Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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..- ■ ■ ■ - ■ ■ - - ■ ■ -. ■ - _ Former USC employees plead guilty BY BRANDON LARRABEE THBHAMKCOCK Three former USC employees pleaded guilty Monday to misus ing their offices to fraudulently obtain thousands of dollars. Douglas Dobson, Sara Grayson and Betty Branham were charged with submitting false travel and expense vouchers to USC begin ning in 1996, when the three worked at the university’s Institute of Public Affairs, a gov enunental think tank. Prosecutors said the three embezzled about $90,000 through the scheme. Judge Clifton Newman sen tenced all of them to 10 years in prison. Their sentences were sus pended for various periods of time in prison. Dobson, who served as execu tive director of the institute, will spend one year in prison and three years’ probation. Dobson already had resigned from his po sition and paid the university $28,180.98. Sara Grayson, who was Dobson’s executive assis tant, will serve 11 months in prison and three years’ proba tion. She has paid USC $53,740.78 in restitution. Branham, former program di rector of the Hazardous Waste Management Research Fund, will serve 90 days in jail and two years’ probation. According to a state grand jury indictment issued in February 2001, “Dobson and Grayson did conspire to willfully, unlawfully and feloniously em bezzle, transfer, disburse, utilize, steal and convert, either wholly ♦ GUILTY, SEE PAGE 4 Graffiti at Sims links separate vandalisms Graffiti includes racial slurs, refers to incident involving brick BY ADAM BEAM TIIK HAM HOUCK Housing Director Gene Luna has urged the USC Police Department to be aggressive ih its investigation of two racially charged vandalism incidents at Sims residence hall in early February. According to Demetrius Johnson, assistant director of Residence Life, a custodial work er was “going about their daily activities” when a brick was thrown out of a window of Sims, located in the women’s quad be tween Greene and Devine streets. Administrators assumed the occurrence was an “isolated in cident” until a week later. Johnson said there were “some racial slurs, targeted mostly to wards African-Americans, scrib bled down some stairwells, on some student doors, in the hall way in Sims.” "There was a specific refer “Imagine you seeing your name with some racial words next to it and having to wipe off your own name. It’s pretty tough.” DEMETRIUS JOHNSON ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF RESIDENCE LIFE ence in the scrawlings that re ferred to the brick being thrown at a specific person,” Johnson said. “So that’s how those two in cidents became linked.” ♦ SIMS, SEE PAGE 2 Shopping at the Coliseum “I came last night, and I don’t know why I’m back,” said 2000 graduate Joy Loftis, above, on her second day of shopping at the J. Crew Warehouse Sale inside the Carolina Coliseum. She said she spent about $200 the previous day, most of it on coats. The J. Crew sale, on the Blossom Street side of the Coliseum, will continue through 9 p.m.today. PHOTO BY MARTHA WRIGHT/THE GAMECOCK Odom gets 300th win in style PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN/THE GAMECOCK Dave Odom led the men’s basketball team to a 66-59 win Tuesday night over the Syracuse Orangemen in the NIT semifinals. It was his 300th career win. Panel targets violence against women in S.C. BY LOGAN BARLOW THE GAMECOCK South Carolina has the fifth highest rate of murdered women in the country, and Columbia residents are concerned. A panel discussion was held Sunday night at Columbia College about sexual and do mestic abuse. Carol Wyatt, executive direc tor of Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands, and LaNelle DuRant, an attorney with the Public Defender’s Office, pro vided information and accounts of the dangers of domestic and sexual violence. i ne discussion was toiiowed by a speak-out in which victims of domestic and sexual abuse shared their experiences. “Part of empowering women who have suffered the grief of abuse is for them to be able to share that in a constructive way,” said Paula Shirley, women’s studies direc tor at Columbia CoEege. Representatives from Sexual Trauma Services go to area schools to educate students about healthy relationships, date rape drugs and behaviors that put them at risk for sexual assault. Wyatt said educating young people is crucial to prevent them from becoming victims. Twenty nine percent of sexual abuse vic tims in the nation are chUdren under 12, and 32 percent are be tween 13 and 17. Studies also show that victims of sexual assault are at a higher risk for later abuse. “Once you’ve been assaulted once, your chances for being assaulted again really increase. We’re not really sure how that is, but it’s definitely true," Wyatt said. Wyatt said more than 80 per ♦ VIOLENCE, SEE PAGE 2 By the numbers ♦ 90% of rapes are committed by men. ♦ 55% of students involved in acquaintance rape had • been drinking or using drugs at time of attack. ♦ Girls with stepfathers are 7 times more likely to be sexually abused than other girls. ♦ 1/3 of convicted sex offenders were abused as children. ♦ 21.3% of non-virgin SC high school females report having a forced sex experience. ♦ 7% of non-virgin SC high school males report having a forced sex experience. ♦ Sexual Trauma Services hotline: 771-RAPE (771 7273). ♦ Rape Abuse Incest National Network (RAINN) hotline: 800-656-4673. New cuts coming to state budget Schools will lose about $48 million after state sees weak revenues BY JIM DAVENPORT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Another round of midyear bud get cuts threaten progress in South Carolina’s schools, officials said Tuesday as the State Budget and Control Board ordered state agen cies to give up 2.5 percent of their budgets. . The cuts will take about $48 million out of the Education Department’s budget, with nearly all of that money destined for schools around the state. It will prompt school districts around the state to cut back summer school programs that are re quired under the state’s Education Accountability Act, agency spokesman Jim Foster said. Schools say the "state keeps making unprecedented demands in terms of accountability,” ♦ BUDGET, SEE PAGE 4 , TODAY’S WEATHER: Mostly sunny. High 70, Low 41. TOMORROW’S WEATHER: Mostly sunny. High 71, Low 47. "" ___