of dollars in Enron dona
tions to Republicans and
Democrats over the years had re
sulted in weakened regulatory
oversight of the company.
"Those who stopped the police"
from looking at Enron "bear some
responsibility as well," Waxman
said.
-1
WILLIAM AND MARION LANGFAN
CONSTITUTIONAL
ORATORICAL PRIZE
When: Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Where: Final six speakers only
Gressette Room, Harper College, 7:00 PM
Earlier in the day (12 noon) we will reduce the number of
competitors to six by listening to preliminary speeches at the
Carolina Plaza, Room 712.
Rules: Deliver a speech without a manuscript and without notes.
Topic: The topic will be on a contemporary constitutional issue and will be announced
on the web page (see below) 7 days before the contest. Speeches with be 8 minutes
long and will be evaluated by professors and alumni.
Open to all USC full-time students,
undergraduate and graduate (including law).
Prizes:
First place $1000
Second place $500
Third place $350
Fourth place $250
REGISTER: You must be a full-time student at U. South Carolina
and must send your name, SS#, major, and on-campus phone and
e-mail address TO: Berube (berube@sc.edu) before
February 6, 2002 (12:00AM = midnight).
http ://www. cla. sc. edu/thsp/faculty/berube/debate/langfan .htm
This contest is hosted by Carolina Debate and funded by the Moore School of
Business through a gift from William and Marion Langfan.
EPSEON SIGMA ALPHA
\
Service Sorority1
WHEN: TUESDAY-THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 5-7
TIME: 7:00 PM
WHERE: SOUTH QUAD LOUN6E
DRESS: BUSINESS-DRESSY
Visit our Website and <4pply Online at:
www.geocities.com/sweetcarolinagirls
_ <1£‘